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Instead of searing the poo poo out of a steak, I strongly urge you to try the method that the french use. Take a thick cut rib-eye, dry it off completely and grind some pepper on one side and heat up your pan on medium. Put the fat edge down and cook it like that for 5 minutes. Then cook the peppered side down for five minutes in its fat. While it is cooking pepper the raw side. Flip the steak and cook for three minutes. Now take the steak out of the pan and drain the fat (if I am making many steaks I use two pans). Put two tablespoons of butter in your pan and let it get hot again (a couple of cloves of garlic can go in at this point as well if you want). While it heats up you can salt the steak on the three minute side. Put it salt side down and cook for five minutes. Salt the unsalted side while you wait. Flip and cook for three minutes and you are done. It will have an incredible crust, great flavor, and assuming you start with a room temperature steak, should be perfectly medium rare. It won't have the harsher flavors that come from searing the steak. Alain Ducasse and I am pretty sure Guy Savoy uses this method. EDIT: I like my steak a bit rarer than medium so I use 4 and 2 minutes then 2 and 4 minutes. Demonachizer fucked around with this message at 23:27 on May 20, 2013 |
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May 20, 2013 23:23
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Nothing inherently wrong with the method, but never, ever rely on times for cooking protein. rely on touch, feel, and temperature. Times can vary vastly by gas vs electric vs 1.5in vs 1.6in steak vs room temperature steak vs straight out of fridge steak vs I could go on vs but I'll stop! Dr. Lenin posted:I'm a stupid newbie cook who is really paranoid about getting sick from undercooked cuts of meat. What are the best cuts of beef that I don't have to worry about cooking to rare / medium-rare, and are there any stores I should just avoid getting meat from altogether or does it not really matter? It's ok to be like this, we all were at one point I'm sure. But, try to get over it a little - there's nothing magic that happens in restaurants that can't happen at home, food safety wise. Beef is one of those things that's pretty much safe to eat raw. (assuming you aren't buying bargain basement manager special cuts). Your body will tell you when meat is spoiled - it'll have a putrid, ammoniay, "yuck there's no way I'm putting that in my mouth" aroma. Fresh beef should smell a little bit like sweet fat, but otherwise have no smell. Avoiding big chain supermarkets is a good habit if you're actually still concerned about food safety. The meat sourcing at places like wholefoods and central market is generally a lot better than say kroger/publix. If I'm going to eat meat or seafood raw (or close to raw) {or really at all these days} it's coming from one of those stores, or a farmers market. Anyways, I'm saying all this and am assuming you're eating it raw. We aren't even talking about that - eating a rare steak is 1000% ok in my book. If there's any harmful bacteria or anything on your meat, it's on the outside - so once you sear it off, you're good to go. Again, this is assuming you bought your meat from a reputable place and aren't buying managers specials or whatever, and assuming it passes the smell/sight test. mindphlux fucked around with this message at 00:38 on May 21, 2013 |
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May 21, 2013 00:28
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I really like the Serious Eats post about pan-seared steaks: http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/12/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-pan-seared-steaks.html It will turn your house into a greasy, stinky mess (I like smelling steak but not for 2 days after cooking one). But it's a great place to start cooking steaks and then you can form your own little opinions about seasoning before/after, drying the steak, letting it come up to room temperature, flipping vs not flipping... I'm going to buy a couple small ribeyes this week because my brother in law doesn't think you can make a good steak in a pan, but he's a moron who thinks the medium T-Bone from Logan's is the greatest thing on earth and grills his steaks grey on a Coleman camping stove.
