As long as there is a steak person in the family (and there are several in my family...), every time the choice of meal is very easy to be suppressed by them, but also forced me to modify my way of cooking steak, before I would only use the pan frying a little bit on the table, will be received very cruel comments: firewood, dry, frying is too old, the cattle live in vain, and so on, almost like a chef in Hell's Kitchen directly thrown! I almost threw it into the garbage like the chef in Hell's Kitchen, because I still have to fill my stomach and can't play handsome directly! It was a total blow to my confidence in steak.
Later, the Michelin chef introduced his way of steak after a little save me, steak gradually can do juicy, rich flavor. Unexpectedly, read his love of the book introduced the subversion of the traditional way of first frying and then grilled, changed to "first grilled and then pan-fried" so that I fried out of the crispness of the "shell", the interior to maintain a juicy soft, beef flavor, and because the last is in the pan to complete the more difficult to overcook! My mom says to be humble, but I couldn't hide my pride when I cooked the steak to perfection, and there was nothing but admiration when I took a bite. The point is! The beef was just a 30 dollar piece of beef that I bought at the grocery store!
The chef's book is a great way to share the essence of steak with those of you who are steakheads, or those of you who have to cook for steakheads.
The first step is to choose the part of the steak
Fillet: the least athletic part of the cow, with the softest texture and a medium beefy flavor
New Yorker: surrounded by fat on the outside, with the oil evenly distributed in the center. The texture is not as soft as filet or rib eye, with a full beefy flavor
Tin Bone: The two sides of the T are a combination of filet + New Yorker, which allows you to get the dual taste of both filet's softness and New Yorker's beefy flavor
Rib Eye: There are chunks of grease splattered around the middle of the bone, which is soft, and tastes juicy, with a full beefy flavor
Because of the lack of choices in the supermarkets, I have a personal preference for the filet, and picked It's about an inch thick and worth about $20 a piece. Undoubtedly, the higher the grade of beef, the more beautiful the flavor of the oil, and of course, the better the result. However, you can still get the best out of plain beef by using the following methods!
Step 2: Refrigerator drying
You've heard of beef aging, or you've seen fancy beef restaurants proudly displaying their million-dollar aging rooms, but why does beef need to be "aged"? What happens during this period? Simply put, the dry-aging process causes the beef to lose moisture, which concentrates the flavor, and the enzymes within the beef automatically break down the tougher tissues and muscle texture, softening the meat while enriching the flavor, making it more beefy, and even generating a cheeselike aroma.
So how do you do it in my house when I don't have a maturing room? You can use the refrigerator freezer to simulate the constant temperature and dry environment of a deli room to achieve a cheesecake-like effect.
How to do it: Dry the surface of the beef with paper towels, sprinkle it with salt (to help dehydrate it), put it on a baking sheet, and put a plate underneath it to catch the dripping blood. Place in the freezer for 8 to 12 hours.
Attention, heavy steak lovers! There's also a recipe in the book for "Home Cooked Beef" (man, I feel like my fridge is getting bloody).
Step 3: Bake at a low temperature
The most common thing I used to do was to take the beef out of the fridge and sear it in a pan over high heat. Imagine when you put a big, thick, heavy, cold steak on a pan, and no matter how hot the pan is, it's immediately and dramatically cooled down. The Ménard reaction we're looking for needs to be at least 150 degrees, so in order to get a nice brown crust and cook the inside, you have to extend the searing time, and the longer you do it, the more juices you lose, and you end up with a piece of beef that's old and faggy (which I've tried to salvage a few times by making it into a beef stew). That's why Heston mentions the importance of 'rewarming' the meat, and he will leave it at room temperature for 2 hours to allow the internal temperature to rise, avoiding the above tragedy.
Maintaining the temperature of the pan produces an immediate skin browning effect.
The oven evaporates moisture to the surface, shortening the browning time, and the meat that touches the bottom of the pan is not overcooked
Use the low temperature to activate the beef's auto-enzymes, resulting in a softer, more tender meat
How to do it: Preheat the oven to 130C / 275F, and place a baking sheet on the middle shelf. Remove the beef from the freezer, place on a baking sheet (with a baking tray underneath) and bake for 12 to 25 minutes, with the center of the beef reaching 32C / 90F. The difference in time depends on the size of the steak; I use about 200g, 2.5cm thick steaks, while the recipe in the book uses 450g, 3.8 to 4.5cm thick steaks.
Step 4: Preheat pan until smoking
Will the heat lock in the juices? It won't! It's the heat that creates the Mena reaction that brings out the flavor that matters.
How to do it: When oven time is up, add a tablespoon of oil to a pan and preheat it until it's smoking lightly. Remove the beef from the oven and sear it for 1 to 2 minutes on each side to produce a browned crust right away (you'll find it's a lot faster than the traditional method), and remember to hold the steak against the side of the pan with a food holder to sear the edges of the steak until it's colored (Ménard's reaction goes go go).
You can feel the steak's doneness with the finger test (if you don't know, check Baidu), or if you feel a little abstract, use a thermometer to test the center of the steak for temperature, which is in Celsius.
For rare: 46-48C
For medium rare: 48-51
For medium: 54-55
For medium rare: 60-65
Full rare: 68+
*The residual heat from resting raises the center temperature by 4-5C
＊The same temperature reference applies to pork chops and lamb chops. Pork chops are recommended to be cooked to at least medium rare
Step 5: Resting makes the meat juicier
Resting allows the contracted proteins in the beef to relax and draw the juices back in again. Huston has even experimented before, taking two pieces of browned beef and asking a large man to stand directly on them across a board and weigh them down. The result: the steak that hadn't rested oozed a lot of gravy; the steak that had rested for 10 minutes had almost no gravy, showing the importance of resting.
How to do it: Brown the steaks, season with salt and pepper, and return them to the grill with a baking sheet underneath to catch the juices. Cover with aluminum foil and cut a small slit in the center with scissors to help steam escape and prevent the crispy skin from softening. Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Sense a steak this good deserves a sauce?
Red Wine and Mushroom Steak Dip
The most convenient way to make steak sauce (not to buy it off the shelf) is to use the coffee-colored drippings left on the bottom of the pan after frying the steak to make the sauce. dried thyme
A pinch of salt/ salt
A pinch of black pepper/ black pepper
How to make it:
1. Pour out the fat from frying the steaks and add the vegetable oil and heat it until it smokes. Add mushrooms and sauté until brown.
2. Add red onion, mix until softened, add wine & chicken broth, use a spatula to lift up the scum from the bottom of the pan (source of deliciousness, ah), keep it in a small roll, and thicken it to 2/3 of the original amount.
3. Add vinegar, mustard, and any gravy from standing, cook for about 1 minute until thickened.
4. Add cream, thyme, season to taste, and drizzle over steak.