what about a ceramic cutting board? i was weirded out how our kitchen. the one at school used plastic. i told my teacher: why not ceramic plates. and she said they refuse because they break??? i never argued with her. but always found it weird.
How about you focus on the method. Like forget the damn cutting board. How about a metal plate, ceramic, salt block? Like try it yourself with better tools or using your logic then give an opinion.
To be fair, herbs and spices have the most intense flavor when raw or barely cooked. When cooked with the entrée the flavors tend to merge and lose their distinct flavors.
I'd never heard of this method either so decided to google 'dressing the board steak'. Top result was a Jamie Oliver blog post from 2014, there were a few other articles but this clearly isn't a well known technique. Nephew Jamie doing nephew Jamie things HAIYAAA
Personally I like to season my entire kitchen before cooking anything. I season the knives, the oven, the counter-top and the fridge as well as all my dinner guests just to be sure everyone gets the maximum flavour experience. For some reason it's never appreciated the extra effort I go to, I can't think why. Perhaps I need more garlic and olive oil or a spoon of mango chutney 😀
You grind it? Man, you're fancy. I just dump a handful of peppercorns in my mouth and chew them up as I eat my steak, skipping the middleman, so to speak.
I love how James looks so surprised and perplexed to see Adam season his cutting board and not his steak while watching a video called "Why I season my cutting board not my steak"
One thing is to imagine it through the title, an another to actually watch how it's been done on video. Even if the title says "I season my tongue and not my steak", I would still be surprised.
Two things: 1) I think the idea could work if it wasn't done on a flat cutting board, but in a clean bowl. That would naturally force all the juices to keep flowing to the low point, and then make it easier to disperse them with the seasoings and butter across the steak chunks. Another dish to wash, but I think if you wanted to do your meats like this, might as well maximize flavor potential. 2) The sponge analogy doesn't really work because sponges work on pressure and capillary action. When you place them into water, they have a different pressure than the water, and because of their material makeup, that pressure differential allows for the capillary action to soak up the water. If it were about energy input and output, you would void sponges via stove tops, not by squeezing. The above process is osmosis, which most know, and it does work for just about everything, but if the material abaorbing the liquid isn't porous enough for capillary action to happen, you'd have to wait a long time for the effect to happen, and meat is not a great sponge, hence why marinades usually take hours to work. In fact, better absorption happens while the meat is being heated, because the water evaporating and heat expands the tissue, so it is generally going to be better to add your seasoning as its cooking and at the meat's peak temp. Still a neat idea to save time and post-cooking work.
if you use the method the juices disappear rather quickly. I tested it back when the video released and was suprised by it. Still doing it the "Normal" way has better results hehe
1) A flat surface means more of your steak chunks can be submerged in the juices so you don't get dry chunks on top and saturated chunks on the bottom that can't absorb more. 2) Muscles have capillaries too. That's how your blood gets deep into your muscles, capillaries are a core part of your circulatory system. Also, I've used the capillary action to get a resting steak to re-absorb it's juices and it works fine. Raw meat is indeed not a great sponge, but meat that has been dried out by heat is better. As it cools it absorbs any nearby liquids, which is something you can have a lot of fun with. But don't take my word for it, experiment! For a fun test you can cut two pieces off of your next steak, weigh them, and then put one in a bowl of room temperature water while the piece of steak is still warm and put the other on a cool plate to cool it off quickly and then when it is cool put it in room temperature water too. If the cooling process makes steak more absorbant, then the first should end up heavier (percentage wise compared to original weight) than the second after the same amount of time in the water. Absorption also happens while the meat is being heated through evaporation and expansion, this is true. I don't know which is better but again,if you want to be sure you can measure this with a scale. Just weigh everything that goes into the pan, weigh the pan during the cooking process, and weigh the meat afterwards, weigh the meat after the juices have gone out, and then weigh the meat again after the pool of juices you've let it rest in have been re-absorbed. You should be able to track weight gain and loss throughout the process. Just make sure your scale isn't too cold or hot compared to the meat.
It's an acquired taste for sure but a perfectly rare well seasoned plastic chopping board is considered one of the highest delicacies in some countries 😀
I tried the cutting board method on a nice wooden board and it worked well. If I did it again I would do what you said last James, use a metal mixing bowl. The flavor would be more clean with less plastic or wood mixed in. Also, if you make steak, dry age it by salting it and leaving it on a drying rack in the fridge overnight. It gets absorbed into the meat which adds flavor and tenderizes it.
Bro, I’m a super taster and I cannot taste any plastic when I do this. You really tasted plastic? I don’t know; I do have holes in my sense of taste. Like I literally do not think olive oil taste like anything. I hear people like Gordon Ramsey and Adam Ragusea talk about how good it tastes all the time, but I don’t taste anything when I use it.
Here is a crazy theory... Put your deconstructed herb butter on a PLATE INSTEAD. Then the steak can be sliced and tossed in the juices on the thing you're serving it on, not the thing full of germs.
@@doctordungus7774 Generally you cut meat on a board before you cook it, so any germs it picks up from the board are killed in the cooking process. That's why it's mentioned in the video that restaurants have separate cutting boards for meat and veg. But with this method Adam used it's not guaranteed that the steak is hot enough to kill any bacteria or germs it picks up while it's resting.
@@doctordungus7774Plastic cutting boards in particular harbor bacteria in the little nooks and crannies. Wood is naturally antimicrobial which is why it doesn't have that problem. If you're using plastic cutting boards it is imperative that you ensure they're sanitized after every use.
@@noamto It's herbs sprinkled then butter placed on top, that's a deconstructed herb butter, herb butter is commonly used with steak, but usually the herbs are mixed into the butter and allowed to set then is cut.
I've tried this and thought it worked well enough. Using lemon zest and rosemary (which don't do well with heat), but then i figured it was easier to make a herb butter with the ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Spreading the herb butter onto a wooden cutting board, laying the steaks on top with extra herb butter then covering with a saucepan lid to rest. As for plates I tend to just stick them in the microwave for 2 minutes. I still season the steak before, but if you want to add rosemary and lemon this is an easy way to do it without risk of burning them.
@@Ponchik-md5uq Oh children... *I* use powdered cutting board to *season* my butter-fried rock salt, served in a heaping pile atop a platter of raw wagyu. Wagyu *burger*.
You say that like you’re joking but they actually do sell slabs of rock salt for that exact purpose. (Actually i think the intention is to cook the steak on the rock, but close enough either way)
You're right about the smell transfer. Putting it on a warm plate would make much more sense, if you heat the plate in the oven at around 70C it would even help to keep the meat warm
Hmm interesting...think I'll stick with seasoning the meat. Sounds kinda bland by comparison of really releasing the flavors of all the aromatics in the pan.
"Common technique called dressing the board." So common that when he said it, it was the first time in history anyone ever combined those words together.
I was hoping he was just throwing salt and pepper on the cutting board, before plopping the raw steak on it, as some lazy man way to season his steak. Then he cooks an unseasoned steak and throws it on at the end so you dirty up a 2nd cutting board for no reason. I wonder if he's English. I've heard English people complain about food being unseasoned while cooked and you add salt and pepper at the table to taste. Not a great idea but I wonder if this is why he does this.
Actually it's a technique that's been around for about a decade or so, though not a very mainstream one. They're called "board sauces". I've never actually tried it myself so I can't say if it really works or not. But it's a real technique created by a chef.
@@alzaelnext638 Because it makes no sense. If you want to season food after you cook it, you make a dressing and toss it. You don't cover a flat surface and scrub the food around on it.
@@magnemmar4869 Supposedly it gets all of the juices worked into the meat, instead of losing some by resting the meat and letting it drip out or something. Don't ask me,I'm not a chef. I'm just pointing out that it is a real technique some chefs use for about a decade now. I think Perry Lang was the chef who created it.
I remember watching this video on Adam's channel quite some time ago. I never noticed how he was grabbing furiously at the steak while being inches away from the sharp side of the blade of his chef's knife.
So crazy idea: instead of "based on my experience this will/won't work," do a double blind experiment. Assemble some test diners, make some steaks, have one person label as prepared by method x vs. y (bottom of the plate seems fine), have somebody who didn't see which was which serve to diners, who rate the dishes. My gut says folks won't be able to tell which was which.
@@daviddickey370 if anything it will be like mixed drinks. "I cant taste the booze" so putting booze in the straw will elicit a more favorable reaction. The same would be here with fresh cracked pepper and raw garlic.
@@daviddickey370 no joke. This guy is using opinion and conjecture. What would happen if he actually duplicated the technique. Chefs are a very strange lot. Without experimentation there would be no innovation. There would be no Terriyaki on every corner in Seattle. Seriously.
More recently, Adam has revisited this method, and he’s admitted to not using it anymore. He did this because the steaks he bought tended to be cheap, and I think that gave them qualities that made this method viable, or desired at the very least. One TH-cam career later and he can buy the good steaks where this method is unnecessary if not ineffective. And he does have a red cutting board, or at least did. The only time I’ve seen him use it was to contrast between his cutting board and some green pasta he was rolling out.
He should have larded then and or marinated the steak if he want it to be better. but Sous vide is still a better method and that is why so many top restaurants use it.
The red cutting board is for uncooked red meat though, for cooked meat it should be a brown board (it seems to differ between countries and looks like some countries use yellow one for that too)
Honestly though, seasoning a cheap steak with salt an hour before cooking and letting it come to room temperature will make it more tender and flavorful than whatever this was. The acid isn't a bad idea for tenderness but it would definitely need more time to break down the connective tissue in the meat. A drizzle of lime juice when seasoning and letting them sit. I've done it I the past with petite sirloins (American sirloin). It's a fairly cheap cut but can be good if prepared and cooked properly.
