About steak

Twisted Spinster » Just what it says on the tin . In answer to your question about steak: In short, rib eye.  Here’s why.  The type of steak that will be tender depends on how you like your steaks cooked.  A cut that is good rare may not be good well done, and vice-versa.  Tenderness in meat starts one of two ways: the meat is tender because the animal doesn’t make much use of that muscle, or the meat has lots of fat that melts in the cooking process.  The first type is tender when rare, tough when cooked.  The second is fatty when rare, tender when cooked.  So if you like rare meat, go for a tenderloin and barely cook it.  If you like well-done, go for a well-marbled piece (ie, lots of fat evenly distributed so it looks like the flecks in marble or granite), and cook till the fat has melted.  Rib eye is a good balance between them; it’s a relatively unused muscle with enough fat to stay tender even if it’s overcoooked, but not so much that it tastes fatty when rare.

In all cases, the longer the muscle fibers, the tougher the meat.  So buy a piece of meat that is cut across the grain.  To visualize what that should look like, grab a handful of pencils.  Tap them on your desk or table so the eraser ends are all at the same height.  What you see when you look at the cut side of the steak should resemble what you see when you look at those erasers end on.  Looking at the steak from the side, the lines should be close to perpendicular.  For cheaper cuts of meat (such as you might use for pot roast) tenderness is achieved through a combination of long cooking that melts fat and breaks down collagen (gristle) and slicing the cooked meat at an angle to shorten the fibers.

If you happen to have a cast-iron frying pan, and like your steaks rare, the easiest way to cook them is searing. Get out your (well-seasoned) pan, and put it on the burner over fairly high heat.  While the pan heats, rub/sprinkle whatever seasonings you like on your steak. The pan is hot enough when it almost smokes, and that’s when you put your steak in it.  If your pan heated so quickly that you only got one side seasoned, that side goes down.  No oil needed, just the steak.  Give it two minutes without touching it except to season the other side if needed.  Turn and cook for two minutes on the other side.  Remove and eat.  You need a cast iron pan for this because other cookware may not withstand the high heat.  It’s also a good idea to have your vent fan on and possibly windows open. 

For a more well-done steak, you can use your oven broiler, if you have one and it came with a broiler pan to catch the drippings.  Otherwise, just fry over lower heat for a longer time.  You can also start with searing as above, then reduce heat and cover.

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