STEAKLOL

[iCraig]

Most men love steak. If you're a vegetarian or someone who simply does not like steak; this thread is not for you.

This afternoon I'm cooking a nice slab of sirloin steak. I don't know how many ounces as I threw the packaging away this morning, but I would guess at 8oz.

So how do you cook steak? Well, it's easy. You really can't go wrong with basic steak. Technically you can have it raw so you only really need to worry about cooking it too much.
You take it out of the fridge, slap it in a hot pan and cook away for 2-4 minutes, flipping it over now and again. Whack on a plate, eat.

As nice as that steak will taste, it is not going to be as nice as properly prepared and cooked steak. So, how is that done you may ask? Simply follow the steps below and be on your way to succulent, juicy, flavour packed steaks:

First of all, the steak itself is very important. The cheap cuts from Aldi are only going to taste mediocre regardless of what chef cooks them, and the £15 rib-eye beauties you can get are also overpriced for what they essentially are.

A good sirloin or rib-eye from Sainsbury's is what you need.

Next comes preparation. One of the most important things that you need to do during preparing the steak is also the easiest thing. You do absolutely nothing. That's right. Take the steak out of the fridge, place it on a plate and just leave it.

Why? When the steak is first taken out of the fridge, it's very very cold - right through to the centre of the meat. By immediately cooking a freezing cold steak you're trying to heat up an entire piece of meat quickly. The heat is applied on the outside and slowly works its way through the meat and by time the middle is cooked, the outside will be overcooked, even burnt in places.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/2100/56800714gv6.jpg

So, by leaving it out for 15-20 minutes the steak will rise up to room temperature, or not far off. Don't wait for the steak to be warm to the touch, the steak can still be cool when it goes in the pan, just not freezing cold.

Once you've done that, tis seasoning time baby!

Seasoning the steak is very important for flavour and texture. It can be skipped if you wish, but you do indeed miss out on a better flavoured steak.

The most common steak seasoning is salt and pepper and a dash of olive oil. The oil serves two purposes, to flavour the steak and to help it cook rather than simply dry out. You can use butter instead of oil, but oil is more healthy and won't spatter.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/9697/65986707yh9.jpg

Note: Put your frying pan on the heat whilst you season the steak.

Simply season the steak on both sides with the salt and pepper. How much you put on is up to you and the kind of pepper you have. Then you drizzle the oil over the steak, not much is required, about a tablespoon.

Then mop the oil and seasoning up with both sides of the steak until each side is seasoned and oiled nicely. Aim for this:

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/6820/24311002yp0.jpg

Cooking time.

Hot pan. Very important. The pan needs to be hot. Not just hot, but really hot. This is why I told you to heat the pan up a few minutes ago whilst seasoning. The pan should be very hot by now but do a quick check is to see if any light smoke is rising off the pan. This is an indication of anything left over on the pan from last time, dregs of oil and tiny bits of grease are being burnt off into the air. Anyway, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know a pan is hot, but make sure it's really hot, otherwise the steak won't cook as well as you might think.

Place the steak onto the pan. You should hear and instant hiss as the hot surface meets your steak, if not, or if it's a very very quiet sizzle, you've not got the pan hot enough.

Depending on how you like your steak cooked is how long you leave it in for. I like mine medium rare, and cook it two minutes either side.

Cook for one minute
Flip
Cook for one minute
Flip
Cook for one minute
Flip
Cook for one minute

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/8488/38223416zd3.jpg

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/1483/61553623ms0.jpg

All cooked? Great, place it on a plate and smell that baby.

Final step, as equally as important as the first. Leave the steak alone for a few minutes. Let the meat rest. When a steak is cooked, the meat tenses up and goes quite tough, when the heat subsides the meat slowly relaxes and goes tender. If you dig in too quick you'll be eating the steak whilst it's still tense.

After a few minutes, eat. Real men will generally eat it as it is, but you can have many things with steak if you wish. Salad, fried egg, onion rings, jacket potato etc.

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/1381/80084886xi6.jpg
Enjoy

[Tak]

Most men love steak.