@@Kefka2010I can see resting something on some delicate herbs after cooking having potential - like basil on some sautéed fish or chicken? So the basil is warmed up and wilted but not actually *cooked*, since cooking delicate herbs can make them gross.
Most kitchen I worked at had system of Red raw meats Blue Raw fish Brown unwashed veg/salad Yellow cooked meats White dairy or pastry Green washed veg/salad Purple gluten free Sometimes black for high risk eg. Steak tartar
@drewdabbs418 we stopped doing it years before I arrived, we have to wash them immediately after each ingredient anyways, and we don't have enough of each colour
In fact, what you said in the beginning actually makes more sense: seasoning the plate is better than seasoning the board, since at least the contamination into the plastic of the board (and introduction of microplastics into the food) can be avoided!
I saw this technique on TikTok and while I have no intention of cooking steak this way, I did find a good application for this concept. I bulk buy and pre-portion meats like pork and chicken and often sous vide them. Since I don't know what kind of dish I'll be making them in, I don't season them (or just salt at most). I've started putting them in a big bowl with butter and herb/seasonings after searing them. The residual heat melts the butter and the resting juices combine to make almost a pan sauce. Obviously, I could just make a pan sauce, but I've found this is a very low input method to add good flavor to lean meats. It's not exactly the same idea, but I think this is a more practical use.
Adam has actually done a video a few months back about how he makes steak now, and pointed out that that video going viral was part of how he now can afford better cuts of meat where he doesn't have to do stuff like that to make it interesting
@@Sayiiid It's like a kid basically saying that he wasn't wrong doing a bike stunt because he was able to get a new bike to replace the one he wrecked.
@@demoneyeslaharl or that thing people sometimes do on the internet when someone points out they're wrong, where they make fun of the other person for giving them attention anyway. It's maximum cope.
After watching Adam’s video, I started doing it myself and I love the method. I still like to salt my meat an hour before I cook it, but I hate the taste of cooked pepper, and I love a ton of freshly cracked pepper. I literally do not understand your concern about the plastic cutting board, so obviously this method works fine for me, lol.
About the plastic cutting board: The plastic is easy to clean well enough for safety, but hard to get all the flavours out, and a well cut up board loses a tiny amount of plastic each time it is used, which partially ends up in your food. The first effect should be tiny unless you're not cleaning your cutting board well enough or you've cut something especially pungent on the board and you don't want that flavour to come back each time. Cutting Caroline Reapers or other chilli peppers that come with danger labels could make re-using that board risky. The second effect is becoming more and more likely to be a long term health issue, though a lot of research still needs to be done.
@@zarthemad8386if the person eating the steak enjoys it it's not messed up. I simple bulgogi would be better in my view. Or sear off and cook the steak then make a pan sauce.
Adam is one of my favorite food youtubers, yeah he is crazy and kinda experiments while cooking but i just love his pursuit on constantly finding ways of doing things that are either easier for him/more fun in the kitchen.
Agreed, I always keep my cutting boards, I have three wooden boards, one for vegetables, one for pork and beef and one for poultry, all of which I am cleaning by soaking them in white vinegar mixed with water and washing them after with olive oil soup (I make my own it's easy and last longer than plate soap), works wonders and it doesn't leave any odd smells.
I season my cutting board all the time. I also make sure to cut it into cubes and sear the outside of it before putting it in the oven and broiling it. I like it medium rare, It gives a lot of flavor and woody aroma.
Ive been using a herbed plastic cutting board to save even more time. that way when the Endocrine disrupting carcinogens from the plastic leach into the steak, they also flavor the meat. Saves a ton of time.
Most restaurants kind of use a similar method in a way. A lot of restaurants take the pan that they use and add very cold butter to the pan. This deglazes some of those bits and cools down the pan quite a bit and quickly (adding half a stick of 2-4C butter to a 150-200C pan is going to bring you to a 90-100C temp, especially in most restaurant pans which are usually medium to light carbon steel or aluminum pans). You then toss in rosemary, garlic, herbs, etc into the melted butter and spoon it over the steak. Then finally you season with salt and pepper and set it to rest. It more or less is the same method. The difference is really that home cooks use less heat and thus have heavier pans that distribute and retain heat better (restaurant chefs just control the heat themselves, they don’t need the pan to do that). And we tend to skimp on the butter at home. All that means we’re not controlling that finishing temp as precisely and so it makes sense to take the meat off the hot pan instead.
@@ChefJamesMakinson it’s essentially the classic butter basted steak recipe. Or olive oil basted. I just explicitly denoted that your lowering that one of the objectives it not to be at full heat because obviously at full searing meat temperature you’ll really smoke the butter/oil instantly. I think Adam is essentially achieving that same effect with residual heat and by releasing the garlic and rosemary oils onto the board. However I doubt Adam is going to get as much of a concentrated butter flavor.
got this vid suggested to me as an adam subscriber, and gotta say this was a fun watch :D one thing i'd note is that adam makes vids for home cooks; yeah, a sous vide would do a better job at infusing flavours, but most home cooks don't have one (hell, my family would kill to have a steak at all, personally) most of us do have a cutting board, though, so obviously that's gonna be more helpful using a plastic cutting board is iffy though, i admit, even if it has been cleaned, glad you mentioned the associated risks (one gripe i've always had with this vid is that adam hasn't really gotten to the point where he'd bring up such safety risks back when he made this one) and the metal bowl alternative, since that's at least viable for a lot of people who want to cook at home
I definitely prefer to season early so the salt has time to permeate the steak. IIRC, Cook's Illustrated did experiments with early vs late seasoning and they also strongly preferred early-seasoned foods -- though they did find late seasoning requires far less salt to taste equally salty; it might be a valid option if you're trying to cut down on sodium
Adam Ragusea isn't a chef but a journalist with a passion for cooking. Like any enthusiastic cook, he enjoys experimenting in the kitchen. Recently, I, too, started seasoning my steaks after cooking them, which has provided a refreshing alternative to traditional methods. While he suggests seasoning on a cutting board, I agree with those who recommend using a heated plate or bowl for better hygiene. Additionally, sous vide remains a niche technique for home cooks. Adam's videos are consistently aimed at the everyday person.
@@ChefJamesMakinson I don't watch all of Adam Ragusea's videos, but the ones I have seen seemed reasonable. However, this one is the most outrageous I've seen from him. Safety first, and that just flew out the window here.
I made some research about cutting boards a few years back because I was using a wood one and the things I saw about plastic and wood ones is that they either absorb stuff or stuff may get stuck in the cracks as you mentionned. so my utimate solution was the glass cutting board, which is what I got. As for the recipe, I'm not against it, but I have my doubts, I guess you could try it your way (without the plastic cutting board thing) and see how it turns out 😉
I'd use a herbed butter. For some applications it will be nice to add a touch of lemon zest too. Just before this I saw Guga on MSG cured egg yolk. I haven't tried it, but I'd like to try to add a touch of that in to the mix as well.
I see a lot of people laying into Adam. I'd just like to say that Adam's videos are targeted toward home cooks. Which basically means ease of use and convenience are prioritized not necessarily speed at all costs. For example with flipping steaks often it's probably easier for a home cook to do that since you can see how it's going. Especially if you're trying it for the first time. Also saving time on dishes, Adam even mentions eating off the cutting board sometimes; something you could only get away with at home obviously. I also don't think Adam ever claimed this was like the "best way" to do anything. The "why I season my cutting board not my steak thing" is basically just him explaining why he does that as a home cook not that it's the "best" way to do things. Also whatever works works am I wrong? As far as I can see Adam's method works even if it's kind of unusual.
If this is your preferred method of cooking and eating steak I would alter it just a little bit. Instead of a flat plate I would use a soup/salad bowl big enough for the steak portions. I would rest the steak on top of the raw ingredients and then after cutting transfer everything into the warmed bowl to let it rest a second time. As you mentioned this would remove the worry of the steak picking up flavors from the used cutting board.
Former Chef here (did my apprenticeship '89-91) and never, ever have I seen or heard of "Dressing the Board." Never saw it at the Radisson, never saw it at the Cloister on Sea Island, never saw it in my ACF books, and not anywhere in between that I have worked since. 🤣🤣🤣
Agreed. My father was an executive chef, started at the Dorchester in London in the 60s and worked with paul bocuse, wolfgang puck and many more, this was never something he taught me.
I’ve cooked easily 1000 steaks in my life, and I’ve tried practically every method of cooking from sous vide to reverse sear, to pan cooking and almost every method and combination of seasoning you can imagine. Within the last year I started trying seasoning the cutting board like this, and honestly to me this method works as well as anything else. Also, flipping every 30 seconds is the way to go, the steak will be most pink edge to edge.
@ChefJamesMakinson maybe cut the meat on the board and then add it to the ceramic plate with all the seasoning? Of course, for me, i would just season the steak on the pan or grill... lol
I have a well known high end steak restaurant near me in the US: I find high end steak restaurants tend to cook a little bit more rare (since they are getting good sources for farm raised beef). The steak never looks gray. I'm also baffled about seasoning a cutting board for steak-I tend to like to make a sauce after I sear a steak. Today I made steak au poivre. I do like to salt the steak a couple hours before cooking, so that I can dry the surface more. With au poivre, I actually don't salt the steak before searing, as I find my sauce sometimes gets a little too salty. I put black pepper on it, and then add salt to taste after the sauce has reduced (it probably also is getting some salt from the rinsed brined green peppercorns).
