how long should you leave spices on steak before cooking?
1 Salt your steak at least 40 minutes before you cook it. 2  Most cooks salt their steaks right before placing it on the grill. 3  Because salt is a desiccant, this draws the moisture out to the surface of the steak, where it gets seared off immediately.4  This produces mostly an underwhelming steak. First, a steak that has come to room temperature will cook more evenly. 2  You won't have a hot exterior and a chilly interior. 3  Second, the steak will cook quicker. 4  This means less time on the grill, or the frying pan, or in the oven, and more time spent sipping wine.