One of the most popular orders in restaurants in the world is meat steak.

I wonder why?

And all because people simply do not know and do not know how to cook steaks at home.

At first glance, it seems a very non-trivial task to take a piece of meat, salt and pepper it. And then send to a hot pan or in the oven. But for some reason, meat is almost always obtained dry, burned or very hard.

We will understand why this happens and how to cook steak at home properly.

What are the steaks, what are they made of, what parts are made of, was considered in the article.

Below are the main postulates of how best to make a steak, and how to cook it.

About meat

To make the cow meat tasty and juicy, you need to choose it correctly. And this also needs to be able to do. By the way, in some European restaurants, chefs do not trust anyone to choose meat for steaks, and they do it themselves.

First you need to know that for a real steak, a piece must be kept in a cool, dry place for about a month. It depends on the origin of the cut. If you cook fresh meat, then the steak will definitely turn out tough, even if it is well beaten. Since the muscles inside the cut are not relaxed.

So feel free to count at least 20 days from the moment of slaughtering a cow or a goby.

The steaks must be packed in a vacuum.

Highlights

The piece must be of the correct thickness. Thin cuts will quickly burn out or not cook properly. The thickness should be about 2.4 - 2.6 centimeters.

Immediately before frying the beef steak, it needs to lie down at room temperature for about two hours. If this is not done, it will be more difficult to control the degree of steak roasting.

If you cook in a pan, then it is better to take a special cast iron grill pan. Warm it until a haze appears and do not add oil.

Cuts usually do not wash, otherwise it does not cook as it should. They should be as dry as possible. To dry the surface, you can use special kitchen paper towels.

In no case do not add any seasoning for meat and other spices. It will completely kill all taste. The maximum that can be done is to salt and pepper a little. The steaks of some breeds of gobies are salted and pepper already during the meal.

It is advisable to cook one serving in one pan. The fewer pieces on the fryer, the better the temperature of the hot surface is maintained and the cut will be fried correctly. If you put two or more pieces at once, the surface temperature of the pan will quickly fall, and the meat will be stewed, not fried. And you can’t get a steak with a crispy crust.

When turning steaks to the other side, use only special cooking tongs or a spatula. In no case do this with a fork. Not only spoil the pan, but juice will start to flow out of the meat. During cooking, do not pierce it. The frying is checked solely by touch.

After the main preparation, the steaks should be given a little time to rest. Do not serve meals immediately. This is due to the fact that the juice during cooking is concentrated in the center of the piece. By letting the meat rest, we make sure that the juice is distributed evenly throughout the whole steak and it becomes much juicier. This is about 15-25 minutes.

How to cook beef steak in a pan

Beef cut needs to be prepared. We let it rest for about two hours, dry it and season with salt and pepper, if necessary.

We spread it on a hot pan (preferably cast iron) and fry on one side until a brown crust appears. Turn over to the other side.

After that, we wrap the cut in foil, or put it on parchment. We spread it on a baking sheet and send it to the preheated, somewhere up to 200 degrees oven for about 8 minutes. Depending on the thickness of a particular piece. If you want completely fried, without pink pulp, you can leave it in the oven for 15 minutes.

We take it out of the oven, let the dish rest and serve.

Steaks on the grill. Grilled pork steak

There is nothing better prepared in nature than meat on the grill. In addition, it is excellent to bake pork steaks on coals. Pork cuts are usually not made in a pan, as they are solid.

A steak cut from fresh pork is perfect. Unlike beef, he does not need to be aged for a long time. However, if you have it frozen, then you need to defrost it. No need to defrost pork in the microwave. Let it lie at room temperature, not in the sun.

Cut the pork into portioned pieces about 2 centimeters thick.

Dry with paper towels.

To cook grilled pork steak, you can season it with spices without fear of spoiling the tenderloin. Its taste is only emphasized by good seasonings.

Seasoning, leave the steak to marinate for several hours. The longer it marinates, the more intense its taste will be.

Pork steak should be fried on charcoal. First, cook on an open fire for about two minutes on each side, so as to properly fry and get a baked crust. Then we put out the fire and cook on hot coals for about 10-15 minutes, periodically turning the steak.

