Steak Secrets

How to cook a steak

1. Pre-fry the steak in the oven
This How-To Reverse Sear A Steak will allow you to get the most even roasting without gray, overcooked meat around the edges.

Put the steak on a baking sheet and bake at a temperature of 90-95 ° C for 30-60 minutes – depending on how well-done the steak you want to get at the exit.

If you want a rare steak, you can omit the pre-roasting episode.

How to cook a steak

By the way, in a similar way, you can restore the taste of an already cooked, but cooled and stale steak. Place it in the oven at 120°C for about 30 minutes and then pan fry on both sides to bring back the crispiness.

2. Heat up the pan
Let it stand on high heat for at least 8-10 minutes. Better is more. The chef at Alinea in Chicago, for example, recommends 12 Unexpected (But Totally Legit) Tricks For Making The Best Steak to heat up a cast iron skillet for half an hour!

Then add the oil, wait a few more minutes until it warms up, and only then lay out the steak.

3. Fry the steak at a high temperature
1.5-2 minutes, depending on the desired color of the crust, on each side. During frying, protein – primarily on the surface of a piece of meat – folds and turns into a kind of film that blocks the exit of liquid. This means that the steak fried over high heat will remain juicy inside.

Only then reduce the heat to low, cover the meat with a lid and let stand for another 1-5 minutes – depending on the desired degree of roasting. This recommendation applies to steaks made from fatty and juicy marbled meat.

Check readiness with a thermal needle or a finger.

Cutting or piercing a steak with a knife is not worth it: juice will flow out of the meat.

If we are talking about leaner tenderloin steaks, the technology will have nuances. Having properly fried the steak on both sides until a golden crust appears, add a little more oil (for example, butter) to the pan, and also – if desired – your favorite spices (the same garlic) and herbs (rosemary, lavender, thyme, sage ) . Lower the heat to medium and continue browning the meat on both sides, basting it with the juices that come out. This will ensure the steak is properly cooked.

Bring to the desired degree of roasting in the oven

In a frying pan covered with a lid, steaks are perfectly cooked with a degree of roasting up to medium rare. If you want a really well done steak, place it in a preheated oven at 180°C immediately after browning it in oil on all sides.

The time the meat is in the oven depends on the desired level of roasting:

1. Let the steak rest for 3-5 minutes
At high temperatures, the top layers of the meat shrink, fixing the juice inside. If you cut the steak right away, the juice will simply run out onto the plate. Wait up to 5 minutes: this is enough for the top layers of the meat to expand and absorb the juices as well.

Serve hot!

This is one of the basic rules for serving a steak. In this case, meat is an independent dish, simple and understandable. To fully reveal its taste, the steak must be hot.

3. For fatty juicy steaks, choose a minimum of spices
On the same ribeye, it is enough to put a sprig of rosemary or a clove of garlic: hot meat will quickly absorb the aroma. Also, the taste characteristics of the steak are well emphasized by parsley, thyme, cilantro.

Lean Steaks Need Sauce

The fillet mignon is a very tender tenderloin that literally melts in your mouth. But at the same time, it is rather tasteless, and therefore such a steak is always served with sauce.

5. The best side dish is vegetables
Fresh or grilled. This is an ideal side dish for steak in terms of proper nutrition.