— this is a great article about what needs to be done to make a steak at home delicious, not a rubber sole. Veal steak… Steak. How much magic in this word! The taste of a tender piece of veal immediately arises in the mouth, releasing juice at the bite and radiating aroma throughout the kitchen. Today's post is definitely not dedicated to vegetarianism, therefore, vegetarians and vegans, there is nothing for you to do here today, but soon I will come up with something for you. In fact, at first I just wanted to write a recipe for making a ribeye steak, but then I realized that there are many little things that should be considered when preparing this seemingly a simple dish. And I decided to put them all in a separate article " Beef steak in a pan, or how to cook beef steak which you are now reading. Well, let's go!
1. The first thing to do when thinking about cooking a steak is decide what part of the cow it will be made from. That is, with its variety. By the way, yes, the right steak is made from beef or veal, fried pork or chicken meat is no longer a steak, forget about these confusions. I want to note right away that the most inactive parts of the carcass are used for the steak, these are not the shoulder blades and not the hips, but only the back, which is also divided into several parts. There are quite a few of them, I will not describe all of them, but I will describe only the most famous:
- medallions — tenderloin or sirloin, these muscles practically do not work in a cow, therefore this part of beef is the most valuable, expensive, tender, soft and dietary - there is practically no fat in it;
- ribeye- it thick fillet edge beef, the meat is not as soft as the previous one, but everything is so juicy; this steak is the fattest and to a greater extent has a certain “marbling” (tiny fat streaks that make the meat more juicy) than the rest; most often men eat it, perhaps to show that excessive tenderness is not acceptable for them, or maybe they just like to chew :);
- striploin— thin fillet edge, may be attached to the costal bone, or may be separated from it (which happens much more often); both it and the thick edge are often called "steak meat or beef/veal balyk" in the market; The striploin has a fat frame about 1 cm thick, if you separate it, you get ...
- New York- the most popular steak in the city of the same name and in all the USA, where, in general, the most beautiful dish "steak" and its cult originated; it is famous for its bright, rich taste of beef; The fibers of New York and striploin steaks are larger than those of ribeye, which makes the meat somewhat softer, but marbling, on the contrary, is less pronounced.
2. We decided on the right piece, but, nevertheless, the guarantee of a delicious steak is well-chosen meat. Or, if you can’t find the right one, some life hacks that bring even imperfect meat to that very perfection. In gastronomically developed countries, there are special cows grown exclusively for cutting into steaks, they are even massaged so that the meat remains tender and melts in the mouth during consumption. In my country, unfortunately, the situation with meat for steaks is not very good, but here you can get out:
- cut off supermarkets(if these are not cool supermarkets, but completely ordinary ones), you definitely won’t find what you need there, it’s better to go to the market, where they will show you, cut off, help you choose, talk, sell more than you need;
- the surest step in buying meat - save to your phone or print a photo of the desired piece; believe me, it will make your life easier and save many precious minutes;
- give preference to veal meat- save your nerves in this way, because if you try very hard during cooking, follow all the rules, and the meat still turns out to be unchewable, you will be very offended; since compatriot cows are not massaged, or even worse ..., in an adult, meat, by definition, will be tougher, save yourself from stress - buy veal;
- let the meat mature- leave it for a week in the refrigerator under a paper towel, nothing bad will happen to it; in steakhouses it is kept much longer, but they have specially equipped chambers that maintain the desired temperature, the position of the meat and everything else so that it does not rotten, but reaches perfection, there is no such good at home, so leave it for 5-7 days; this is done so that the meat becomes even softer, tender and filled with rich beef flavor;
- pickle in mineral water with gas- this is another life hack that allows you not to worry about the fact that guests will imperceptibly spit out each piece of chewing meat into their napkin; you can not bother with this item if these are medallions, however, domestic ribeye should definitely lie in bubbles, the taste of meat from mineral water will not change, it will simply disintegrate into fibers when bitten; let it lie in magical water for about a day;
- let the meat come to room temperature- this is just before cooking; take 2-3 hours out of the refrigerator, leave to heat in a place inaccessible to animals, if any; beef at room temperature retains its juiciness to a greater extent when roasted.