During this time, pork is properly baked and saturated with the aroma of charcoal. Having cut a piece with a knife, you can make sure the pulp is fried. It can be served with a salad of greens and cucumbers. Pork steak goes well with mashed potatoes or avocados.

How to make fish steaks

Fish steaks are a great alternative to meat. Especially for vegetarians. In addition, the flesh of the fish is not as high in calories and greasy compared to the same pork. Fish contains many beneficial substances, such as omega-3 (fish oil).

Cooking a fish steak, at first glance, seems to be an easy task for a cook. But in order to cook a premium quality dish, you need to properly prepare a fish steak and not go too far with seasonings.

You can cook at home different types of fish. But for a steak, it is necessary to choose species that have a dense pulp structure with a small number of bones. To cook at home in a pan or in the oven, you can use salmon, chum, trout, perch and many other varieties. The size of the portioned portion should be equal to the palm of a person or slightly smaller.

Fish loves pre marinating. Spices and a sufficient amount of salt will incredibly emphasize the taste. But here, as elsewhere, it is important not to overdo it. Of salt, sea is the best choice. She as much as possible naturally salted a piece. If you choose plain or fine salt, only the upper part will salt out. Inside the fish will remain unsalted.

For marinade, in addition to salt, you can use olive oil, rosemary, lemon juice. There is no need to pickle fish for a long time. One hour is enough.

A grill pan will be the best choice for cooking fish steak. It is necessary to heat it over medium heat to a smoky state. Put a piece in a pan and fry on one side for about 2-3 minutes. Then gently turn over without damaging the fragile structure of the fish steak. Do not forget to use special kitchen tongs or a spatula when turning.

After frying until a crust appears on both sides, cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to a minimum. We hold our steak for another couple of minutes in such an oven. Turn off the fire and leave the fish to rest for about 10 minutes. Then you can serve it to the table. Red wine, lettuce and rice garnish go well with fish.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to cook a steak at home. But in order to get a truly culinary masterpiece, you need to observe all the subtleties of cooking and then the stomach will thank you.

A tasty steak is not just a piece of any fried meat. Unfortunately, it’s simply impossible to make the right steak from the usual “shop” beef - the reason lies both in the type of meat itself (in most cases in Russia, beef means dairy cows with loose meat without a pronounced grassy aroma), and in the choice of part of the carcass used for steak.

The main thing is that steak beef should not contain gels to increase the volume of the product - and such fillers are extremely widely used in cheap meat. When frying at high temperature, a large amount of liquid will start to flow out of such a steak - the meat will begin to stew as a result, and the degree of roasting simply cannot be adjusted.

What is a steak?

In fact, a steak is a thick piece of high-quality grass-fed beef meat (in some cases, with a bone - the so-called "ribeye"), cut across the muscle fibers and fried in a special frying pan or grilled at high temperature. The meat for the steak can be both drier (filet mignon), and with streaks of noble fat (marble steak).

Despite the fact that a classic steak is whole beef meat, roasted on a fire in a short time, there are numerous recipes for steaks, baked in the oven, pork steaks and even salmon and other fish steaks. In the cuisine of some countries, even beef steak is considered a steak. beef steak),closer to the cutlet.

What part of the beef is the steak made of?

For classic beef steaks, only meat of those parts of the carcass of the animal whose muscles are not involved in motor activity is suitable - primarily the chest, sides and back. Since in the end no more than 10% of the bull’s carcass can be used, this is one of the key reasons for the high cost of quality meat for a delicious steak.

The finished steak gets its name depending on which part of the carcass it was made from. Different countries have different carcass cutting patterns, as well as meat preferences and roasting methods. An American steak is a thick piece of meat with noble streaks of fat (marbled beef), while in Europe they prefer smaller and thinner sirloin steaks.

What is herbal fattening?

In natural conditions, cows feed on grass - however, in conditions, grass is replaced by corn, animal feed and other additives. As a result, the animal gains weight much faster, however, due to fat, not muscle mass. The taste of beef is also fundamentally different, because eating herbs directly affects the aromatic qualities of meat.

