Steak - how to cook and what to have with it {Mega Merge!}

Minder

Not a sauce, but a couple of spoonfuls of greek salad on the side of the plate always does it for me. I use chopped tomato, cucumber, crumbled feta, sliced red onion with a little sea salt, dried oregano, black olives and a lash of good olive oil. There is something about the flavour of the oregano and the red onion that compliments a rare sirloin steak perfectly. A few chips, a dollop of colemans english mustard and a glass of malbec. Heaven.

Quality

Or marinate it in Balsamic Vinegar!!

Beruthiel

Blue cheese melted in the pan with cream...

Tinytony

Hill Billy wrote: »

Cook steak as you like. Put it aside to rest in a warm place.
In same pan that you fried the steak - add some olive oil & on a high heat fry a bunch of chopped scallions (whites & greens) for 2/3 mins. Then add a diced tomato & fry for a further 2/3 mins. Pour in 1/2 pint beef stock & allow to reduce by half. Season well.

Make a 'volcano' out of mashed potato. Pour the scallion/tomato gravy into the 'crater' & serve with the steak.

Ah I must have missed this the first time I read the thread. Is there anything to look out for when making this or is it as straight forward as it sounds? I always keep meaning to try making my own sauces but always end up getting lazy and makin it out of a packet!

Sounds like it could be very nice. I've no deep fat fryer in the house so chips are out. I think I saw some whole peppercorns in the press last night, so maybe crush them and season the steak with them?

SoundWave

you could do a whiskey mushroom sauce... ive made it a few times and its come out nice....

Pan on
Fry Mushrooms / onion / garlic in a small bit of butter.
Turn Down heat
Add whiskey (try not to burn down the house).... reduce.
Add cooking juices from steak
Add Cream.
Season to taste.


whiskey mushroom sauce.... DONE! :P

olaola

Hill Billy wrote: »

I wouldn't dream of telling you to go for a fillet (tasteless pap if you ask me).

I'm with HillBilly on this one... gimme sirloin any day!

I love bearniase sauce - here are a good few ideas (the first one is bearnaise) http://uktv.co.uk/food/homepage/sid/6683

The Hill Billy

Tinytony wrote: »

Is there anything to look out for when making this or is it as straight forward as it sounds?

It certainly is as simple as that. Happy cooking!

Minder

Hill Billy wrote: »

It certainly is as simple as that. Happy cooking!

You have to make sure that your mashed potato volcano:D is well built or your steak could disappear in a pyroclastic cloud of gravy before you've even taken a bite;)

Tinytony

Is it ok if I don't make the volcano!!

I was thinking of maybe making some seasoned oven chips to go with the steak and sauce?

I think i need something else as well, some kind of veg or something. Any suggestions?

Sparks

Leave steak come to room temperature;
Sprinkle both sides with salt - the bigger sea salt flakes are defeinitely better here;
Crush some peppercorns in a pestle or by whacking in a teatowel with a rolling pin or whatever, then put on a plate and press the steak into them on both sides (you should now have a pepper/salt crust on both sides of the steak;
Cook steak in hot pan with a mix of butter and olive oil; remove when done and leave to rest while making sauce;
Pour off excess fat but don't scrape pan yet;
Deglaze pan with brandy and flame it;
When the flames die out (shuffle the pan a bit to help), add cream and bring to the boil; now whisk for three or four minutes to get all the bits on the bottom of the pan into the sauce;
When it coats the back of a spoon, add a teaspoon of brandy and some salt to taste; spoon over your now-rested steak.
Enjoy...





ps. Watch it when flaming the brandy, or you'll lose eyebrows. These take about four weeks to grow back

Tinytony

Sparks wrote: »

Leave steak come to room temperature;
Sprinkle both sides with salt - the bigger sea salt flakes are defeinitely better here;
Crush some peppercorns in a pestle or by whacking in a teatowel with a rolling pin or whatever, then put on a plate and press the steak into them on both sides (you should now have a pepper/salt crust on both sides of the steak;
Cook steak in hot pan with a mix of butter and olive oil; remove when done and leave to rest while making sauce;
Pour off excess fat but don't scrape pan yet;
Deglaze pan with brandy and flame it;
When the flames die out (shuffle the pan a bit to help), add cream and bring to the boil; now whisk for three or four minutes to get all the bits on the bottom of the pan into the sauce;
When it coats the back of a spoon, add a teaspoon of brandy and some salt to taste; spoon over your now-rested steak.
Enjoy...





ps. Watch it when flaming the brandy, or you'll lose eyebrows. These take about four weeks to grow back

Sounds savage, but there isn't a drop of Brandy in the house, and don't think i'll buy a bottle either as the only time I drink it Christmas morning!

Sparks

Well, brandy's the tradition, but any high-proof alcohol could be used. Well, according to your tastes anyway - I can't see vodka or rum or kahlua being much use for example (well, maybe kahlua if you wanted a dark sweet sauce or something), but whiskey should be fine.

