There are moments in life – and I don’t know about you, but I have them quite often – when the memory of cave ancestors suddenly wakes up inside: a spear, a fire, meat dripping with juice, and stuff like that. It is quite simple to satisfy the call of primitive spirits – it is enough to uncork a bottle of tart wine, and fry a good steak, since the technology of cooking meat has stepped forward since the time of the first people.
My personal rating of ways to cook steaks is as follows:
1. Sous-vide technology combined with quick frying of a ready-made steak in a hot frying pan. Despite the fact that during the discussion of this recipe many copies (not primitive, but virtual ones) were broken, I am still sure that nothing beats in cooking a steak with sous vide.
2. Preparation on a real grill, where both fried strips from the grate and the smell of fire are all available. It’s a pity that in our climate you often can’t cook on an open fire.
3. Roasting in a frying pan followed by bringing to readiness in the oven… A method available to any home chef, in addition, understandable and predictable, but there is another method, even simpler than all of the above, but at the same time giving a consistently high result. This method, called searing in English (which can be very conditionally translated as “burning”), was described, for example, by Heston Blumenthal in his wonderful book Heston at home – but the authorship of this elegant method, I’m afraid, has been lost for centuries.
Its gist is pretty simple:
1. The steak must be taken out of the refrigerator in advance to allow it to warm up to room temperature: a cold steak will take longer to cook, and it will lose more juices and cook less evenly.
2. Place a massive skillet over high heat for about five minutes to warm it up properly, and just before cooking, add a little high-boiling oil (such as corn oil) and salt the steak well.
3. Gently place the steak in the pan (it is advisable to do it “from yourself” so as not to splash hot oil) and fry for 15-20 seconds. Then turn over (using tongs is best, but with the proper skill, other kitchen tools will do as well) and continue frying, turning the steak over every 15 to 20 seconds.
4. The steak will be cooked pretty quickly: to fry medium rare, a two-centimeter steak will take about 2 minutes, for medium, 3 is enough. Use a meat thermometer to check the degree of doneness.
5. Season the finished steak with pepper and put it in a warm place for five minutes: as with any other cooking method, this rest will allow the steak to relax, so that all the juices are evenly distributed throughout the piece of meat.
6. Serve the cooked steak with sauce or butter – like herb butter – just like any other. You guessed it?
Fast frying on both sides warms up the steak more evenly – the middle has time to cook before the crust burns out. At the same time, the surface of the steak, on the one hand, quickly reaches a noble golden hue, and on the other hand, it does not have time to dry, as if we were bringing the steak in the oven.
The result is an extremely juicy, soft steak that can be used as an example for everyone else. Of course, this method cannot be compared to sous-vide, and it takes some practice to master it – but due to its simplicity, it will surely become your faithful friend. Especially in those moments when time is running out, and you again hear the call of primitive ancestors.