Culinary virgin desperately seeking guidance on seasoning and cold searing a steak

As the title says, it’s my first time cooking a steak. Ever.

After watching and drooling over a ton of YouTube videos on easy ways to cook steaks at home, I finally succumbed and bought a frozen 1.9lb 1.75” thick prime ribeye. It’s been defrosting in the fridge in its original package for the last 2 days; I was originally planning to season it this morning and then let it rest in the fridge uncovered until tomorrow night when I’ll be cold searing it for dinner, but then I sort of chickened out, scared it might turn out to be too salty and I really don’t want to ruin such an expensive piece of meat. So right now I’m kind of stumped and unsure what’s the best way to proceed. And meanwhile the steak is still sealed with it’s own juices in a vacuum bag, hanging out in the fridge

From my internet research, I’ve determined that these are the universal rules to cooking a good steak regardless of the method used:
1) a dry piece of meat is essential for developing a good crust
2) allowing a steak to rest uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 1-3 days will let it air out and dry off some moisture
3) sprinkling (kosher) salt on raw meat will initially pull moisture out of it but it will eventually re absorb the liquid back into itself
4) in terms of seasoning/ salting duration prior to cooking, opinions vary hugely- ranging from a few minutes to 2-3 days ahead (side question- is salting far in advance the same as dry brining?)

I got to thinking, can I keep it in the fridge uncovered for a day or 2 to dry off first, and then salt it maybe just a couple hours before cooking? Is there any point to doing it in this order, or would it be counter productive because it would end up drawing moisture to the surface of a previously dried steak which would negate the 1-2 days air drying in fridge and hinder the formation of a proper crust when cooking? The reason I ask is because while I want a nice crust (hence it’s imperative I start the cook with a little surface moisture as possible), I’m also terrified that letting it salt for so long might possibly result in something too salty or funny textured…

My question about cold searing is much simpler- am I supposed to let the steak warm to room temp before starting to cold sear, or should the steak go straight from fridge to cold skillet directly?

I’d really appreciate if someone can tell me the dummies version of what to do please. Thank you!

submitted by /u/Carlapanda
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