Among other things, not every variety of cows is suitable for making steaks - in addition to dividing beef into meat and dairy (as the name implies, dairy cows are bred for milk), there are a number of specially selected types of animals designed exclusively for cutting into meat for steaks. Unfortunately, in Russia there are almost no such cows.

Australian and Argentinean beef

For the right steak, meat of young Angus bulls is suitable ( Angus) and Hereford ( Hereford) age 1-1.5 years. The main producing countries for such meat are Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland. The role is played not only by the weather conditions of the above countries, but also by the types of food available for growing beef.

Depending on the direct nutrition, meat can have as many fatty inclusions (grain fattening by wheat and corn), so less (exclusively grass-fed fattening). In the USA and Australia, they prefer “marble” grain-fed meat (thicker and fatter steaks), and in Europe, Argentina and South Africa, lean herbal meat is valued.

What is the difference between farm products and ordinary food? Where did the bio fashion come from?

How to cook steak?

We note once again that beef for a tasty steak implies natural grazing throughout the entire process of raising an animal - in countries with a snowy winter (including Russia) it is extremely and extremely difficult. That is why from an ordinary piece of beef, bought in the nearest store, you can cook only meat stewed in its own juice, but not a steak at all.

1. Buy the right meat. Preference should be given to either chilled steak meat in vacuum packaging or deep frozen. Before cooking the steak, frozen meat must be thawed slowly beforehand - leave it in the main chamber of the refrigerator for several hours.
2. Slice meat. The steak meat is cut into thick enough slices - about 5 cm for oily marbled meat, or 4-5 cm for an almost dry beef tenderloin fillet. After cutting, the meat should be kept at room temperature for at least 30-45 minutes.
3. Cook a pan. Thin steaks from sirloin meat are best fried on non-stick pans and on a gas (or induction) stove, and thicker and thicker (including marble steaks) - on special ribbed pans or grills. In this case, a minimum of oil is necessary.
4. Do not spoil the meat!   In no case do not wash the meat immediately before roasting - it should be as dry as possible. Before frying the steak, add a little rock salt, black pepper or a pinch of aromatic herbs on both sides, but be moderate and do not overdo it.
5. Keep the crust on the steak when frying. To form a golden crust that preserves all the juices inside the steak, it is important to fry it at high temperature. Do not put several pieces of meat on the pan at the same time - this will lower its temperature and the steak will begin to stew in its own juice.
6. Be sure to note the time. As in the case with, the best result is obtained by fixing the cooking time. The frying time depends on the thickness of the piece of meat and its type - from 1.5-2 minutes for filet mignon, ending 6-7 minutes for each side of marbled beef well done.
7. Let the steak lie down before serving.. Before the steak is almost ready, it is removed from the heat and placed on a plate for 5-7 minutes - the high temperature on the surface redistributes the juices inside the piece of meat, as a result of which it is more evenly soaked and tastes better.

Degree of roasting steak

In accordance with the American system of classification of classes of roasting, six degrees of readiness of steaks are divided - very rare   (almost raw meat) rare   (meat with blood) medium rare   (lightly cooked steak), medium   (medium rare), medium well   (almost fried) well done   (fried). The best kind of steak frying depends solely on the tastes of a particular person.

For thick and fatty steaks (including bone-in ribeye steaks) preferred by Americans, the degree of frying from medium rare   before medium well, and for thinner European and South American steaks with a low fat content (for example, classic filet mignon), light and quick frying is more suitable - from rare   before medium.

***

On the one hand, preparing a steak is simple - just fry a piece of meat. However, both the steak meat and the pan must be of high quality - otherwise you will get either beef stewed in your own juice or excessively tight meat that will even be difficult to cut, not to mention to enjoy its taste.