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May 21, 2013 17:00
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I love doing steaks on the grill, that may make me a plebe but that's okay  . I heat one side of the grill on high, the other side on medium-low. Put the steaks on the hot side once it's up to heat(usually 450-500 on my grill's thermometer, which is probably wrong). Cook for 80-90 seconds then turn 45 degrees. Cook for another 80-90 seconds then flip and do the same thing on the other side. After that I test the steaks(use your finger/thermapen or whatever). Usually this is a nice medium-rare, if we want them a little more done I'll throw them on the other side of the grill for 40 seconds a side or something. Then let them rest for awhile before eating. You don't get the nice uniform crust on the grill but you do get beautiful, delicious grill marks and it's pretty easy if you are cooking more than a couple steaks. Plus it only takes like 10 minutes tops and you are done.
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May 21, 2013 22:17
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What's the best way to prepare multiple steaks? I do not have access to a grill, just a 4 top gas stove. I also don't have a cast iron skillet. I'm only going to be able to sear one steak at a time, so should I sear all 4, then finish in the oven, then take them out to rest? Is there going to be anything I want to do with the steaks between searing, and putting in the oven, while I sear the rest? Or am I just going to have to deal with steaks that don't all come out at the same time? Also, using all 4 burners to sear at the same time will not be feasible, as other burners will be occupied with other parts of the meal. I'm a beginner at cooking steak really, other than flank steak which I used to just sear and finish in the oven, but that was with commercial size ovens and stovetops which I will not have in my apartment.
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May 21, 2013 23:52
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Sear one at a time, and you should only need 30secs per side in a fuckoff hot pan. Finish in oven on a sheet pan.
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May 22, 2013 00:15
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Should they be on a rack, over the sheet pan? or straight down on the sheet pan?
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May 22, 2013 01:29
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Rack if you have one, but it's not a huge difference.
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May 22, 2013 01:41
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Noah posted:Should they be on a rack, over the sheet pan? or straight down on the sheet pan? On a bed of garlic and thyme, of course
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May 22, 2013 01:42
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DoctaFun posted:I love doing steaks on the grill, that may make me a plebe but that's okay The one thing I don't like about doing steaks on my gas grill is if they aren't real thick you can't get any color on them before you overcook them. I can leave all 4 burners on full blast and it just doesn't put out the heat like a big pile of charcoal will. 
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May 22, 2013 14:14
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Okay I finally loving perfected my steak recipe. loving serious. Medium-rare almost from edge to edge (needed a wee bit less time in the pan), tender as hell, and not a single drop of juice leaked out onto the plate. NOT ONE: Takes about a week's worth of prep though: 1 - Get a ribeye roast with decent marbling. Cut it in half, about 2-inch thick steaks each. Rinse with red wine and pat dry. 2 - Salt with about 1/2 teaspoon of salt on the top side of each steak. If needed, rub the salt in a little. Keep the steaks on cake racks in the fridge. 3 - Leave the steaks in the fridge for about 4 hours (or overnight). The salt will draw out the juices, form a brine, and become reabsorbed in that time. Too much salt at once will lead to dripping and loss of delicious juices. 4 - When the salted surface is dry flip the steak over and repeat steps 2-3. 5 - Salt again with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a generous coating of fresh-ground black pepper. Leave the steak to reabsorb the seasoning for 4 hours again (or overnight). 6 - Flip the steak and repeat for the other side. 7 - Wrap the steak loosely with cling film for up to 3 days or so (no more than 5 days in the fridge total, IMO). 8 - When ready to cook, seal in a bag and place in the puddle machine set to 132*F for 3 hours. See instructions below to do it hobo style. 9 - When the meat is done cooking sous vide, take the bagged steak out of the water and let it rest for about 5 minutes. 10 - Press the steak between two cold plates and pop the entire thing in the freezer for 30 minutes. 11 - Transfer the entire setup into the fridge. By keeping the steak gently pressed between two plates, the meat should conform and have very flat surfaces, great for searing! Don't squish it flat though. 