![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Well, it's been almost a year since the last Leet Eats update, but I can promise you that the time was productively spent, as I'm sure you'll agree after reading this entry.
One thing that the Leet Eats crew has been paying special attention to this year is Steak. It's an Australian stalwart but in our opinion the majority of steaks in the community are at best average. I don't mean to disparage what many people quite rightly enjoy, but we're not in the business of accepting the mediocre here at Leet Eats. The reason for the length of time between updates is simple. For the past eight months the Leet Eats team have been on an intensive Steak Training course in the Highlands of Scotland. There an international team of cooks, farmers and butchers drilled into us the three essential aspects of the perfect steak - The Cut, The Cook, The Serve. Known as the "Steak Kata", this method of steak preparation takes many years of training to master... but once perfected, will certainly earn you the title of "Iron Chef - Steak" amongst your friends.
Now, let's be honest here - our training has turned us into meat snobs. There's NOTHING wrong with a supermarket $15 a kilo cut, it's just not going to be delicious. A truly excellent steak should bring tears to the eyes of grown men, and deserve a moments silence once the last morsel is devoured.
The longest journey starts with the first step. If the first step is in the wrong direction, you will never reach your destination. THE CUT is the most important part of the perfect steak. Simply put, if you have a bad steak, no amount of culinary wizardry will turn it into anything more than an average meal. Of course, that's not to say that you need to buy $50 a kilo steak EVERY time you want to have a delicious piece of meat - it's still very possible to buy good quality steak from your supermarket, you just need to know what you are looking for. THE most important thing is the marbling - a steak with a nice piece of fat around the outside and a beautiful pink colouring LOOKS good, but when you cook it it will be tough... what you want is a good marbling of fat throughout the meat. Personally I prefer a New York Cut (or sirloin), Scotch fillet is also good, though you really need a thicker cut as it has a tendency to shrink when cooked. BEWARE of Rump and T-Bone - they're pub favourites for a reason! They are cheap but they're much better suited to a BBQ; they often dry out. They can still be quite tasty, but they're a weeknight meat and 2 veg meal. Blade steak is only really good for a stir fry.
Fillet steak and Rib Eye are interesting cuts, they can be quite thick and lack the marbling you'd want from sirloin but are still tasty. Wagu is the opposite, it's usually SUPER marbled but be careful; it's often too rich because of all the fat. It's very tender, but does not have as good a flavour (as the fat tends to overpower the flavour of the meat). Excellent for Tataki though.
This part of the Steak Kata is very much open to interpretation. As part of our training we studied under several different Steak Grand Masters - each Master would then chose his or her pupils based on where their natural skills lay. As such we cannot tell you the exact "right" way to cook a steak, as there are several schools which produce similarly excellent results. The French school mixes a quantity of butter with the cooking oil and cooks the steak rare, finishing it in the oven. The method I prefer is simpler and less prone to overcooking in the oven, though your friends will think you are Rain Man as it requires a bit of muttering to yourself.
Firstly, your steak should be at room temperature. Leave it out of the fridge for an hour or two before cooking, this will ensure that it's cooked evenly and not too rare or cold in the middle. A few minutes before cooking put some oil on a plate and dip the steaks in it. They should be lightly coated, this method uses no heated oil in the pan prior to cooking.
On the topic of pans - it's VERY important to know your pans, and your stove. I've fucked up MANY steaks using other people's equipment, just because I didn't know how hot they got, and how quickly. A thick bottomed pan is better, I use a Scanpan, but any cast iron pan is fine. The thin teflon non-stick ones aren't very good as they don't hold their heat - they're either too hot or too cold.
Once your steak is coated, heat your pan. A common technique is to heat the pan to a nuclear temperature to "Seal" the meat - this is WRONG. You should only do this with a poor cut of meat that will dry out if it's cooked for a longer period. Heat the pan on a gas cooker at about 75%, for a couple of minutes. You're after a medium-high consistent heat. Now comes the Rain Man bit - throw the steaks in (don't crowd the pan) and cook for two minutes on each side per centimeter of thickness. Just before turning you might want to turn the heat up slightly, but turn it down after the second side has seared a bit. I do this by counting to myself under my breath, but don't lose count! It's amusing when people try and talk to you but you're deep in concentration trying not to forget which number you're up to :)
There are lots of methods to prodding the meat to determine how cooked it is, in my experience these don't work that well - it's very dependent on the cut of meat you have; you're better off going by the length of time in the pan.
The first bite is with the eye. When you cook a steak the meat bunches up when it's heated. Once you're finished cooking you should leave the meat to rest for AT LEAST the same amount of time that you spent cooking it. Put it on a separate plate, it will bleed a lot of meat juices which you can then put into any sort of gravy that you might make. It also means that your serving plate won't be awash with meat juices. This step is very important and will ensure a nice, tender steak.
A gravy or sauce can be constructed at this point - any combination of mushrooms, shallots, beef stock, green peppercorns, a bit of cream or butter and meat Jus can be chucked into your cooking pan and simmered. If you have time you can reduce the gravy to a nice consistency, but a little bit of corn flour mixed with water will do the job as well. Don't put too much in our your gravy will taste floury.
Finally, a good steak is always best accompanied by cooked vegetables, rather than a salad. The advantage here is that any spare gravy goes very well with the vegies.