3. When the meat is selected, bought, prepared for cooking, it's time to choose degrees of doneness. In total there are not 3, as many people think, but as many as 7:
- blue, raw or black and blue("raw") - a raw piece of meat, fried over a very high heat for a few seconds on each side until a very thin crust is formed; absolutely cold and bright red inside, has no gray rim in section;
- rare("with blood") - the meat is red inside, raw, but already quite warm and with a beautiful dark crust, which is present further at each degree of roasting, has a very thin gray rim in the section; fried according to 1 minute from each side;
- medium rare(middle between "with juice" and "with blood") - pink-red inside, no longer raw, but with a plentiful amount of red juice, in the section, the gray rim is somewhat thicker than that of the previous degree of roasting; roasts by 3 minutes from each side;
- medium (« average" or " with juice“) - pink inside, when cut, pink juice flows out, the gray rim has increased in size; fry for 5 minutes from each side;
- medium well(between " medium with juice" and " well done“) - almost completely fried meat with a very thin, slightly pinkish stripe inside, all the rest of the meat is gray, there is practically no juice; fried according to 8 minutes;
- well done (« well done“) - completely fried meat, absolutely gray inside, juice does not flow out, even when cut; fry according to 5 minutes on each side, then place in an oven preheated to 250 degrees minutes for 8-10;
- very well or strong(« very well fried«) - the maximum degree of roasting, the meat turns out to be hard, gray, hard, dry, the juice does not stand out even when chewing; fried according to 5 minutes on each side, placed in a preheated oven to 250 degrees for another 15-20 minutes.
For clarity, I will give a visual example of the most common degrees of roasting: 
4. Lastly, I'll add some important tips:
- before frying the steak, reheat frying pan very strong, it must be red-hot; by the way, there is no special need to buy a grill pan, any one that can withstand high temperatures, of course, with a flat bottom, will do;
- don't pour olive oil butter into the pan, and coat the pieces already cut into steaks in advance, then there will be no excess oil left in the pan, and it will not burn;
- use different spices for flavoring, but do not rub the meat with them, but put them nearby during frying: it can be a sprig of fresh rosemary or a clove of garlic, which you can rub the pan during the frying process;
- do not salt the meat is strong before frying, it is better to add salt to it already during the meal, because a large amount of salt can absorb the juice of the meat itself;
- dark crust says that the steak is cooked correctly, it did not burn and did not burn, it is as it should be;
- use foil for shaping pieces; many people think it should only be used when roasting medallions to keep them tall and round, however other domestic cow cuts don't always look like they do in pictures so feel free to use this same method to keep the meat from coming apart if you not too lucky at some time;
- to accurately determine the degree of roasting, you can buy cooking thermometer with which you can easily bring the meat to the desired state;
- serve steaks with sauces and flavored oils, they will never spoil the taste of beef, but only complement it; For example, steaks for guests, it’s better to find out in advance what kind of roast they are, anyway, only a couple of steaks will fit in one pan, so there is a chance to please everyone, and if you still want to cook all the steaks the same, choose medium roast, it will please everyone as much as possible : both a conservative who believes that the "bloody juice" in a steak is a universal evil, and a connoisseur of fashion trends who considers well-done roasting to be rubber soles and the murder of a quality product.
Fuh ... In my opinion, I told absolutely everything I know. All about steaks, or how to cook the right steak at home. I confess that in my house my beloved man usually does this, in this case I am only an assistant. However, if you follow everything listed above, you will 100% succeed in this difficult task. Enjoy your meal! 
Steak is the most popular meat dish that is loved all over the world. However, it is often mistakenly referred to as any dish that is a fried whole piece of meat. To cook a steak correctly, you need to follow a few rules. Only in this way you can cook a real steak and enjoy its original, incomparable taste. Actually, you will learn the secrets of cooking the right steak from this article.
To date, there are several varieties. These are fish, veal, pork steaks and, of course, the classic beef steak. Only beef can have several different degrees of doneness and, depending on this, have a different taste. So, there are five degrees of roasting a classic beef steak: raw meat, with blood, medium rare meat, almost fried and, finally, completely fried meat.
The taste of a steak, first of all, depends on the quality of the meat from which this dish is prepared. So, for a beef steak, you should choose a red or dark red tenderloin, but not pink or burgundy. And, of course, the meat must be, so to speak, mature. In general, choose the part of the carcass where there are less powerful muscles and tendons, you can use the fillet.
