A classic steak is a piece of portioned beef meat, the thickness of which is about three centimeters, fried from all sides. Let's talk about how to cook beef steak in a pan. There are different recipes . Let's understand the nuances of cooking.
Varieties of steak
Before talking about how to cook beef steak in a pan, you need to understand what types of steak can be.
Steaks are distinguished by the degree of frying. We will name the most basic of them:
- Blood steak. In finished form, the temperature inside it is from forty-five to fifty degrees.
- The meat is medium rare, the temperature of which is from fifty-five to sixty degrees.
- Strong roast steak - the temperature of the inside of sixty-five to seventy degrees.
Of course, ideally, the degree of readiness of a steak should be determined using a culinary thermometer. However, in everyday life it is not very convenient and it is unlikely that anyone will do it. As a rule, the readiness of a dish is determined by eye.
When you choose which roast you want, remember that with strong processing, the meat loses its juices and becomes hard and dry. With blood, meat is consumed by extremely rare lovers, but the bulk of people prefer a stack with uniform roasting, when pressed, pink juice stands out.
Side dishes are also served. As a rule, these are grilled vegetables, or salads with fresh vegetables.
Product Preparation
Speaking about how to cook beef steak in a pan, you first need to find out which meat is suitable for this dish. So, for a real steak you need to take only the flesh of beef without bones and veins, ideally it should be paired, only this way you can get a fragrant and juicy dish.
The meat is cut into pieces three centimeters thick. If you still make meat from ice cream, then it is better to defrost it in the main compartment, of course, this will take a long time, but the meat will retain its beneficial properties. To make the process go faster, you can put packaged meat in cold water. In no case should you defrost it in a microwave oven, even when using the special mode, or in warm water.
And one more tip. Never beat the steak before cooking, it will lose all its juices and structure.
In addition to meat, we need a set of spices and vegetable oil (olive or sunflower). Remember that the steak is not salted before cooking, this is done before serving.
Cookware
To cook meat, we need a steak pan. It can be ordinary cast-iron utensils, but ideally it is good to use a grill pan. In addition, you will need a special steak knife. This is what the masters use in this matter. If you do not have such a tool, then use an ordinary sharp knife, which can be used to cut meat well. The pieces should be beautiful and even. Beef steak at home is not so difficult to cook.
Butter steak
Let's cook the beef steak in the pan. There are many recipes, let's look at some of them. If you choose the right meat, cut and fry well, you will get the most delicious stack in the world.
Ingredients:
- Butter - ¼ packs.
- Ground pepper.
- Beef - 0.8 kg.
- Salt.
Beef tenderloin needs to be washed, then dried with towels, and cut into pieces three centimeters thick. Next, we need a steak pan. We put it on the fire and melt the butter.
Pepper only one side of the meat and put a piece of it in the pan with it. Next, pepper the other side and turn the steak over. Cooking time is determined, first of all, by your preferences, what degree of meat roasting you like.
If you want the steak to be only slightly fried, then it is enough to fry it for three minutes on each side. If you want to get a good crust on the outside and pink flesh inside, you will have to increase the time to four minutes on each side.
Well, if you want to eat well-done meat, you need to cook it for five minutes on each side. And do not forget to salt before serving.
Cooking steak in the oven.
If you want beef to be soft, you can cook it in the oven. First, the meat is fried in a pan, since the resulting crust prevents the juice from flowing out of it. That is why such a steak is juicy, tender and aromatic, especially when using spicy mixtures.
Ingredients:
- Beef - 1 kg.
- Olive oil - 4 tbsp. l
- Herb picking (thyme, rosemary).
- Salt.
- Pepper.
Sliced steak marinated in oil with herbs for an hour. Next, we send the meat to a hot pan, frying for two minutes on each side. It should be a crust.
Then put the lightly fried steaks in the oven and cook for another fifteen minutes.
Steak with red sauce
If you have not yet decided how to cook beef steak in a pan, then you might like a meat recipe with red sauce. This dish is for true gourmets. It is served with grape juice, pepper, red wine. The result will exceed all your expectations.