12 - Take the meat outta the bag (it'll be very juicy) and do one last round of salting, but this time by rubbing 1/4 t of baking soda on one side, letting it dry, then flip and use baking soda on the other side. 13 - Leave to dry in the fridge: you may have to flip it once in that time. 14 - Heat a pan on high heat with 2 T of bacon fat. Sear the steak as normal, then put in an oven set to 170*F, turn off the heat, and let the steak warm through with the residual heat. Slice and serve. If you don't have a machine and wanna do stovetop sous vide: 1 - Use a big ziplock bag and a straw to seal the meat in. 2 - Place small a plate or cake rack in the bottom of a pot to keep the steak from contacting the bottom of the pot directly. Keep a digital thermometer in the pot at all times. 3 - Preheat the oven to 170* F. 4 - Heat the water on the stove to 135*F, turn it off, then plunk in the steak. (at no point in this process should the water bath temp exceed 135*F) 5 - Agitate/stir the water gently as the temp equilibrates for about 10 minutes. The water temp should hover at about 132-133*F with the steakmeat cooling it down, though you may need to flick on the heat now and again for a minute or so. If the air in the bag expands due to the heat, feel free to open it up and suck out the extra air. 6 - Place the entire pot into the oven, and shut off the oven. The residual heat should keep it plenty warm. 7 - Any time the temperature of the water drops below 130*F, turn on the oven to 170*F for about 5 minutes, then shut it off again. The oven is actually pretty well insulated, so you'll only need to check back every half-hour or so. Again, never let the water exceed 135*F. IMO the meat is best at the low-30s.
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May 22, 2013 15:10
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While it's probably delicious, and I commend you for your effort and dedication towards getting the perfect steak, I can safely say that is way too much work.
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May 22, 2013 15:12
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Yeah, or, I can dry a ribeye in my fridge for a few hours, pull it out, S&P it, sear it, and throw it in the oven.
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May 22, 2013 15:21
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Yeah, or, I can dry a ribeye in my fridge for a few hours, pull it out, S&P it, sear it, and throw it in the oven. It was the loving perfected steak recipe, loving serious. You weren't there man!
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May 22, 2013 17:43
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Yeah I realize it's pretty fussy. Honestly most of those are just 2 minute steps and a lot of waiting. But yeah, I'm used to ridiculously detailed and complex protocols, largely because it's the stuff I'd write out when I was still doing labwork.  EDIT: Oh God, sifting through some of my files I DO write all my recipes like lab protocols. 
ShadowCatboy fucked around with this message at 18:00 on May 22, 2013 |
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May 22, 2013 17:57
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You couldn't just measure out the weight of salt you were looking for, season the steak with that, and then seal it in the bag? Like I think it's bizarre to get that granular without weighing your ingredients. Then it would just be air-dry, sear, and oven if you want I guess.
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May 23, 2013 03:29
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Aramoro posted:The method I talked about is super simple, especially if you have a thermapen. I did this method today and after 2 minutes my steak was barely around 35 C/95 F. I'm guessing my pan wasn't hot enough? My steak was sitting in the room for about 30 minutes so it wasn't/shouldn't have been too cold. Also, I salted the steak when I took it out of the fridge but didn't pepper it until after. Should I pepper it before I cook it next time?
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May 25, 2013 23:41
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The whole done in two minutes thing is hyperbole. Even a thin-ish steak takes twice that long. Don't sweat it - if your pan's hot, you're doing it right, and it's done when the temp is right.
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May 26, 2013 00:18
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I don't have any cast iron , and am not inclined to purchase any right now. What are my options for getting the perfect steak. I do have some pots useful that are not nonstick though. Sear and then oven method? what are my options with Top Round cut thin, I was thinking thinly sliced and made into a kind of philly cheesesteak. Also, any advice on steak sauce currently I use. Worchester, Ketchup, Garlic powder, onion powder and a bit of hot sauce and maybe a teaspoon of beef broth
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May 26, 2013 01:55
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If the steak has been dry enough (say, a full 24 hours in the fridge) and you use enough oil, you won't need any nonstick surface.
