For meat lovers, a good steak is hard to beat. But how to cook steak to tender, juicy perfection? How to ensure that it’s flavour-packed and comes out of the pan or off the grill just the way you like it?
From choosing the best cut for the occasion (hint: most expensive doesn’t always equal most delicious) to judging when it’s ready, here’s the ultimate guide.
How to cook steak in a pan
Cooking a tender and succulent steak at home isn’t difficult if you follow a few key steps. Ramiro Lafuente Martínez, the executive chef at London’s five-star Connaught Hotel, explains how to do this in a frying pan.
For prime steaks such as fillet, ribeye, sirloin and rump, buy them thickly cut, ideally 2.5-3cm. “You can get good colouration on the outside without overcooking them,” Lafuente Martínez says. Use a heavy frying pan, ideally cast iron.
Step one
Make sure the steaks are at room temperature when you put them in the pan, or they’ll cook unevenly in the middle. “A steak that’s cooked correctly is a homogeneous colour all the way through, not a thin white layer at the top and bottom and pink just in the middle,” Lafuente Martínez says.
Step two
Rub the steaks all over with a little olive oil or even melted beef fat. (Ask your butcher for fat trimmings and melt it down.)
Step three
Season the steaks generously all over with flaky sea salt – Lafuente Martínez recommends fleur de sel – which will form a protective layer between the meat and the pan. “The steak cooks a little bit more gently than if it was directly touching the pan,” he says. Don’t add pepper before cooking because it will burn and taste bitter.
Step four
The pan needs to be hot but not so hot that the steak burns on the outside before it’s cooked inside. Start by sealing the edges of the steak to lock in the juices: hold it upright in the hot pan with tongs, turning until all the sides have good colour. “This also melts the fat on the edges, so you’ll be cooking it in its own fat, and fat is what gives the meat flavour,” Lafuente Martínez says.
Step five
Once the sides are sealed, place the steak flat in the pan and cook until nicely golden underneath – lift up a corner with tongs to check. “This colouration is what’s going to give you the roasted taste,” Lafuente Martínez says. If it’s browning unevenly, move it around in the pan. “But whatever you do, don’t press the meat down or you’ll lose the juices.” Flip and cook the other side until cooked to your liking.
Step six
Transfer the steaks to a plate to rest for 10 minutes, turning them over halfway through. “This gives the muscle fibres time to relax and for the meaty juices to redistribute throughout the meat,” Lafuente Martínez says. This resting time is particularly important for fibrous cuts, such as onglet and bavette.
Step seven
For extra flavour, return the steaks to the pan over a medium heat, add a generous knob of butter and, if you like, a bunch of fresh thyme. Once the butter is foaming, tilt the pan and spoon the fragrant butter over the steaks until the foaming subsides. Continue to cook for about 1.5 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a plate or drip tray and rest for a further two minutes.
Step eight
If you’re serving steak sliced, cut across the grain so it’s more tender to eat: hold your knife perpendicular to the long visible muscle fibres that run the length of the steak.
Step nine
Sprinkle with flaky sea salt before serving and cracked black pepper if desired.
What is the Maillard reaction?
The process that causes steak that’s seared well, and is nicely browned with a good crust, to taste deeply flavourful and delicious.
The Maillard reaction – named after Louis Camille Maillard, the French physicist who discovered it – refers to a chain of chemical processes that occur when heat sears, browns and builds a crust on meat (and other foods including bread).
This process not only changes the colour and texture of the surface of the meat, but also creates new and intense flavours that are deeply savoury, oniony and “meaty”.
How to test for doneness
Many professional kitchens use digital temperature probes to ensure steaks are cooked exactly as requested by customers (Thermapen and Meater are widely recommended). If you use a probe, remove the steak from the pan first, and stick the probe into the middle of the flesh, not the side.
The temperatures here might seem low, but they allow for the fact that the steak continues to cook while resting:
- Rare = 44C-46C
- Medium rare = 46C-48C
- Medium = 50C-54C
- Medium-well done = 56C-60C
- Well done = 60C-65C
To test for doneness without a probe, compare the feeling of the cooked steak with the flesh on your hand.
