Steak, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!
Vegetarians and vegans, perhaps you would enjoy reading a column from one of my colleagues elsewhere. Or you can read it and get aggravated. Your choice.
I wrote about this several weeks ago: When I heard the news from my daughter that my 6-year-old grandson ordered steak on four consecutive nights for the first time in his life while on a family vacation, it gave me unusual delight. I can’t tell you why I felt proud and satisfied. I just did. My family consists of unabashed meat-eaters. Except for a brief period in her mid-teen years when my daughter lost her taste for meat, all of us have always enjoyed a burger, a steak, a roast – beef.
But I digress.
This is about cooking steak properly. And by properly, I don’t mean medium well or well done. In saying that, I’ll let you in on a little secret. If you go to a restaurant in a larger city and you order a steak medium well or well done, it is unlikely you will get the advertised cut on your plate. You’ll get a cut that looks like it, but the kitchen figures that at those levels of doneness – most, if not all, of the character of the cut you ordered has been cooked out. And you are likely to get a lesser quality cut.
So I advise that if you must have your meat cooked that way, start out by ordering it medium. At least you’ll get the advertised cut. Then send it back and ask to have it cooked a bit more.
Once again, I digress.
To my way of thinking – and I fully admit to my prejudices here – a steak should be cooked to an internal temperature of no more than medium. I, myself, prefer rare or medium rare. And I like the outside charred. My favorite cut is rib eye, but I would never turn my nose up at a New York. I’m not crazy about filet mignon because its low fat content generally means there is less flavor in it.
So ordering a steak “black and blue” means that you want the outside really charred and the inside cool – barely registering above the temperature the meat was when it came out of the cooler. Ordering a steak charred medium rare, sometimes referred to as “Pittsburgh,” means the inner temperature approaches about 120 degrees on a meat thermometer. It’s still more red than pink. Ordering your steak medium, means that the inner temperature is around 140 and the color of the meat is pink.
(Just an aside: The term “Pittsburgh” refers to the days before 1962 when the city was the center of the steel-making industry and clouds of thick black smoke covered everything – even to the point where headlights went on at two in the afternoon. After 1962, even with ongoing steel production, advanced air filtration methods made it one of the cleanest cities in the country.)
Going into the degrees of grayness of medium well and well done, generally means that any flavor that was in the meat went up the air handling system in the restaurant kitchen. Do yourself a favor: at least try it medium.
I do not marinate my steaks. The ingredients in marinades frequently will have the effect of drying out the meat, since the sodium content of the marinade will penetrate the outer layer, working its way into the meat. I do not coat the meat in Worcestershire sauce or any brand of steak sauce or, heaven forbid, ketchup. That includes after the meat has been cooked and served to me, as well.
To my way of thinking the only way to prepare a steak properly is with coarse salt and coarse pepper. These two in combination will help form a delicious crust on the outside of the meat.
Whether I’m grilling outdoors or with a cast iron grill pan indoors, I think the presentation of the steak is very important. I am a believer in grilling steaks at very high heat – that’s one sure way to get your steak “black and blue” or “Pittsburgh.” Sometimes, for steaks cooked to medium, you may want to finish them in the oven, but if left long enough on the grill, it will eventually reach the desired temperature.
Those beautiful diamond-shaped grill marks are accomplished by starting your steak on the grill grates in a southwest to northeast position. Do not force the meat to move, otherwise you’ll tear it. Meat will move when it’s ready – that’s a promise – as there are sugars in the outer layer that will caramelize. Take your tongs and test before moving the steak. When it moves readily, change the direction of the meat so that it lays northwest to southeast. Do the same for the second side.
OK, vegetarians and vegans. It’s okay to look again.