How do you determine how soft or tough a steak will be? Put your finger on a piece of meat that is still raw and see what happens: if the finger sinks easily, and a hole forms in the meat, which then levels out on its own, this is good meat. If the finger hardly presses on the meat, this piece will turn out to be a tough steak. If, in addition, the hole does not level itself after pressing, the meat is not fresh, it is better not to use it for cooking a steak.
To make the steak especially tasty, it is very important to properly prepare the meat. First of all, it needs to be stripped of tendons and films, then it is necessary to cut off a not very thin piece of about 7 centimeters in length and cut it along the fibers, and you need to cut it approximately to the middle of the thickness of the piece of meat. Then the tenderloin is opened with a “butterfly” - so the area of \u200b\u200bthe transverse fibers decreases, and the meat is better fried.
The next step in cooking a real steak is marinating. The meat is usually marinated for 20-48 hours in a marinade from a mixture vegetable oil, soy sauce, wine vinegar, spices and salt.
Before sending the meat to the pan, it must be thoroughly dried on a paper towel, if the steak was previously frozen, leave it at room temperature to warm it up. As a rule, the steak is fried on an electric grill or pan.
Spread the steak in a hot pan, while on each side the meat needs to be fried for 1 minute, and then you can already bring it to the degree of roasting you need. If you cook meat in this way, the steak will turn out juicy and tender.
If you like rare steak, sear the meat on each side for 1-2 minutes, then turn off the heat and keep the meat in the pan for another 6-8 minutes.
For a medium-rare dish, it is necessary to fry the meat on each side for 2-2.5 minutes, then keep it in the pan off for 5 minutes.
It will turn out almost fried if you fry the meat for 3 minutes and let it “rest” in the pan for 4 minutes.
A well-done steak will come out if you fry the meat on both sides for 4.5 minutes and leave it in the pan on the stove off for 1 minute.
One of my favorite foods that I love to cook for myself is grilled steak. Cooking the right steak is not an easy process. But I have improved my recipe over and over again. This step-by-step instruction explains in detail how to cook a beef steak at home in a pan.
This guide is intended for people with experience in cooking. For those who do not feel comfortable in the kitchen, it is better not to take on this dish. Cooking the perfect steak is a very precise and time sensitive process. But you can easily cope with this if you prepare everything correctly and follow my instructions.
Stage 1: Equipment and ingredients
Here is a list of what you will need to cook a steak
Devices
- plate
- one pan, according to the size of your steak
- forceps
- plate
- timer clock
Ingredients
- one steak
- Olive oil
- Butter
- Salt
- Pepper
- Fresh garlic (or dried)
Stage 2: Buying a steak
The first thing to do is find the right steak to cook. To do this, it is better to go to a place with a large selection of quality meat. In such places, the meat is usually a bit more expensive, but in my opinion it's worth it.
I took a 250 gram selected steak. It is small enough for one person and relatively inexpensive. Choose meat that looks appetizing to you! If funds permit, you can choose an even better steak, but this miniature piece will do just fine for the lesson.
When you're at the store, make sure you have the rest of the ingredients, such as olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, and garlic. There is a great option to buy some fresh cloves of garlic if you don't want to use garlic powder.
Stage 3: Meat preparation
When you get home you should let the meat warm up. In the store it was in the refrigerator, it is very cold there. Cooking a cold steak is not a good idea.
First, unpack the meat and let it rest on a plate. While it sits, use salt and pepper to season the steak. Sprinkle on all sides, do not spare seasonings.
Usually it takes 20 minutes for the meat to warm up, it all depends on the size of the piece and how much it was frozen. It is important to warm the meat well so that during cooking in the pan there is no cold middle.
While the steak is warming up, take your time and make sure all the other utensils and ingredients are ready. Place the skillet over high heat. Before it gets hot, pour in just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. You will need a lot more oil in the later stages of the process.
Stage 4: Grilling the steak
The next step is very important and can be dangerous. On the this moment the pan must be very hot. You will use tongs to place the steak in the hot oil. There will be a lot of splashing at these high temperatures so be careful when flipping the steak.
