Cooking a decent steak

[zakelwe]

Here's my "recipe".

1. Get the largest frying pan you can and heat it on full for AT LEAST 5 minutes with no fat in the pan. Do not chicken out.

2. The steak must be at least 1 inch thick. I prefer ribeye.

3. Sprinkle the steak with aromat seasoning depending to taste (can be left out if you don't like it or for health reasons).

4. Put the steak in the pan and weigh it down with a plate. Keep the heat up. Shut the doors so your smoke alarm does not go off

5. Cook to how you like it, I like it black and blue and although this is not as black and blue as you get in a USA joint like Wolensky or Lugers it is not bad for a home effort. I do 2 minutes each side.

6. Some people let it rest but by that stage I am too busy stuffing it down my throat.

Regards
Andy

[Glocko]

LET IT REST!!

[mechsympathy]

zakelwe said:

4. Put the steak in the pan and weigh it down with a plate. Keep the heat up. Shut the doors so your smoke alarm does not go off

Weigh it down?

zakelwe said:

5. Cook to how you like it, I like it black and blue and although this is not as black and blue as you get in a USA joint like Wolensky or Lugers it is not bad for a home effort. I do 2 minutes each side.

Black and blue??

zakelwe said:

6. Some people let it rest but by that stage I am too busy stuffing it down my throat.

As has been said: Rest it!!

[Plotloss]

mechsympathy said:

Black and blue??

Burned on the outside (pan needs to be searingly hot, ideally done over a flame grill), raw in the middle.

And presumably cold/chilled in the middle and bloody if its gone from fridge to pan to gob without resting.

[neilsfishing]

Stake for me tonight

[TubbyRutter]

neilsfishing said:

Stake for me tonight

Think i'll just have the chips

[zakelwe]

Yes, if you like it medium or such then you have to turn the heat down after 1 minute each side at full and then juggle it around while the pan cools down. I've never tried it as I don't like them medium.

I think the professional cookers in the USA at over 600C when they cook. It's rather hard to emulate that at home with normal stuff.

Regards

Andy

[zakelwe]

Plotloss said:

mechsympathy said:

Black and blue??

Burned on the outside (pan needs to be searingly hot, ideally done over a flame grill), raw in the middle.

And presumably cold/chilled in the middle and bloody if its gone from fridge to pan to gob without resting.

Oi, it is not burned, it is seared . Yes, you need the steak at room temperature before starting, forgot to mention that. However you will find that resting does not help the middle get warm, it just cools the outside down.

Regards

Andy

[krallicious]

Horses for courses etc but I am glad you will never be cooking my steak.

[OllieWinchester]

Resting isn't for cooling the steak down, its a complex chemical process whereby the meat actually relaxes after bunching up while being cooked.

This may not be the most technical way to explain it, but you get the drift, where is Hugh F-W's book when you need it.

[Melman Giraffe]

OllieWinchester said:

Resting isn't for cooling the steak down, its a complex chemical process whereby the meat actually relaxes after bunching up while being cooked.

This may not be the most technical way to explain it, but you get the drift, where is Hugh F-W's book when you need it.

It helps the meat relax as it tenses up (It is a mussel after all) during cooking so will be chewy if eaten immediately.

[zakelwe]

OllieWinchester said:

Resting isn't for cooling the steak down, its a complex chemical process whereby the meat actually relaxes after bunching up while being cooked.

Nobody says it was. Your steak does get colder during resting though and with a black and blue that is more important than resting to me. Remember I'm only cooking the outside of the steak here and slightly inside, if it ain't cooked then it don't need to rest. If it was a medium steak then resting is more important, but then it would be hotter to start off with as well.

Regards

Andy

[neilsfishing]

TubbyRutter said:

neilsfishing said:

Stake for me tonight

Think i'll just have the chips

Ok Ok Steak, it sounds and reeds rong, though stake sounds better when red ferneticaily
it sounds and reeds wrong, though stake sounds better when read phonetically
Keep eating

[cramorra]

zakelwe said:

Plotloss said:

mechsympathy said:

Black and blue??

Burned on the outside (pan needs to be searingly hot, ideally done over a flame grill), raw in the middle.

And presumably cold/chilled in the middle and bloody if its gone from fridge to pan to gob without resting.

Oi, it is not burned, it is seared . Yes, you need the steak at room temperature before starting, forgot to mention that. However you will find that resting does not help the middle get warm, it just cools the outside down.

Regards

Andy

Resting needs to be done in the warm oven (ideally warming drawer set to 45 Celsius...)

[Lefty Guns]

Melman Giraffe said:

It helps the meat relax as it tenses up (It is a mussel after all) during cooking so will be chewy if eaten immediately.

No, it's a Steak.

This is a Mussel:



This is a Muscle:



Pedant mode off now, sorry 'bout that

[neilsfishing]

light weight

[escargot]

Mods, please rename thread 'How to ruin a decent steak'.

[spikeyhead]

escargot said:

Mods, please rename thread 'How to ruin a decent steak'.

+1

[ali_kat]

spikeyhead said:

escargot said:

Mods, please rename thread 'How to ruin a decent steak'.

+1

+2

And I LIKE blue steak

PS - has the search function broken, I'mn sure that there are at least 3 other threads on how to cook a steak properly in here (that actually give GOOD advice)

[anonymous-user]

zakelwe said:

1. Get the largest frying pan you can and heat it on full for AT LEAST 5 minutes with no fat in the pan. Do not chicken out.

Good.

zakelwe said:

2. The steak must be at least 1 inch thick. I prefer ribeye.

Good. I'm a sirloin man, personally, but ribeye is a perfectly acceptable substitute. Fillet is the best, IMO, but you have to be on top form to cook that or it'll turn to leather in an instant. Definitetly not one for amateurs.

zakelwe said:

3. Sprinkle the steak with aromat seasoning depending to taste (can be left out if you don't like it or for health reasons).

Good. Except it positively CAN NOT be left out. For any reason. I reccomend salt, black pepper, mustard seeds and something slightly spicy (a touch of cayenne pepper, or similar. Don't go overboard.)

zakelwe said:

4. Put the steak in the pan and weigh it down with a plate. Keep the heat up. Shut the doors so your smoke alarm does not go off

Never tried the plate thing before. Personally I try to leave it along once it's in the pan, just put it in and resist the urge to play about with it.

zakelwe said:

5. Cook to how you like it, I like it black and blue and although this is not as black and blue as you get in a USA joint like Wolensky or Lugers it is not bad for a home effort. I do 2 minutes each side.

2 mine each side on a red-hot pan (perhaps 15-30 seconds more) is perfect for me, I like mine medium-rare.

zakelwe said:

6. Some people let it rest but by that stage I am too busy stuffing it down my throat.

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!! No matter how desperate you are, let it rest!. Trust me, it's the difference between an ordinary steak and a fantastic one. Also, remove it from the fridge several hours before cooking and rest it then also.