Frankly speaking, if the thickness of the steak is less than 1.5cm, you want to get the "gravy" and "charred" steak coexist in fact, it is more difficult, because the thin steak from the "tender" to "dry" window is too short, probably less than 1 minute. The window for a thin steak to go from "tender" to "dry" is too short, probably less than 1 minute. For this reason, it's best to have a steak that's the right thickness for the original cut.

In general, the thickness of a steak is positively correlated to the size of its cross-section, with a recommended thickness of 2.5-3cm for larger cross-section steaks (sirloin, rib-eye) and 3.5-4.5cm for smaller cross-section steaks (filet mignon). The steak should be cooked in a way that allows the surface to caramelize thoroughly while the interior doesn't heat up too quickly and lose too much juice.

2. Let the steak come to room temperature

After the steak is completely thawed, let it sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before cooking. The reason is, too cold steak will consume the initial heat of the bottom of the pan, so that the steak surface dehydration rate slowed down; at the same time, the sharp temperature difference will also make the muscle fiber contraction degree is more intense, overflow more juice, which is not conducive to the formation of the "caramelized crust", so the fried steak surface gray as boiled steak, the meat flavor and the sense of oil will be greatly reduced.

The ideal way to defrost steak is to remove the vacuum bag, wrap it in absorbent paper and place it in an air-cooled freezer to defrost slowly. This method maximizes the retention of juices within the steak's cells, and although it takes longer (more than 12 hours), a good steak is worth the wait. Of course, if time does not permit, you can also be immersed in cold water to thaw, but it is best to deflate the vacuum bag properly, because the volume of the steak will increase after thawing, in the vacuum packaging in the narrow space of the squeeze, will be like wringing a towel in general, the loss of valuable juice.

3. The pan should be fully and then fully preheated

Frying steak is preferred to thicker pans. The reason is very simple, grill hot thick bottom pan need more total heat than grill hot thin bottom pan, similarly, after the steak pan let the thin bottom pan will cool down faster than thick bottom pan. From the perspective of conservation of heat, thick-bottomed pans in the heat of the "endurance" ability is stronger, even if the gravy keeps evaporating and absorbing heat, the bottom of the pan can maintain a relatively long period of high temperature, which takes advantage of the formation of the steak caramelized crust. A thick-bottomed pan also has a more moderate temperature change due to the heat adjustment, which is also beneficial to the even heating of the steak.

If the pan is not sufficiently preheated, the juices that escape from the pan will vaporize too slowly and pool around the steak, which will be "cooking in the broth," prolonging the searing time and reducing the charred flavor. How hot should the pan be before it is fully heated, roughly to the smoke point of the oil, that is to say, let the oil in the bottom of the pan start to smoke. The most important step in searing a steak is to heat the pan well. Sprinkle the steak with salt and black pepper before searing, which will also help the crust to caramelize, and wait until one side of the black pepper is caramelized, which is the best time to turn down the heat.

4. Don't turn the steak over in a hurry

After the steak has been placed in a fully preheated pan, don't turn it over in a hurry. Take frying 3cm thick cut rib eye steak as an example, after the pan until the pepper emits a caramelized aroma will be turned down to low heat, at least 1.5 ~ 2 minutes do not go to turn it, the sky is falling do not turn. Sirloin and rib eye steaks, which are rich in fat, will dissolve a lot of their own fat during the searing process, so you don't need to worry about burning at this point in time. The purpose of not turning the steak is so that it doesn't interfere with the formation of a charred crust on the surface of the steak.

When the steak is almost fully cooked, there will be a little bit of red gravy on the surface, so wait a little bit longer and then you can turn it over. Generally speaking, a rib eye cut 3cm thick will take at least three minutes to cook on both sides for medium to medium rare, turning once halfway through. Because the initial temperature of the second side of the steak touching the bottom of the pan is not as high as the first side, so the second side of the caramelized shell is far from the first side of the perfect, in this regard, we can complete the flip, add a small piece of butter, to help the second side of the steak to caramelize, melted butter can also be drizzled on the steak to increase the texture of the oil.

5. Segmented cooking is better for thick-cut steaks

If conditions allow, pan-frying and oven-cooking can produce even better thick-cut steaks. Pan-frying is a way of transferring heat directly to the steak through the hot metal, and the surface of the steak will quickly dehydrate under the high temperature, browning and giving off a charred aroma in just a few dozen seconds. But the downside is also obvious: you can only heat one side of the steak, so the heat contraction inside the steak is uneven, and the total amount of heat absorbed on both sides is not equal.

This time we can use the oven to help, the oven is a kind of indirect uniform heating tool, heat through the air convection and infrared radiation from the walls of the box from all sides of the steak evenly heated. Take the thick cut 3cm rib eye as an example, we can pan-fry for 3 minutes on each side to fully caramelize the surface, and then bake in the oven at 180°C for 10 minutes, which also achieves 50% to 70% maturity while retaining a more plentiful gravy.

6. Pan-fried steak must stand

The steak is finally fried, but do not rush to eat, fried steak needs to wake up for a while. In the process of frying steak, the temperature inside the steak is always rising, the muscle fibers are in a constant contraction squeeze out the meat juice of the high-pressure state, if the steak in the highest temperature inside the steak when you rush to cut the steak, there is no place to put the stress will be quickly released, the result is the loss of a large number of valuable meat juice.

What we need is to wait quietly, so that the high temperature of the steak slowly cooled down, muscle fibers slowly stretch to open up the enlarged cell space to re-"absorb" back to the gravy, retained to the entrance of the moment, usually thick cut 3cm rib eye wake up 6 to 12 minutes on it. Keep the steak warm by loosely wrapping it in tinfoil or placing it in the oven at about 50℃. One thing to keep in mind is that it's best to leave the steak hanging or on the grill so that the dripping juices don't soften the precious caramelized crust, which is the essence of the hard-earned meat.