I actually tried it and it works well, definitely not using a plastic board for that, I season the plate or bowl instead, creating a "bed for the steak". It also helps if you are trying to lower sodium intake as you have far more control on the amount of salt used.
The idea of putting a hot steak right off the pan onto a plastic cutting board is disturbing. Plastic and high temperatures don't mix, and could absorb chemicals into the steak.
I've used Adam's method for a couple of years and it works great! Try it before you criticize and cast it aside. I used a wooden board, use Maldon's smoked salt to finish the steak.
I like everything he did except use the plastic cutting board. I would take your suggestion, James, and use a metal container. From a medical point of view regarding the meat, his logic is spot on. I am going to try this, as I dislike herbs that are fried and would rather have my steak plain instead, but this I think I could go with. Great episode and food for thought...literally.
I like to use a "weak" brine for defrosting meat (and also marinating fresh meat) - like say depending on how much meat, I'd use like 1/3 cup salt for Turkey or a large roast such as a leg of lamb, and a couple tablespoons or less for chicken legs, steak, chops, etc. and then half that amount of sugar. I also put in herbs to complement whatever it is but I do have a baseline standard of sumac (a tablespoon or two), szechuan peppercorns, and stripped lemongrass whole leaves. Sometimes I add a bit of cinnamon if it's pork. Sage if it's turkey or whole chicken. Rosemary for lamb. Maybe also a crushed cardamom (green) pod or two. I don't always use thyme but sometimes for whole chicken/turkey. I let that steep in the boiling water I used to dissolve the salt and sugar, almost like a tea, for about half an hour before adding cold water and then adding a teaspoon of tapioca starch (a 'secret' meat tenderizer according to Canadian-Chinese chef Stephen "Wok with Yan" - not to be confused with or related to Martin "Yan Can Cook".) and then the meat. I've noticed top sirloin comes out pretty good when done up like this. It's weak so i can run it overnight or even for 2 days if necessary.
This method makes no sense. The part about pepper burning.... great. But I'm not making a "peppered steak" to begin with. I could say more but it would break your rules for being respectful. And just lightly sprits some water on the plate, then microwave the plate to warm it. Don't waste 3 gallons of water to warm 1 plate.
I don't mind the method, although tossing the steak in the juices might affect the texture of the sear somewhat, maybe cut on a plate though. But yeah I use the method of putting plates directly on the fire sometimes too,.
I might try this technique, but I would use a plate or bowl rather than the board. Also, I would use a spatula, NOT a sharp knife, to collect the juices. When you use something sharp, you could be putting plastic, wood, or even metal shavings into your food.
i flip my steaks as often as i want and need to. i also use oil and not butter, because i finish it in the pan and not in the oven and i dont want to burn the butter. for seasoning i add salt and pepper with some herbs (depends what i have at that time) with a splash of soy souce (just be carefull with the salt)
I have never tried it, but I think it looks interesting and may work. If you don't like cutting meat on cutting boards, you can use a staneless steel - and sharpen your knive more often. I think the herbs may taste a little different in raw state.
I also salt the steak about 30 minutes beforehand. Then the meat goes on the grill. And about 30 seconds before it is finished grilling, I put pepper on both sides and let the pepper sweat briefly. (The heat helps the pepper release its terpenes better) With the spices, they give off different terpene* flavors depending on whether they have been processed at a higher temperature. So with some compositions it is very worthwhile to add fresh spices after the marinade that was applied before grilling. Bonn Appetit
@@ChefJamesMakinson also yeah hot and fatty things on top of plastic cuttingboard is not great. both warm and fatty things can cause plastic to leak some phthalates which can cause issues with hormones.
I don't even like cutting raw chicken on my plastic meat cutting board. I sort of cut from underneath while holding it in the air with gravity helping. Cannot imagine putting cooked food on a plastic cutting board. Even if they were leftovers I was going to put out for street cats.
You’re not escaping them. A recent study found microplastics in semen samples from every single human tested, and even in dogs. There is no escape. They’re in you RIGHT NOW!!! 🎉🎉🎉
My mom bought some cheap steaks and she was complaining about how they were really tough, so I took some honey and put the steaks and honey into a bag and left it in the fridge, the honey has protease which breaks down the protiens and makes the meat tender. Don't leave the steak in honey too long otherwise it will fall apart and not be very nice at all. You can use the same trick with pineapple as well. Or just buy quality steaks. you won't regret it. my favorite steak is the ribeye cap.
Adam's essay videos about food related topics are excellent, especially his deep dives into the science and history of it. But his cooking is ... let's say special. He makes a lot of very questionable, if not downright bad choices when it comes to ingredients and certain techniques. He freakin' put worcestershire sauce in his bolognese. I lost so much respect for him when I saw that LMAO
He uses a dry sponge in water to illustrate a moist steak absorbing butter, pepper and herbs... that's not really equivalent, is it? It looked more like the stuff on the cutting board really just COATED the steak, it didn't seem to be absorbed. Great video, James! I think your version of "Putting your leg down" is when you raise that one eyebrow! Put that in your next thumbnail! lol
He was trying to make a point but the steak is not a sponge, once the fibers push out the water it is not easy for it to reabsorb. I will try that!! :)
@@ChefJamesMakinson I have had some good success with a steak re-absorbing quite a lot of its juices as it cools the two or three times i've tried to give the steak some more time to rest in its juices, but this is something you should test out for yourself. Don't take my word for it, I have way too little experience with cooking.
I use two cutting boards, one Is a large bamboo wood for protein and the other is smaller one of oak wood for vegetables. I love wood boards because wood doesn't dull the knife, however, they do take more time to sanitize and properly condition after use. Plastic boards will dull knives, retain unwanted odor and offer up shaved plastic in your food. Look just sear a beef steak on flat iron in clarified butter add herbs and such, baste and let it rest on the board. You can thank me later
Adam Ragusea has some good stuff and then a couple really really dumb takes. Seasoning the cutting board is one, but another dumb favorite of mine is his argument that imperial measurements are better for cooking than metric ones. He doesn't really have any evidence for it besides just him being American.
He never said one is better. The title is literally "My problem with metric recipes". His problem is that translating recipes from metric to imperial (or vice versa) isn't a good thing and will never result in the same recipe, not that one is inherently better or worse. Did you even watch the video?
I think that something that should be noted is that you can always toast whole black peppercorns and then add that to a finished dish. This helps to enhance the flavor while minimizing the risk of burning. I've been using this method for making many of my favorite Italian dishes such as Carbonara.
To be honest, the cutting board seems to be a non-related gimmick to the suggestion. In the end Adam Ragusea is just seasoning the steak after he finishes cooking it rather than pre-marinade or during cooking. Where he seasons it is somewhat irrelevant to the actual act of seasoning. You can do the same seasoning by putting all the seasonings in a warmed stainless bowl and add the Steak after cutting into the bowl. Sure you may lose some of the juice from the steak but you would anyway when transferring the steak from the cutting board to a plate, or to your mouth unless you want to lick the cutting board. I would think something like a bowl would be more practical, the way people season Buffalo wings after frying. I just feel Adam did this since it looks very strange and thus increasing the curiosity and the clicks to the video. At least he isn't eating Tide Pods for the clicks.
Wow you must be nominated for a Nobel prize after that 2 paragraph response. Cooking a piece of meat isn't that hard bro. Glad to see I'm not the only one who overcomplicates cooking.
I lightly salt my steaks and let them dry brine in the fridge for a while before I cook them, but then also serve it with some extra salts that people can add to them while eating, since not everybody likes the same amount of salt, but I do like to have at least a little bit of salt already in it. The dry brine also helps to get a better sear as well as helps the meat to retain more moisture when cooked.
I call shenanigans on this. The ingredients NEED to go into the pan so they can cook together with the steak, imparting their flavors into the meat. The residual heat of a cooked steak is hardly enough to draw out the aroma of the spices. Plus, with the sear on it, the steak is basically shut, so putting it on butter at that point provides a miniscule film at the bottom, at best. When he cut the steak to pieces and tossed it into the spices again, that's when I started to wonder if that is a joke video. If that's his concern, he could still put everything in the pan, and then pour the remaining stuff into a bowl and toss the meat pieces in that. More flavor, less plastic.
The whole "infusing" concept is nonsense for steak in a pan. It works for slow cooking processes with lots of contact (sous vide is perfect), not something quick with only one side in contact like this. If you doubt me, try this experiment: make two steaks, one basted with your herbs in the pan and one without basting at all; cook the same herbs in some butter until fragrant, the same as the ones you did in the pan, and drizzle them over the unbasted steak. You won't get any real difference because a steak can't absorb any meaningful level of aroma in the pan like that. It's why I just make compound butters (cooking the herbs if they need it before they go in the butter) and put them on either right out of the pan or right before eating, depending on whether I want them fully melted or not. Just as good or better than doing them in the pan with the steak, and way easier.
I agree with you that this is nonsense, but the steak is not "shut". The whole idea of "sealing in the juices" is a myth. Browning is for flavor, not for trapping liquid. Makes sense if you think about it, the liquid isn't pouring out of the meat when it's raw.
The ingredients are all fresh and you eat them along with the steak, so you get all their flavors. It’s just a matter of preference. I HATE the dull taste of cooked pepper, and I hate overly salty meat (ie meat that’s basically salted at all), so this method is exactly how I prefer it. I don’t get the plastic comments. It doesn’t taste like plastic. It tastes exactly the same as doing it the traditional way and cracking the pepper on at the end. It’s just easier this way.
