How to Cook a Steak

[bradm]

Courtesy of The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century, here's a link that gives instruction on How to Cook a Steak (including how to make an $8 butcher section/shop steak come out like a $30 restuarant steak).

Aloha,

Brad

[Davey Boy 2.0]

catphish if you're reading this, put steak on the grocery list!

[meggo]

thanks for that brad... i am notorious for ruining steaks.

[phorbesie]

your recent posts have me a bit worried for next week, meggo

[meggo]

hah.. yes, well... hmmm..

[c-towns]

dry rubbing is amazing.

[bouche]

we made a beef and broccoli dish tonight in the wok and used a piece of meat you'd never grill. sliced super thin, and marinated, that $4 steak went a long way. 3 HUGE plates!

btw....a cast iron pan is a must own for any kitchen. I've seared the shit out of meat and transfered it to the oven for the big finish many times. It'll last forever.

[rubberdinghy]

Good call...flank is good and cheap...just marinade the shit out of it, and slice across the grain...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm good.

[bouche]

it wasn't flank. it was some bottom something of the something. it was meant for stewing.

[M.O.B.E]

You want to have the best steak you've ever had, you either have to make it my house for dinner or have me come cook for you. Ask PoG he can vouch. I am the master of the grill!

Bouche, the cast iron is a must have! Ive got a few cast iron skillets here and I can't live without them. I use them for searing everything I put in the oven, even roasts. I love to use those pans on the grill too.

[AdamH]

Bottom Round Mike? It's what Loeb cubes for the package entitled "stew beef".

I've tried just about every technique for cooking a steak there is and finally settled on this guy's technique with a few modifications:

a) he mentions that you must use non-stick but then he uses Cast Iron, which isn't truly non-stick. To keep it simple, use Cast Iron, or stainless steel. Non-stick pans don't do well at the high temperatures this calls for and can in fact lose their coating in the oven so don't use them at all, even if they're "oven safe" non-stick.

I don't crank the stovetop element too high or "really hot", depending on whether you've got gas or electric or on your stove I would aim for medium-high. Keeping it away from full blast ensures you don't burn the "fond" a.k.a the nice greasy brown bits left by the steak. That fond gives you a good sauce. sear the steak on Nuclear and you'll taste the burnt bits

c) one drop of olive oil per side is more than enough. A good steak, hell even a cheap steak has plenty of fat on it and too much oil tastes weird and prevents crustiness

d) Rest the steak longer...like 10 minutes. When you make your pan sauce take the pan out of the oven, rest the steak and put the pan back on a med-high element and add a few splashes of wine, bring to a boil and scrape all the nice bits off the bottom, add some beef stock or veal stock, salt, pepper, finely chopped shallots and/or garlic if you want and maybe even some bone marrow if you have it...talk about buttery!

All of that detail to say that yeah you can make a $5 steak taste like $25...but the $25 steak will taste like losing your virginity!

[bouche]

It was probably bottom round. Guys like Alton Brown and Michael Smith told me through the miracle of television to by steak based on marbling rather than price.

However, if you look at a nice piece of Kobe beef, you get tons of marbling AND a tiny steak costs $45.