So there you have it - don't settle for shitty $10 pub steak, it's $10 for a reason! Don't sear a rump steak and expect it to be delicious! Go out of your way to find a good cut of meat and cook it right! We promise it will be worth it :)
One thing that the Leet Eats crew has been paying special attention to this year is Steak. It's an Australian stalwart but in our opinion the majority of steaks in the community are at best average. I don't mean to disparage what many people quite rightly enjoy, but we're not in the business of accepting the mediocre here at Leet Eats. The reason for the length of time between updates is simple. For the past eight months the Leet Eats team have been on an intensive Steak Training course in the Highlands of Scotland. There an international team of cooks, farmers and butchers drilled into us the three essential aspects of the perfect steak - The Cut, The Cook, The Serve. Known as the "Steak Kata", this method of steak preparation takes many years of training to master... but once perfected, will certainly earn you the title of "Iron Chef - Steak" amongst your friends.
Now, let's be honest here - our training has turned us into meat snobs. There's NOTHING wrong with a supermarket $15 a kilo cut, it's just not going to be delicious. A truly excellent steak should bring tears to the eyes of grown men, and deserve a moments silence once the last morsel is devoured.
The Cut
The longest journey starts with the first step. If the first step is in the wrong direction, you will never reach your destination. THE CUT is the most important part of the perfect steak. Simply put, if you have a bad steak, no amount of culinary wizardry will turn it into anything more than an average meal. Of course, that's not to say that you need to buy $50 a kilo steak EVERY time you want to have a delicious piece of meat - it's still very possible to buy good quality steak from your supermarket, you just need to know what you are looking for. THE most important thing is the marbling - a steak with a nice piece of fat around the outside and a beautiful pink colouring LOOKS good, but when you cook it it will be tough... what you want is a good marbling of fat throughout the meat. Personally I prefer a New York Cut (or sirloin), Scotch fillet is also good, though you really need a thicker cut as it has a tendency to shrink when cooked. BEWARE of Rump and T-Bone - they're pub favourites for a reason! They are cheap but they're much better suited to a BBQ; they often dry out. They can still be quite tasty, but they're a weeknight meat and 2 veg meal. Blade steak is only really good for a stir fry.
Fillet steak and Rib Eye are interesting cuts, they can be quite thick and lack the marbling you'd want from sirloin but are still tasty. Wagu is the opposite, it's usually SUPER marbled but be careful; it's often too rich because of all the fat. It's very tender, but does not have as good a flavour (as the fat tends to overpower the flavour of the meat). Excellent for Tataki though.
The Cook
This part of the Steak Kata is very much open to interpretation. As part of our training we studied under several different Steak Grand Masters - each Master would then chose his or her pupils based on where their natural skills lay. As such we cannot tell you the exact "right" way to cook a steak, as there are several schools which produce similarly excellent results. The French school mixes a quantity of butter with the cooking oil and cooks the steak rare, finishing it in the oven. The method I prefer is simpler and less prone to overcooking in the oven, though your friends will think you are Rain Man as it requires a bit of muttering to yourself.
Firstly, your steak should be at room temperature. Leave it out of the fridge for an hour or two before cooking, this will ensure that it's cooked evenly and not too rare or cold in the middle. A few minutes before cooking put some oil on a plate and dip the steaks in it. They should be lightly coated, this method uses no heated oil in the pan prior to cooking.
On the topic of pans - it's VERY important to know your pans, and your stove. I've fucked up MANY steaks using other people's equipment, just because I didn't know how hot they got, and how quickly. A thick bottomed pan is better, I use a Scanpan, but any cast iron pan is fine. The thin teflon non-stick ones aren't very good as they don't hold their heat - they're either too hot or too cold.
Once your steak is coated, heat your pan. A common technique is to heat the pan to a nuclear temperature to "Seal" the meat - this is WRONG. You should only do this with a poor cut of meat that will dry out if it's cooked for a longer period. Heat the pan on a gas cooker at about 75%, for a couple of minutes. You're after a medium-high consistent heat. Now comes the Rain Man bit - throw the steaks in (don't crowd the pan) and cook for two minutes on each side per centimeter of thickness. Just before turning you might want to turn the heat up slightly, but turn it down after the second side has seared a bit. I do this by counting to myself under my breath, but don't lose count! It's amusing when people try and talk to you but you're deep in concentration trying not to forget which number you're up to :)
There are lots of methods to prodding the meat to determine how cooked it is, in my experience these don't work that well - it's very dependent on the cut of meat you have; you're better off going by the length of time in the pan.
The Serve
The first bite is with the eye. When you cook a steak the meat bunches up when it's heated. Once you're finished cooking you should leave the meat to rest for AT LEAST the same amount of time that you spent cooking it. Put it on a separate plate, it will bleed a lot of meat juices which you can then put into any sort of gravy that you might make. It also means that your serving plate won't be awash with meat juices. This step is very important and will ensure a nice, tender steak.
A gravy or sauce can be constructed at this point - any combination of mushrooms, shallots, beef stock, green peppercorns, a bit of cream or butter and meat Jus can be chucked into your cooking pan and simmered. If you have time you can reduce the gravy to a nice consistency, but a little bit of corn flour mixed with water will do the job as well. Don't put too much in our your gravy will taste floury.
Finally, a good steak is always best accompanied by cooked vegetables, rather than a salad. The advantage here is that any spare gravy goes very well with the vegies.
So there you have it - don't settle for shitty $10 pub steak, it's $10 for a reason! Don't sear a rump steak and expect it to be delicious! Go out of your way to find a good cut of meat and cook it right! We promise it will be worth it :)
good