Seasoning - Before or After?

I've done some searching on the web and I've seen pros and cons for both seasoning before and after cooking a protein sous vide. Some say they salt the meat before with great results, others say that you should never salt it before you cook it sous vide. The only definitive answer I could find said that salt should be avoided for longer cooking times to avoid a brining type of environment. Any thoughts, ideas or experiences?

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Johan_Edstrom_5586

I never ever positively after listening to the people here and some utterly failed experiments salt anything, that includes pastes, whatnot else.

Just don't do it

I pre-sear, usually from frozen, post sear, then season.

Herbs are fine, aromatics are fine (they don't really do that much), oils help keep things separate and so on,

but no, don't bother doing it. You can get some seriously nasty textures.

ParkerCook_66639

Thanks a ton @Johan! I'm doing some brisket this weekend and your post in What's for Dinner convinced me to drop the temp a few degrees!

Brendan_Lee_56950

I usually take the approach that Dave Arnold championed with his blind taste tests with steaks, namely, that in direct cook to serve situations I salt before hand (lightly though) but for cook/chill/reheat situations I don't season with salt. Vegetables are an exception to my rule, I always season them before and after.

Now for things that take a ton of time to cook I usually skip the salt but I will add other spices/herbs etc.

Jack_Mayer_85396

I follow pretty much the same approach as @Brendan. If its a cook and serve or veggies, I'll season ahead of cooking and also post. For long cooks or cook, chill reheat, I skip the pre-seasoning.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Dave Arnold's post of when to season is here and well worth the read.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Gracias for the link @tim, didn't think to link to it earlier.

Side note: 1000th post, woohoo! haha

Mark_Kalynchuk_34927

I do a decent amount of sous viding at work and the I tend to treat my sous vided meats and such alot like a sauce. Season in layers. If I'm putting in a Flank steak with a compound butter of sorts then I'll make sure to season the butter slightly to make sure that I at least start that flavour. If it comes out touch under seasoned (I sample 1 from each batch) then I ensure to have me and my sauciers season the steaks on the fly. If the seasoning is fine, I don't worry about it. As with alot of things in the kitchen, it just comes from experience and experimentation.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Mark - always nice to have a pro confirm what us amateurs are learning ... Thanks

Mark_Kalynchuk_34927

@Jack Thanks, though I'm no expert.