Despite the claims of some doctors that the consumption of red meat is harmful to health, and the increase in the number of zealous vegetarians, there are still much more meat-eaters among the townspeople. But few people really understand what lies on his plate: often people don’t even suspect where the beef came from, from which the steak was prepared, how it was cut and stored, and from which part of the carcass it was made, for example, ribeye or striploin. The Village decided to research this question from a to z. The meat specialist helped us with this. Kirill Martynenko,managing Partner, Torro Grill Moscow Steakhouse Chain

Kirill Martynenko managing Partner, Steakhouse Network Torro grill

In the restaurant business, Cyril got in 1989 as a waiter in the restaurant "U Józef", where he later became an assistant cook. Then he worked as a cook in the Assol and Anna Mons restaurants, as a chef and manager of the U Petra restaurant and bar, as well as the manager of the Maxim’s restaurant and club and as a chef in the Alexander Blok entertainment complex. In 2002 Cyril became the chef of Global Foods, and in 2004 became the concept chef of the Arpikom restaurant group (Goodman, Filimonova and Yankel, Kolbasoff). In 2007, together with his partner Anton Lyalin, he opened his first Steak House Torro Grill, which has now become a chain of six restaurants in Moscow.

Story

Steak   (eng. steak, from Old Scandinavian steikja - « fry") - a piece of meat cut from the carcass of an animal and cooked on fire.

It’s difficult to say exactly about the time of the appearance of the steak, but we can confidently say that our ancestors began to eat meat raw in their raw form many millennia ago in order to survive in harsh conditions. But they began to fry meat on fire when they realized that it was easier to eat this way. In the mid-15th century, the description of the steak first appeared in British cookbooks. Three centuries later, the technology of cooking meat on an open fire began to spread throughout continental Europe.

English Herefords and Scottish Aberdeen Anguses were brought into the New World, on which, in fact, the American meat industry began to develop. In addition to the United States, steaks are widespread in all former British colonies, as well as in Latin America, Germany, Italy and France.

Actually, the culture of steak and steakhouse was born at the end of the XIX century, and this happened, as you might guess, in America - in Chicago.

Meat

The herd of cattle is divided into two unequal parts: meat, intended for quick slaughter, and dairy. The first is, as a rule, bull-calves, the second, of course, cows. But even from meat gobies, not everyone will fit steaks.

Breed

An extremely important parameter is breed. All the time that people were engaged in animal husbandry, they bred and fixed the breeds that best gained muscle mass, could save a certain amount of fat and were unpretentious in maintenance. For the steak industry, it is also important that the animal is compact. The most steak breeds are the entire Angus family ( Aberdeen angus   - a breed bred in Scotland and brought to the United States in 1873), Herefords ( Hereford   - a breed bred in the county of Herefordshire, in England), as well as their hybrids. It is from them that the vast majority of steaks are made in restaurants around the world.

A special role in meat production is played by the diet of the animal. The natural food for a cow is grass and hay. But from the point of view of the meat industry, this is unprofitable and possible only in countries where there is adequate area, and climatic conditions allow livestock to eat grass all year round, as, for example, in New Zealand.

Cow stomach   able to digest extremely poor feed: hay and grass, so the transition to more rich   feed, grain, should occur gradually, otherwise the animal gets sick.

Grain fattening appeared relatively recently, in the mid-60s in the United States. The producer, giving the cattle a standard highly nutritious feed, can control the growth rate of the animals. Besidesthe consumer wanted a certain marbling beef. marbling - small particles of fat deposited between muscle fibers), the degree of which is impossible to control with grass-fed fattening. For this reason, there was a need to develop a system of grain feeding and meat certification. Grain fattening is more expensive than grass, and the diet itself is more complicated. The transition to a richer feed, grain, should occur gradually. It is important to develop a balanced diet and gradually transfer the animal to a new diet from animal feed, barley, alfalfa, corn and other components.

AT USA   meat is divided into eight categories, three of which - prime, choice   and select   - suitable for cooking steaks. AT Of Australia categories are designated by serial number from 200   before 1 100   (most marble) in increments of 100 units.

In Russia today there is no beef certification system similar to Western ones. Modern GOSTs and TUs do not describe which meat is suitable for steaks. While other countries have their own certification and category criteria for meat. The most stringent standards are set in countries with developed meat industry: in the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Russia should develop its standards and definitions of VKG (high-quality beef) within a year and a half after joining the World Trade Organization, that is, roughly by 2014. In Russia, beef that meets VKG standards has not been produced and is not being produced.

