Full Guide To The Perfect Steak
If you are reading this article, you have probably seen my Instagram page (which is totally awesome btw), or you stumbled upon the link looking for a perfect steak recipe but almost lost hope. Well, I’m here to help!
Trust me, after you open this article your life will change for good:)
First, let’s consider common mistakes that humans make while trying to prepare a piece of meat:
1. They Cut the steak before cooking
If you want your steak cut before cooking it’s not gonna work and instead of a lovely and beautiful looking medium rare, you will get a well-done dry piece. If you do this, you might as well consider mincing it because you already destroyed the perfect creation of mother earth. Oh well… Just never cut your steak before cooking, mkay?
2. They cut their steak with the grain
Don’t blame the meat, blame the chef they say! It is a widespread mistake, and you should pay your full attention to the grain (the lines going in the specific direction on the piece of meat). If you cut with the grain (or lines), it will be tough to chew on since you will basically try to cut through the muscles with your teeth. If you cut against the grain (or against those lines) half of the chewing job is done for you.
3. They cut the steak way too early
Imagine a pot of boiling water. What happens to it for a few seconds after you take it off the heat? Right, the water keeps simmering for few more seconds. The same thing happens inside of the steak when you take it off the pan. All the juices are moving around and still cooking the steak from the inside. Let it sit for 3-4 minutes at the room temperature before cutting it.
If you cut it too early you dinner may accidentally turn into a crime scene.
4. They flatter the meat with a mallet
Why would you ever do that to your steak you filthy animal?! I have seen people doing it, and it is as painful as it sounds. Do not ever do that because you want a beautiful solid piece of meat ideally medium or medium rare. It’s not going to get softer and will ruin the whole idea of the steak as a dish.
If you flatter meat or poultry with a mallet, you might as well use it as a secondary ingredient for some other dish.
5. They overcook the steak
Also a widespread mistake. For some people, even a little pinkish color indicates that the product as raw and shouldn’t be consumed. With the beef, it is tricky because you either cook it fast or slow. You can make your steak well done but make sure that you have a reliable thermometer and this table below:
Rare – 52C/125F
Medium Rare – 57C/135F
Medium – 63C/145F
Medium Well – 66C/150F
Well Done – 71C/160F
Now, let’s move on to the recipe:
Red Wine Reduction Sauce ingredients:
750 ml of good merlot or cabernet sauvignon
2 cups of Portuguese port wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 stalk of celery
1 carrot
1 clove of garlic
1 onion
1 pinch of cloves
1 apple
3 tablespoons olive oil.
How to Make:
Very finely chop the carrot, apple, garlic, onion, and celery and fry in a deep sauté until a little brown.
Pour the wine, port, reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring for about 1.5 – 2 hours without a lid.
Strain the wine liquid, pour into a clean saucepan, add olive oil, broth, cloves and cook on low heat for another 30-35 minutes or until the sauce thickens or reduced by 1/2 cup.
In total, you should get about 100ml of the sauce, not more.
Ingredients for the steak:
1-2 pieces of fresh steaks
3 tablespoons butter
Rosemary or thyme optional
Sea Salt
How to cook:
Preheat the oven to 200С/400F.
Melt the butter in the pan and add the herbs of your choice.
Put the meat in a frying pan and continuously start pouring the butter over the steak with a spoon. Sear the steak on both sides for 2 minutes each.
Place the parchment paper on the baking sheet, and put the steak on top. Cook until the desired temp for about 7-10 minutes
Check the temperature with a thermometer.
Let the steak sit at room temperature for 3-4 minutes and cut against the grain/lines.
Serve the steak with wine sauce, sea salt potatoes or green salad.
Bon Appetit!
