When seasoning meat before cooking, there are really two ways you can go about it.
Firstly, season it right before cooking or searing. This way the surface of the meat will be seasoned, and you’ll get flavour in every bite.
The other way to go about it is to season your meat, then let it rest for an hour or two. Moisture will be drawn out of the meat by the salt, but will be reabsorbed with some of the salt over the time period. This is the way I prefer to do it whenever possible.
If you do something in between, like seasoning a steak, and leaving it sit for 20 minutes, you’ll notice a layer of moisture on the surface. This has been pulled out of the meat. If you cook the meat after a short rest, you’ll lose that moisture.