Major exporters and meat prices

The country of production also plays a role in pricing. It is easy to guess that the labor force in the USA and Australia is more expensive than in Argentina, because the price of meat is higher. Climatic conditions and seasonal fluctuations are also important. In the USA, for example, at Christmas, meat always grows in price, and in summer it gets cheaper. Financiers often play meat - futures contracts for beef are concluded no less often than for grain.

Japanese beef Wagyu   in marbling superior to American prime. The price, of course, is one and a half to two times higher.

Beef is brought to Russia mainly from the USA and Australia. The most popular breeds are Angus. Sometimes in the Russian market there appears super-marbled beef made using Japanese technologies, - Wagyu. Due to the lack of production capacity in Japan, this meat is also produced in the USA and Australia.Less comes from Latin America and New Zealand, since there is grass-fed fattening - marbling cannot be guaranteed, and the consumer is already used to a certain level. The price of beef depends on the complexity of transportation and seasonality. However, Angus from the United States and Australia are comparable in price. Japanese varieties are significantly - up to one and a half to two times - more expensive. Grass-fed beef, as a rule, is cheaper, since this type of fattening, in the presence of appropriate areas for grazing, is cheaper than grain.

Russian meat

Recently, more and more Russian meat has appeared on the market, claiming to become a steak. However, the price-performance ratio is still shocking. Given that in Russia there is where to raise livestock, it is sad that meat production is still at an initial stage.

The undeveloped industry and infrastructure does not allow farmers to sell their goods efficiently and profitably. Since the restaurant business is able to absorb no more than 10% of the carcass, the rest of the meat remains ballast in the hands of the manufacturer. In countries with developed meat industry, everything is recycled.

Carcass cutting

There are documents that regulate the process of cutting carcasses and describe in detail how to cut fat and what each piece should look like. In the United States, standards for cutting are spelled out in a reference guide called Meat Buyer "s Guide. Australians have a similar Australian Beef Product Guide, In Canada - Meat Cuts Manual.

The tradition of carcass cutting in our country generally does not imply a product such as steak. Therefore, those who want to experiment with domestic meat should be prepared for the fact that the restaurant will have to additionally mess with the carcass - to make steaks from an unformed piece.

Storage and transportation

Meat enters the market in two forms - frozen and chilled.

Freezing

The meat is subjected to shock freezing: its temperature drops from plus 2-4 degrees to about minus 30 in a matter of minutes. Thus, the cell walls do not have time to collapse with ice crystals. Subsequently, during thawing, the loss of juiciness is minimal. Such meat, as a rule, enters Russia by sea: this is the cheapest way. Properly frozen and thawed beef, no doubt, is inferior in taste to seasoned samples, but is quite suitable for work. Defrosting should occur in the refrigerator at a temperature of plus 4−5 degrees.

Vacuum storage

Dry aging

Typically, dry aging occurs where the meat is cooked. In this case, it is delivered to a restaurant, where it gets into a special cell and ripens and airs there. Such exposure leads to a loss of up to 25% moisture, which means a piece of beef is much more expensive than frozen or aged in vacuum, but its taste is brighter. In Moscow restaurants, dry meat is extremely rare. But it is normal to keep the meat in a special refrigerator in a separate area with the subsequent delivery of the cut-out vacuum-packed cut to the restaurant kitchen. On the Russian market there are offers of foreign meat of dry aging.

Steak

Up to 10% of the total weight of the animal’s skeleton is suitable for the preparation of the steak (the weight of the skeleton does not include the weight of the head, entrails, and skin) - hence the high price of the steak. The whole back is suitable for preparing steaks: tenderloin (the inner part of the lumbar cut), rib eye (thoracic part) and striploin (lumbar part), the shoulder blade and the front part of the back cut are the main cuts that are used in the restaurant industry. The shoulder blade and the front of the hind cut are of low price and more pronounced taste. There is also a diaphragm - these are two cuts - skirt   and hanger   (thick diaphragm). The diaphragm is the softest muscle of the animal, since its purpose is to support the insides, it is not involved in movement. The diaphragm is also called the “butcher’s steak,” because traditionally the butchers left these pieces to themselves as the most tender.