Ingredients:
- Meat (beef) - 1 kg.
- Butter - 2 tbsp. l
- Flour - 3 tbsp. l
- Red wine - 70 g.
- Bouillon - 300 g.
- Currant juice - 70 g.
Rub the steaks thoroughly with pepper and lightly fry them for three minutes on each side. Then bake for another fifteen minutes in the oven.
Meanwhile, we begin to prepare the sauce. In a pan, melt the butter. Then fry the flour on it to a golden color, add the broth, constantly stirring, bring to a boil and boil for ten minutes. Next, pour the juice of currant and red pepper and wine, bring to a boil again and turn it off immediately. Such a delicious steak is served with potatoes and sauce.
Useful Tips for Beginners
Leading a conversation about how to cook a steak in a pan, I want to mention small nuances that will help you prepare an unforgettable dish.
So, the meat needs to be cut across the fibers, this simplifies the penetration of heat into the middle of the piece.
If you want to experiment, try cooking a charcoal steak. To do this, first fry the meat to get a crust that prevents the juice from flowing out, and then continue cooking on the coals, turning the pieces one by one.
The pan is heated over high heat before cooking, but not allowing oil to smoke. Otherwise, the steak may burn and not cook well. Chefs believe that the pan is ready for cooking if it sizzles when meat is placed on it.
After cooking, the steak should simply lie down for ten minutes. Then the meat will become softer.
To determine the readiness of the steak, they press it with a finger. The meat with blood should be soft. A carefully fried steak has a solid structure. And the meat of medium roast is somewhere in the middle of the middle between two border states.
What meat should I take to make a steak?
To cook the right beef steak, you need to choose good meat.
We already said earlier that steak is best cooked from fresh meat. You only need to take beef. Pieces are cut into pieces whose thickness is not less than two and a half centimeters, but also not more than four.
The best is considered a marble steak. It is made from Australian marbled beef. You can search for domestic counterparts if you wish.
Japanese steak
We want to share another recipe for steak cooked in the oven. The meat is very tender and tasty. It is called teriyaki beef steak . The meat is cooked using a marinade.
Ingredients:
- Beef - 0.6 kg.
- A tablespoon of honey.
- Onion - 2 pcs.
- Wine (preferably dry white) - 90 ml.
- Grated fresh ginger.
- Two cloves of garlic.
- Soya sauce.
Grate, grate the garlic and onion. Next, we make the marinade. Mix the following ingredients: onion, sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, wine. We place the prepared pieces of steak in the mixture and leave to marinate for several hours. Meat should be turned over periodically.
Next, preheat the oven to a temperature of one hundred eighty degrees. If you have a grill function, you can use it and fry each steak for five to seven minutes on each side, without forgetting to pour the marinade.
The remaining mixture must be brought to a boil, and then cook for ten minutes, so that it becomes thick enough. Ready steaks are laid out on a plate and poured with teriyaki sauce made from marinade.
In principle, you can cook a steak in a more traditional way. To do this, the meat is pickled for several hours in olive oil with a mixture of Provencal herbs. Then a little fry in a completely dry pan, and then bring to readiness in the oven for another ten to fifteen minutes.
Interesting Facts
Why do you think that in almost all recipes the meat is first fried over high heat, and then brought to readiness? Everything is very simple. During the heat treatment of meat, protein curls immediately on the surface of the piece. Thus, it blocks the exit of fluid. It is for this reason that meat is first processed at a high temperature, and only then prepared at a more gentle one. This technique makes the steak very juicy.
Once the meat reaches a temperature of forty degrees, the proteins are destroyed, and after fifty degrees collagen is compressed. And already at seventy degrees, the steak does not retain oxygen and acquires a gray tint. Therefore, it is better to cut the steak across the fibers, this will ensure the passage of hot streams through the meat.
Regarding how quickly you need to start eating a finished dish, even eminent chefs disagree. Some people think that meat needs to lie down for ten minutes and reach the correct state, while others recommend eating it right away. Of course, it's all a matter of taste. So experiment and decide which option suits you best.