I agree with you James and what a waste of hot water, you can even warm a plate in a microwave if your plates are microwave proof. they will actually warm up
Doesn't look too bad, but with some modifications. I would add the butter and the herbs in the pan right at the end and then after it has rested, slice it and mix it with all herbs and the juices in a metal bowl. The metal bowl should probably be pre-heated to keep the temperature of the meat. Regarding the pepper I can buy that, but I would add some salt before cooking.
I think, and that's just me and I am not sure, it's best to add the pepper to the stake together with the butter and rosmarin in the end. Simple because I managed once to burn pepper.
I was wondering why people always said to only flip the steak once. I had no idea. I always flipped chicken cutlets a lot because they seemed to turn out better. It probably allows the moisture to evaporate easier and stuff.
I have to admit I like the idea of seasoning after cooking but I would probably use a heated bowl with the butter melted and herbs stewed in it. The added surface area of cut steak taking in more of the seasoning flavors sounds delicious.
you can just as easily season the beef in the pan as on the cutting board. The change in flavor profile of certain herbs, spices, and seasonings as they cook is the only reason I can see to change how you season it, and even then, I'd season on plate, because yes, cutting boards aren't always sanitary.
He mentioned how doing the prep on the butter, herbs, and seasonings while the meat is cooking saved time, then he sliced, mixed by hand, then let it rest a second (undisclosed amount of) time. All that time mixing and resting a second time could have been used prepping and using the flavorings and seasonings on your meat before cooking, so the flavor can be throughout the meat and not just on the surface. It's not much time since most people only use salt, pepper, and butter. Other things like garlic powder and thyme (what i use when i cook a steak) dont take much time either since most peiple will have it already in a grinder or something. As a video request: If you havent already watched them, I would love to see your reactions to both of Adam's "knife skills don't matter" videos.
I just found your channel a couple of days ago and I must say your videos are very informative, engaging and entertaining. You are also very polite and kind. Got a new subscriber out of me and I will definitely be referring my friends to your channel. I look forward to trying out your lasagna recipe on my next diet cheat day.
Put the seasonings in a SS mixing bowl and after you cut the steak toss it about in the bowl. Don't flip the steak around on the board with your hands. Cleaner in more ways than one and would not risk turning your guests off to eating the meal you've prepared. I season the steak, grill it, place it on a plate, then put butter on top and cover with foil to rest 5 mins.
Microwave is a great option for heating plates for least amount of energy spent. splash of water on each plate and stack them up. No more than a couple minutes and they're all hot. All microwaves are different so be very careful not to get burned by the plate or the water until you know what yours is capable of. If you want to be super safe you can wear a white cut glove for a little insulation with a waterproof glove of your choice over it. Which is how I butcher because I don't want my cut glove to get nasty.
I like adding herbs and butter to the pan after the first flip. The herbs and garlic fuse with the fat in the pan and the heat helps that. Then I baste to keep the top of the steak moist and warm. good technique and heat control you can avoid burning the rosemary and garlic. I'm also not a fan of rosemary bits in my food. Instead, I enjoy the rosemary flavor being imparted in hot oil. I'm sure his steak tasted fine and fits his taste, but for me I don't those grassy flecks in my food along with undercooked garlic.
Quick PSA: Microplaning garlic will make it quite spicy! You might want to try a bit of that before adding it to any dish if you never did that before.
yeah, I'll follow your advice. I'm using a mix of Griswold, Marquette, Lodge, and Butter Pat items for cooking. I'm thinking about seeking out a decent nonstick to use every now and again, but we'll see.
I was just about to mention Hestons testing when you first mentioned not repeatedly turning the steak. And then you pulled that fact out. I'm impressed m8. Not many seem to be aware that happened.
A free way to heat a plate is to put it on the stovetop when you're done cooking, and let it absorb some residual heat. You could put the hot pan on top too depending on how clean it is, probably not if you've been burning gas. Obviously make sure it's not too hot! Works nice on an induction stove (and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't warmed a few tortillas on there too)
I actually tried this method shortly after the video came out because I was curious. Came out really good, though I haven't done it again since (mostly because I forget). Did use a wooden cutting board, before anyone worries about microplastics, nor did I toss it with my hands lmao.
Saw Adam's video when it first came out and I never wanted to try the method. For me, cutting the meat at the table is part of the enjoyment of eating a steak and prolongs the experience - a steak salad is unappealing. I (almost) always dry brine my steaks for about an hour. You can see the juices release and get reabsorbed. End product is much juicier. (Thanks, Guga!) And you're spot on about sous vide. Total game changer to infuse flavour. As for time, sous vide prep is about 2 minutes, cooks itself for a couple of hours, and then a couple minutes to sear it in a piping hot pan. Before I had my circulator (that I use in a Home Depot bucket with a cut-out lid), I did sous vide on the stove top with a thermometer. Worked great!
I quite like the method! Especially with how the seasoning isn't as cooked, I do love those fruity raw pepper flavours. I do agree with you about the cutting board though, not sanitary enough to have meat resting on it. A serving tray or plate would be fine. A glass cutting board would be fine too if you really enjoying sharpening your knives.
Be sure to check out my Cooking Course: chefjamesmakinson.com/cooking-course/ I also make steak in it! ;)
We in the Netherlands we call it .
Kruidenboter .
what about a ceramic cutting board?
i was weirded out how our kitchen. the one at school used plastic. i told my teacher: why not ceramic plates. and she said they refuse because they break???
i never argued with her. but always found it weird.
How about you focus on the method. Like forget the damn cutting board. How about a metal plate, ceramic, salt block? Like try it yourself with better tools or using your logic then give an opinion.
To be fair, herbs and spices have the most intense flavor when raw or barely cooked. When cooked with the entrée the flavors tend to merge and lose their distinct flavors.
I'd never heard of this method either so decided to google 'dressing the board steak'. Top result was a Jamie Oliver blog post from 2014, there were a few other articles but this clearly isn't a well known technique. Nephew Jamie doing nephew Jamie things HAIYAAA
Personally I like to season my entire kitchen before cooking anything. I season the knives, the oven, the counter-top and the fridge as well as all my dinner guests just to be sure everyone gets the maximum flavour experience. For some reason it's never appreciated the extra effort I go to, I can't think why. Perhaps I need more garlic and olive oil or a spoon of mango chutney 😀
Season the floor too incase you drop food. Dont want anything to go to waste 😂😂
Savage 😂
I season my brain
😂😂😂😂
This logic is inescapable. Sadly, now I expect someone to actually do it.
I season my mouth right as I'm chewing the steak. I crank the pepper grinder right into my food hole.
Fresh is best hahahahaha
“Freshly ground pepper”
i’m imagining someone looking straight up with a pepper grinder in their mouth cranking like there’s no tomorrow
You grind it? Man, you're fancy. I just dump a handful of peppercorns in my mouth and chew them up as I eat my steak, skipping the middleman, so to speak.
This is also the correct way to eat instant noodles. I see you are a person of culture!
I love how James looks so surprised and perplexed to see Adam season his cutting board and not his steak while watching a video called "Why I season my cutting board not my steak"
Pretty sure the title was made after the video.
Hey I recognize you! I wish I had a clever joke about the crossing of streams but it's nice to see you have good taste in food too Treantmonk!
@@Ainglish-qj5bb the title of the original video is literally "why I season my cutting board not my steak"
One thing is to imagine it through the title, an another to actually watch how it's been done on video. Even if the title says "I season my tongue and not my steak", I would still be surprised.
I mean, some things sound so absurd one assumes it is clickbait... so when it actually happens.
Two things:
1) I think the idea could work if it wasn't done on a flat cutting board, but in a clean bowl. That would naturally force all the juices to keep flowing to the low point, and then make it easier to disperse them with the seasoings and butter across the steak chunks. Another dish to wash, but I think if you wanted to do your meats like this, might as well maximize flavor potential.
2) The sponge analogy doesn't really work because sponges work on pressure and capillary action. When you place them into water, they have a different pressure than the water, and because of their material makeup, that pressure differential allows for the capillary action to soak up the water. If it were about energy input and output, you would void sponges via stove tops, not by squeezing. The above process is osmosis, which most know, and it does work for just about everything, but if the material abaorbing the liquid isn't porous enough for capillary action to happen, you'd have to wait a long time for the effect to happen, and meat is not a great sponge, hence why marinades usually take hours to work.
In fact, better absorption happens while the meat is being heated, because the water evaporating and heat expands the tissue, so it is generally going to be better to add your seasoning as its cooking and at the meat's peak temp. Still a neat idea to save time and post-cooking work.
If anything, the moisture has actually left the meat while it was resting on the salted board due to osmotic gradient and then partially evaporated.
if you use the method the juices disappear rather quickly. I tested it back when the video released and was suprised by it. Still doing it the "Normal" way has better results hehe
1) A flat surface means more of your steak chunks can be submerged in the juices so you don't get dry chunks on top and saturated chunks on the bottom that can't absorb more.
2) Muscles have capillaries too. That's how your blood gets deep into your muscles, capillaries are a core part of your circulatory system. Also, I've used the capillary action to get a resting steak to re-absorb it's juices and it works fine. Raw meat is indeed not a great sponge, but meat that has been dried out by heat is better. As it cools it absorbs any nearby liquids, which is something you can have a lot of fun with.
But don't take my word for it, experiment! For a fun test you can cut two pieces off of your next steak, weigh them, and then put one in a bowl of room temperature water while the piece of steak is still warm and put the other on a cool plate to cool it off quickly and then when it is cool put it in room temperature water too. If the cooling process makes steak more absorbant, then the first should end up heavier (percentage wise compared to original weight) than the second after the same amount of time in the water.