In Moscow restaurants these steaks are prepared:

Roasting

Of course, all these cuts require varying degrees of heat treatment, since the fat content in them is different. Experts are still arguing about the number of degrees of steak roasting, but most are of the opinion that there are six of them:

There is a simple rule: the fatter the piece, the higher the degree of frying suits it. Rib eye steak is recommended to be medium or medium-well, but a tenderloin is best served medium-rare or even rare. The French and Spaniards are especially fond of low, and Americans prefer well-fried meat.

Photos: Olya Eichenbaum
Illustrations: Alexander Pokhvalin

Over the past few months, I have been involved in the development of the art and science of cooking steak. Perfect steak.

In the process, I gathered a lot of notes - from websites, from cookbooks, interviews with chefs and my personal experience - to then lay out a set of simple tips to help you make the perfect steak.

So, let's begin.

1. Buy meat from butchers, not the grocery store

The key to cooking any tasty dish is a set of quality ingredients. As for the purchase of meat, it is better to skip supermarkets and head straight to the butcher shop. There you will find the best quality meat, without harmful artificial additives.

2. Try ribeye (classic beef steak)

Most people choose lean slices of beef to make steak, which makes it rather dry and tasteless. Chunks with a slightly higher fat content, in contrast, add flavor even with a relatively short cooking time.

From a nutritional point of view, saturated fats found, for example, in beef, are quite normal. Of course, you should not consume a lot of them, so cut off the excess during cooking. In addition, instead of eating a large but lean piece, you can get by with a small but more intense one.

For me personally, the ribeye seems perfect for making steak.

3. Add a clove of garlic

Adding fresh garlic makes the steak even more delicious! Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub the steak on all sides.

(Bonus tip: To get rid of the smell of garlic on your hands, wash them and wipe them on the inside of a stainless steel kitchen sink).

4. Season with plenty of sea salt

If you still do not have a salt shaker and pepper shaker, then buy them and fill them with sea salt and pepper.

Grind the sea salt and fresh pepper and add the resulting mixture to the steak on each side, forming a kind of “light crust”.

5. Before cooking, freeze the steak for 45 minutes

A great steak is a steak with a beautiful brown crust, usually grilled or roasted in a steak house, where the temperature is much higher than in ordinary home ovens.

However, having done a little trick, you can get a very close result! Put the freshly salted and uncovered steak in the freezer for 45 minutes immediately before cooking. The environment in the freezer is incredibly dry, so the steak will also dry very quickly. Do not leave the steak in the refrigerator for more than an hour so that it does not freeze.

After 45 minutes, remove it and start frying.

(Most chefs also do not recommend starting to fry the steak until it is at room temperature, since when frying cold meat, you can easily burn the edges, but still not get the necessary softness. Below is a method by which this can be to avoid).

6. Choose the right frying oil

For the preparation of the steak, do not use extra virgin olive oil, since the threshold for its smoke generation is too low. If your goal is not to disinfect the kitchen with fumigation or to send smoke signals to distant relatives, it is better to use something more suitable. For example, organic butter is a good choice - it has a higher smoke threshold, but it is inferior in taste to olive oil.

7. Use a digital meat thermometer

Steakhouses spend a lot of time preparing steaks of the desired frying, as overcooked or, conversely, undercooked steaks are the No. 1 complaint in such establishments. Prepare the steak of the desired roast, and you are 90% close to the perfect steak.

A digital meat thermometer makes this process much easier. Place the appliance over the edge of the steak in the middle and make sure it does not touch grease or baking sheets.

Each level of readiness approximately corresponds to the internal temperature of the prepared steak. For example, a semi-finished steak has a temperature of about 55 ° C.

Since the internal temperature of the steak will rise even after you remove it from the pan, it is better to finish the frying when the temperature is several degrees lower than the ready temperature. For example, to get a medium-temperature steak, stop at 52 ° C - after it has been soaked for 5 minutes, it will reach the desired 55 ° C.

Below is a table indicating the degree of readiness and temperature:

Personally, I prefer to buy large pieces of meat and fry them to an average degree of preparedness and the formation of a crisp. But to each his own.

