Steak is considered a premium food because of its pricing, availability and making process. There are a few authentic steakhouses in Bangladesh.
They serve premium quality steak but at a high price which is not affordable for most people. What if trying to make steak at home? Without fearing the outcome, just give it a shot!
Raw steak meat or marinated steak meat
People can buy raw meat or steak cut from various brands like - Bengal Meat Gourmet Butcher Shop, German Butcher, Meat Man, etc. They sell authentic steak cuts with proper marbling.
You can buy the raw meat and marinate it yourself or you can buy the steak pieces which are already marinated. Both are available nowadays.
While the steak houses sell cooked steak ranging from 1200-4000tk, you can buy the raw steak or marinated one within the range of 600-2000tk only. You just need to have the proper cooking skills to make a perfect steak.
Making steak is easy as long as you follow 3 simple steps.
Choose the steak cut and type
For pan-frying, boneless steak works the best which is in a thin cut. Rib-eye, sirloin, and rump steak are preferable. It should be ensured that the steak has enough fat and proper marbling (the white fat that runs throughout the meat).
When a steak has enough fat, it stays juicy during cooking and has the meaty flavour and texture that you expect from a steak.
Season the meat well
Allow the meat to come to room temperature before cooking. This makes a huge difference in terms of cooking evenly instead of ending up with a thick overdone band in the centre.
Pat the steak dry and season well with salt and pepper - this aids in the formation of that beautiful crust that we all know and love.
Cook it on flame
Place your heaviest pan over high heat until it smokes slightly before adding the steaks. To get a nice crust on your steak, you'll need a lot of scorching heat. To get a thin crust on the outside, keep the steaks moving, turning or flipping every minute.
Add a few tablespoons of butter, and herbs after reaching halfway to cooking. Bathe the steaks in the hot butter with a large spoon and continue flipping until the steaks are done to your preference.
Determining doneness
Rare steak: Remove the steak from the heat at 125°F, roughly six minutes of total cooking time.
Medium-rare steak: Remove the steak from the fire when it reaches 130°F, about eight minutes of total cooking time.
Medium steak: At a total cooking time of nine to ten minutes, 140°F is the perfect spot.
Well-done steak: It will take approximately 12 minutes to cook a well-done steak.
Things to remember:
There is no use of oil; only use butter.
Hot steak is the tastiest steak, so do not cool it down while eating; serve right after it’s done.
Cut across the grain while eating.
Arrange some sides such as mashed potato, sautéed vegetable or mushroom, rice, etc. to serve with the steak.
If you are cooking the marinated steak, do not forget to bring it back to room temperature and rub the steak before putting it on the pan.
How often people think of making steak at home
Sayeda Samshee Oishee runs a food blogging page named ‘Our food poems.’ She is a steak lover and eats out a lot. About making steak at home, she said, “I thought I’d make steak at home all by myself a couple of times but could not take any initiative to make it. Since I like my steak medium rare and if I fail to bring out the proper doneness, it will be difficult for me to eat it.”
She also added, “Though I did not make steak at home, I am sure that making steak is a tough job. Things can be messed up if we don’t follow the tricks and tips.”
Sive Saqline Ornab is a 2nd-year Computer Science and Engineering student at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology. He loves to do experiments with food in his kitchen. He tried making steak at home two times.
“When I tried to make steak for the first time at home, I was a bit nervous. I brought a 300gm raw ribeye steak and seasoned it as per the recipe."
"I made several mistakes. My first mistake was I did not heat the pan well before putting the steak, so the juice of the steak was coming out and that’s what made my steak dry," he added.
His second mistake was cooking it for a long time which made it chewy, and his attempt failed in the process.
However, Ornab tried again as he narrated, “I again bought the same steak cut and tried not to repeat the mistakes. I wanted to make medium doneness. I followed the proper techniques to make it and this time it turned out to be great.”
Making steak at home is not a fairytale and Ornab and Oishee rightly proved the point. If you follow the techniques properly, it can well bring you a restaurant-like taste while saving your money.
