Often we don’t cook steaks at home because they are less juicy than in restaurants. Who wouldn’t want to try out the steak restaurants in the City of London for perfect cuts of beef, it would make anyone salivate and grab their wallet. However, making the perfect steak at home is a snap if you know the secrets and subtleties.
Mastering the art of making juicy and mouth-watering steaks is not difficult. The main thing is to strictly follow a number of rules and remember the difficulties that both beginners and regulars of the kitchen may encounter. So, if you want to see if you can achieve it at home and fancy a night in, then here is some tips to hopefully satiate that steak need.
Choice Of Meat
People are divided into two camps: those who like fat in steaks and those who don’t. I find it better with fat because it gives the meat an extra flavor. On our farm, we feed animals with high-protein feed so that the meat becomes marbled. The higher the marbling, the tastier it will be. There are three categories of marbled beef:
- select, when there is almost no fat in the muscles;
- choice – intermediate option;
- and prime – the tastiest, but also the most expensive meat.
When choosing, you need to look at the meat structure. If you take it in your hand, you should not sag. The color of fat is also important. The whiter it is, the better because this indicates the quality of the animal’s feed. The meat itself should also have a good color – scarlet. This parameter directly depends on the quality of life of the animal.
It is better not to take burgundy and gray pieces of meat: such a meat color indicates that the animal was constantly under stress, and a lot of adrenaline was produced. It is not worth taking such meat because it is impossible to eat it. Often people take tenderloin, for example, for roast beef, but this is not at all necessary – for roast beef, you can use meat from the back leg of a bull because it has a richer taste due to the constant work of the muscles.
Storage
If you are not going to fry or smoke on the propane gas smoker immediately, then you need to store the meat. I would recommend wrapping it in cheesecloth or waffle paper. It can be wrapped in a regular kitchen towel.
Meat should not be wrapped in cling film. Imagine: you cut your finger and wrapped it in plastic – the decay process will immediately begin. In 3-4 days, you can completely spoil the meat. It is better not to store meat at temperatures above –1. I also advise you not to put it in the freezer: freezing will destroy the structure of the meat.
Preparation for frying or smoking
Take the meat, put it out of the refrigerator so that it reaches room temperature. A cold piece, only from the refrigerator, will have the same low temperature both outside and inside. When frying, the temperature inside does not have time to rise to the desired level, and there will already be a crust outside – the meat will turn out to be uncooked and cold inside.
I do not recommend using spices. Just salt and a little pepper. Good meat has its own flavor that doesn’t need to be interrupted. When cooking steaks, do not take thin pans – you can use a thick pan or large propane smoker. You can select a good propane smoker from the market. On it, the meat will be smoked as needed and acquire the desired taste. Do not fry in thin pans because they do not keep the temperature well: when you throw a large piece of cold meat into a thin frying pan, it quickly lowers the pan’s temperature, which leads to poor roasting of the steak.
Frying or smoking
After the steak is “rested” from the refrigerator, heat the pan. You can check whether it has warmed up well by dropping water on it – the drop should immediately evaporate. I cook steaks without oil. The fat on the meat melts and lubricates the pan itself. The meat is fried for several minutes – to figure out when to turn it, you need to lift the meat with a fork and see if a crust begins to form. If it is already pretty, then you can turn it over. And so on until there is a crust on all sides. If there is a bone, then you need to fry it from the side of the bone.
Smoker Temp | Smoking Time | |
Beef brisket | 225-250° F | 12 – 20 hours |
Back ribs | 225-250° F | 3 – 4 hours |
Spare ribs | 225-250° F | 5 – 6 hours |
Short ribs | 225-250° F | 6 – 8 hours |
Prime rib | 225-250° F | 15 minutes/lb |
Rump roast | 225-250° F | 30 minutes/lb |
Chuck roast | 225-250° F | 12 – 20 hours |
Whole ribeye | 225-250° F | 25 minutes/lb |
Beef smoking times and temperatures
General tips for cooking a juicy steak
- The width of the meat is also very important. Ideally, this is a piece of 2.5 to 4 centimeters.
- If you cut the meat yourself at home, then it is worth remembering one simple rule: cut it strictly across the fiber
- Typically, cook a medium-rare steak for 4 minutes on each side. Meat with the blood takes 1-3 minutes. Fully fried steak is fried for 3 minutes on each side over high heat and then cooked until fully cooked for 6-8 minutes. However, you should still carefully monitor the meat, because the cooking time can vary depending on many factors.
The steak is best served on warm plates. Knives must be sharply sharpened. There can be no mistakes in serving and combining meat with other products and drinks. The more we experiment and discover new combinations, the cooler.