Whats the secret of cooking a really tender steak like you get in restaurants?

Answer 1

GOOD STEAK I RECOMEND SCOTTISH ANGUS OR WELSH BLACK OR SOUTH DEVON BEEF, OR GOOD IRISH BEEF. THE PRICE IS THE MAIN FACTOR YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR USE A LOCAL BUTCHER AND GET TO NO HIM. FORGET SUPPERMARKETS THOUGH THEY ARE GETTING BETTER WITH HELP FRON REAL CHEFS. BE IT GRILLING, FRYING, OR CHAR GRILLING YOU STEAK , MAKE SURE YOUR COOKING SURFACE HIS VERY HOT IF IT IS NOT IT WILL BOIL THE STEAK THUS TUFF STEAK. WHEN THEN STEAK HAS BEEN COOKED TO YOUR LIKING IE BLUE,RARE, MED RARE. MED, OR WELL DONE(NOT RECOMENDED) REST THE STEAK FOR 4 MINS BEFORE SERVING THIS RESTS THE FIBRES AND THE MEAT RELAXES.I PERSONALY SALT AND PEPPER (BLACK CRUSHED) MY STEAKS SOME CHEFS TOTALY DO NOT.THEY SAY IT MAKES IT TUFF. I DISAGREE. IF YOUR STEAK IS GOING TO BE RARE OR THERE ABOUTS PAN FRY WITH VEG OIL AND BUTTER UN SALTED. SO GOOD PRODUCT, GOOD BUTCHER, HOT COOKING SURFACE,RESTING THE STEAK 4 MINS SHOULD MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE...BRIAN...

Answer 2

Firstly, you need to start with a really good lean tender cut of meat. Then marinate your steak in your choice of seasoning etc, and let stand for at least 15 mins. This is to ensure that your seasoning permeates the meat and gives it taste. To cook it, you need to heat your oil in your frying pan until it just gets to smoking point, add your steak and quickly fry it until it becomes brown. Be careful at this stage, because the oil is very hot, and you could get burnt, jiggle the pan a bit to stop the steak from sticking. Don't worry if you see flames coming out of your pan, this is all part of the cooking. This method is called sealing, and the idea of it is to keep the juices in the meat when cooking, which is what makes a tender steak. Once you have sealed your steak, lift the pan briefly and lower the heat to just enough that the steak is sizzling nicely in the fry pan, and cook it until you can see the juices just coming out of the top of the steak. Now turn your steak and cook until just brown, the steak will be medium rare. The whole secret of cooking a real tender steak is that you only turn it once through the whole cooking process. Any more than once, you will get hard and tough steak, and the best and tender steak is medium rare.

Answer 3

First get the best (freshest) cut that you can. Heat a frying pan (skillet) lightly rubbed with veg oil until it's smokin' hot.

Don't salt the steak before cooking because this will 'suck' the juices out.

Slap the steak in the pan and cook in the way you want it using the rule of 1 1/2 (see below). It depends on the quality, type and thickness of the steak. This can only be achieved by experience.

The rule of 1 1/2 is defined as this:

In a smokin' hot pan, if you cook the steak for 2 mins each side and then take it out the pan to rest for 2 mins, it will effectively be cooked for 6 mins (2 + 2 x 1.5). 3 mins each side, (3 + 3 x 1.5 = 9 mins) rest 3 mins, etc.

This will produce a great, juicy, steak.

Answer 4

Well I've had some bloody hard steaks in restaurants and paid good money for them as well!

I don't think there's any secret in the cooking. If a steak is tender whichever way you cook it is not going to make it hard.

The "secret" is with the supplier. Good steak is expensive! If you don't have your own local butcher (& most of us don't these days), get it from Waitrose or M&S and complain loud & long if it doesn't come up to your expectations!

Answer 5

first, buy the best cut of meat that you can afford. If I am doing just steak, I always buy filet mignon. let it stand at room temp for about 20 min prior to cooking. If you have a put the steak in a marinade, be sure that you dry the steak off prior to putting it on the cooking surface (grill or pan).

practice, practice practice. I mostly cook my steak on the outdoor weber gas grill, so the weber grill book is the best thing ever made. So for me, i cook on medium high heat, for 6 1/2 minutes per side to a nice lovely medium pink.

Lastly, be sure to let the steak rest for 5 minutes after removing from the cooking surface...otherwise juices will run out and dry the steak.

Answer 6

I asked my husband this question the other day. The secret is that you need aged meat. When meat is aged, the outside of the meat dries first, trapping the moisture on the inside of the steak. So then, when the steak is cooked, you have minimal moisture loss, resulting in a very tender steak. DO NOT age meat yourself, buy aged from a local butcher or a good supermarket.

Answer 7

Aged meat is better of course but with any steak only flip it one time during cooking process. this promotes tenderness, cook on first side until almost done then turn to brown and finish cooking. Marinating always helps. Do not to cut into steak while cooking you lose juices.

Answer 8

Start with a nice cut of quality meat. The guys behind the meat counter can be very helpful in recommending some things you will like.

Allow the meat to stand at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before cooking, and let it rest for at least 5 minutes after cooking.

Season with things you like, such as fresh minced garlic, fresh ground pepper, etc, but if you like salt, add this shortly before cooking so as not to draw the moisture out of the meat. We also like to spray our steaks lightly with Pam for Grilling to keep them from sticking to the grill.

If grilling, use a direct-medium fire (350°F to 375°F). To calculate grilling times we use the cookout calculator at charcoalbob.com. Just enter the cut of meat, thickness, doneness you want, etc. and it will give you instructions for how to grill steaks like you get in restaurants. It also has grilling tips.

Also, there are a number of excellent books on grilling. Our favorite is the Weber Big Book of Grilling. There are other great ones you'll find with reviews from users at places like amazon.com.

We found that the biggest secret of cooking great steaks is probably no secret at all - just a little practice.

Hope this helps.

Answer 9

When choosing beef it is best to get the darkest you can, it has been tenderised naturally. The best cut of steak is fillet as it is a muscle that is not used so it has not been toughened. Bright meat is too freshly killed and has not aged.
Use a high heat for cooking and only have it on the heat for as short a time as you can. Overcooking removes the moisture and toughens the meat.
Preferably use one of these griddle pans that cook both sides at once, less chance of drying out.

Answer 10

Make sure the meat has hung, matured for at least 24 days. Go to a family butcher for it. Supermsrkets take the meat strait from the slaughterhouse. Well hung meat, carcasse, loose about 10 % in weight due to water loss. they want to sell you water. But enzymes helps to break down the fibres and adenalin the animal produces when and before it is killed. Then cook quickly for four to ten minutes depending how you like the end result.