Category: steak

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How not to cook steak

So there I was with a beautiful piece of 28 day matured rump steak and I ruined it…

Basically I roasted it in the oven (as it hadn’t fully defrosted) and as a result it came out dry and tough.

A silly mistake and next time I will ensure it is properly defrosted.

Normally I use a hot griddle and can tell how well cooked the steak is by the resistance you get, the harder the resistance the more cooked it is. Cooking in the oven, ensured that the steak dried out and was therefore quite tough and chewy.

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Ambassadors at Bloomsbury Part One

I was recently up in London and stayed at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. Staying with friends we had the Christmas dinner at the Number Twelve attached restaurant. I started off with the Chestnut Pasta and had the Ribeye steak for my mains.

The home made chestnut pasta was served with seasonal wild mushrooms and a white butter sauce. I did enjoy this dish, the pasta was cooked well and nice selection of mushrooms.

For my mains I had ribeye of 28 day Donald Russell beef, served with celeriac, braised red onion, wild mushrooms and roast potatoes.

ribeye of 28 day Donald Russell beef

The steak was not the best I’ve had, slightly tough and was certainly not full of flavour compared to others I have eaten. The celeriac was nice as was the onions and mushrooms.

Overall I did enjoy both the started and the main course.

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T-Bone Steak

Went to the local pub on Friday night and had a T-Bone Steak, haven’t had one for ages.

The fillet was tender, but I was less impressed with the dish as a whole, lacking flavour and not cooked very well. The chips felt as though they were cooked twice and the salad lacked imagination.

This pub use to be fantastic with a great range of specials, alas now it is just a chain and the quality of cooking and ingredients has fallen considerably.

Having said that it was very very busy and the clientèle seemed happy.

Really need to find  somewhere else.

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Beef Wellington

This is my version of the classic Beef Wellington.

Beef Wellington

I used sirloin steak, which I cooked in a pan until it was cooked medium rare. You can of course cook the steak how you prefer it. Ensure it is cooked to a point before you would call it perfect, as it will cook more in the oven.

I then cut the steak into portions, about two inches square.

The steak was then spread with a mixture of chopped mushrooms and mustard. I used French whole grain mustard.

Using some puff pastry (and I will admit I do buy ready made puff pastry as I have no idea on how to make it).

I cut out some circles, about four inches in diameter. Placed one circle on the baking tray, added the steak. Using beaten egg and a pastry brush I brushed egg around the edges of the circle and placed a second circle of puff pastry on top. This top puff pastry circle was then brushed with beaten egg.

The parcels were then baked in an oven for about ten to fifteen minutes until golden brown.

I served mine with a mix of salads.

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The perfect Italian steak

There is a skill in cooking a steak on a griddle, especially if you want it to turn out well and tasty.

My technique is not perfect, but I get some good results.

Firstly I heat the pan, the heat will be the guide to whether I am cooking a rare, medium or well done steak, though it must be, even for a well done steak, quite hot.

I take the steak, preferably at room temperature and rub seasoning and oil into the steak. This is black pepper, some Italian herbs and olive oil.

I prefer using ribeye, but in the photo below I was using sirloin, as I can’t always get hold of ribeye.

perfect steak

I do not add oil to the griddle.

Once the pan is hot, I then griddle the steak.

This ensures I get the nice chargrill lines on my steak.

I serve the steak with some freshly cut lemon.

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Cooking steak on a griddle pan

There is a skill in cooking a steak on a griddle, especially if you want it to turn out well and tasty.

My technique is not perfect, but I get some good results.

Firstly I heat the pan, the heat will be the guide to whether I am cooking a rare, medium or well done steak, though it must be even with a well done steak quite hot.

I take the steak, preferably at room temperature and rub seasoning and oil into the steak. This could be just olive oil, or oil and black pepper or cajun spices and sunflower oil.

I do not add oil to the griddle.

Once the pan is hot, I then griddle the steak.

This ensures I get the nice chargrill lines on my steak.

I have also used this method with lamb and chicken.

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Steak and Mushrooms

Last night I cooked a very nice (and quick) meal.

I took some sirloin steak, I actually prefer ribeye but sometimes you have to have what is available and not what you want or prefer.

I heated the frying pan without oil, the steaks were oiled though and then placed in the hot pan.

In a separate pan I fried some pancetta and onions, once they were nearly cooked, I remove them, turned the heat up and added the mushrooms so they fried rather than steamed.

Once the steaks were cooked I removed them from the pan, and put them on a warm plate to rest (really important to let steaks rest for a few minutes before serving they will be a lot more tender).

I then added the onions, pancetta and mushrooms to the steak pan and a couple of large spoonfuls of creme frache.

Then in a pan of rolling boiling water I put some gnocchi.

In two minutes the sauce was ready, the gnocchi was ready, so serve.

Delicious.