8. Use the restaurant steak method

You can cook grilled steak in the usual way, or you can use the restaurant method, which will be useful for cooking at home and all year round.

The restaurant method is very simple:

1. Fry the outside of the steak (crust) in a pan.
2. Bake the inside of the steak in the oven.

Detailed instructions on how to do this:

1. Preheat the oven to 177 ° C.
2. Heat a large frying pan moderately.
3. Put a tablespoon of organic oil in a pan and wait until it melts.
4. Fry the steak on each side for 2-5 minutes until a brown crust (but not black!) Is formed.
5. If you like a medium-sized steak, then you can stop here. However, be sure to check the steak’s temperature with a meat thermometer.
6. If you prefer a well-fried steak, then put it in the oven for 5-15 minutes (again, with a thermometer you will know for sure when it's time to get it).

9. Use a sprig of rosemary

A little trick from James Oliver - use a sprig of fresh rosemary to collect the liquid in a saucepan. Then grease the steak on all sides. This is an incredibly easy way to add steak flavor.

10. Fry the edges well

Very simple advice, but few follow it. Once each side of the steak is cooked to the desired readiness, use the tongs and fry the edges.

11. Serve the steak to the table on a warm plate.

This is one of the simplest rules to follow when it comes to preserving the taste of any hot food.

Remember how the waiter in your favorite restaurant always warns that the plate is hot?

For warm dishes, the restaurant also serves warm dishes. People working in the restaurant sector understand that the temperature of the food is one of the most important factors affecting whether the customer will be satisfied with the quality of the food or not. Putting hot food on a plate at room temperature, you will negate all the efforts that have been made in order to prepare the dish.

Easy solution to the problem? Place the plates in the oven for a few minutes. If you use the restaurant method described above, then your oven is already heated to 177 ° C - in this case, a minute is enough.

• Do not use anything too thin to withstand temperature, such as plastic.
• Do not leave the plates warm for more than a minute - otherwise they will become too hot.
• Take out the plates using a tack.
• Warn your guests that the plates are hot (and do not forget yourself!).

(Note: if your plates are suitable for a microwave, they can also be heated there at high temperature).

12. Leave the steak to “rest” for 5 minutes before serving.

Put the steaks on heated plates, cover them with foil and leave for 5 minutes before serving. Why is this done?

1. To steak reached the desired temperature.The outside of the steak is hotter than the inside. Therefore, the outer portion will continue to “cook” the inner portion for several minutes after you remove the steak from the oven. Just at this moment, there is an increase of several degrees to the desired temperature.
2. To allow the internal liquid to spread evenly over the steak.During the preparation of the steak, the liquid under the influence of heating is directed to the side opposite from the heat source - in the middle of the steak. Leaving the steak alone for a few minutes after cooking, you allow the liquid to spread to the edges and do not stagnate only in the middle. Thus, the liquid will remain in the steak while you bite it, and will not spill onto a plate.

13. At the end of cooking, add a little olive oil and basil

Another James Oliver trick is to pour some olive oil on a wooden cutting board. Put fresh basil on top of the butter and cut it into small pieces. Then, using a fork, rub the oil into the basil.

Apply the resulting mixture to each side of the steak. You can also cut the steak into pieces and add a salad of fresh herbs seasoned with vinaigrette sauce.

14. Practice regularly

Remember that cooking is not an exact science; The results depend on the temperature of the ingredients, the equipment you use, and even the weather in your area. The more you practice, the more understandable for you is how the products respond to certain circumstances to which you expose them.

The only way to make the perfect dish is to practice again and again. Buy the same beef in the same butcher shop and try again. With due diligence and attention, you will achieve amazing results.

  We all heard the saying: "How many people - so many opinions." When it comes to our favorite steaks, it can be rephrased like this: "How many chefs - so many rules." In my endless search for the perfect steak, I set about exploring a host of first-class recipes published in respectable publications and those used by chefs of iconic establishments like New York's Hawksmoor or The Spotted Pig. And here is what I found out step by step.

