Delicious Steak at Home

XXXXX

Professor XXX

English XXX

X September 201X

Delicious Steak at Home

        As any college student might, I used to eat out very often. There was a point where I would eat every meal of the day at a restaurant or fast food simply because it was easy and quick. This had major repercussions to my wallet but I did not notice until I finally questioned why I was always struggling to save money.  I downloaded a budgeting tool and quickly found out that most of my money was going to my expensive dining habits. Many people do not actually realize how much they spend on food on a daily basis. It is very easy to justify ordering a coffee to start your day, but it always adds up before you even see it coming. For example, by spending about $30 a day on food, that adds up to $210 per week, $840 per month, and $10,080 per year. After realizing how much I was truly spending on food alone, I decided to begin cooking the same delicious meals you could get at restaurants, but from home.

        My favorite meal to cook at home is, without a doubt, pan cooked steak. My perfect steak is a rare to medium rare fillet mignon with very light salt, pepper, rosemary, garlic, and topped with butter. It definitely is not something you can cook everyday, but once you know how to cook it yourself you can enjoy a steak dinner for as much as a meal at In-N-Out. There are a lot of variables in cooking steak at home but I would not call it difficult by any means. I can summarize cooking a great steak in just six important steps. Selecting the pan, choosing the cut of steak, choosing which type of oil, dressing your steak, cooking your steak to liking, knowing when it is done, and letting it rest.

        How to begin cooking an amazing steak is very simple, you must choose a well suited pan. The pan is crucial to the outcome of the steak because it needs to be able to reach important temperatures and holding a consistent cooking pace. You also do not want to squeeze a bunch of steaks into one small pan. You can cook multiple steaks on a larger pan but generally, if you are cooking more than two steaks, you will have to cook in different batches. Having a high end pan and one that is large enough to fit your needs is very important.

        It is very important that you choose a cut of steak on personal preference. There are many different choices that you can make for this and many are better than others, but it relies heavily on personal opinion. The steak I choose most often is Fillet. A very important tip for whatever cut of steak you choose is to always allow for your steak to come to room temperature before cooking. Some of the most popular cuts of steak are Sirloin, Bavette or flank steak, fillet, and rib-eye. Sirloin is a prime steak and includes cuts like New York, T-Bone, and Porterhouse. These steaks are best served medium rare as they have a higher fat content but they will have more flavor as a result. Fillet is considered the most tender cut of all and is often most expensive because of that. Fillet has very little fat and is served best as rare as you would like. Flank steak is popular because it is flavorful and versatile and it is popular as carne asada. It can be barbequed, fried, and more. Once you choose your preferred steak, you are ready to begin the cooking process.

The next step to cooking your choice cut of steak is what oil to use. Oil choice varies but Gordon Ramsay recommends using a groundnut oil such as canola or peanut oil. These oils are best because it has a mild flavor and can withstand the high temperatures needed for cooking steak without burning or smoking. A controversial tip is to never use butter in the cooking of steaks unless using to top or at the very end. The two most popular ways to apply oil are to coat the steak in the oil and apply steak to a hot dry pan or to splash oil on the pan and bring it to temperature. If you choose to add oil to the pan instead of the steak, it is crucial to bring the oil all the way to temperature or you will get a greasy and under browned steak. You want your oil almost smoking when it hits the pan.

Once your pan is nice and hot, it is time to dress your steak. Dressing the steak is very hit or miss because there are many different ideologies to the perfect steak. Some people will marinade while others might not do anything to the steak before cooking it. A popular and simple steak dressing is to coat your steak in pepper and salt just before placing in the pan, while the steak is room temperature. You do not want to apply salt to your steak before it is ready to cook because the salt will draw out moisture from the steak. Other options include honey mustard coating which will reduce into a sweet glaze, or miso teriyaki for an Asian aspect to your steak. For my fillet, I add pepper and salt before placing the hot pan, then I add garlic and rosemary into the pan after the initial sear.