Steak 101: How to choose a steak and cook it in a pan (no thermometer)
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Date: 2020-07-09
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Comments and reviews: 9
Tricky
I should add something here. If you salt your steaks before you put them in the pan, salt them RIGHT BEFORE, do not let them sit with salt UNLESS, you let them sit for 45 minutes or longer. Salt draws out moisture. if you salt a steak for 20 mins then cook, the moisture has not had a chance to reabsorb back into the meat.
If you have time, (45 MINS MINIMUM) salt it and let it sit in the fridge on a cooling rack or even wrapped up in plastic saran wrap with thyme/rosemary. After 45 minutes you can then cook it with little to no moisture loss. The salt will help tenderize and if you covered it in fresh tyme/rosemary while it sat then it will actually capture some of that flavor.
The worst thing to do is salt it and let it sit for 15-30 mins. either salt it RIGHT before putting it on the fire, or 45 mins +.
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I should add something here. If you salt your steaks before you put them in the pan, salt them RIGHT BEFORE, do not let them sit with salt UNLESS, you let them sit for 45 minutes or longer. Salt draws out moisture. if you salt a steak for 20 mins then cook, the moisture has not had a chance to reabsorb back into the meat.
If you have time, (45 MINS MINIMUM) salt it and let it sit in the fridge on a cooling rack or even wrapped up in plastic saran wrap with thyme/rosemary. After 45 minutes you can then cook it with little to no moisture loss. The salt will help tenderize and if you covered it in fresh tyme/rosemary while it sat then it will actually capture some of that flavor.
The worst thing to do is salt it and let it sit for 15-30 mins. either salt it RIGHT before putting it on the fire, or 45 mins +.
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Danielle
Yeah I live in an apartment and steak night (or pork chop night or burger night, for that matter) calls for relocating my smoke detector to the closet. I leave my step ladder out by the socket so I remember to put it back when I'm done. Because of the safety issues and the hassle I tend to prefer slow-cooked beef and pork, or something I can cook at a lower temp, like salmon or tuna. Even then, if I want a good sear on that tuna it usually means having to poke the smoke alarm with an umbrella at least once or twice. Apartment cooking really sucks.
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Yeah I live in an apartment and steak night (or pork chop night or burger night, for that matter) calls for relocating my smoke detector to the closet. I leave my step ladder out by the socket so I remember to put it back when I'm done. Because of the safety issues and the hassle I tend to prefer slow-cooked beef and pork, or something I can cook at a lower temp, like salmon or tuna. Even then, if I want a good sear on that tuna it usually means having to poke the smoke alarm with an umbrella at least once or twice. Apartment cooking really sucks.
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Danielle
Also if you're going to be investing time and money into cooking expensive steaks you really should pony up the cash for a decent thermometer. I saved up and bought a Thermapen because I want to literally never buy another thermometer again, but there are plenty of more affordable options. That way, you don't cut into your steak budget as much. Really, though, there's no reason you should be burning your fingertips trying to guess how done your meat is. Poke it with a good thermometer and you get a definitive answer without hurting yourself.
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Also if you're going to be investing time and money into cooking expensive steaks you really should pony up the cash for a decent thermometer. I saved up and bought a Thermapen because I want to literally never buy another thermometer again, but there are plenty of more affordable options. That way, you don't cut into your steak budget as much. Really, though, there's no reason you should be burning your fingertips trying to guess how done your meat is. Poke it with a good thermometer and you get a definitive answer without hurting yourself.
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Ryan
You're wrong about cutting on the bias only halving the fibre lengths at most. The final fibre lengths will be a function of the angle and the thickness of your slices, but I can't be bothered doing the trig. to actually calculate it. With either an extreme bias or thin slices, you can make the fibres arbitrarily short
As for cooking steak in a poorly-ventilated space: It's always going to be a handicap, but using something with a high smoke-point (ghee or avocado oil, for example) will give you a much easier time
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You're wrong about cutting on the bias only halving the fibre lengths at most. The final fibre lengths will be a function of the angle and the thickness of your slices, but I can't be bothered doing the trig. to actually calculate it. With either an extreme bias or thin slices, you can make the fibres arbitrarily short
As for cooking steak in a poorly-ventilated space: It's always going to be a handicap, but using something with a high smoke-point (ghee or avocado oil, for example) will give you a much easier time
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Apocolo
The hand thing afaik is: touch the same spot below your thumb with your other fingers on the same hand.
for the index fingerit feels squishy, because you can reach that spot without needing to flex the mucle below the thumb, while the spot feels bouncier when using the pinky, since you need to flex the muscle there to get your pinky to that space.
