Steak is a cut of meat that is generally sliced across the muscle fibres, it can refer to meat from various grazing animals but in this instance, we are talking about the delicious longhorn beef steak.
A quality, well-cooked steak is one of the purest carnivorous pleasures of the culinary world.
It is a trickier cut of meat to cook perfectly and with its higher price tag, many of us choose to only have a steak when dining out. Well, we are here to change that and to ensure you can enjoy a delicious steak from the comfort of your own home.
Before you start
Take the steak out of the fridge and allow to warm to room temperature, around one hour before cooking. It is also very important that you ensure your pan or griddle is super-hot before you begin cooking!
Why? Because this will help caramelise the meat and producing a delicious crust.
A heavy based pan, chargrill or BBQ is best for cooking your steak (so long as you preheat the metal for a long time until smoking).
Don’t squeeze your steaks into a small pan, either choose a larger pan or cook one at a time.
Seasoning
For your steak we would recommend adding nothing more than salt and pepper. To get the best results salt your steak in advance, around 2 hours for every 1cm of thickness. You can also add olive oil.
If you choose you can enhance the flavour with a marinade, try our Tubby Toms sauces.
Which cooking fat to use
It’s best to use flavourless oils such as sunflower or vegetable. Then, once the pan is searing, add butter to the pan.
Searing the steak
When cooking a thick sirloin steak where there is a strip of fat on the side, the best way to start is by searing this. Hold the steak with a pair of tongs and sear the fat in a hot pain.
TOP TIP – the oil in the pan should be separating but not smoking.
To get the perfect caramelised, brown crust around the steak cook for the total time stated (depending on how you prefer your steak) but keep turning the steak every minute.
Cooking your steak
How long you cook your steak for will depend on your preference. Below is a breakdown of the different cooking categories for steak:
- Blue – the steak will remain dark in colour, almost purple. It will feel spongy with no resistance.
- Rare – this will be a dark red in colour with some red juices. It will feel soft, spongy with slight resistance.
- Medium rare – it will be pink in colour with some juice and will be a bit soft, spongy and very slightly springy.
- Medium – Pale pink in the middle with a brown edge and hardly any juice. It will feel firm and springy.
To ensure you cook the steak for the right amount of time it’s important to consider the size and weight of the steak.
It will also depend on the steak cut. For example, for a fillet steak that is 3.5cm thick you will need to follow these cooking times:
- Blue: 1 and a half minutes each side
- Rare: 2 and a quarter minutes each side
- Medium Rare: 3 and a quarter minutes each side
- Medium: 4 and a half minutes each side
Once you have cooked your steak, leave to rest on a plate for about 5 minutes.
Checking your steak is cooked
One of the easiest ways to check your steak is cooked how you like it is to check the temperature using a meat thermometer.
- Blue: 54C
- Rare: 57C
- Medium rare: 63C
- Medium: 71C
Resting your steak
Your steak will stay warm for up to 10 minutes so, you should test at room temperature for at least 5 minutes. Be sure to pour over the resting juices before serving.
Try our delicious longhorn steaks, order yours today.