Training

All the chefs I know who ate a dog on steaks emphasize: there are only two secrets of the Ribeye steak. The first is to warm the meat to room temperature before cooking, the second is to regularly turn it in a pan. And if everything is clear with the second, let's dwell on the first in more detail. It turns out that the fastest way to warm the meat is to wrap it with cling film and hold it for 30-60 seconds under a stream of warm water. But the fastest does not mean the best. If you have the time, it’s best to get the steak out of the refrigerator an hour before cooking, and ideally two. So it will not only warm up to the ideal internal temperature, but also get rid of moisture on its surface, dried naturally.

Drying

  Respectable publications like The Wall Street Journal and Cook`s Illustrater, as well as guys from the famous New York establishment Hawksmoor recommend getting Ribey steak wet before cooking with a waffle towel, and I think this is great advice. Moisture on the surface of the piece will add to the meat is not the most appetizing aroma of boiled beef. In addition, a dry steak will brown faster.

Salt and pepper

  The debate over the topic of "when to salt meat" seems to last forever. For example, French author Herve Teese, author of Kitchen Mysteries, recommends not doing this before cooking - according to the chef, the meat juices in this case leave the steak through the uncovered meat fibers. However, many other authors, in particular, The Wall Street Journal, as well as Ducasse and the guys from Hawksmoor, unanimously disagree with him.

April Bloomfield from The Spotted Pig restaurant advises letting the steak lie in salt for 10 minutes before cooking - this will ensure uniform roasting of meat, she said. And at Hawksmoor they advise to pour salt boldly - "more than, as you think, enough." This approach will create a delicious salt crust on the outside of the piece. “We heard you are advised not to salt the steak before cooking. Well, it seems to us that this advice is nonsense, ”they say. And after all my culinary experiments, I probably agree with them. The salty crust allows the steak to only win in taste and at the same time does not have a noticeable effect on its juiciness.

Temperature

What temperature is the steak cooked at? Chefs are divided here in opinion. Some (Herve Teese and Hawksmoor) advise to fry on a very high fire. Others (Bloomfield and the guys at The Ginger Pigs) recommend a more moderate temperature. And Cook`s Illustrated offers to heat the pan, and then reduce the heat and spread the meat. Choose a method depending on how you feel about the aroma of a well-fried, slightly charred crust. Some believe that it distracts from the taste of a good steak, while others - which adds to its zest. Like, for example, I - therefore, I advise you to heat the pan as soon as you can, before spreading the meat. I check the desired temperature simply: you need a really hot pan to not hold your palm for longer than 2 seconds.

Of course, a lot depends on the thickness of the steak. You need to understand that the thicker the steak, the longer it can withstand high temperatures without being overdried. Ducasse suggests using steaks 4 cm high, April Bloomfield, Cook`s Illustrated and Hawksmoor - at least 6 cm, and Nigel advises choosing a piece of meat with a thickness of a thumb. In my opinion, no matter how big the finger, a steak of such thickness cannot be made to really be crispy on the outside and tender inside. And this is important: the steak does not have to be black on the outside, as it turns out for the chefs from Slater`s, but he simply has to have a crispy crust.

Perfect Rib Eye Steak

  So, here is the recipe - step by step - of the perfect steak that I developed after a detailed analysis of all the points described above.

For one serving you will need:

  - 1 ribeye steak about 4 cm high,
  - sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper,
  - 25 grams of butter,
  - 1 crushed clove of garlic,
  - a sprig of thyme.

1. Remove the steak from the refrigerator two hours before cooking and let it warm to room temperature.

2. Take a cast-iron skillet with a thick bottom and put on a medium-high fire. Pat the meat with a waffle towel, then brush a small amount of refined oil on both sides. Meanwhile, evenly sprinkle salt and pepper on a plate, roll the steak in the mixture, and return to the pan. Cook for 60-90 seconds on each side, pressing with forceps until it becomes evenly browned.

3. Slightly reduce the heat, add garlic, butter and thyme to the pan, and when everything has melted, mix and pour the steak with the mixture. A four-centimeter rib-eye will take about 6 minutes to medium rare.

4. Remove the Ribeye steak from the pan and put it on something warm - a preheated pan or board, so that it rests 5–10 minutes before serving.

Bon Appetit.