Absorption also happens while the meat is being heated through evaporation and expansion, this is true. I don't know which is better but again,if you want to be sure you can measure this with a scale. Just weigh everything that goes into the pan, weigh the pan during the cooking process, and weigh the meat afterwards, weigh the meat after the juices have gone out, and then weigh the meat again after the pool of juices you've let it rest in have been re-absorbed. You should be able to track weight gain and loss throughout the process. Just make sure your scale isn't too cold or hot compared to the meat.
I'm old school. My opinion is probably outdated. I tend to eat the steak not the board. Crazy I know. So I season the steak.
My whole eating approach has changed - thank you
It's an acquired taste for sure but a perfectly rare well seasoned plastic chopping board is considered one of the highest delicacies in some countries 😀
Have tried eating the cutting board. Can't recommend.
Get with the times - season the fork
@@Wildeheart79😂😂😂
I tried the cutting board method on a nice wooden board and it worked well. If I did it again I would do what you said last James, use a metal mixing bowl. The flavor would be more clean with less plastic or wood mixed in. Also, if you make steak, dry age it by salting it and leaving it on a drying rack in the fridge overnight. It gets absorbed into the meat which adds flavor and tenderizes it.
dry age steak would be nice!
dry aging takes longer than overnight, the term for that would be dry marinating
Bro, I’m a super taster and I cannot taste any plastic when I do this. You really tasted plastic? I don’t know; I do have holes in my sense of taste. Like I literally do not think olive oil taste like anything. I hear people like Gordon Ramsey and Adam Ragusea talk about how good it tastes all the time, but I don’t taste anything when I use it.
"less plastic or wood mixed in". Hahaha
That is not dry aging, but dry brining. Very different processes.
I hope Guga is watching, sounds like a perfect experiment idea
What experiment? To season meat with plastic? Hahaha
I know Guga does a lot of experimenting, but even he has some limits 😂
He actually did a video on this years ago.
Yeah, like the last commenter said, Guga did this "experiment" 4 years ago on his other channel Sous Vide Everything.
Make it green for Angel. :s
Guess you don't watch guga's channel 😂
Here is a crazy theory...
Put your deconstructed herb butter on a PLATE INSTEAD.
Then the steak can be sliced and tossed in the juices on the thing you're serving it on, not the thing full of germs.
It's melted and then chilled, not deconstructed.
Why would it be full of germs if you wash it? And if all cutting boards are riddled with germs, why use them at all? Seems a bit germophobic to me.
@@doctordungus7774 Generally you cut meat on a board before you cook it, so any germs it picks up from the board are killed in the cooking process. That's why it's mentioned in the video that restaurants have separate cutting boards for meat and veg. But with this method Adam used it's not guaranteed that the steak is hot enough to kill any bacteria or germs it picks up while it's resting.
@@doctordungus7774Plastic cutting boards in particular harbor bacteria in the little nooks and crannies. Wood is naturally antimicrobial which is why it doesn't have that problem.
If you're using plastic cutting boards it is imperative that you ensure they're sanitized after every use.
@@noamto It's herbs sprinkled then butter placed on top, that's a deconstructed herb butter, herb butter is commonly used with steak, but usually the herbs are mixed into the butter and allowed to set then is cut.
haha I remember this and the sheer number of "why I season my X instead of my Y" memes
🤣🤣
"Why I season my knife instead of my cutting board."
Why I sit on my TV and watch my couch.
@nekorosaria4232 if you really wanna cut out the middle man you should just dump your seasoning in the ocean!
Why I wipe my pants instead of my ass lmao
I've tried this and thought it worked well enough. Using lemon zest and rosemary (which don't do well with heat), but then i figured it was easier to make a herb butter with the ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Spreading the herb butter onto a wooden cutting board, laying the steaks on top with extra herb butter then covering with a saucepan lid to rest. As for plates I tend to just stick them in the microwave for 2 minutes. I still season the steak before, but if you want to add rosemary and lemon this is an easy way to do it without risk of burning them.
Adam will forever be haunted by this video 😂
😆 haha
He's often joked about being the "season the ____ not the ____" guy afterwards.
@@WhiskyCanuck trying to make yourself a meme is definitely the type of cringe he'd go for. His voice causes me to roll my eyes involuntarily!
Adam is kind of a troll. He'll be laughing all the way to the bank.
Did he delete the original video?
That's beginner level. Instead, I use a massive slab of rocksalt as my cutting board and season my steak that way.
Amateur. I use a massive newyork strip as my cutting board and chop the rosemary garlic and a block of salt on it. Has a refined germ taste.
Amateur. I throw salt to my elbow and let them drop to my meat.
JK.
@@Ponchik-md5uq Oh children... *I* use powdered cutting board to *season* my butter-fried rock salt, served in a heaping pile atop a platter of raw wagyu. Wagyu *burger*.
You say that like you’re joking but they actually do sell slabs of rock salt for that exact purpose. (Actually i think the intention is to cook the steak on the rock, but close enough either way)
Do you preheat the rock salt slab in the oven to cook the steak on the slab?
🤔 Heck! I might just dip my knife and fork into some seasoning before I cut each piece of food 🤷🏻♀️
Why not put the spices in your moth before you have the meat?
@@Jonsson474 👌🏼😆
just gotta get one of those salt forks
...... I mean.... Im not saying imma try it, but intrusive thoughts do take over...
You're right about the smell transfer. Putting it on a warm plate would make much more sense, if you heat the plate in the oven at around 70C it would even help to keep the meat warm
I've tried this and it worked really well. Of course I used just a plate and did it on that.
Hmm interesting...think I'll stick with seasoning the meat. Sounds kinda bland by comparison of really releasing the flavors of all the aromatics in the pan.
@@Aliyah_666 I wasn't aware that human taste receptors primarily were concentrated in the ears.
"Common technique called dressing the board."
So common that when he said it, it was the first time in history anyone ever combined those words together.
I was hoping he was just throwing salt and pepper on the cutting board, before plopping the raw steak on it, as some lazy man way to season his steak. Then he cooks an unseasoned steak and throws it on at the end so you dirty up a 2nd cutting board for no reason.
I wonder if he's English. I've heard English people complain about food being unseasoned while cooked and you add salt and pepper at the table to taste. Not a great idea but I wonder if this is why he does this.
@@Kefka2010 I searched and saw some Jamie Oliver references to seasoning a cutting board. I'm not lying.
Actually it's a technique that's been around for about a decade or so, though not a very mainstream one. They're called "board sauces". I've never actually tried it myself so I can't say if it really works or not. But it's a real technique created by a chef.
@@alzaelnext638 Because it makes no sense. If you want to season food after you cook it, you make a dressing and toss it. You don't cover a flat surface and scrub the food around on it.
@@magnemmar4869 Supposedly it gets all of the juices worked into the meat, instead of losing some by resting the meat and letting it drip out or something. Don't ask me,I'm not a chef. I'm just pointing out that it is a real technique some chefs use for about a decade now. I think Perry Lang was the chef who created it.
Your face as he manhandles the steak chunks on that plastic cutting board, bro! hahahaha
hahaha 🤣🤣🤣 I never do that
I remember watching this video on Adam's channel quite some time ago. I never noticed how he was grabbing furiously at the steak while being inches away from the sharp side of the blade of his chef's knife.
I was a little worried he would cut himself , that knife was so close to his thumb while he was meat tossing.
I think the difference is 100 people a night vs 4 people a night. Its a lot easier to find the perfect why for 4 people.
So crazy idea: instead of "based on my experience this will/won't work," do a double blind experiment. Assemble some test diners, make some steaks, have one person label as prepared by method x vs. y (bottom of the plate seems fine), have somebody who didn't see which was which serve to diners, who rate the dishes. My gut says folks won't be able to tell which was which.
@@daviddickey370 if anything it will be like mixed drinks. "I cant taste the booze" so putting booze in the straw will elicit a more favorable reaction.
The same would be here with fresh cracked pepper and raw garlic.
if they cant tell which is which that means its pointless to season the cutting board as it can add microplastics
@@daviddickey370 no joke. This guy is using opinion and conjecture. What would happen if he actually duplicated the technique. Chefs are a very strange lot. Without experimentation there would be no innovation. There would be no Terriyaki on every corner in Seattle. Seriously.
More recently, Adam has revisited this method, and he’s admitted to not using it anymore. He did this because the steaks he bought tended to be cheap, and I think that gave them qualities that made this method viable, or desired at the very least. One TH-cam career later and he can buy the good steaks where this method is unnecessary if not ineffective.
And he does have a red cutting board, or at least did. The only time I’ve seen him use it was to contrast between his cutting board and some green pasta he was rolling out.
He should have larded then and or marinated the steak if he want it to be better. but Sous vide is still a better method and that is why so many top restaurants use it.
The red cutting board is for uncooked red meat though, for cooked meat it should be a brown board (it seems to differ between countries and looks like some countries use yellow one for that too)
I assume he just made this crap up to make a video. Not seasoning your food until after you're done cooking isn't a great idea.
Honestly though, seasoning a cheap steak with salt an hour before cooking and letting it come to room temperature will make it more tender and flavorful than whatever this was. The acid isn't a bad idea for tenderness but it would definitely need more time to break down the connective tissue in the meat. A drizzle of lime juice when seasoning and letting them sit. I've done it I the past with petite sirloins (American sirloin). It's a fairly cheap cut but can be good if prepared and cooked properly.
@@Kefka2010I can see resting something on some delicate herbs after cooking having potential - like basil on some sautéed fish or chicken? So the basil is warmed up and wilted but not actually *cooked*, since cooking delicate herbs can make them gross.
That part about red vs green cutting board was really cool information
good!
