The Best Way to Season Meat Evenly
Seasonings are obviously a very important part of cooking, second only to temperature control (and this is debatable in some cases). It doesn’t just make the food taste salty, it adds flavor to the food , period. When to season and how much to season are two factors that most people worry about, but the height at which you season your food can also have a big impact on how your food tastes. For best and most uniform results, sprinkle salt and other seasonings on top.
Not only does it look like a chef, but seasoning food from a decent distance results in salt, pepper, and any other powders, mixtures, or rubs spread evenly over your steak, chicken breast, or whatever.
But don’t take my word for it (although my word is quite trustworthy): Cook’s Illustrated did a little test to determine the best distance from which your food will be blessed with aroma:
We sprinkled the chicken breasts with ground black pepper at various heights—4 inches, 8 inches, and 12 inches—and found that the higher the starting point, the more evenly the seasoning was distributed.
You can click here to see the photo evidence, but it looks just like you would expect. Seasoning on chicken seasoned from four inches sticks together, mostly in a line down the center of the breast; the seasoning on the chicken, which has been seasoned from eight inches, is a little more spread out, though completely missing around the edges; and seasoning for chicken that has been seasoned from 12 inches nicely and evenly seasoned from edge to edge.
So season often, season wisely , season at the right time, and season with your hand high above your food—at least 12 inches. Do it for the taste, do it for the taste, do it for the food.