canuckguy

Currently without a BBQ but fancy eating a nice steak at home from time to time. I prefer a medium cooked steak....oh so juicy and good.

What is the best way to cook a steak, and what cut of cow should i buy if my options to cook it are: a George Foreman style grill, fry pan and oven?

Bear Cub

IMO, it is way too easy to overcook food in the Foreman grill. I prefer the frying pan method indoors. I rub a little bit of oil on both sides of the meat, season appropriately, and get a nice sear on each side of the meat. The key is not to keep poking and prodding it once its in there. As to whether you cook the meat through in the pan or transition it to the oven really depends on how thick the cut is.

MSD

Broil a 3-pound steak on the top rack of the oven (2" away from the heating element is ideal) by heating the pan with a bit of high-temperature oil (olive or peanut works,) throwing the steak on for 10 seconds to sear the side, flipping it to sear the other, then cooking for 7 minutes on each side. You might want to go up to 8 minutes per side since I like mine rare and 7 leaves it nice and juicy on the inside.

SSJTWIZTA

im glad you posted this. my BBQ was recently burnt though, and i need a good grill-less steak cooking method.

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Pac-man04

MSD's got it!! Sear and Broil is the best way when you lack a grill. I had to do that this weekend since I had forgotten to get gas for my grill.

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jewels

What do YOU prefer? Some prefer a leaner steak, some feel the leaner custs are tasteless and look for a marbled cut. Some like their steak tender like butter, some like it chewy. Here are a couple of guides:

http://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/chef/cuts.php

This one is is a PDF file:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/imag...ndersteaks.pdf

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edmos1

I will go with this mostly,

I pre heat my oven to 500 degrees
put my biggest cast iron skillet in

get the thing as hot as it will get

while preheating
I rub some oil on my steak (I prefer a good rib eye for this)
and will usually put some salt and pepper on it

once the oven has heated twice (told me it reached temp, then started heating again, then turned off)
I take the hot pan, put it on my hottest setting on my stove, and slap the steak in it. let it cook for 2 min on each side, then straight into the oven for about 6 min
probably go 7-8 min for med.

make sure you let it rest for at least 10 min before cutting into it.

Charlatan

If you want to know... go to the master.



Steak... DONE.

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onesnowyowl

I love the title of it...steak porn. Totally was, too. Now I want one.

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canuckguy

Thank you everyone for the ideas!!! I used the hot skillet and oven method for a pair of thick pork chops and it was fantastic.


Will be hitting the butcher for a steak tomorrow to try this on a nice steak.

Keep'em coming folks!

mixedmedia

I've never cooked a steak on a grill, personally. I broil.

About 3 1/2 minutes on each side. Perfection...well, except for the lack of 'hot off the grillness.' Which I do understand.

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Willravel

Fried steak upsets my stomach. I usually opt for braising it if BBQ isn't an option.

6 beef short ribs 2-3" thick
1/2 c. olive oil
3 poblano peppers, diced (remove cores and seeds)
2 yellow onions, minced
3 stalks celery, minced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 bottle red zinfandel
1/2 q. KC Masterpiece
1 q. chicken consomme
kosher salt
red pepper

Season the ribs with salt and pepper. Warm oil in a large roasting pan and add beefs. Sear until browned. Remove.

Add peppers, onions, celery and garlic, cook until browned. Degalze the pan with the zinfandel, then add consumme and BBQ sauce. Bring to a boil. Add beef again and cover with foil. Braise at 350 for 2.5 hours or until tender.

Remove ribs, season with salt and pepper, and then pour sauce over the beef and serve.
(courtesy of the Zin Restaurant)

Serve with a light salad.

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Borla

Get a cast iron skillet (if you buy a new one, be sure to season it properly), preferably one with a lid. Heat it up, empty, with the lid on, in your oven at whatever the hottest setting below broil is. Heat it a good 20 minutes or so.

For your steak, MAKE SURE YOU TAKE IT OUT LONG ENOUGH AHEAD OF TIME THAT IT IS ROOM TEMPERATURE!!! I can't stress this enough. You will have much better success if you are cooking a piece of meat that is 60-70* rather than one that was just taken out of the fridge. Season the steak simply. I usually just use a little sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and maybe some garlic powder or onion powder.