Open your hand, palm down, and press the triangle of flesh between your index finger and thumb: this is how steak should feel cooked medium rare.
Touch the top of your thumb with your index finger and press the triangle of flesh between your index finger and thumb: this is how medium should feel.
Form a tight circle with your index finger and thumb and press the triangle of flesh between your index finger and thumb: this is how well done should feel.
Know your prime cuts
To help you choose the right steak for the occasion, butcher Flora Phillips, from Farm Shop in Mayfair, explains the features of the most popular cuts, along with lesser-known and more economical cuts. As a general rule that applies to all cuts, beef that’s been hung for at least 21 days is always best, having lost water and with its fibres beginning to break down, making it more tender and flavourful.
Fillet
Also known as tenderloin, eye fillet and filet mignon; fillet is taken from a long muscle in the lower middle of the back of the cow. Chateaubriand comes from the thickest section of the fillet. “Because it’s the least worked muscle it’s the most tender and the most expensive,” Phillips explains. “It’s also the most luxurious in terms of mouthfeel and bite, with a pure ‘beefy’ flavour.” Fillet is covered in “silver skin” (the membrane attached to the muscle) which must be removed without damaging the meat. “That requires a lot of dexterity and skill, which also affects the price,” she adds.
Sirloin
Also known as strip steak and porterhouse, sirloin is cut from a part of the loin that does slightly more work than the fillet, so it’s not quite as tender. But because it comes with more fat, it’s succulent and, according to many, more flavoursome. “Sirloin has a cap of fat over the top of it that people love,” Phillips says. “It tastes a lot richer than fillet but is still very melt-in-the-mouth. Often, you’ll have a bit of fat marbling running through it as well.”
Ribeye
For many steak lovers, ribeye has it all: the best flavour and a pleasing, slightly chewy texture. Also known as Scotch fillet, rib fillet and entrecôte, it comes from between the cow’s front ribs and contains more fat than other cuts. A tomahawk steak is a ribeye with a long section of rib bone left intact.
“Ribeye tends to have fat running through it and often an ‘eye’ or nodule of fat as well,” Phillips says. It tends to be more expensive per kilo than sirloin and is sold both on and off the bone. “Prime rib steaks, which are ribeyes on the bone, are really popular and amazing for the barbecue,” she adds.
Rump
Cut from a big piece of lean meat at the back of the cow, “rump is more of a work muscle, so doesn’t have as much fat as other cuts,” says Phillips. It’s therefore not as tender but is economical and can be very tasty.
A traditional rump steak is made up of several muscles that you can see held together with connective tissue. Prime rump steaks consist of a single muscle; picanha or rump cap is a delicious example. “It’s a popular barbecue steak and can have a thick cap of fat on it,” Phillips says.
T-bone
The Fred Flintstone of cuts. Taken from the loin, it comprises a sirloin and a fillet steak joined together by a T-shaped bone, delivering the rich beefy flavour of the former and the tenderness of the latter. T-bones vary in size from 500g to 1kg, so larger ones can be shared by two people or more and are particularly good cooked on the barbecue. “The bone protects the meat from the heat and holds the cuts together,” Phillips says.
Lesser-known cuts
Hanger
Also known as onglet, hanger steak is from the muscle “hanging” between the cow’s lungs, which gives it a unique offal-like flavour. “It’s one of my favourite steaks to eat in the world,” Phillips says. “A few years ago, it would have been considered offal, but it’s become really popular now.”
Hanger has a feathery texture because of the way the muscle fibres are arranged. “It can be really tender, so long as you rest it for long enough,” Phillips says. “It flies out the door during the summer because it’s such a good barbecue steak. The fibrous structure retains the flavour of the smoke and the char.”
Bavette
Also known as thick flank steak, bavette is a long flat cut taken from the flank (belly) of the cow and has recently surged in popularity because of its big flavour and comparatively small price.
“Sometimes, a bavette can have quite a bit of fat, almost threaded through it, and it has an amazing chew and texture,” Phillips says.
Flatiron
Another little-known cut that’s increasingly popular, flatiron is taken from the “feather” muscle in the cow’s shoulder. It has excellent flavour and is generally tender and juicy. “It’s very economical and pretty simple to cook,” Phillips says.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