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May 26, 2013 02:45
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I use stainless steel and generally don't have a problem. My method is probably far from ideal because I'm lazy and I settle for "good enough", but what I do is I pat my room-temperature steak very dry with paper towels, oil and season it, and then put it into a hot, dry pan. The steak will release from the pan on its own once it gets a sufficient sear on it. I finish with butter before resting (but after I've got a crust on both sides of the steak). Steak purists will tell you that a good steak cooked properly does not need a condiment of any kind. I tend to agree, but if you like steak sauce, use what tastes good to you. I don't know if you're going to find great recipes for steak sauce in here as steak sauce is a way to make a lovely overcooked steak palatable, but if you haven't tried HP or A1, maybe do that. Or horseradish, I guess.
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May 26, 2013 06:05
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bombhand posted:I use stainless steel and generally don't have a problem. My method is probably far from ideal because I'm lazy and I settle for "good enough", but what I do is I pat my room-temperature steak very dry with paper towels, oil and season it, and then put it into a hot, dry pan. The steak will release from the pan on its own once it gets a sufficient sear on it. I finish with butter before resting (but after I've got a crust on both sides of the steak). I'm a huge fan of a just caramelizing some shallots to the pan and then deglazing with some red wine. Reduce down to a nice thick consistency and spoon over the steak. It's heavenly.
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May 26, 2013 07:24
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 Is this only the medium rare thread? Neigh, I hope not. 
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May 26, 2013 13:15
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This is going to sound douchey but a glass of red wine is probably the best accompaniment to steak. The acidity of the wine will balance out the fat, rendering condiments irrelevant.Casu Marzu posted:
bombhand posted:I use stainless steel and generally don't have a problem. My method is probably far from ideal because I'm lazy and I settle for "good enough", but what I do is I pat my room-temperature steak very dry with paper towels, oil and season it, and then put it into a hot, dry pan. The steak will release from the pan on its own once it gets a sufficient sear on it. I finish with butter before resting (but after I've got a crust on both sides of the steak) No Wave fucked around with this message at 17:54 on May 26, 2013 |
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May 26, 2013 17:52
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I bought a gigantic ribeye that was about 1.5" thick and cooked it Ducasse style. I heavily salted, air dried it in the fridge for about 6 hours and brought it up to room temperature before cooking. It developed an awesome crust but there was a huge differential in the doneness of the meat. The portions nearest the edge were rare while the medallion was at a medium. It was still really tasty but I was disappointed that I couldn't get a nice medium rare throughout. Does anyone have any idea what could have gone wrong.
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May 26, 2013 17:58
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Chuck Biscuits posted:I bought a gigantic ribeye that was about 1.5" thick and cooked it Ducasse style. I heavily salted, air dried it in the fridge for about 6 hours and brought it up to room temperature before cooking. It developed an awesome crust but there was a huge differential in the doneness of the meat. The portions nearest the edge were rare while the medallion was at a medium. It was still really tasty but I was disappointed that I couldn't get a nice medium rare throughout. 1.5" is still pretty thin to do a true ducasse. 2" at least. Otherwise just a straight pan roast in clarified butter will get the same effect.
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May 26, 2013 18:01
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No Wave posted:Is this hanger steak? I'd personally only eat it like that if I hit it w/ the jaccard a lot beforehand. It is horse tenderloin iirc.
