Why Geoffrey Zakarian Isn't A Fan Of Wet Marinades

Whether you're an avid home cook or a newbie to making dinner for yourself, no one wants to ruin a steak by preparing it the wrong way. Armed with the best ways to cook a steak, you can still end up with a meal that's subpar, and it all comes down to how you prep the meat. Geoffrey Zakarian, celebrity chef and Food Network host, shared some of his best steak tips with Tasting Table, including why he isn't a fan of wet marinades. Ultimately, this is mostly about one or two common ingredients used in wet marinades.

"I always dry-marinate. I never put a wet marinade in anything, because the minute you put soy in something and you marinate it, it's just all the salt that cooks the beef. ... So dry-marinate, whatever spices you want, but no salt and no soy," Zakarian told Tasting Table. With Zakarian's suggestion in mind, you'll still want to leave the salt out of your dry rub, but there's another reason dry reigns supreme over wet marinades.

Apart from the salt or soy in wet marinades, preemptively cooking the meat, dry rubs work better than wet marinades because they are just that: dry. When a wet marinade is used to season and tenderize steaks, it adds a lot of moisture to the outside of the cut. When there is more moisture on the surface of the steak, it takes longer to evaporate off before you can properly sear and cook the steak. This also means you could end up overcooking your steak.

To make a steak at home that tastes like a $50 Ruth Chris cut, it's all about the sear. A steak gets most of its flavor from the caramelization that occurs as it is seared. But in order to achieve this well, you need a dry surface so the meat can begin to undergo that Maillard reaction as soon as it hits a hot pan. So, for the best cook and flavor, follow Zakarian's advice and avoid salty, wet marinades. Stick to your favorite seasonings and spices in a dry rub instead.