Mellor

I've been maiking whiskey sauce lately,
different to above, no mushrooms or cream,

instead, shallots fired in a lil butter, add a tsp brown sugar, with soy sauce and whiskey, a dash of worchester sauce in you like a tweak of spice,
reduce down and add steak juices,

its more of a jus, very very light

neuro-praxis

Tinytony wrote: »

AI've no deep fat fryer in the house so chips are out.

Tintytony, you are probably tucking into a lovely dinner as I type, but you don't need a deep fat fryer for chips.

You can get oven chips (in my opinion the Green Isle brand is best, and the slightly thinner kind rather than the steakhouse kind) and have those, or you can get a large potato, cut it into wedges with the skin on, sprinkle with salt (and pepper, garlic and herbs if you fancy), drizzle in olive oil and bake until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside...delish.

That's how I do chips, anyway.

Tinytony

Trip report:

Firstly by the time I got to the butchers, they had no sirlion left only fillet, so went for that. Seasoned it which some crack peppercorn and sea salt and gave a couple of minutes each side so it was a nice medium rare.

Gave making the oven chips a a shot as well but I don't think the spuds I had (roosters) were the freshest and I probably cut them a bit thin as they went slightly flakey after I blanched them. Coated them in olive oil and seasoned. I cooked em for about 20/25 mins but they never really crisped up. They were still nice but not as solid as I would have liked. Had problems with them sticking to the pan too.

I made the sauce scallion/tomato gravy, very nice and went well with the steak.
A successful enough dinner and break from the norm anyways!

The Hill Billy

Good for you TT!

kenco

Just seen the end of this thread now and hope it went down well for you tinytony.

What did you think of the fillet? I used to mad into them but have now moved more towards the Striploin cut. They are a bit cheaper and also seem to be much more flavoursome. Personnally I dont do a lot sauce wise but do try to marinate for a while (usual bits and bobs). I hear people talk of coka cola marinades and tried this once but to no great sucess.

Tinytony

The fillet was nice to be fair but I just had my heart set on the sirlion. It was a nice thick piece, cooked it the medium rare and was very tasty.

I would be a big fan of sauces, gravy etc (usually packet made ) but I would never drown the meat in it. Just have it on the side for dipping.

Sparks

Fillet != Sirloin.
Fillet !< Sirloin.
Fillet !> Sirloin.

Seriously, apples and oranges (ie, comparable, but only if you're nitpicking). You don't cook them the same way or use them for the same recipes (granted, there are exceptions like the steak au poivre recipe above). Nice bit of fillet makes for great carpaccio; nice bit of sirloin makes a great grilled steak. Horses (well, cow bits) for courses...

EireEV

Hi,

I bought 2 lovely sirloin steaks over the week-end and would like to cook them tonight.

Every time I cook a sirloin steak it looks and tastes nothing like those I get in a restaurant.

What are the secrets to cooking a perfect steak?

I bought a griddle pan last week so this may help.

Thanks.

EireEV

Thumpette

I think it's nice for sirloin steaks to oil the steak rather than the pan. I would normally put them on a plate and rub/ massage some nice olive oil into them with some crushed black pepper. Then let the pan get really hot and seal it for a minute or two on both sides. I but it into a warmish oven then, for about 5 mins if you like it rare- medium, longer if you want it well done...

Its a good idea to let it rest at room temp for a few mins before serving too to let the meat relax.

Its all pretty much guess work- but it seems to work for me!

Or you could try this...

http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=158

memorex

Agree with above. After oiling one thing I find that makes a big difference is to let the steaks come to room temperature before cooking - takes about 30 mins. This seems to make them juicier.

EireEV

Thanks for this.

The 5 mins you suggest - is this cooking time in the oven and if sho at what temperature?

Beruthiel

It's very important that you seal the steak. That is, at the start, have the heat very high and quickly seal both sides. This keeps in the juices.

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Cast iron pan, smoking hot.

Black pepper and salt seasoning.

bish bash bosh.

Served with some nice mash.

And onion gravy.

Mr Magnolia

I also mount the steak with butter right at the end when pan frying.

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Mr Magnolia wrote: »

I also mount the steak with butter right at the end when pan frying.

What does that mean?

A knob of butter on the top?

Mr Magnolia

Yeah, let it melt then spoon it over a couple of times. Lovely rich taste as a result.

Sparks

This keeps in the juices.

Er, no, it doesn't. But the browning of the meat gives it a lovely taste.

Canis Lupus

Depends how you like that but as above oil the steak lightly then what I do is put salt and cracked black pepper over them and whack it using my hand to make the pepper stick in

Then pan 1 dead hot about what..... a minute or slightly less on each side to sear it then transfer to pan 2 which is only on a medium heat then for maybe 4 mins on each side or whatever way you like it.

Then rest it for a little bit.

You can also add some chicken stock towards the end as well to help keep it moist.