*cooking type text*

Real men will generally eat it as it is

What is with all the "men" crap? :p and medium rare? Waaaaaaay too over cooked :p

*really wants a hoooge steak now :( *

[Dymetrie]

and medium rare? Waaaaaaay too over cooked :p

*really wants a hoooge steak now :( *

Concurs

[Will]

Blue FTW! I want steak now :(

[petemc]

The nicest steak I had was in Toronto. It was thick and juicy with a great flavour that I've never found on any other steak. I think they said it had pepper and garlic seasoning. I hate them normally but on this steak it was mouth watering. You could suck the flavour out of each bite. Since then I hardly buy steak because its always dissapointing getting a flat thin overcooked waste of £15. I do lurve a good steak. Its almost worth the £200 flight back...

[Tiggy]

My Dad is cooking steak right now. He's the king of cooking steak!

He likes his medium rare, but me and Mother like ours cremated.

Last time I was in France my friend's brother who was training to be a chef at the time cooked steak for us. Well, I say he cooked it, it was actually so rare it could've run around on the plate.

[Will]

That's how it should be!!!

A lot of my english friends struggle in France when it comes to steaks, we just don't like it brown all the way through. In France a "medium" or even "well done" steak still is pink in the middle. Obviously it's down to what you're used to and how you developed your palette as a young person. I can just about stomach an english version of "rare" but I tend to not eat steaks in the UK as I seldom find a place that cooks it well enough for me.

[mejinks]

Aren't you supposed to ask for steak done "au point"? Or am I thinking of something else?

[Daz]

Nicely done Craig, pretty much exactly how I cook mine, though I cook it for 30 seconds or so longer on each side.

[Tiggy]

I said cremated, but my dad's idea of cremated is different to how restaurants do it.

My steak was probably just about well done, it wasnt crispy or burnt at all. But generally if I ask for it well done at a restaurant in Lincoln, it's still quite pink in the middle- I cant eat steak that's got even the tiniest of pinkness left in it. So I ask for it cremated :P

[lostkat]

Have you tried it pink in the middle? Just interested, because I always had mine well done, until Leon made me try his rare steak one time. I was amazed at how different and better it tasted (so tender!). I started having it medium rare, but now I always ask for rare. Medium rare on the continent though, because I don't like it cold in the middle.

[Will]

A properly cooked steak shouldn't be cold in the middle in spite of the fact that it's done "blue". :)

[lostkat]

Tell you what Will, next time you come up... I'll buy the meat and you cook the steak :D

[Tiggy]

Have you tried it pink in the middle?

Yeah, I really didnt like it :(

If I was at someone's house and they had cooked steak for me that was slightly pink in the middle I'd force myself to eat it out of politeness. I'd need a huge glass of water to help and it'd be a huge struggle.

That steak in France, there's no way I could've eaten it.

[lostkat]

Yeah I think so to Kitten. I guess it's just all down to personal taste though isn't it :) I wouldn't go back to eating well done steak now though. No wonder I couldn't see what the big deal was with steak before I met Leon :)

[Garp]

I ask for medium in most restaurants, it pretty much serves, I'm not too bothered if its in either direction from medium, but I do prefer my meat to be cooked. I will eat 'blue' steaks though if they're put in front of me. Its not a blood thing that means I don't eat rare steaks, just a matter of preference :)

[lostkat]

There really isn't much blood (if any) in steak anyway. Most of it is drained off in the slaughter house. The red colour is just the remaining haemoglobin in the muscle cells of the meat which gives them their red colour, and the pale red stuff you get out of the meat is mainly water plus some of these cells. Even so, it tastes lovely mopped up with some bread :D

[Will]

A steak shouldn't have any blood in it really if it's been well prepared by the butcher, a little of a red tinge is natural, that's just what's been left in the muscle fibres etc...

[Belmit]

I'm happy to eat steak from anywhere in the spectrum of 'raw' to 'jerky'. Rarer tastes better but I'll wolf it all down regardless. :)