Tips & tricks

Sealing in the juices

The idea that searing meat seals in the juices originated as a theory of the father of organic chemistry, Justus von Liebig (who, coincidentally, also invented things like the Liebig condenser and OXO cubes). Legendary French chef August Escoffier then adopted Liebig’s hypothesis.

Until Escoffier popularised it, it was common in French cooking to roast meats far from the fire before moving them closer to brown before serving. Escoffier’s adoption of Liebig’s theory flipped that process around and completely changed the way the Western world cooked. Unfortunately, Liebig’s theory is completely untrue. Searing doesn’t trap juices inside meat at all, and the idea that it does is probably the most enduring myth in all of cooking.

This is not to say that searing is a bad thing. On the contrary, it’s absolutely necessary. Searing meat makes it taste better through the development of Maillard reactions that we’ve discussed in previous columns. A seared steak is tastier than one that isn’t, which means you produce more saliva, which in turn makes your food taste juicier. So I am sorry to tell you that a fair amount of the juiciness you experience from a well-seared steak is actually coming from your own juices.

How many times do you flip a steak?

Gordon flips his steaks once, and Heston flips his many times. I’m sure both of those guys can cook a pretty decent piece of meat, so that should immediately tell you that there is more than one way to do it.

The reality is that the most important part of cooking a steak is getting it seared well (for flavour, not sealing in juices). The more times you flip a steak, the faster it will cook. That’s because the top of the steak will be hotter (having more recently been in contact with the pan), and therefore it will cook by conducting heat in two directions from the top and the bottom, rather than just from the bottom while the top remains cold.

If I’m cooking a thin steak, I might just flip it once to make sure it stays in the pan as long as possible for a better sear. If I’m cooking a steak that’s very thick, I might flip it more often so that it cooks faster.

Regardless of how many times you flip the steak, one thing is true: the juices of the steak will collect in the centre of the steak, which means that in order to stop those juices leaking out the moment you cut into the steak, you need to rest it, and rest it well.

Resting

Resting is important for just about anything you might cook, or not. I rest stews, omelettes, even salad dressings – and of course, steaks. Resting allows the juices that have collected in the centre of the meat to redistribute throughout the meat a little, but mainly lets the juices cool slightly and thicken with the natural gelatine so they cling to the meat rather than running out onto your plate.

I rest my steaks in a warm place, on a warm plate free from draughts. One of the easiest ways to do this is to microwave a porcelain plate for about 30 seconds until it’s slightly warm, then rest the steak on it in the microwave without the microwave on, but with the door closed.

If you’re worried about the steak going “cold”, just know that the centre of the steak won’t change in temperature too much over the five to 10 minutes that you rest it, so I often flash the outside of the steak for a few seconds each side in a hot pan after resting to bring back the freshly seared exterior.

But hang on, how do I know it’s done?

I am very wary of recipes that call for steak cooking times. The total time taken to cook a steak will vary enormously depending on the size and material of your pan, the type of heat source and power of it, the thickness of the steak, how many times you might flip it, how many steaks you might put into the pan, and dozens of other variables.

A 400g scotch as in this recipe might be about 3.5cm thick, which is quite thick as far as steaks go. I might cook that in a 26cm diameter carbon steel frying pan over medium heat on the largest gas burner on my stovetop. If I flip that 3 or 4 times, in total it might take me about 8-10 minutes to hit medium-rare (54C internal temperature) if I baste with hot butter for about 2 minutes at the end.

That said, if you cook the same steak in a different pan on an electric or induction cooktop, it might take much longer or shorter. I’ve cooked thick steaks on a barbecue over low heat for 20 minutes or more just to hit rare (around 50C internal temperature). The point is, there are many, many ways to cook a steak but what’s important at the end of the day is making sure the internal temperature is right by the time the exterior is well-seared and flavourful.

As we’ve discussed with roasts, a probe thermometer is great for this, but it’s not much help for thin steaks, and once you become more adept with cooking steaks even a thermometer isn’t really necessary. My best advice is to press the steak with your fingers. Most steaks will become more firm the more they cook (wagyu being the exception, as the marbled fat is more firm when solid), so when you press the steak, imagine you’re biting into it. If it feels about the texture you’d like to eat it, it’s done. Once you’ve cooked enough steaks knowing how a medium-rare steak feels when you press it will become second nature.

If you do want to check temperature, for a rare steak remove it from the pan when its internal temperature is about 48C (rising to 50C as it rests), for medium-rare remove it at around 52C (rising to 54C after resting), medium steaks should be taken out at 58C (rising to 60C), and well-done steaks can be removed at 67C (rising to 70C).

It’s much easier to cook one or two thick steaks than multiple thin ones, so I always recommend buying steaks for sharing, rather than trying to cook smaller individual ones.

Do I need to bring it to room temperature before I cook it?

Bringing a steak to room temperature before you cook it takes literally hours (much longer than the 10-15 minutes most recipes suggest), and in the end does nearly nothing to affect cooking time or evenness of cooking. But keeping a steak uncovered, whether in the fridge or on the bench, will dry the surface and help you get a better sear when you cook it.

So instead of worrying about bringing your steaks to room temperature, keep them uncovered, either in the fridge or your bench, and make sure they’re dry when you start to cook.

Perfecting the pan jus

The difference between a pan jus and a gravy is that the former is reduced until thick, while the latter is thickened with starch, often in the form of a roux. The difficulty with pan jus in the modern day is that unless you’re using home-made stock, commercial stocks have a lot of the gelatine removed so they don’t congeal on the shelf or in the fridge. That’s great for selling products but not so great for making a jus.

Thankfully, the solution is simple. Either use a home-made stock, or add a touch of powdered gelatine to help the thickening process along a little. Even if you don’t add gelatine, the fond (the brown bits left on the pan after cooking a steak) should provide enough thickening to help your jus. Non-stick pans don’t produce much fond, so try to cook your steaks in carbon steel or stainless steel pans for a flavourful jus.