Homemade Steak Seasoning (Plus When to Salt Your Steak)

Salt and pepper are the base of any good steak seasoning, and the rest of this rub adds savoury depth without masking the beef. Match the seasoning to the cut. Marbled steaks such as Wagyu and scotch fillet need little more than salt and pepper, because the fat measured by beef marble scores carries the flavour. Lean grass-fed rump and eye fillet can take the full rub, and the paprika and garlic help build a crust on cuts with little fat. When to salt your steak comes down to three good windows. Salting just before the steak goes in the pan seasons the surface and keeps it dry for a fast sear. Salting at least 40 minutes ahead gives the salt time to draw out moisture, dissolve and soak back into the meat, so it seasons more deeply. An overnight dry brine, uncovered on a rack in the fridge, seasons deepest of all and dries the surface for the best crust. The window to avoid is roughly 5 to 30 minutes before cooking, when the drawn-out moisture is still sitting on the surface and the steak steams instead of searing. As a guide, use about 1% of the steak's weight in salt, or roughly 3/4 tsp of salt flakes for a 250g steak, which is about what 2 tsp of this rub delivers. Fine salt is about twice as dense as flakes, so halve the volume if you swap. Pepper and garlic powder can scorch and turn bitter in a very hot pan, so cook rubbed steaks over medium-high heat and turn them often. If you love a hard, smoky sear, season with salt only and add pepper after cooking, and keep any rub with sugar for slower BBQ cooking. Dry brine on a wire rack over a tray on the bottom shelf of the fridge, below any ready-to-eat food, and cook within 24 hours, because there is a limit to how long steak lasts in the fridge. Keep the rub in an airtight jar in a cool, dark cupboard and use it within 6 months, while the spices are still fragrant. For a salt-reduced version, halve the salt and add 1 tsp mustard powder for extra bite. Bought blends are often salt-heavy, so making your own puts you in control. Wet flavours like soy, citrus and wine are better suited to marinating beef. Doneness guide for the steak after resting: rare 55 to 60C, medium rare 60 to 63C, medium 65 to 70C, well done 75C. Pull the steaks 3 to 5C below your target, because they keep cooking as they rest. The Food Safety Information Council recommends cooking whole cuts of beef to at least 63C and resting them for 3 minutes. Rarer beef is a personal choice that pregnant women, older people, young children and anyone with a weakened immune system are safest avoiding, so cook their steaks to at least 63C.