Or in less convoluted: rare steak feels more like relaxed muscle and well-done feels like flexed muscle, whyever youcant just straight up say that
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The hand thing afaik is: touch the same spot below your thumb with your other fingers on the same hand.
for the index fingerit feels squishy, because you can reach that spot without needing to flex the mucle below the thumb, while the spot feels bouncier when using the pinky, since you need to flex the muscle there to get your pinky to that space.
Or in less convoluted: rare steak feels more like relaxed muscle and well-done feels like flexed muscle, whyever youcant just straight up say that
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Aspartame69
I bought an expensive 'le pentole' steel fry pan last year. I was mortified after cleaning it with a plastic scourer that the surface had slight visible scuffs (bearing in mind that previous light cleaning with a metal scourer didnt do any damage, and this was all before i discovered white vinegar as a cleaning agent. It didnt effect the performance but could be seen. To see your pan looking absolutely devastated by scouring make me a little less upset: )
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I bought an expensive 'le pentole' steel fry pan last year. I was mortified after cleaning it with a plastic scourer that the surface had slight visible scuffs (bearing in mind that previous light cleaning with a metal scourer didnt do any damage, and this was all before i discovered white vinegar as a cleaning agent. It didnt effect the performance but could be seen. To see your pan looking absolutely devastated by scouring make me a little less upset: )
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Cambone13
4: 07
Common misconception. Cast iron does not heat evenly without hotspots. Iron is a poor conductor. Heat an aluminum pan (or an AL cored SS pan) and a cast iron pan on a small burner and measure the temps around the pan with a infrared thermometer.
The mass of cast iron is a good thing. However, a tri ply stainless pan get your the best of both. Even heat from the aluminum core and plenty of thermal mass from the steel outer layers.
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4: 07
Common misconception. Cast iron does not heat evenly without hotspots. Iron is a poor conductor. Heat an aluminum pan (or an AL cored SS pan) and a cast iron pan on a small burner and measure the temps around the pan with a infrared thermometer.
The mass of cast iron is a good thing. However, a tri ply stainless pan get your the best of both. Even heat from the aluminum core and plenty of thermal mass from the steel outer layers.
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Mohammad
please do a video on chicken. not blend chicken like how Americans do it. Asian style chicken with saffron and heavy marinade. something like Persian chicken kebab. idk how they do it but what they cook at good Persian restaurants are so amazing. tender. flavored.
i tried at least a hundred time with different marinade, different heating, different ways of cutting chicken and it's like 20 percent close. but no success.
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please do a video on chicken. not blend chicken like how Americans do it. Asian style chicken with saffron and heavy marinade. something like Persian chicken kebab. idk how they do it but what they cook at good Persian restaurants are so amazing. tender. flavored.
i tried at least a hundred time with different marinade, different heating, different ways of cutting chicken and it's like 20 percent close. but no success.
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Adam
That s a decent knife for the price, and a good deal at 20% off. If I was in the market for a new knife I would seriously consider it. P. s. I m afraid of cooking steak for people, ruining meat, unmet expectations. If I m doing steak for company I ll do Alton Brown s skirt steak + marinade. Never fails to impress. If I absolutely must make a steak for someone else, I m pulling out the thermometer.
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That s a decent knife for the price, and a good deal at 20% off. If I was in the market for a new knife I would seriously consider it. P. s. I m afraid of cooking steak for people, ruining meat, unmet expectations. If I m doing steak for company I ll do Alton Brown s skirt steak + marinade. Never fails to impress. If I absolutely must make a steak for someone else, I m pulling out the thermometer.
reply
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