How long is a piece of rope? You might have better luck answering this question. Seriously, how to cook steak has to be one of the most debated topics in human history. A quick search on Google shows over 165 million results!
But thankfully you have come to the right place to find THE answer. Just like winning the lottery, but with worse odds, you have found the definitive answer to cooking the perfect steak.
Enough rambling, let's get in to it.
Step 1
Get some meat!
What cut though?
That is up to you and your own taste preferences. Personally, I like a steak with a nice amount of interstitial fat, or marbling as you may hear it called. Rib eye (aka rib steak, ribeye) is the perfect cut to start with. It's not as lean as some other cuts, like eye fillet or a New York strip, giving it the perfect amount of fat to render during cooking.
The ideal thickness for the steak should be between 2-2.5cm thick. Any thicker than this and you risk over cooking the outside and undercooking the centre. You will probably need to employ an exotic cooking technique such as reverse searing to get a thick cut to cook perfectly through. Not today son.
A beautiful rib eye steak [Photo by Kyle Mackie on Unsplash]
Step 2
Warm your meat to room temperature
Now that you've got your meat, you want to prepare it for cooking. To do this, you want to remove it from the fridge and allow it to warm up to room temperature before you cook it. If you want to guarantee that it is at room temperature throughout the entire cut of steak, I suggest placing it on a large plate of metal with a high thermal capacity. Wouldn't you know it, the MEATsink I have designed works perfectly for this! The large base of Aluminium has a fantastic heat storage capacity, meaning that the heat energy stored in the MEATsink will be transferred very efficiently in to your cut of steak using nothing but the laws of thermodynamics. Go science!
MEATsink with four cuts of picanha (rump cap) steak
Step 3
Season Your Meat
At this stage, your meat will be at the perfect temperature to season. There are two philosophies regarding seasoning your meat: Either season at least an hour before you cook, allowing the salt and pepper to enter the steak, or season just just before you cook.
I recommend seasoning your steak just before you cook. I find that seasoning too long before cooking steak can result in a dried out skin on your steak, as the salt has removed the water from the surface. Salting to early may also corrode your MEATsink or whatever metal plate you are using to rest your steak on.
Season just before cooking (within say 5 minutes) ensures your steak remains juicy and does not get dried out.
Step 4
Heat The Pan!
The pan you cook your steaks on is critical. Using a thick based pan, such as a cast iron frying pan or skillet ensures that the pan will stay hot when you add your steaks, ensuring the steak crust is nicely seared.
Cast iron pans cook perfect steaks! [Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash]
Once your pan has been heating at maximum temperature, turn it down to say 90% of the maximum temperature and add your oil. A flavourless oil with a high smoke point is ideal for cooking steaks; I recommend extra virgin olive oil, but you could use sunflower or vegetable oil. Add enough oil to cover the base of the pan, but not so much as to shallow fry the steaks. Wait around 15-30 seconds after adding the oil to the pan before adding your steaks. The oil should be lightly smoking before you start cooking.
Step 4
Get Cooking!
Add your steaks to the pan. Do not overcrowd the pan; one or two steaks is the maximum you should cook at one time. This is because the juice that comes out of the steak needs to evaporate and not remain in the bottom of the pan. This will happen if their are too many steaks cooking at once, resulting in boiled steaks...Yuck!
Allow the steaks for cook for around 2-3 minutes on one side without moving them. You want to render the fat and form a nice crust. Now you can flip your steaks. Adding some flavours to the pan at this stage is essential for a delicious steak. Two or three crushed garlic cloves, a spring of fresh rosemary, thyme and oregano (or dried if fresh is not available) should be added upon flipping. Add a couple of table spoons of butter now too. Allow the butter to melt and to cook with the herbs and garlic for a minute or so.
The secret step: Using a large metal spoon, angle the pan over and start basting the steaks with the mixture of butter, herbs, and garlic. You can rub the garlic cloves in to the meat to transfer all that delicious garlicy goodness in.
Step 5
Rest.
After basting for a minute or two, depending on the thickness of your steaks, remove them from the pan and place then on a resting plate. Steaks should sit for the same amount of time they were cooking for. Remember, they will continue to cook throughout this time. You do not need to preheat the resting plate as you want to allow the steaks to naturally cool down to eating temperature.
During this time you may wish to make a sauce to go with your steaks. An easy and flavourful steak compliment is sauted mushrooms. Add around 4 large sliced mushrooms to the pan, along with a table spoon or so of butter, cook through and serve with your steak.
Step 6
Enjoy!
Congratulations, you've just cooked the best damn steak you will ever eat. You can now season it lightly with some coarse salt and pepper.
Remember every steak is different and cooking times will have to be adjusted to suit. Over time you will get a natural feel for how long you should be cooking your steak for.
Delicious steaks cooked perfectly [Photo by Bao Menglong on Unsplash]
Thanks for reading my guide to cooking the perfect steak! Of course this is just my technique and you should learn the best method for your own flavour preferences! If you haven't got one yet, I highly recommend a resting plate, such as the MEATsink to bring your steaks up to temperature quickly and naturally before you cook.
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