Most kitchen I worked at had system of
Red raw meats
Blue Raw fish
Brown unwashed veg/salad
Yellow cooked meats
White dairy or pastry
Green washed veg/salad
Purple gluten free
Sometimes black for high risk eg. Steak tartar
@drewdabbs418 we stopped doing it years before I arrived, we have to wash them immediately after each ingredient anyways, and we don't have enough of each colour
Isn't red for raw meat? @@ChefJamesMakinson
In fact, what you said in the beginning actually makes more sense: seasoning the plate is better than seasoning the board, since at least the contamination into the plastic of the board (and introduction of microplastics into the food) can be avoided!
I saw this technique on TikTok and while I have no intention of cooking steak this way, I did find a good application for this concept.
I bulk buy and pre-portion meats like pork and chicken and often sous vide them. Since I don't know what kind of dish I'll be making them in, I don't season them (or just salt at most). I've started putting them in a big bowl with butter and herb/seasonings after searing them. The residual heat melts the butter and the resting juices combine to make almost a pan sauce. Obviously, I could just make a pan sauce, but I've found this is a very low input method to add good flavor to lean meats. It's not exactly the same idea, but I think this is a more practical use.
Adam has actually done a video a few months back about how he makes steak now, and pointed out that that video going viral was part of how he now can afford better cuts of meat where he doesn't have to do stuff like that to make it interesting
so he's just showing this weird, potentially unhealthy method to drive engagement?
Sounds like cope, to be honest.
@@demoneyeslaharl Cope in what way?
@@Sayiiid It's like a kid basically saying that he wasn't wrong doing a bike stunt because he was able to get a new bike to replace the one he wrecked.
@@demoneyeslaharl or that thing people sometimes do on the internet when someone points out they're wrong, where they make fun of the other person for giving them attention anyway. It's maximum cope.
After watching Adam’s video, I started doing it myself and I love the method. I still like to salt my meat an hour before I cook it, but I hate the taste of cooked pepper, and I love a ton of freshly cracked pepper. I literally do not understand your concern about the plastic cutting board, so obviously this method works fine for me, lol.
About the plastic cutting board: The plastic is easy to clean well enough for safety, but hard to get all the flavours out, and a well cut up board loses a tiny amount of plastic each time it is used, which partially ends up in your food. The first effect should be tiny unless you're not cleaning your cutting board well enough or you've cut something especially pungent on the board and you don't want that flavour to come back each time. Cutting Caroline Reapers or other chilli peppers that come with danger labels could make re-using that board risky. The second effect is becoming more and more likely to be a long term health issue, though a lot of research still needs to be done.
This cooking video leads me to my favorite saying: "Just because you CAN do something doesn't always mean that you SHOULD"..... 😁😁
Very true just look at Jack's recipes
@@ChefJamesMakinsonthere are situations where the saying applies. but it shouldnt apply to crimes against humanity, like the Jack's cooking.
@@ChefJamesMakinson Lets be honest.... Jack wouldnt mess up a steak as badly as Adam R.
@@zarthemad8386if the person eating the steak enjoys it it's not messed up. I simple bulgogi would be better in my view.
Or sear off and cook the steak then make a pan sauce.
@@ChefJamesMakinson Exactly.
Adam is one of my favorite food youtubers, yeah he is crazy and kinda experiments while cooking but i just love his pursuit on constantly finding ways of doing things that are either easier for him/more fun in the kitchen.
th-cam.com/video/Wy6kZm-lC4g/w-d-xo.htmlsi=n_9xrXA3V6z5AHY8
he's a little kooky and that's probably why i like him.
@@krishanpaul2 True ^^
Use CLARIFIED BUTTER, it can go in the whole time, I use clarified butter and thyme or sometimes tarragon, for leaner cuts
So I can use Ghee
Always keep your emotional support butter at hand.
Ghee for searing , butter for basting , because that's the whole point of butter ...
"Butter makes everything butter!"
And it is ridiculously easy to clarify your own butter.
Agreed, I always keep my cutting boards, I have three wooden boards, one for vegetables, one for pork and beef and one for poultry, all of which I am cleaning by soaking them in white vinegar mixed with water and washing them after with olive oil soup (I make my own it's easy and last longer than plate soap), works wonders and it doesn't leave any odd smells.
I season my cutting board all the time. I also make sure to cut it into cubes and sear the outside of it before putting it in the oven and broiling it. I like it medium rare, It gives a lot of flavor and woody aroma.
Ive been using a herbed plastic cutting board to save even more time. that way when the Endocrine disrupting carcinogens from the plastic leach into the steak, they also flavor the meat. Saves a ton of time.
Absolutely agree no resting on plastic boards!
At the very least, it can warp the board.
@@blarghchan Not more than the dishwasher will anyways, and you just straighten it out under hot water if it comes to that
@@OktoberStorm ...you shouldn't be putting them in a dishwasher, in the first place.
@@OktoberStorm why would you put them in the dishwasher when you already know that heat bends them..?
Better yet don't buy plastic cutting boards
Most restaurants kind of use a similar method in a way. A lot of restaurants take the pan that they use and add very cold butter to the pan. This deglazes some of those bits and cools down the pan quite a bit and quickly (adding half a stick of 2-4C butter to a 150-200C pan is going to bring you to a 90-100C temp, especially in most restaurant pans which are usually medium to light carbon steel or aluminum pans). You then toss in rosemary, garlic, herbs, etc into the melted butter and spoon it over the steak. Then finally you season with salt and pepper and set it to rest.
It more or less is the same method. The difference is really that home cooks use less heat and thus have heavier pans that distribute and retain heat better (restaurant chefs just control the heat themselves, they don’t need the pan to do that). And we tend to skimp on the butter at home. All that means we’re not controlling that finishing temp as precisely and so it makes sense to take the meat off the hot pan instead.
I have never been in a kitchen that cooks like this
@@ChefJamesMakinson it’s essentially the classic butter basted steak recipe. Or olive oil basted. I just explicitly denoted that your lowering that one of the objectives it not to be at full heat because obviously at full searing meat temperature you’ll really smoke the butter/oil instantly.
I think Adam is essentially achieving that same effect with residual heat and by releasing the garlic and rosemary oils onto the board. However I doubt Adam is going to get as much of a concentrated butter flavor.
got this vid suggested to me as an adam subscriber, and gotta say this was a fun watch :D one thing i'd note is that adam makes vids for home cooks; yeah, a sous vide would do a better job at infusing flavours, but most home cooks don't have one (hell, my family would kill to have a steak at all, personally)
most of us do have a cutting board, though, so obviously that's gonna be more helpful
using a plastic cutting board is iffy though, i admit, even if it has been cleaned, glad you mentioned the associated risks (one gripe i've always had with this vid is that adam hasn't really gotten to the point where he'd bring up such safety risks back when he made this one) and the metal bowl alternative, since that's at least viable for a lot of people who want to cook at home
I definitely prefer to season early so the salt has time to permeate the steak. IIRC, Cook's Illustrated did experiments with early vs late seasoning and they also strongly preferred early-seasoned foods -- though they did find late seasoning requires far less salt to taste equally salty; it might be a valid option if you're trying to cut down on sodium
Adam Ragusea isn't a chef but a journalist with a passion for cooking. Like any enthusiastic cook, he enjoys experimenting in the kitchen. Recently, I, too, started seasoning my steaks after cooking them, which has provided a refreshing alternative to traditional methods. While he suggests seasoning on a cutting board, I agree with those who recommend using a heated plate or bowl for better hygiene. Additionally, sous vide remains a niche technique for home cooks. Adam's videos are consistently aimed at the everyday person.
yes but he does like to come off as knowing more then most chefs, even going after Marco Pierre White. He is not humble to say the least
@@ChefJamesMakinson I don't watch all of Adam Ragusea's videos, but the ones I have seen seemed reasonable. However, this one is the most outrageous I've seen from him. Safety first, and that just flew out the window here.
I made some research about cutting boards a few years back because I was using a wood one and the things I saw about plastic and wood ones is that they either absorb stuff or stuff may get stuck in the cracks as you mentionned. so my utimate solution was the glass cutting board, which is what I got. As for the recipe, I'm not against it, but I have my doubts, I guess you could try it your way (without the plastic cutting board thing) and see how it turns out 😉
I've never had a glass cutting board! Does it have an adverse effect on knife sharpness in your experience?
yummy microplastic seasoning 🥰😋
hahaha adds flavor 🤣
Better than vitamins 😊
Haha thats what im talking about lol
😅😂
U gotta love your plastic, I mean, steak and plastic is a match made in heaven
I'd use a herbed butter. For some applications it will be nice to add a touch of lemon zest too. Just before this I saw Guga on MSG cured egg yolk. I haven't tried it, but I'd like to try to add a touch of that in to the mix as well.
I see a lot of people laying into Adam. I'd just like to say that Adam's videos are targeted toward home cooks. Which basically means ease of use and convenience are prioritized not necessarily speed at all costs. For example with flipping steaks often it's probably easier for a home cook to do that since you can see how it's going. Especially if you're trying it for the first time. Also saving time on dishes, Adam even mentions eating off the cutting board sometimes; something you could only get away with at home obviously. I also don't think Adam ever claimed this was like the "best way" to do anything. The "why I season my cutting board not my steak thing" is basically just him explaining why he does that as a home cook not that it's the "best" way to do things. Also whatever works works am I wrong? As far as I can see Adam's method works even if it's kind of unusual.
If this is your preferred method of cooking and eating steak I would alter it just a little bit. Instead of a flat plate I would use a soup/salad bowl big enough for the steak portions. I would rest the steak on top of the raw ingredients and then after cutting transfer everything into the warmed bowl to let it rest a second time. As you mentioned this would remove the worry of the steak picking up flavors from the used cutting board.
