Steak Hack

STEAK – HACK

A little lecture on steak!

The steak you choose depends on your preference and budget. It is honestly not worth buying cheap steak. It won’t taste of anything and will probably be tough as old boots. Tender, flavourful steak will probably come from a great breed of beef, like Aberdeen Angus or Dexter. The animal will not have been pumped full of growth hormones, it will have been grass fed and treated well, and killed without being stressed or frightened (which in addition to being cruel, makes for tough meat) and hung for about a month after slaughter and before being butchered. All this care and attention costs money and will make your steak expensive. But I’d rather have a good steak once in a blue moon than frequent, tasteless cheap ones.

Sharp serrated steak knives are a very good investment.

Don’t fry steak if you aren’t prepared to get the cooker top in a mess. The pan MUST be hot, and that will mean an oily film over the hob.

Fillet steak: The tenderest and most expensive steak, fillet has little fat. A 200g steak would be neat and small in circumference, but thick.

Rib-eye: Next in tenderness, and I think best in flavour, is rib-eye. It has quite a lot of fat (which accounts, I think, for its great flavour), but can be untidy with a fair bit of connective tissue.

Sirloin: This steak is neater and more even in shape, with less fat and a slightly firmer texture and a good flavour. Caterers like it because every steak looks the same.

Rump: These steaks are neat and fairly fat-free. They have good flavour, but are a lot firmer than sirloin or rib-eye.

Method

  1. Take the steaks out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. If they are sirloin steaks and have a fatty edge down one side, make little cuts with scissors or a sharp knife from the skin edge to the meat or cut the fat off and cook it separately (or just cut it off and bin it).
  2. Heat a frying pan on a high heat and add just enough oil to grease the surface of the pan. Get it really hot.
  3. Lay the steaks in the pan and don’t shift them for 2 minutes. Press them down with the back of a fish slice to ensure they are in all-over contact with the hot pan. After 2 minutes, check the undersides, and if they are nice and brown, turn the steaks over and cook for 2 minutes on the second side.
  4. Cook for another 1 minute for rare, 2 minutes for medium-rare or 3 minutes for medium.
  5. Lift the steaks on to a large, warm platter and cover with foil. This will allow the juices inside to spread evenly to give an even pinkness through the steak.
  6. Slice the steaks into thin strips against the grain of the meat.

Checking How The Steak Is Cooked

To tell how the steak is cooked bring the tip of your thumb together with the tip of each finger. By prodding the fatty part of your palm at the bottom of your thumb you can feel how firm your steak should feel depending on how you like it cooked.

Thumb to Index – Rare

Thumb to Middle – Medium

Thumb to Wedding – Well Done