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May 26, 2013 18:02
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Chuck Biscuits posted:Does anyone have any idea what could have gone wrong. You did the ducasse method 
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May 26, 2013 18:09
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ShadowCatboy posted:Honestly the only real meat you need to worry about undercooking is chicken, and even then bringing it up to an internal temperature of 150* F for about a minute should pasteurize it just fine. If you get it to a full 160* F it's pretty much instantly safe. Even pork is safe to eat cooked to medium since we eliminated trichnosis in the States. Food scientist/microbiologist stepping in: Beef is somewhat risky in terms of micro coooties. The biggest risks are what are known as STEC, a specific group of e-coil that will cause your kidneys to turn to goo. Infectious dose is very low. This type of bacteria is endemic in all ruminant animals. Is present in grass fed as well as grain fed animals. Pasture raised grass fed animals are not necessarily free of this type of bacteria. Feedlot finished animals have a greater opportunity to become infected. Still, small producer slaughtered and processed animals are not 100% safe. A serious concern for E. coli poisoning is something called needle tenderization. This is a technique used to make less expensive cuts of beef more tender. Zillions of fine needles are punched through the primal cuts across the grain to break the grain fibers up and make the meet more tender. The issue with E. coli is it sits on the surface of the meat product until somehow the surface is turned into the insides of the meet. Grinding does this by smashing the surface and inside to the meat together in one uniform paste. Needle tenderization does something similar. It forces things on the outside of the meat deep into the structure of the cut. Generally, Searing the outside of your piece of beef is enough to destroy any surface bacteria. If for some reason the bacteria is on the inside of the meat, you need to bring the entire thing to 165°F or higher or you risk getting really sick. The natural reservoir of salmonella bacteria (and Campylobacter) is birds. Testing of commercial flocks have shown that at least 25 to 30% of all sampled chicken products are contaminated with salmonella. Cook your chicken to 165 also. There are reasons for some food safety rules. Not all of them are based on trying to make people unhappy about their food co-op. Not all food poisoning is "I feel sick I'm going to throw up and poop for a few days then I feel better". Sometimes, it has horrible lifelong consequences. Sometimes you die a horrible death. *edit* loving Siri... NosmoKing fucked around with this message at 20:05 on May 26, 2013 |
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May 26, 2013 19:52
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No Wave posted:Why room-temperature?
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May 26, 2013 20:01
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No Wave posted:Is this hanger steak? I'd personally only eat it like that if I hit it w/ the jaccard a lot beforehand. It's horse tender, like gravity said. Cool in the center is the only way to eat it.
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May 26, 2013 20:09
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Hollis posted:Also, any advice on steak sauce currently I use. Worchester, Ketchup, Garlic powder, onion powder and a bit of hot sauce and maybe a teaspoon of beef broth Once the steak is done cooking I like to drop in a half pound of mushrooms and deglaze with some white wine. Cook the mushrooms till they're the consistency you like, and top your steak with them. It's both delicious and gives you something to do while your meat is resting. If you don't like mushrooms you could probably find something else, and go nuts by switching out different liquids for the wine. Also don't put anything that comes from a bottle directly onto your cooked steak. Pan sauces, however, are always acceptable in any situation. A GIANT PARSNIP fucked around with this message at 21:02 on May 26, 2013 |
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May 26, 2013 20:55
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NosmoKing posted:Food scientist/microbiologist stepping in: But all of those regulations are based on a 7D reduction in bacteria. Holding your chicken breast at 145 for 27min has the same reduction as chicken at 165 for 15secs. Iirc it is possible to completely eliminate salmonella as low as 127F, it just takes time.
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May 26, 2013 21:32
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:But all of those regulations are based on a 7D reduction in bacteria. Holding your chicken breast at 145 for 27min has the same reduction as chicken at 165 for 15secs. Iirc it is possible to completely eliminate salmonella as low as 127F, it just takes time. There's lots of log/death time temperature charts available out there. Yes, holding for a longer time at a lower temperature will give you the same reduction in overall population as holding at a higher temperature for a shorter time. Unless you are playing the sous vide game, primarily this means bring the product to temp and then bring it down to serving temp. Thought we were talking about grilling and the potential for serving things raw/"undercooked"
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May 26, 2013 22:25
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No Wave posted:The whole done in two minutes thing is hyperbole. Even a thin-ish steak takes twice that long. Don't sweat it - if your pan's hot, you're doing it right, and it's done when the temp is right. Steaks here in the UK seem to be thinner than the ones you get in the US. I've done a steak using that method in 2 mins, sometimes 3-3:30. But yes, just keep doing it till it's done, don't worry about the time just worry about the temperature. I always pepper after cooking otherwise the pepper burns in the pan. Some people do it before though.
