Hot answers tagged steak
36
You can use the rule of thumb method to measure the "doneness" of the steak:
You loosely touch one of your fingers with your thumb depending on how well done you want it, and the tension of the muscle of your hand below the thumb will be the same as how the meat should feel when you press it.
34
The most important thing you can do is buy quality beef. You can throw a USDA Select steak on a 700 degree charcoal grill, cook it perfectly, and it'll still be tough and not at all what you'd get at a fine steakhouse.
In the USA there are three grades of beef available to a consumer: Select, Choice, and Prime. There are lesser grades but they go to fast ...
33
First, let the meat warm to about room temperature. This way you aren't trying to heat up a cold center. Personally I prefer to only cook each side once (meaning I only flip the meat over once). The actual temperature of your grill and the amount of time you cook it per side will depend on the thickness of the steak and how you want it done. Don't use a fork ...
33
You should be able to get a reasonable steak stovetop using a cast iron grill pan, if you have a strong enough exhaust. Oil the cast iron pan (with canola or such), then heat it very hot, until it starts to smoke. Make sure the meat is completely dry on the outside (wipe with a paper towel, water will prevent browning) and gently place in the pan. Leave it ...
25
If you're at all like me, you are reassured by hard numbers and measurables. This should help.
In this situation one of the likely pathogens would be one of the Salmonella species. Salmonella is killed by temperatures in excess of 130 F (55 C). However, it's not an instant death. The time to kill Salmonella decreases exponentially as the temperature ...
21
An important part of the process missed by the other answers is allowing the meat to rest for up to ten minutes before before serving (depending on size).
This is because at temperature the muscle fibres have tightened up and are unable to retain their juices. A steak straight off the heat and cut open will instantly lose all its juices.
If you allow the ...
20
A good Sirloin (New York Strip steak) has a reasonable marble of fat, so you should not have to worry about edge fat
If you like your fat, pull/trim the silverskin and fat off and render the fat in a medium hot pan BEFORE putting the steak in. When enough fat has melted for your taste, cook the steak in the fat at the temperature and time you like
Add ...
19
Here's how I grill a steak:
Let it thaw completely before attempting to cook it.
Set the grill to medium/high heat.
Clean the grill by putting an onion on a skewer and using that to clean the bars. It adds flavor and gets the bars clean for a clean cook.
For an average thickness steak, I throw it on the grill, close the cover, wait 6 minutes. (closing the ...
19
Definitely don't rinse the salt off. One of the nice things the salt does is pull juices to the surface of the meat--not enough to dry things out, but enough so that when the steak hits the hot pan you have a nice protein-laden coating (it's called a pellicle when talking about smoked fish--not sure about steaks) on the outside to caramelize. If you rinse ...
17
Here is the method I use for turning out a perfect steak every time.
Pick a quality piece of meat that is approximately 1.5 inches thick.
Let it sit on the counter-top for 30-45 minutes until it is roughly room temperature.
Heat up a cast-iron skillet (or similar) to medium-high. Lightly coat the skillet with an oil that has a high smoke point (grapeseed ...
17
This is total nonsense: grass fed ribeye should absolutely not be tough. Toughness is, however, affected by the cow's breed, it's age, by how stressed it was when it was slaughtered, by ageing of the meat, and I'm sure a bunch of other variables too. Something made the meat tough, but it wasn't grass feeding - the combination of strong beefy flavour and ...
16
It's as safe as any other raw meat consumption. It all comes down to quality beef and best practices when handling.
Two rules of thumb:
Don't use steak from a supermarket. Use a butcher, preferably one you know and trust.
Tell your butcher you intend to eat it raw.
15
Here's a couple of hints:
Learn to judge doneness by feel. See this answer for a good guide to temp by feel.
Learn to judge grill temp by hand. Hold your hand palm down about 3-4 inches above the grill. If you can hold it there for a second or two, it's hot; 3-4 seconds is medium; 5-6 seconds is low.
Sear first. Start with a very hot grill. You want ...
14
Hot, hot, hot. Steak restaurants use a very hot grill. That's the key. You want to get a good sear on the outside without over cooking the interior. The three ways I've seen used with success at home are:
Broil on high. You need a good broiler for this
Use a cast iron pan (preferably with ridges) and get it very hot before you begin
Use a grill. Get it up ...