After you have placed the steak in the pan, start the countdown, it should lie there for 1 minute. After one minute has passed, turn it over to the other side and leave it like that for another 1 minute.
After a minute has passed, turn the steak on its side to brown the edge. Keep it like that until the edge is colored the same way as the rest of the meat. Do this on both sides. Tilt the pan so that the oil accumulates on one side of the pan, which will make it easier to brown the edges of the steak. As in the photo above.
You should constantly turn the steak at 1-minute intervals until you feel that it is already well-seasoned. The total length of this step depends on your preferences and the thickness of your steak.
Now you are ready for the next step.
Step 5: Cooking the steak
At this stage, the steak is already browned on all sides and the meat juice is sealed inside. Saddle the stove quieter, medium heat.
It's time to cook the meat to the degree of roasting that you like. There is no exact cooking time, it depends on the thickness of the steak, the heat of the stove and other factors. You just have to check the meat often enough to make sure it's done or you need to keep it on the stove. For this tutorial, I cooked my medium rare steak, leaving a small pink part in the middle.
Now that the pan is not as hot, you still continue to flip the steak at 1-minute intervals.
It's time to add the garlic and oil. Cut off a good chunk of butter and place it in the skillet generously seasoned with garlic. I used garlic powder as I didn't have fresh on hand. As you continue to flip the steak, let the meat soak up all of that blissful flavor. Keep in mind that I am describing how to make a perfect steak, not a healthy one.
I cooked this steak for only 8 minutes, turning every minute to get a medium rare. Again, I remind you that everything depends on the thickness of the piece and the cooking temperature, so I can’t guarantee you exactly the same result in 8 minutes.
Use tongs to check the meat. When you feel that a piece of meat has begun to thicken, this is probably a medium roast.
After you've cooked the steak in the pan for a sufficient amount of time, it's time to take it out and place it on a clean plate.
Stage 6: Take your time
Have you finished cooking the steak and are you about to eat it? PATIENCE!
Let the meat rest before slicing.
In order for the steak to turn out to be truly juicy, after cooking, the meat must be given a “rest”. If you cook a medium-rare steak and cut it right away, the juice will flood the entire cutting board. As a result, the meat will turn out less juicy, less aromatic and with an insufficiently rich taste.
Let the meat rest for 5 minutes. If you're so impatient, enjoy a bottle of beer to your liking for now (age permitting!).
Stage 7: Eat and Enjoy
You have been patient enough. You have waited 5 minutes. Now you can enjoy the amazing taste of homemade steak.
This steak does not require any sauces. The sauce will only destroy its natural flavor that you have created on your stove.
Stewed vegetables and cold beer will perfectly complement your meat masterpiece. Enjoy!
Think frying a steak is an art? Not at all. You just need to know the basic subtleties of cooking a steak. What exactly - says Petya Pavlovich, the butcher of the Yunost restaurant and just a cool meat specialist.
Petya Pavlovich went from a Rambler programmer to a project manager at Rambler-Afisha. But then he decided to radically change his life. Now Petya is the butcher of the Moscow cafe Yunost, and he knows everything about meat: where it comes from, how to cook it and how to eat it. Petya shared with us the secrets of cooking the perfect steak.
The choice of meat for a steak plays an important role. Meat should be soft enough, therefore, most often the dorsal-lumbar part is chosen for cooking a steak. Steaks from it will be good even from beef of not the best quality.
For a good steak meat must be aged. With beef: the longer it is aged, the better. It will taste better.
Advice: if you want to age portioned steaks, sprinkle them with plain table salt (salt on all sides), then put them on a wire rack in the refrigerator (without covering with anything) and hold them there for two to three days. Salt will draw moisture from the outer layer of meat, in the refrigerator this layer will dry out a little, which will play into your hands when you cook the steak - when frying, the crust will form faster. The salt will also inhibit the development of bacteria and mold on the surface of the meat. And finally, during these two or three days, fermentation will begin to do its job - the steaks will lose some of the moisture. Aged steaks do not look very appetizing on the outside - the outer layer wilts and darkens. But do not worry, inside they do not lose their juiciness. Please note that this express method only works with small portioned steaks. Well, when aging meat, you should not store odorous foods in the refrigerator - steaks do not need undesirable aroma.