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May 28, 2013 11:07
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if you can't find nice thick steaks and don't have a proper butcher, the best way to get them is to buy the steaks in whole primals or in "roasts" (rib eye roast, beef tenderloin, etc) and cut them into steaks yourself.
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May 28, 2013 18:18
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Aramoro posted:Steaks here in the UK seem to be thinner than the ones you get in the US. I've done a steak using that method in 2 mins, sometimes 3-3:30. But yes, just keep doing it till it's done, don't worry about the time just worry about the temperature. from experience, they really are. my version of steak cooking in the UK was basically get a pan as hot as humanly possible and sear 40 seconds per side. I was a poor grad student though, no budget for seeking out £15 "nice" steaks. edit : oh but lamb shanks - with the lamb shanks in the UK, do you even really need medium rare meats? I got (shamefully) addicted to store bought £4 lamb shanks like ready to go in a bag, minted gravy, just heat and eat. mmmm.
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May 29, 2013 08:15
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mindphlux posted:from experience, they really are. my version of steak cooking in the UK was basically get a pan as hot as humanly possible and sear 40 seconds per side. I was a poor grad student though, no budget for seeking out £15 "nice" steaks. Yeah the really thick steaks you have in the US are just not to British tastes really. You're looking at 3/4" to an 1" mostly. You can get thicker ones from a butcher of course. That's why I prefer cooking instructions which go to temperature not time, make it easier for me to do things with British cuts of meat. I was going to say you can't eat Lamb shanks for every meal but you totally can. Lamb shank pie is one of my favourite meals.
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May 29, 2013 10:49
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Aramoro posted:Yeah the really thick steaks you have in the US are just not to British tastes really. You're looking at 3/4" to an 1" mostly. You can get thicker ones from a butcher of course. That's why I prefer cooking instructions which go to temperature not time, make it easier for me to do things with British cuts of meat.
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May 29, 2013 12:17
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Aramoro posted:Yeah the really thick steaks you have in the US are just not to British tastes really. You're looking at 3/4" to an 1" mostly. You can get thicker ones from a butcher of course. That's why I prefer cooking instructions which go to temperature not time, make it easier for me to do things with British cuts of meat. I usually go with vegetarian or chicken meals instead of bothering about steak. All cuts are thin here too. You could do what gravity suggested and buy a "roast", but there's only 'topside' roasts I've seen, never seen a scotch fillet (rib eye) roast, and any scotch fillet has been about $25+/kg. I would try a butcher but they are few and far between, and now as I live in a well to do area (my income is 0 right now), I don't want to go out of my way driving to some shops checking out butchers. It's probably just me, as I'm not the type to walk into a shop and turn around and walk out after seeing prices, especially a tiny shop that might have no one else in it. being an area where I expect rents to be extremely high, I expect their prices to be high anyway. It would be great if some nearby put up some prices on the net or something, most seem to be avoiding any advertising at all, and other's that do have some type of advertising seem to be expensive beef like wagyu or something... Lamb shanks are great, when I do red meat it's usually shanks/shins for lamb, or for beef it's blade steak. Blade is great braised or in the slow cooker, and oyster blade (which is what 'flat iron' steak Americans talk about in UK/Au terms), is good for a change as a proper steak on the plate for a meal after tenderizing and basting while cooking. But everything priced between blade and scotch fillet is usually a waste of money, eg blade, chuck, shin/shank/gravy is about $10/kg, scotch fillet is about $25, between them you have things like rump and topside etc which is useless for the price, they won't be good steaks, they will be thin, and not as good as the cheaper cuts for braising or slow cooking. edit for quote as a new post got in there. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 12:26 on May 29, 2013 |
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May 29, 2013 12:19
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