With my recent thread about cross contamination of flavours, that are not supposed to be there, I wonder how you folks prefer your steaks ?
I’m not talking about well done, medium, rare or bleu - but if you prefer your steak done the classic way with a good solid butter baste, garlic, rosemary and thyme or perhaps you find this boring & bland and prefer to infuse your steak with other flavours such as fish sauce, oyster sauce, soya, chilli sauce or perhaps even far more exotic flavours ?
Personally I like my steak medium and infused with the classic traditional western garlic, thyme & perhaps rosemary and then butter basted for the last 1-2 minutes, before the steak is taken off the pan to rest.
Any way that you will cook it Claus then I’m there !
I must admit that I usually cook mine either in the oven or in a pan to medium rare.
The BBQ I have not perfected that method yet.
Great thread Claus thanks I stand to learn a lot.
P.S.
In a pan, with butter and Rosemary.
In the oven (after searing in a pan) wrapped in foil with sliced mushrooms and caramelized onions.
I actually prefer to sear my steak on the frying pan from start to finish now - only if the steak is exceptionally thick I’ll start the sear on the frying pan and finish it in the oven (not a fan of reverse sear nor sous vide)
I used to think the technique where you only turn the steak once was the best, but now I find turning the steak 3 times total gives me a better overall uniform searing result.
For a really great steak, like a thick bone-in ribeye, rare with a great crust developed with only butter. The entire cook is done stovetop in a heavy carbon steel pan.
Fatty cuts like rib-eye or delmonico only require s&p for me. Leaner cuts generally get a marinade (soy sauce, balsamic, worcestershire, maggi sauce, smoked paprika, garlic & onion powder, etc etc. – you get the drift).
Exactly how I like mine, except medium rare. I only eat a steak about 4 times year so like to get a really high quality steak and want to taste the pure beefy flavor. Generously salt and pepper, cast iron skillet screaming hot. Usually there is fat strip so I sear on that edge first so the steak cooks in the beef fat, get a nice sear/crust, then finish basting with butter and rosemary/thyme. Also I like to sprinkle with a good finishing salt after slicing.
And a nice red wine to pair.
No flavorings for me typically, just salt and pepper. Grilled if at all possible, cast iron pan on the stove if not. I eat steak probably every 10 days or so and this is how I always prepare it.
Sous vide . 2 1/2 ribeye. Cooked over medium heat in cast iron . I always feel the super hot sear makes the meat seize up. Only salt after its cooked more rare than medium.
How I like my steak these days has very much been influenced by my travels to Italy and Spain. There, the best steaks I’ve had were grilled over a bbq grill, with nothing more than coarse sea salt. The steaks were all fatty, and did not need much else in terms of seasoning. If you take a bite, little pockets of fat melt in your mouth. Sensational.
One of the more unusual steaks I’ve had was in the south west of France, where they serve grilled foie gras on top of the steak. That was beautiful too.
At home, and in the kitchen, I’ll try to recreate using my De Buyer carbon steel pan, using oil, and sometimes a bit of butter. Salt, nothing else really, sometimes some fresh pepper. I like my steaks rare to medium rare.
Steak is a rare treat for me, just because it’s become so expensive to get good quality t-bone. So, actually, and usually, I’ll have my butcher cut up a filet of steak into tartare de boeuf (raw) which I then eat at home.
Coated with salt and pepper, no fat, in a smoking hot pan 2 and 1/2 minutes each side. If it’s exceptionally thick, transfer to oven for 10 minutes. This will produce a lot of smoke!
