Pan-fried Steak

I dunno hey my best mate is a chef and thats the way he was taught by one of SA's top chefs.

Not to rain on your mate's parade or anything, but he's plain wrong. I also attended culinary school and still study culinary science and I can assure you that there is absolutely no sealing happening. You can test it yourself with two steaks - weigh them before and after. One sealed, the other not. The sealed steak will weigh less because it loses moisture during cooking - when you see "smoke" from the steak that is actually liquid from the steak turning to steam - it's losing moisture. But yes, you do have to brown (what used to be called sealing) the steak first for the maillard reaction - go look it up - it's very interesting...

I have cooked a good steak slowly and it wasn't good at all, it came out all dry in the center - I can understand if you're making a curry or stew but I have never heard of someone cooking a good steak slowly or turning it often - goto a steak house and watch what they do.

I'm not suggesting slow cooking a steak - I'm suggesting a gentler heat (as opposed to a smoking hot pan) for very thick cuts to prevent drying the outside of the steak and inducing the maillard reaction and heat to the centre.

BTW, many steak houses absolutely abuse steaks - if you want to cook it perfectly, use a technique called sous vide for a few hours at 60C - this is the temperature at which the protein bonds in meat denature (which is what cooking really is) and then flame-grill the steak at the end...
 
I find at high heat putting anything on the steak beforehand just fills the kitchen with smoke when you fry it.
I do get crispier sections where the lines of the griddle pan sear the steak.

Oh yes, but that smoke is also flavour hey. Just open your kitchen door...:p
 
Step 1 - Throw the 'steak' you bought to the dog :)
Step 2 - Go buy a decent steak at Woolworths (aged, thick)
Step 3 - Open steak wrapping and let breath for 20min
Step 4 - Spice Steak with whatever you like
Step 5 - Put a tiny amount of butter in grill pan
Step 6 - Heat till DAMN hot
Step 7 - Throw on steak, turn after 3.5min.
Step 6 - After 2min - put a teaspoon of butter ontop of each steak.
Step 7 - After 1.5min take steak off grill.

Haha, perfect how to fry a steak 101 guide. Except maybe the butter part :D
 
What the hell is wrong with you people?

I'm a massive meat fan and I love my steak the most. I'll admit that these thin steaks fried in a pan might not be my first choice but they are devine sometimes. And ty Blunomore, I'm at work and now wish I had a pan and steak here :mad:
 
That's the way I like it too. I prefer it off the braai though.

Last one I had about 4wks was off the braai in the berg. Was bloody nice and to think I was upset when I could not find chops at the shop (they are useless at stocking anything up there) :D
 
How thick is that cut?

I usually try to stick to about 2.5cm-3cm thick cuts. Coat it with a mixture of olive oil & butter followed by ground pepper & salt. Straight onto a square cast iron grill pan that's at highest heat & then left to rest.

:o Now I'm craving steak *sigh*

Was the thick cut Woolies steak. ~3cm. Quite a boytie. Just less than 4min a side. I thought it was two pieces when I bought it.

When It was open and aired, I realised it was one. Challenge accepted!
 
What the hell is wrong with you people?

I'm a massive meat fan and I love my steak the most. I'll admit that these thin steaks fried in a pan might not be my first choice but they are devine sometimes. And ty Blunomore, I'm at work and now wish I had a pan and steak here :mad:

But then again, you probably thought it was a culinary breakthrough when they began advertising "coriander seeds" on boerewors packaging a few months ago...:p :D

Now wif extra cloves...:D
 
But then again, you probably thought it was a culinary breakthrough when they began advertising "coriander seeds" on boerewors packaging a few months ago...:p :D

Now wif extra cloves...:D

Shoo you.

I love to eat, if it's going to take me 3 hours to make something I swallow down in 2 minutes.... not worth the effort :D I just want food to be quick and and filling. Dressing it up with all kinds of fancy thingies is not my thing. However, having a nicely aged steak at a steak diner from time to time is a great treat :)
 
Last one I had about 4wks was off the braai in the berg. Was bloody nice and to think I was upset when I could not find chops at the shop (they are useless at stocking anything up there) :D

To be honest I'm going through a bit of a pork on the braai phase right now. Loving loin chops on the braai and even preferring it to steak sometimes - my butcher cuts awesomely thick loin chops for me. Salt, pepper, lemon juice and braai - perfection. I even took a few old pairs of tongs and bent them into what I call crackling-makers - they hold the chops vertically (my grid spaces are too small for the chops) and it makes the most delicious pork crackling on hot coals...
 
To be honest I'm going through a bit of a pork on the braai phase right now. Loving loin chops on the braai and even preferring it to steak sometimes - my butcher cuts awesomely thick loin chops for me. Salt, pepper, lemon juice and braai - perfection. I even took a few old pairs of tongs and bent them into what I call crackling-makers - they hold the chops vertically (my grid spaces are too small for the chops) and it makes the most delicious pork crackling on hot coals...

Had that on Sunday for the first time in a long time. I really like the lemon juice on it, also use it on rashers.

Now that also reminds me of venison carpaccio for some odd reason... My one mate gets all kinds of venison fillets from a local butcher for stupid prices (R35-R45/kg) and we end up making carpaccio with lemon juice, balsamic vinegar & slivers of parmigiano.
 
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But then again, you probably thought it was a culinary breakthrough when they began advertising "coriander seeds" on boerewors packaging a few months ago...:p :D

Now wif extra cloves...:D

Shoo you.

I love to eat, if it's going to take me 3 hours to make something I swallow down in 2 minutes.... not worth the effort :D I just want food to be quick and and filling. Dressing it up with all kinds of fancy thingies is not my thing. However, having a nicely aged steak at a steak diner from time to time is a great treat :)

Don't be nasty with Pitbull.

While he is many things, AT LEAST he is not pretentious.

Enjoy your food the way you like it Pitbull.
 
I love to eat, if it's going to take me 3 hours to make something I swallow down in 2 minutes.... not worth the effort :D I just want food to be quick and and filling.

That's one of the beauties of steak, very quick to prepare. Add some take away chips and a home fried egg, what more can a man ask for?
 
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I love to eat, if it's going to take me 3 hours to make something I swallow down in 2 minutes.... not worth the effort :D I just want food to be quick and and filling.

That's one of the beauties of steak, very quick to prepare. Add some take away chips and a home fried egg, what more can a man ask for?

Pub down the road from me makes this nice Steak, egg and chips. Nothing wrong with it what so ever. Some people are just to particular if you ask me. Damn it, now I crave the prego steak roll from that same pub :D
 
Steak, egg and chips has got to be one of my favourite meals...
 
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