Before roast steak must be dried napkin or cloth. Visible moisture should not remain on the surface.
You need to salt the steak immediately before putting it on the pan or grill, or already in the process of frying.
Fry the steak in a pan or on the grill. Main condition - fry briefly and over high heat. The frying pan with oil must be heated in advance, the coals on the grill should be heated, and only after that put the meat. The most common myth about steak is that the initial frying "seals" the juices inside the steak, and supposedly then you can fry it as much as you like - the juice will not leak out. In fact, frying does not prevent moisture from escaping from the meat. The hiss that accompanies the stay of the steak in the pan is nothing more than the sound of instantaneous evaporation of water coming out of the meat. The amount of moisture that escapes depends on the temperature to which the steak is brought inside, and on the time it spends in this state. Hence the advice - fry the steak quickly and to a medium degree of roasting.
Turn the steak frequently. After the initial frying - once a minute. So it will cook evenly and quickly. But if the task is to make a “lattice” from the traces of the grill, then you will have to turn it over only three times.
Objectively The only way to assess the readiness of a steak is with a kitchen thermometer. High accuracy in measurement is important, since the difference between the degrees of readiness is no more than 5 degrees. The ideal core temperature for a steak is around 55°C (regardless of whether you are grilling beef, pork or lamb). If you didn’t have a thermometer at hand, then “cutting to check readiness” is also possible. True, this method of determining readiness is unreliable - the color of raw and cooked meat can vary greatly depending on what kind of meat you fry. Moreover, different muscles, even within the same steak, may differ in color.
If the steak is so thick that it is still raw inside after crusting, it must be removed from high heat and bring to readiness in more gentle conditions. For example, wrap in foil and move away from the coals in the case of a grill, or put the pan in a preheated oven.
When a few degrees remain to the desired temperature inside the steak, it must be remove from fire and let it lie down for a few minutes on a plate or on a cutting board - the steak will reach readiness due to the heat already imparted to it. Also during this time, the fibers of the steak will relax and stop plentifully “squeezing” the juice (if you start cutting the steak immediately after removing it from the heat, too much moisture will flow out).
If you are thinking of buying another jumper, shirt or, worse, socks for your man on February 23, forget about it. A rare hero admits that clothes as a gift are not exactly what he dreams of on his only men's holiday. But from what - at least as a "warm-up" before the main present - no one will definitely refuse a real man, so it's from a juicy meat steak. How to cook the perfect steak at home, HELLO.RU decided to ask the chef of the Tarantino restaurant, Viktor Apasyev.
1. Classification of steaks
According to the most popular classification, meat is divided into 3 types: marble steaks- these are steaks from a thick or thin edge (Ribeye, Striploin, New York), lean- tenderloin steaks (Mignon, Chateaubriand) and alternative steaks such as Machete steak, teebone, tamahawk. At home, you can cook almost any kind, the main thing is to be patient and understand the technology of cooking each.
2. How to choose meat for a particular type of steak
The main mistake of those who want to get a delicious steak at home is excessive savings on meat. The usual beef fillet for cooking Ribeye, Chateaubriand or another type of steak of your choice is not at all suitable, it will turn out to be very tough. It is better to buy marbled meat steaks from trusted butchers or take vacuum-packed pre-cut steaks. If you take a cut of beef to cut the steaks yourself, opt for the most popular ones - these are Ribeye and Mignon.
The quality of meat for a Minion can be checked in the following way: a finger falls into a good tenderloin, and after you remove it, the flesh quickly recovers. Rib-eye steak meat should be fairly marbled and soft, with streaks of fat. It is much more difficult to choose a quality Top Blade and not confuse it with the stiffer part of the shoulder blade. It will be difficult for a non-professional to determine the quality, so it is better to focus on the classics.
3. Is it possible to cook from frozen meat
You can also cook steaks from frozen meat. The main thing is the correct defrosting process. The meat must be put out of the freezer in the refrigerator a day before cooking, so that the defrosting takes place gently and delicately. Then there will be no heat stress for the meat, which leads to a large loss of precious juice. If the meat is defrosted in the refrigerator, all the juice will remain inside - and the steak will be soft and tasty.