Take your hot skillet out of the oven. Place a small amount of olive oil in the skillet (it WILL smoke.....probably a lot....I suggest open windows or a fan on), then throw the steak in there, closing the lid. Depending on the thickness of the steak, cook it for a few minutes on each side, turning only once. For a 3/4" ribeye, I would say 2-3 minutes on the first side and maybe 2 minutes on the second side will give you a medium to medium rare steak.



I am a steak freak. I have a reputation amongst my friends and family of being a bit of a steak snob, and also being the best man there is to have at a grill/BBQ or cooking a piece of red meat. Next to grilling a steak (and sometimes even better than that), this procedure with a cast iron skillet is the best steak you'll get. It is basically how all of the finest steakhouses around (Morton's, Ruth's Chris, etc.) prepare most steaks.

If you don't have a cast iron skillet, they are cheap, and well worth the investment. Just make sure you research how to season it first before you cook a good steak in it. Usually just cooking regular hamburger in it a few times without washing it (wipe it out with a paper towel, no soap) will do the trick.

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xepherys

Who the hell LIKES a chewy steak? Please point this person out to me so that I may remove them.

As a side note, broiling them IS a good way... I usually wrap mine in foil first, shiny side inwards. pan-frying CAN be good... depends a lot on the cut of steak (Ribeye - OK, T-bone - bad).

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jewels

Quite a few, actually. I'm not one of those, but I do like me a good skirt steak done on the barbecue grill. When cooked to perfection (medium-rare for me, thank you ) , I'd consider that chewy.

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Poppinjay

Borla, you need to talk to my SO. Doesn't matter if the meat's done, if it hasn't reached the REQUIRED TEMP. she won't take it off.

Then again, I've told her and cooked her repeatedly on the ways of the beef, so no talking will suffice.

The best way to do a steak idiot style is five a side. Five minutes after heating on one, five on the other. This works primarily with half to whole inch cuts and pleases the masses. For the rest of us, no more than three a side.

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Borla

I refuse to burn a steak. When we have people over, I tell them that if they expect me to grill their steak anything past medium (and even that is too far IMO), I'm feeding them chicken instead.

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lotsofmagnets

for me steak was always simple. but then again i sometimes have simple tastes and the quality of meat in au is so good even if you screw it up it´ll turn out pretty good but anyway. heat a decent pan to really hot. throw some butter in while it is heating. when you are satisfied the pan is just short of red hot chuck the steak in and put a lid on. turn over after a minute. after a minute the steak will be somewhere around mediim rare to medium. i like my steaks well done so at this point i turn off the heat and turn the steak over every minute and a half for about 3 turns and it turns out well done, slightly crunchy and the flavour is 100% there. i spice with steak spice or use sweet chilli sauce then serve. me.

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xepherys

Good plan my friend! I agree, even medium is pushing it. If it's a REALLY good cut of steak, I want that bad boy to moo at me when I stab it.

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samurai_x44

I though I was using the de-facto pan steak recipe but it turns out I can't find it anywhere on the internet...

I basically heat up butter until it turns brownish and then throw on the seasoned steak, flip and eat (I add caramelized onions too). If you don't want the steak blue (you should try that at least once) you just have to turn the heat down after the butter is brown. Oh and you should definitively use a cast iron for red meats. I just hope I'm not the only one using this recipe

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Charlatan

By the way, braising, as suggested above, is only good for tougher cuts of meat (shin, tail, pot roasts, ribs). If you braise things like T-bones, Rib eyes and loins you will ruin your meat.

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PlanG

Take a thick rump steak, show it to the frying pan (tease), then place on plate and devour like a lion.


Seriously,
What we do is heat a pan up very very hot, then stick either side in for a minute or so to seal it. Make sure that you leave it in the room for half an hour or so, instead of just out of the fridge. Not sure what this does but I'm told it's best practice so I abide.

Then put them in the grill until they're hot, remove.

Add:
fried onions, friend mushrooms, iceberg lettuce with lemon juice+olive oil+balsamic vinegar, then finally:
English mustard!

Then devour like a lion.

Ratman

Ummm... No. These two restaurants use special broilers that reach temps of around 1800 degrees. If you asked for a pan-fried steak, they would laugh so hard they'd wet their pants.

A medium steak has an internal temp of 130 degrees. I'm not sure how you're getting that on a 3/4 inch steak in 2-3 minutes per side. But hey, what do I know. I only managed Steakhouses (including one mentioned above) for 5 years.

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Charlatan

Just a note about searing... this really isn't for sealing purposes. The reason you sear something is to impart flavour. If you are going to broil something you want to sear it so the surface browns or caramelizes. This is