I thought, like my potato post, i'd share a few tips that you can follow that will help your steak be tender and juicy no matter what. This will be a long post as there's a lot to write about!
Aged Meat
You'll notice that a lot of celebrity chefs and supermarkets are talking about aged beef and they're right to do so. After the animal is slaughtered and cleaned it's usually hung for a period of 21-34 days.
This allows for two processes to take place. Firstly, moisture is evaporated from the muscle creating a greater concentration of beef flavour and taste. Secondly, the beef's natural enzymes break down the connective tissue helping create more tender meat.
What cut you choose is down to personal preference- I love rib eye as I find it has that perfect balance of tenderness and flavour. People will often choose fillet because of it's 'melt in the mouth' texture but because of the little amount of fat it will have less natural flavour than say a sirloin steak. ALWAYS look for a good amount of fat on your steak. If you choose a steak without any fat you might as well eat cardboard. FAT=FLAVOUR. It also helps to keep the meat juicy while it cooks. A good steak will have a nice thick amount of fat around the 'eye' of the meat and marbling of fat throughout the meat. Also look at the colour. Steaks that are bright red haven't been hung enough, look for a deep burgundy colour.
Rump: Taken from the back top end of the cow. It's full of flavour but is a lot firmer than other cuts. Because of the connective tissue it can be a bit chewy when cooked rare, so does need a bit more time in the griddle/pan
Sirloin: Sirloin is taken from the top of the animal just forward of the rump. Its a very tender cut but with less flavour than the rump. It carries only one strip of fat along the top of the steak means it's ideal for those that like it rare
Rib eye: Taken from the fore rib, it's beautifully marbled and has an 'eye' of fat in the middle. Its perfect rare or medium rare but if you prefer a more well done steak turn the heat down and cook for a bit longer to avoid the outside going leathery
T-Bone or Porterhouse: Cut on the bone the T-Bone comes from the rib end of the sirloin. With this cut you get the best of both worlds, you get sirloin on one part of the bone and fillet on the other. It's a thick cut and because it's two steaks in one and on the bone it makes cooking it difficult. I usually sear it on a really hot griddle and then transfer to the oven on a low heat
Fillet: This cut is taken from the inside of the Sirloin. It's a muscle that does absolutely no work and is amazingly tender because of the lack of fat, the downside is it lacks flavour and needs sprucing up with some sort of sauce. The fillet is divided into three types of cut. Filet Mignon is taken from the tail end of the fillet. Tournedos is the french term for a small compact steak and comes from the middle of the steak. The Chateaubriand comes from the thickest end of the steak and is ideal for beef wellington, or if you just love a big portion!
Feather Steak: These steaks are taken from the blade of the cow and have a feather like marbling of fat in the middle. They're ideal for quick cooking and in sandwiches
Forgetting cooking times if you follow these tips then your steaks will be amazing.
Take your steak out of the packaging: Whether it's from a supermarket or butcher, as soon as possible take the steak out of its packaging and put it on a wire rack in your fridge. Let the air get to it, this allows the enzymes to continue breaking down the proteins in the meat ensuring it stays tender
Let it get to room temperature:
Imagine being freezing cold and jumping in a boiling hot bath. Your muscles will seize up. This is exactly the same principle with steak. If you take it straight from the fridge and put it in a searing hot pan then the muscle fibres will seize up and the steak will just lose any tenderness
Get the pan searing hot:
Whether you're using a frying pan or a griddle pan, make sure it is smoking hot. Not only will it avoid your steak stewing/boiling and losing any flavour and texture; it starts a process called the Maillard reaction. This is a process that develops all the flavours within the steak.
Oil and seasoning:
Make sure you oil the steak and not the pan. If the pan is swimming in oil then it will just focus the heat on the surface of the steak (stopping the Maillard reaction from taking place) so brush the steak with olive oil instead. DON'T season with pepper before cooking! At the heat needed to cook the steak properly the pepper will burn and taint the steak. Season with pepper after cooking but only use salt beforehand.
Cooking times:
As i said at the beginning of this post every steak is different so you can't use a set cooking time for rare or medium well. The best way to judge whether your steak is cooked to preference is to test it by prodding. The firmer the steak when prodded the more well cooked the meat is. Rare should be like prodding your cheek, medium rare the tip of your nose (also when blood starts piercing the surface of the meat thats a key visual pointer) your chin medium and your forehead well done.
Rest the steak for half the time that you cooked it for. Transfer the meat from the pan to a warm plate/tray and cover loosely with foil, if you cover it tightly then the meat will sweat and lose moisture. Allowing the meat to rest makes sure that the juices, which have been driven to the centre of the steak by the heat, redistribute throughout the muscle fibres of the steak and be reabsorbed. This means that the meat will lose less juice when you cut it and be more juicy.
Happy eating!
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