Raymond Blanc has provided the best advice for cooking steak in his autobiography. Follow this recipe and you will be guaranteed the perfect steak. Until I got a sous vide cooker this was the method I used to cook steak. The photograph does not do justice to this delicious meal. To me, the most important aspect of this process is making sure that your meat is at room temperature before cooking it.
The Perfect Steak
Ingredients
- 250 g sirloin
- 20 g unsalted butter
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
- 100 mls hot water
Method
- remove the steak from the fridge at least an hour before cooking
- season the steak on both sides just before cooking
- on a medium heat melt the butter in your pan
- let the butter foam until it is nut brown
- put the steak into the pan and turn the heat up slightly
- after 1 minute for a rare steak, 2 minutes for a medium rare steak and 3-4 minutes for a medium steak, turn the steak over and turn up the heat slightly
- cook the steak for the same amount of time per side, then add the hot water to the pan
- immediately remove the steak and allow to rest while the jus forms
- lower the heat and scrape all the caramelized deposits into the jus
- The steak I made was topped with some truffles which I brought back with me from Umbria
Notes
you can use this method for any cut of meat or fish
you can use this to seal your meat before slow cooking
if the steak has a bit of fat on the edge, line the edge up with the pan
use red wine instead of water - this must be boiled for 30 seconds before you use it
you can use this to seal your meat before slow cooking
if the steak has a bit of fat on the edge, line the edge up with the pan
use red wine instead of water - this must be boiled for 30 seconds before you use it
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Ingredients for my perfect steak:
- Sirloin: this is my preferred cut of meat as I like the little bit of fat that runs along the side of the sirloin. If possible I buy bone in sirloin. And if I am feeling generous with my money I will splurge on a prime rib. I would recommend rump if you do not like the sinew that sirloin is famous for. If you choose fillet then please cook it rare. Anything over that is not worth the expense of the fillet.
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter in my recipes if it is available in the shops. If not, be sure to keep in mind that you need to reduce the amount of salt you use in a recipe.
I’ve never cooked it this way, will try and let you know.
please do. My steaks have never come out as brilliantly as this!
This is the way I do it:) but I use wine or brandy instead of water.. next time I will definitely try Vermouth.. that stuff is so great for cooking “as well ” 🙂
I must try Brandy next time!