A steak is a fried piece of meat that is cut from an animal’s carcass and cut laterally in thick slices. This cut allows the heat to evenly penetrate the fibers, heating the piece to the desired temperature. At first glance, a steak may seem like an uncomplicated dish in the form of a fried slice of meat, but not all chefs can cook it correctly. The process of cooking steaks has its own subtleties and secrets.
Professionals assure that the preparation of the “right” steak at home begins with the meat counter. Not all meat is suitable for cooking. It must be of impeccable quality, which, as you know, has its own price. So don’t skimp on meat. Try to purchase meat from a manufacturer that is not guided by the average consumer requirements. When buying a product in a supermarket, you have to be guided only by your own intuition.
Keep in mind that a dish made from lean meat will not turn out to be completely tender, so choose a piece with layers of fat. It is worth frying such a piece – there will be no trace of the veins, and the steak will turn out to be juicy and tasty. Pay attention to the color of the interlayer – it should be white. Yellow color indicates a fairly mature age of the animal.
Pay attention to the quality of the muscle fibers. If they are thick and dense, the steak will be firm. Choose a piece with thinner fibers to make the meat easier to chew.
The color of the meat plays an important role. The beef should be dark red. If the meat looks pale and gives off a lot of juice, it is better to skip buying it, because when frying it will greatly decrease in size and become hard as a result of loss of liquid. But too dark meat is a sign of not the best quality. Both of these defects are formed as a result of improper storage of meat or stressful situations in which animals were poorly fed.
Chunks of beef from fillet, thigh or roast beef are suitable for quick frying.
Another quality sign that you can’t just see is the degree of maturity of the beef or the shelf life of the product after slaughter. If pork can be sold and cooked steamed, steamed beef should be hung for 3-4 weeks to become tender. Determine the ripeness of the beef by pressing on the meat with your index finger. A dent that lingers on a piece for a while indicates that the meat is tender and mature. If it is bouncy, the steak will be rubbery.
If the meat is frozen, thaw it slowly, leaving it in the refrigerator overnight. Defrosting quickly in the microwave or under running water may break the fibers, making the food less juicy.
Please note that the frying time of defrosted meat is shorter than that of fresh meat.
Cut the beef into smaller but thicker pieces so that they don’t dry out when frying.
Dry the steaks before frying so the oil does not splatter in the pan.
It is best to cook the steak in a non-stick skillet, avoiding the use of a lot of fat.
Do not turn meat unnecessarily to avoid damaging the fibers and losing juice.
Do not taste the readiness of the steak by piercing it with a fork, otherwise the juice will leak out and the meat will become dry.