Cooking the Perfect Steak


Cooking the perfect steak is a question that is often asked and invariably receives a different answer from each chef that is asked. The answer is that it depends on the meat, equipment available, the technique used, and the skills of the chef.

 



I think it's suffice to say that most of you will be at home, using a pan or barbeque. So I won't go into chargrills, silex grills or mirror grills.


The pan must be hot, so a heavy skillet style pan is preferred rather than a thin cheap fry pan from the supermarket. The reason is simple, a heavy pan will take longer to heat, which means it takes longer to cool, thus giving a sustainable heat. If cooking on a BBQ, hot coals in the middle, to seal the meat and cooler coals at the edge for finishing. Add the oil to the hot pan and wait until the smoke begins to rise.

 



The steak must be allowed to breathe. Don't cook a steak straight from the fridge, allow it to get to room temperature. Meat is built up in fibres, so allow it to relax. This is known as resting, and is done both before and after cooking.

 



Your steak must be seasoned, and there are many ways to do this. The standard is to use salt and pepper, you can go sea salt and cracked black pepper, or maybe a la cart, where you use table salt and ground white pepper and finish with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Some say that using different oils, such as peanut oil or sesame oil can give a richer flavour, or using animal fat. Using fat or oil to flavour is a technique to enhance what is known as the Maillard reaction.


When the meat hits the heat of the pan, the amino acids and sugars are heated and interact with each other in a process known as the Maillard reaction. The molecules of the amino acids and sugars combine, thus creating the cooking aromas and flavors. The Maillard reaction is also responsible for the brown colour of cooked foods, or caramelisation.

 

 



I was taught by an old school chef who would say to me 'Cooking steak is about salt, fat and acid'

He taught me that a marbled steak has enough fat in it to cook evenly and caramelise beautifully. He would oil and season, then allow to warm for a couple of minutes, sometimes he would sear the meat and let it rest for twenty minutes, and they would be dressed with lemon juice and oil before serving.


Some steaks can carry quite a lot of fat, such as large rib-eye. Some chefs like to use a rub on such steaks, especially if it's a 16oz or even a 32oz. 

 



When the pan is hot, it will start to smoke, a little oil in the pan or on the meat, and place it in the pan, don't be too eager to turn the meat, it should sizzle nicely, and be allowed to caramelise to a fine crust. Gently lift the edge of the meat to inspect, and after a minute or two, turn your steak. At this point you want to press on the meat with your finger to see how soft it is. Different steaks have different density and fat content, so by doing this, you can monitor the steaks progress. As the heat is penetrating, the more the meat is cooking, and the will become firmer.


I'm not going into cooking times here, I'll just give a rule of thumb to give you a frame of reference. A bleu steak is when the meat has been heated to kill bacteria, sealed, but essentially, almost raw, and very soft indeed. A bleu can be as little as 30 secs to a minute on each side and seal the edges


Rare is about 1 – 1 ½ mins each side. Red in colour with a fair amount of juice. There will be some resistance when you press the meat but it should still feel soft and tender.


Medium Rare is about 2 mins per side. Pink meat with juices. Soft and spongy


Medium is 2.5 mins per side. Steak is mostly cooked with some pink in the middle. The steak will feel quite firm, but tender.


Steaks shouldn't be cooked beyond a medium in my book, but if you have to, Well-done is 4 to 5 mins. Cooked all the way through and the meat should have a bouncy, firm feel.

When ready, remove the steak and rest on a plate in a warm place before serving


If you want to check out a few different styles, then here are some video links to check out.


Gordon Ramsay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmC9SmCBUj4



Jamie Oliver's mate Pete - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5gcJjOSDv4



Gennaro Contaldo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3bz3gmePTs



Raymond Blanc - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqVHwVk6cOQ



Theo Randall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbVek_IClzU



Aussie Griller - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzaW_RKSBDE

Aussie Griller - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik-CyY6zEvU



AllasYummyFood - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQo86r54xOg



cooking any meat is basically experience, so try different types of steak, and different types of meat, such as lamb steaks, gammon, mutton chops, etc.



visit your butcher, see what's available and have fun.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
SUNDAY ROAST DINNER IN THE MICROWAVE  The Roast Dinner on a Sunday, Mid-Week or even Christmas Day can be quite a task. The trick is to make sure that everything on the plate is piping hot and your onto a winner. Older generations have the view that the Roast Dinner is something a bit special, especially those who lived through the years where food was on the ration, where plates were rarely filled up for over a decade as rationing continued for nine years after the end of world war 2.  Due to the respect of the Roast Dinner, it is considered to be Englands National Dish. The french actually refer to us as Ros Bifs (Roast Beefs) The origins of the Roast Dinner are from people basically cooking a large meal for after church on a Sunday. Some families would fast before going to church, and would required a large meal for later. The meat would cook while the family were at the church service, and the veg was cooked when they returned. During the ...
Read more
Image
Slow Cooker Recipes Like a lot of people, I own a slow cooker, and I love using it. It surprises me how many people tell me that they never use theirs. The things that you can do with your slow cooker are amazing. Stews, casseroles, curry's, slow cooked meat, stroganoff, pasta, etc, etc, etc. First things first, This is similar to mine  Not expensive, and has three settings, warm, low and high. Lets say that you have a piece of meat that you want to slow cook, beef or maybe pork. what I do is seal the meat in a large iron skillet then put into the slow cooker. Pour hot water in until it just covers the meat, then two halves of onion, a chicken or veg stock cube, a stick of celery and a carrot sliced up the middle. finish with a bay leaf and leave it for about an hour per kilo. I just leave it for about five hours, checking every two or three hours, the longer you leave it, the softer it is. This is a good way of making pulled pork. ...
Read more

Vegetarian and Meat-Free

Image
Vegetarian and Meat-Free I ' ve been looking into Vegetarian dishes for quite some time, as my daughter was unable to eat meat after giving birth. She was never one for red meat anyway, but now cannot eat any kind of meat or fish. When I cook a meal for the family, I sometimes cook four completely different meals, but most of the time I cook the same for everyone, which can be challenging when it's something like a Roast Dinner, and there is a veggie in the fray. There are two types here, there is Vegetarian, where the meal has been designed with vegetarians in mind, and there is Meat-free, where the meat of an established dish has been replaced with non-meat ingredients. But in saying that, it's not wrong to say Vegetarian L asagne as opposed to saying Meat-free Lasagne. It really doesn't matter, just don't mix up vegetarian with vegan, they are two completely different things. The basic rule of thumb is to simple depart any meat, so when cooki...
Read more