4. How to fry a steak at home and how to choose a pan
It is most convenient to fry a steak in a grill pan or a regular frying pan with a very thick bottom. The thick bottom of the pan ensures that after heating it does not lose its temperature and will keep it at one mark for a sufficient amount of time. If the pan has a thin bottom, it cools quickly, and the meat is not fried, but boiled in its own juice.
5. How to prepare meat for frying
You need to get the meat out of the refrigerator without fail a couple of hours before frying and let it reach room temperature. If you still decide to cook an alternative steak, you need to marinate it (we'll talk about this a little later). Half an hour before cooking, the meat must be freed from the film so that the tenderloin is slightly weathered around the edges and the meat is covered with a light crust, which during frying will help keep all the juices inside the steak.
Salt and pepper the meat only after cooking! I would like to draw special attention to this. If you salt the meat before or during frying, it will allow the juices to seep out, causing the meat to become tough.
6. Steak Cooking Technology
To cook marble steaks (Ri-eye, Striploin, New York), you need to use a minimum amount of oil, preferring olive oil. The technology of preparation is quite simple. Put the meat in a well-heated pan and fry on each side for 2-3 minutes, then reduce the heat to a minimum, cover the steak with a lid and let it stand for another 1-2 minutes. Please note that the longer we hold the steak under the lid, the higher the degree of roasting will be. For marbled steaks, medium is best, turning into medium well. At the end of cooking, garlic, rosemary, thyme or chili pepper can be added.
Lean tenderloin steaks (Mignon, Chateaubriand) are cooked according to the same technology, but with a lot of oil. After we fry the steak on both sides and it acquires a golden crust, you need to add butter to the pan and reduce the temperature to medium. We continue to fry the meat in a mixture of butter and olive oil, constantly pouring it with the juice that stands out from the steak itself. This will ensure the steak is properly cooked.
teebone steak
Alternative steaks (Machete, Teebone, Tamahawk) must be marinated in herbs in advance. To make the meat softer, you can add a little to the marinade. mineral water. For alternative steaks, the degree of roasting is better - medium. It is not recommended to use this type of steaks with blood.
7. How to determine the degree of roasting
Don't forget to control the degree of frying! To determine it, it is better to use a thermal needle. Each degree of roasting has its own ideal temperature: Rare - 40-43 degrees, Medium Rare - 44-46, Medium - 47-50, Medium Well - 55-57, Well Done - 60 and above. If there is no thermal needle at hand, you can try to determine the degree by touch with your finger. If the steak is too soft, then the meat is not cooked enough, the meat is still raw. If the steak is tight, it means it's done well. It is not worth cutting the meat to check the readiness, as the juice will immediately flow out of the meat.
8. Spices and sauces for steaks
The more concise the spices sound on the steak, the better. Therefore, do not use more than 2-3 spices at the same time. Rosemary, garlic, and in rare cases thyme are ideal for steak. To convey the aroma of these spices to the dish, it is enough to put a sprig of rosemary or a clove of garlic on the already prepared steak, the meat itself will take on their rich aroma.
There are many sauces that are proposed to complement the taste of a steak, for example, a sauce based on fresh herbs. To prepare it, you need to take 20 grams of fresh parsley and cilantro, half a head of garlic, chop them finely with a knife until gruel is formed, add a little black pepper, salt and chili pepper and pour over olive oil. It makes a great sauce that goes well with any steak.
Another quick to prepare and very tasty sauce is French. If you want to make it, do not rush to remove the pan in which the meat was fried. We remove the meat, and put the pan on medium heat, add a little red wine, butter, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Cook sauce over medium heat until desired consistency. You can add not only wine and spices, but also cream, interesting Asian sauces like Teriyaki - here you can let your imagination run wild!
9. Side dishes for steak
In this matter, everything, of course, depends on the person - who likes what more. But in terms of physiology and proper nutrition It is better to eat steak along with fresh or fried vegetables. Grilled vegetables or red fresh tomatoes with onions and herbs are the most ideal options.
10. Serve and serve
One of the main rules of the perfect meal: the steak must be served immediately. Steak is an independent dish, simple and understandable. It is not necessary to invent an original serving, the main thing is the unsurpassed taste of the steak itself.
Bon Appetit!