14
Butchered meat is generally sterile except on its exterior. (That doesn't mean parasite- or botulism-free, but it's a start.)
Get the best quality you can from a source you trust. Keep it at as low a temperature as possible, and don't expose it to warm air for more than the few minutes it takes to prepare.
Cut with a clean knife on a clean surface. Put ...
12
If you are really nervous, a trick I have heard of is to start with a really thick piece of beef. Then sear it on both sides in a hot pan. At this point the outside would be deemed safe and the interior is typically safe so you cut away the cooked parts. Then proceed to make the steak tartare with the still raw inside part. As a bonus those nice browned ...
12
Your best bet for preserving quality (and safety) is to re-seal the bag, then leave them in the fridge for a bit. You want them to thaw a little, so you can pry them apart. Its safe to re-freeze after this (as the meat never entered the danger zone, indeed it probably never got above ~30°F). There will be some quality loss from the partial thaw-freeze cycle. ...
11
The Kansas City Strip and the New York Strip refer to the same cut of meat. Apparently restaurants in New York City in the 1930's decided they couldn't sell a fancy steak named after Kansas City (where the stockyards and slaughterhouses were located). So, they just started calling it a New York Strip.
If you want a steak renamed by a egotistical chef, ...
11
First of all, I agree with the others that there is no harm done by plastic bags for sous vide. I have read a statement by the manufacturer that brand-name Ziploc bags don't release anything below 76°C. If you think how much a lawsuit could cost them if the information turned out to be wrong, I trust that they are telling the truth. For other brands, you may ...
10
In this thread, Lorenzo notes that steaks may end up raw in the center if you only leave 'em out for 10-15 minutes to come up to temperature. I recommend 30 mins, but it will probably vary on what room temperature actually is for you.
From Weber's Way To Grill, which recommends salting right when you take them out of the fridge, here's Mr. Purviance's take ...
10
Simple rules:
Buy the best cut you can afford. Prime, grass-fed, aged. Don't freeze it.
Pat it dry. Salt it. Let it sit until room temperature.
Get the grill/pan/broiler HOT. Sear it quickly and completely on both sides. Lower the heat.
Get a meat thermometer. Homecooks overook. 135 degrees F is medium rare. 170 is burnt. Steakhouses won't serve ...
10
Genuine fajitas are made with skirt steak. The most important thing you can do when making fajitas is marinate appropriately. That recipe calls for a dismally short marination time (30 mins to an hour). When I make fajitas I marinate them a minimum of 4 hours, though typically overnight. I usually use a combination of soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, olive oil ...
10
I go into a lot of detail regarding steakhouse quality steaks in my answer here.
Excerpt:
Any steak you buy in the grocery store is minimally wet aged. The finest steakhouses dry age their beef. The difference? Wet aging consists of simply vacuum packing the meat (as in a whole side of cow) and refrigerating it for about a week. After that, it's cut ...
10
How good's the meat? How long was it out of the fridge? I ask, because if you're really concerned, you can always consider the tartare extreme. Someone, somewhere is eating raw, red steak. Is your meat anywhere near good enough to think of it in that context?
Practically, it shouldn't take very long to re-sear the outside of a steak. Contact ...
10
Yes, the problem will be the vinegar.
Vinegar is acidic and you'll end up with mushy meat. 48 hours is almost certainly too long. For a vinegar base, I try not to push it over 8 hours and that's only if really necessary. A few hours is typically fine.
Right now, you've got to consider how to save the meat. I'd freeze the meat right now. Freeze the meat ...
9
First, cooking on a very high heat is appropriate only if you want the meat browned on the outside but very rare ("almost totally raw", as the questioner puts it) on the inside. Since this is evidently not what the questioner wants, the first thing to do is to turn down the heat. This will take you a long way towards a great steak: salt both sides just ...
9
You may have been served Bearnaise, which is a common red meat sauce. Bearnaise is based on Hollandaise (a mother sauce), a butter based sauce. Hollandaise is somewhat advanced to make because it is important to keep the temperature right and the ratios correct while making it, but the result is worth the effort.
9
I would actually recommend the opposite of what was said above. Since the meat is so thin you may have much better results pan searing it in an extremely hot pan from slightly frozen. This way the outermost layer will start to undergo the maillard reaction long before the inside of the steak reaches a medium-rare temp and will give you a better chance of ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
