After completing my 20% project for this class, I have a new appreciation for the challenges and reward of cooking steak. Throughout this process I have been using Pinterest to both research cooking techniques and to catalogue interesting articles and recipes.
I have made several important discoveries during this process. First and most important - the layout of my apartment severely limits what type of cooking techniques I can use unless I want several hours of a smoke-filled apartment. Not fun.
Another important discovery was that pan searing small steaks (or steaks cut in half) may be the right way to go until I have a kitchen with windows. I have only tried this method one time (http://amandammccarthy.weebly.com/edss-530-blog/20-blog-post-5-mini-steaks-and-grown-up-grilled-cheese) but I will definitely be using it next time I buy steak. I want to be proficient in using this method. I don’t think I used enough salt in the pan before so adding more salt is one strategy I will use to try to improve on my last results. The steaks turned out nicely but I would love to be able to develop the crust better next time.
I now have a much better understanding of the different levels of cooking for steak. I found this chart to be really helpful: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/203858320609442957/. As a next step (and in preparation to learning how to cook steak on a barbecue) I want to buy a digital thermometer as Justin suggested on my initial blog post to more accurately cook now that I know how to visually judge the status of the steak.
I was able to answer (or at least begin to answer) most of my initial question. I cannot say which method of cooking steak is easiest and most reliable but I can say that pan searing steak until it reaches the correct level of doneness is the best method for my apartment. I was not able to try out other methods due to the constraints of the ventilation of my kitchen. I learned a lot about what makes steak good and what makes steak not so good. Overcooking results in tough steak. Undercooking results in bloody steak. Correct cooking results in tender steak that tastes delicious. I want to start using a thermometer to monitor the doneness of steak but visual inspection and touch tests can provide fairly good guesses as to the doneness. Salting steak is helpful but I did not come across any recipes that brined steak. Steak must be room temperature to cook correctly. Health concerns about eating rare or medium steak seem only to be applicable if the steak is not fresh (or properly stored). Salting and high cook temperatures develop crust on steak… but I still need to experiment with this concept more since I have only been kind of successful. Finally, I used cheaper cuts of steak so I did not notice a big difference in taste. That is the one question that I still would like to explore. I am thinking that summer time and outdoor grilling may be the right circumstance to try different types of steak.
I have made several important discoveries during this process. First and most important - the layout of my apartment severely limits what type of cooking techniques I can use unless I want several hours of a smoke-filled apartment. Not fun.
Another important discovery was that pan searing small steaks (or steaks cut in half) may be the right way to go until I have a kitchen with windows. I have only tried this method one time (http://amandammccarthy.weebly.com/edss-530-blog/20-blog-post-5-mini-steaks-and-grown-up-grilled-cheese) but I will definitely be using it next time I buy steak. I want to be proficient in using this method. I don’t think I used enough salt in the pan before so adding more salt is one strategy I will use to try to improve on my last results. The steaks turned out nicely but I would love to be able to develop the crust better next time.
I now have a much better understanding of the different levels of cooking for steak. I found this chart to be really helpful: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/203858320609442957/. As a next step (and in preparation to learning how to cook steak on a barbecue) I want to buy a digital thermometer as Justin suggested on my initial blog post to more accurately cook now that I know how to visually judge the status of the steak.
I was able to answer (or at least begin to answer) most of my initial question. I cannot say which method of cooking steak is easiest and most reliable but I can say that pan searing steak until it reaches the correct level of doneness is the best method for my apartment. I was not able to try out other methods due to the constraints of the ventilation of my kitchen. I learned a lot about what makes steak good and what makes steak not so good. Overcooking results in tough steak. Undercooking results in bloody steak. Correct cooking results in tender steak that tastes delicious. I want to start using a thermometer to monitor the doneness of steak but visual inspection and touch tests can provide fairly good guesses as to the doneness. Salting steak is helpful but I did not come across any recipes that brined steak. Steak must be room temperature to cook correctly. Health concerns about eating rare or medium steak seem only to be applicable if the steak is not fresh (or properly stored). Salting and high cook temperatures develop crust on steak… but I still need to experiment with this concept more since I have only been kind of successful. Finally, I used cheaper cuts of steak so I did not notice a big difference in taste. That is the one question that I still would like to explore. I am thinking that summer time and outdoor grilling may be the right circumstance to try different types of steak.