Is it possible to steam steak?

Question

Steaming seems like an ideal cooking method; I've seen it used for mostly vegetables, sometimes fish (salmon).

Is it possible to steam a steak? Does it cook well? (I assume the target is medium doneness.)

What are the limitations of steaming steak? For example, I usually marinate mine in some oil, soy sauce, salt, black pepper, and garlic; I assume if I steam it, I would put the soy sauce in the steaming liquid.

Answer 1

You could do it, and it would certianly cause the meat to be cooked. However, I suspect it would lead to a less-than-tasty result. There are two potential issues here that I can see:

1. If you're steaming, the temperature maxes out at 100 degrees Centigrade. This leads to longer cooking time, and a "washed" look. Think of how the chicken meat looks in chicken soup.
2. You'll be losing the Maillard reaction, which is what gives that lovely outside texture to anything fried. This is because of the relatively low temperature of steaming, and the lack of liquid (oil) to react with.

Answer 2

As Sean already says, yes you can. The result will be different than cooking on a high heat. So, if you are going to steam, think about:

• Sous-vide (like) bags to prevent watering down the steak and losing flavor.
• Low heat for some time (50ºC) for the enzymes to tenderize the meat (adjust time according to meat tenderness).
• A bit higher heat (54ºC) for doneness (adjust according to meat/preference).
• Let the meat rest until 50ºC, then sear very high heat, very short on both sides.

Look at Cooking Issues for more and better info.

This nice chart will give you the minimum temperature and time needed to fully pasteurize the food.

Source, again Cooking Issues.

Answer 3

I don't see any reason that you couldn't steam a steak. It would provide a gentle cooking environment to get your cut of meat to a desired level of doneness, so you would be hedging against the drying effect that flareups can have. And you are going to heat the outside surface quickly enough to overcome any objections to having meat in the danger zone for too long.

As far as limitations go, I don't know that there would be any from a cooking perspective, but it may alter the flavor profile (maybe for better, possibly for worse), and you're going to get a sickly looking piece of beef with uninteresting texture. Maybe you get around that by searing it at the end, after you've reached your desired internal temperature.

The only way you'll find out if this is a winner or not is through experimentation. Get two cheap steaks, both of the same cut and roughly equivalent size, and cook one the way you normally would, and the other with your steam method.

Answer 4

Steamed steak can be seasoned after cooking and added to salads. Very delicious and easy. Cooks a lot of fat away as well.

Answer 5

It's possible to steam a steak. You will cook it and you will remove all the flavour.

@BaffledCook is giving you good advice with the sous-vide route, but it requires specialist kit to do, which even a lot of professional kitchens don't have. You can glad wrap or bag your steak before steaming - highly recomended since it with retain all the flavour of both the steak and the marinade. But to get that lovely finish, brown surface (the Maillard reaction mentioned by @Carmi) you're going to have to drop it onto some hot iron! A Skillet, pan, what ever you want to call it!

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that steaming a steak is disrespecting the animal it came from. Bring your steak and marinade up to room temp or a little warmer and sear it on a smoking hot skillet. Enjoy.

PS putting soy in the water will have very little effect since the mineral element will not evaporate in a manner that will season your meat, and any of the more volatile compounds that might add the light, more fragrant seasoning notes, will have evaporated in the first couple of minutes.