Former Chef here (did my apprenticeship '89-91) and never, ever have I seen or heard of "Dressing the Board."
Never saw it at the Radisson, never saw it at the Cloister on Sea Island, never saw it in my ACF books, and not anywhere in between that I have worked since. 🤣🤣🤣
Agreed. My father was an executive chef, started at the Dorchester in London in the 60s and worked with paul bocuse, wolfgang puck and many more, this was never something he taught me.
@@ChefJamesMakinson I've met Puck, but man what an honor it would have been to even be in the same room as Paul Bocuse!!
To be fair it went out of fad in haute cuisine centuries ago, being more a _service a la francaise_ type of thing.
i mean, it exists. you can google it.
Chef silently mouthing "grapefruit?" with a look of mild concern was hilarious.
Adam is more focused on the nice meal for a home cook, not training chefs or any other restaurant employee. He cooks for he and his wife.
I’ve cooked easily 1000 steaks in my life, and I’ve tried practically every method of cooking from sous vide to reverse sear, to pan cooking and almost every method and combination of seasoning you can imagine. Within the last year I started trying seasoning the cutting board like this, and honestly to me this method works as well as anything else. Also, flipping every 30 seconds is the way to go, the steak will be most pink edge to edge.
Why not use a ceramic plate to do this? I guess cutting it on a plate could be difficult but, seems weird to leave all that stuff on a cutting board.
you can cut it but I wouldn't let it sit on the board
Ceramic dulls the blade
@@ChefJamesMakinson What would you rest your Whole steak on, before cutting?
@ChefJamesMakinson maybe cut the meat on the board and then add it to the ceramic plate with all the seasoning? Of course, for me, i would just season the steak on the pan or grill... lol
Dull your knife. Also, it's hard to cut things on plates.
I have a well known high end steak restaurant near me in the US: I find high end steak restaurants tend to cook a little bit more rare (since they are getting good sources for farm raised beef). The steak never looks gray. I'm also baffled about seasoning a cutting board for steak-I tend to like to make a sauce after I sear a steak. Today I made steak au poivre. I do like to salt the steak a couple hours before cooking, so that I can dry the surface more. With au poivre, I actually don't salt the steak before searing, as I find my sauce sometimes gets a little too salty. I put black pepper on it, and then add salt to taste after the sauce has reduced (it probably also is getting some salt from the rinsed brined green peppercorns).
I prefer to season my mouth, eat the steak raw, then drink alcohol and swallow a lit match to cook the steak.
I actually tried it and it works well, definitely not using a plastic board for that, I season the plate or bowl instead, creating a "bed for the steak". It also helps if you are trying to lower sodium intake as you have far more control on the amount of salt used.
The idea of putting a hot steak right off the pan onto a plastic cutting board is disturbing. Plastic and high temperatures don't mix, and could absorb chemicals into the steak.
Most of the plastic cutting board are BPA-Free and can withstand high temps but still I like wood. Every kitchen uses them just so you know.
I've used Adam's method for a couple of years and it works great! Try it before you criticize and cast it aside. I used a wooden board, use Maldon's smoked salt to finish the steak.
Adam: "Don't rest your steak. It does nothing."
Also Adam: "I season my cutting board so my steak can absorb the seasoning while it rests."
🤣
Adding a section where you test the recipes and methods would make these videos so much better
I do but these videos take a lot of time
I like everything he did except use the plastic cutting board. I would take your suggestion, James, and use a metal container. From a medical point of view regarding the meat, his logic is spot on. I am going to try this, as I dislike herbs that are fried and would rather have my steak plain instead, but this I think I could go with. Great episode and food for thought...literally.
I like to use a "weak" brine for defrosting meat (and also marinating fresh meat) - like say depending on how much meat, I'd use like 1/3 cup salt for Turkey or a large roast such as a leg of lamb, and a couple tablespoons or less for chicken legs, steak, chops, etc. and then half that amount of sugar. I also put in herbs to complement whatever it is but I do have a baseline standard of sumac (a tablespoon or two), szechuan peppercorns, and stripped lemongrass whole leaves. Sometimes I add a bit of cinnamon if it's pork. Sage if it's turkey or whole chicken. Rosemary for lamb. Maybe also a crushed cardamom (green) pod or two. I don't always use thyme but sometimes for whole chicken/turkey. I let that steep in the boiling water I used to dissolve the salt and sugar, almost like a tea, for about half an hour before adding cold water and then adding a teaspoon of tapioca starch (a 'secret' meat tenderizer according to Canadian-Chinese chef Stephen "Wok with Yan" - not to be confused with or related to Martin "Yan Can Cook".) and then the meat. I've noticed top sirloin comes out pretty good when done up like this. It's weak so i can run it overnight or even for 2 days if necessary.
This method makes no sense. The part about pepper burning.... great. But I'm not making a "peppered steak" to begin with. I could say more but it would break your rules for being respectful. And just lightly sprits some water on the plate, then microwave the plate to warm it. Don't waste 3 gallons of water to warm 1 plate.
pepper almost never burns unless the pan is way too hot, it's kind of a myth that it's bad to add it before cooking
I don't mind the method, although tossing the steak in the juices might affect the texture of the sear somewhat, maybe cut on a plate though. But yeah I use the method of putting plates directly on the fire sometimes too,.
Love your content! You're the Best ❤❤❤
I might try this technique, but I would use a plate or bowl rather than the board. Also, I would use a spatula, NOT a sharp knife, to collect the juices. When you use something sharp, you could be putting plastic, wood, or even metal shavings into your food.
Salting a cutting board is the culinary equivalent of shitting yourself during an interview.
i flip my steaks as often as i want and need to. i also use oil and not butter, because i finish it in the pan and not in the oven and i dont want to burn the butter. for seasoning i add salt and pepper with some herbs (depends what i have at that time) with a splash of soy souce (just be carefull with the salt)
I like a little bit of steak with my plastic shavings 😂😂
I have never tried it, but I think it looks interesting and may work. If you don't like cutting meat on cutting boards, you can use a staneless steel - and sharpen your knive more often. I think the herbs may taste a little different in raw state.
8:02 His hand and fingers are awfully close to the knifes edge
yes they were
I also salt the steak about 30 minutes beforehand. Then the meat goes on the grill. And about 30 seconds before it is finished grilling, I put pepper on both sides and let the pepper sweat briefly. (The heat helps the pepper release its terpenes better)
With the spices, they give off different terpene* flavors depending on whether they have been processed at a higher temperature. So with some compositions it is very worthwhile to add fresh spices after the marinade that was applied before grilling.
Bonn Appetit
mmmm microplastics from the cuttingboard. my favourite...
😂😂
@@ChefJamesMakinson also yeah hot and fatty things on top of plastic cuttingboard is not great. both warm and fatty things can cause plastic to leak some phthalates which can cause issues with hormones.
I don't even like cutting raw chicken on my plastic meat cutting board. I sort of cut from underneath while holding it in the air with gravity helping. Cannot imagine putting cooked food on a plastic cutting board. Even if they were leftovers I was going to put out for street cats.
You’re not escaping them. A recent study found microplastics in semen samples from every single human tested, and even in dogs. There is no escape. They’re in you RIGHT NOW!!! 🎉🎉🎉
Considering the amount of microplastics that are hidden so many things we consume that's going to be an absolutely negligable amount
My mom bought some cheap steaks and she was complaining about how they were really tough, so I took some honey and put the steaks and honey into a bag and left it in the fridge, the honey has protease which breaks down the protiens and makes the meat tender. Don't leave the steak in honey too long otherwise it will fall apart and not be very nice at all. You can use the same trick with pineapple as well.
Or just buy quality steaks. you won't regret it. my favorite steak is the ribeye cap.
Adam's essay videos about food related topics are excellent, especially his deep dives into the science and history of it. But his cooking is ... let's say special. He makes a lot of very questionable, if not downright bad choices when it comes to ingredients and certain techniques. He freakin' put worcestershire sauce in his bolognese. I lost so much respect for him when I saw that LMAO
He also messes up cultural foods of countries foreign to them, akin to appropriating. He is a bad cook and a douche.
Interesting idea...I'd like to see you try it, maybe with the metal bowl instead of cutting board, and see what you think about the result.
Maybe I will!
He uses a dry sponge in water to illustrate a moist steak absorbing butter, pepper and herbs... that's not really equivalent, is it? It looked more like the stuff on the cutting board really just COATED the steak, it didn't seem to be absorbed.
Great video, James! I think your version of "Putting your leg down" is when you raise that one eyebrow! Put that in your next thumbnail! lol
That's what I was thinking. Osmosis of water and diffusion of various complex chemical chains aren't exactly analogous in this way... I think.
He was trying to make a point but the steak is not a sponge, once the fibers push out the water it is not easy for it to reabsorb. I will try that!! :)
@@ChefJamesMakinson I have had some good success with a steak re-absorbing quite a lot of its juices as it cools the two or three times i've tried to give the steak some more time to rest in its juices, but this is something you should test out for yourself. Don't take my word for it, I have way too little experience with cooking.
I use two cutting boards, one Is a large bamboo wood for protein and the other is smaller one of oak wood for vegetables. I love wood boards because wood doesn't dull the knife, however, they do take more time to sanitize and properly condition after use. Plastic boards will dull knives, retain unwanted odor and offer up shaved plastic in your food.
Look just sear a beef steak on flat iron in clarified butter add herbs and such, baste and let it rest on the board. You can thank me later
Adam Ragusea has some good stuff and then a couple really really dumb takes. Seasoning the cutting board is one, but another dumb favorite of mine is his argument that imperial measurements are better for cooking than metric ones. He doesn't really have any evidence for it besides just him being American.
He's very opinionated, he also talks about making a good tortilla, having zero skill making it himself
He never said one is better. The title is literally "My problem with metric recipes". His problem is that translating recipes from metric to imperial (or vice versa) isn't a good thing and will never result in the same recipe, not that one is inherently better or worse. Did you even watch the video?
I think that something that should be noted is that you can always toast whole black peppercorns and then add that to a finished dish. This helps to enhance the flavor while minimizing the risk of burning. I've been using this method for making many of my favorite Italian dishes such as Carbonara.
To be honest, the cutting board seems to be a non-related gimmick to the suggestion. In the end Adam Ragusea is just seasoning the steak after he finishes cooking it rather than pre-marinade or during cooking. Where he seasons it is somewhat irrelevant to the actual act of seasoning. You can do the same seasoning by putting all the seasonings in a warmed stainless bowl and add the Steak after cutting into the bowl. Sure you may lose some of the juice from the steak but you would anyway when transferring the steak from the cutting board to a plate, or to your mouth unless you want to lick the cutting board. I would think something like a bowl would be more practical, the way people season Buffalo wings after frying. I just feel Adam did this since it looks very strange and thus increasing the curiosity and the clicks to the video. At least he isn't eating Tide Pods for the clicks.
Wow you must be nominated for a Nobel prize after that 2 paragraph response. Cooking a piece of meat isn't that hard bro. Glad to see I'm not the only one who overcomplicates cooking.
I'd wish you would add tide pods to your breakfast routine so we can see the results in your comments. Can't imagine that they would change much.
I lightly salt my steaks and let them dry brine in the fridge for a while before I cook them, but then also serve it with some extra salts that people can add to them while eating, since not everybody likes the same amount of salt, but I do like to have at least a little bit of salt already in it. The dry brine also helps to get a better sear as well as helps the meat to retain more moisture when cooked.
I call shenanigans on this. The ingredients NEED to go into the pan so they can cook together with the steak, imparting their flavors into the meat. The residual heat of a cooked steak is hardly enough to draw out the aroma of the spices. Plus, with the sear on it, the steak is basically shut, so putting it on butter at that point provides a miniscule film at the bottom, at best.
When he cut the steak to pieces and tossed it into the spices again, that's when I started to wonder if that is a joke video. If that's his concern, he could still put everything in the pan, and then pour the remaining stuff into a bowl and toss the meat pieces in that. More flavor, less plastic.
shenanigans I haven heard that word in years haha
The whole "infusing" concept is nonsense for steak in a pan. It works for slow cooking processes with lots of contact (sous vide is perfect), not something quick with only one side in contact like this. If you doubt me, try this experiment: make two steaks, one basted with your herbs in the pan and one without basting at all; cook the same herbs in some butter until fragrant, the same as the ones you did in the pan, and drizzle them over the unbasted steak. You won't get any real difference because a steak can't absorb any meaningful level of aroma in the pan like that. It's why I just make compound butters (cooking the herbs if they need it before they go in the butter) and put them on either right out of the pan or right before eating, depending on whether I want them fully melted or not. Just as good or better than doing them in the pan with the steak, and way easier.
I agree with you that this is nonsense, but the steak is not "shut". The whole idea of "sealing in the juices" is a myth. Browning is for flavor, not for trapping liquid.
Makes sense if you think about it, the liquid isn't pouring out of the meat when it's raw.
The ingredients are all fresh and you eat them along with the steak, so you get all their flavors. It’s just a matter of preference. I HATE the dull taste of cooked pepper, and I hate overly salty meat (ie meat that’s basically salted at all), so this method is exactly how I prefer it.
I don’t get the plastic comments. It doesn’t taste like plastic. It tastes exactly the same as doing it the traditional way and cracking the pepper on at the end. It’s just easier this way.
I agree with you James and what a waste of hot water, you can even warm a plate in a microwave if your plates are microwave proof. they will actually warm up
That cutting board is nasty, dude is seasoning his food with microplastics
Youre gonna be eating microplastics anyways. The cutting board is the least of your concerns.
Doesn't look too bad, but with some modifications. I would add the butter and the herbs in the pan right at the end and then after it has rested, slice it and mix it with all herbs and the juices in a metal bowl. The metal bowl should probably be pre-heated to keep the temperature of the meat. Regarding the pepper I can buy that, but I would add some salt before cooking.
7:36
I love how you look at the camera when he says “flavor augmented beef juice”
I think, and that's just me and I am not sure, it's best to add the pepper to the stake together with the butter and rosmarin in the end.
Simple because I managed once to burn pepper.
I was wondering why people always said to only flip the steak once. I had no idea. I always flipped chicken cutlets a lot because they seemed to turn out better. It probably allows the moisture to evaporate easier and stuff.
I have to admit I like the idea of seasoning after cooking but I would probably use a heated bowl with the butter melted and herbs stewed in it. The added surface area of cut steak taking in more of the seasoning flavors sounds delicious.
you can just as easily season the beef in the pan as on the cutting board. The change in flavor profile of certain herbs, spices, and seasonings as they cook is the only reason I can see to change how you season it, and even then, I'd season on plate, because yes, cutting boards aren't always sanitary.
He mentioned how doing the prep on the butter, herbs, and seasonings while the meat is cooking saved time, then he sliced, mixed by hand, then let it rest a second (undisclosed amount of) time.
All that time mixing and resting a second time could have been used prepping and using the flavorings and seasonings on your meat before cooking, so the flavor can be throughout the meat and not just on the surface. It's not much time since most people only use salt, pepper, and butter. Other things like garlic powder and thyme (what i use when i cook a steak) dont take much time either since most peiple will have it already in a grinder or something.
As a video request: If you havent already watched them, I would love to see your reactions to both of Adam's "knife skills don't matter" videos.
I need to see that one!
I just found your channel a couple of days ago and I must say your videos are very informative, engaging and entertaining. You are also very polite and kind. Got a new subscriber out of me and I will definitely be referring my friends to your channel. I look forward to trying out your lasagna recipe on my next diet cheat day.
Thank you so much!! :)
Put the seasonings in a SS mixing bowl and after you cut the steak toss it about in the bowl. Don't flip the steak around on the board with your hands. Cleaner in more ways than one and would not risk turning your guests off to eating the meal you've prepared.
I season the steak, grill it, place it on a plate, then put butter on top and cover with foil to rest 5 mins.
Microwave is a great option for heating plates for least amount of energy spent. splash of water on each plate and stack them up. No more than a couple minutes and they're all hot. All microwaves are different so be very careful not to get burned by the plate or the water until you know what yours is capable of. If you want to be super safe you can wear a white cut glove for a little insulation with a waterproof glove of your choice over it. Which is how I butcher because I don't want my cut glove to get nasty.
"Unless he's gonna be eating off the cutting board" Me in my kitchen cooking alone... "Am I not supposed to do that?"
The look on his face at 13:47 did me in 😂 ohh I'm so glad I stumbled onto this channel
I like adding herbs and butter to the pan after the first flip. The herbs and garlic fuse with the fat in the pan and the heat helps that. Then I baste to keep the top of the steak moist and warm. good technique and heat control you can avoid burning the rosemary and garlic. I'm also not a fan of rosemary bits in my food. Instead, I enjoy the rosemary flavor being imparted in hot oil.
I'm sure his steak tasted fine and fits his taste, but for me I don't those grassy flecks in my food along with undercooked garlic.
Quick PSA: Microplaning garlic will make it quite spicy! You might want to try a bit of that before adding it to any dish if you never did that before.
yeah, I'll follow your advice.
I'm using a mix of Griswold, Marquette, Lodge, and Butter Pat items for cooking.
I'm thinking about seeking out a decent nonstick to use every now and again, but we'll see.
I was just about to mention Hestons testing when you first mentioned not repeatedly turning the steak. And then you pulled that fact out.
I'm impressed m8. Not many seem to be aware that happened.
My dishwasher has a plate warming setting. I keep the dinner plates in there and run that setting while getting ready to serve dinner.
A free way to heat a plate is to put it on the stovetop when you're done cooking, and let it absorb some residual heat. You could put the hot pan on top too depending on how clean it is, probably not if you've been burning gas. Obviously make sure it's not too hot! Works nice on an induction stove (and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't warmed a few tortillas on there too)
I actually tried this method shortly after the video came out because I was curious. Came out really good, though I haven't done it again since (mostly because I forget). Did use a wooden cutting board, before anyone worries about microplastics, nor did I toss it with my hands lmao.
Personally i like to season the butter before eating the pan, but that's just my preference
Saw Adam's video when it first came out and I never wanted to try the method. For me, cutting the meat at the table is part of the enjoyment of eating a steak and prolongs the experience - a steak salad is unappealing. I (almost) always dry brine my steaks for about an hour. You can see the juices release and get reabsorbed. End product is much juicier. (Thanks, Guga!) And you're spot on about sous vide. Total game changer to infuse flavour. As for time, sous vide prep is about 2 minutes, cooks itself for a couple of hours, and then a couple minutes to sear it in a piping hot pan. Before I had my circulator (that I use in a Home Depot bucket with a cut-out lid), I did sous vide on the stove top with a thermometer. Worked great!
I quite like the method! Especially with how the seasoning isn't as cooked, I do love those fruity raw pepper flavours. I do agree with you about the cutting board though, not sanitary enough to have meat resting on it. A serving tray or plate would be fine. A glass cutting board would be fine too if you really enjoying sharpening your knives.