How to Cook the Perfect Steak | Part II
COOKING IS CHEMISTRY
Growing up in New Jersey, I honestly cannot remember ever having a steak at home.
In the winter, it was ham steak, meatloaf, chicken, and a roast on Sunday, usually accompanied by canned vegetables and, occasionally, frozen vegetables.
Summer was different. We had hot dogs and hamburgers, mostly cooked in a pan on the stove, except during holidays when somebody might fire up the grill.
But summer also meant fresh Jersey produce—corn on the cob, tomatoes, cherries, apples, blueberries and peaches.
Lots of peaches.
We had three peach trees in our yard.
But steak?
Grilled, broiled or otherwise, I simply don't remember steak being part of the menu.
And all these years later, I'm still not much of a grill guy. The heavy smoke flavor never particularly appealed to me. Give me the natural flavor of a really good piece of beef, properly browned and properly cooked, and I'm happy.
THEN I MOVED TO FLORIDA
When I arrived in Tampa in the early 1980s, I discovered an entirely different cooking culture.
It seemed like Floridians cooked everything outside on the grill.
Everything except maybe the Cheerios.
Back in New Jersey, however, I had worked in several restaurants while I was in high school, and I remembered something very different.
Chicken, steaks and chops were frequently pan-broiled or cooked on a flat-top grill.
There was a reason for that.
A professional cook could control the heat, control the browning and control the doneness.
And control is one of the secrets to cooking a great steak.
“COOKING IS CHEMISTRY”
I spent years learning my way around a professional kitchen, including valuable lessons from Chef William Christmas and my friend and business partner, Chef Tell Erhardt.
Later in life, I attended culinary school and earned credits in Nutritional Cuisine. That's when I became increasingly fascinated with not simply how cooking works, but why it works.
Chef Tell used to say:
“Cooking is chemistry!”
He was right.
And nowhere is that chemistry more obvious—or more delicious—than when you're cooking a steak.
THE MAILLARD REACTION
Put a steak into a properly preheated skillet and listen.
Sssssssssss.
That's when the magic begins.
At sufficiently high surface temperatures (1 or 2 clicks above medium heat), amino acids and reducing sugars naturally present in the meat begin reacting with one another.
This is known as the Maillard reaction.
It produces hundreds of flavor and aroma compounds and creates that beautiful brown crust we associate with a professionally prepared steak.
You'll sometimes hear people say that searing a steak “locks in the juices.”
Technically, that's not what happens.
Searing creates flavor.
The browned crust provides the deep, savory character we expect from a great steak, while careful temperature control determines how much moisture remains inside and how evenly the steak reaches the desired degree of doneness.
That distinction is important.
The outside of the steak can become extremely hot while the center remains dramatically cooler.
That's exactly what we want.
Brown and flavorful on the outside. Tender and juicy on the inside.
That's cooking chemistry at work.
DON’T COOK BY THE CLOCK
One of the biggest mistakes people make with steak is cooking strictly according to time.
“Three minutes on this side and three minutes on that side.”
Maybe.
But what kind of steak?
How thick is it?
What temperature was the steak when you started?
What kind of pan are you using?
How hot is the pan?
Bone-in or boneless?
A two-inch filet and a half-inch strip steak obviously aren't going to cook the same way.
Experienced cooks eventually develop a feel for doneness. By gently pressing the steak, they can judge approximately where it is in the cooking process by its resistance.
But that takes experience.
If you're a rookie at cooking steak and don't have an experienced mentor standing beside you, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using an instant-read meat thermometer.
In fact, I recommend it.
KNOW YOUR TEMPERATURES
Here is a practical guide to finished steak temperatures:
Rare: approximately 120–125°F
Medium-Rare: approximately 130–135°F
Medium: approximately 140–145°F
Medium-Well: approximately 150–155°F
Well-Done: approximately 160°F and above
There is another important lesson:
TAKE IT OFF BEFORE IT’S DONE.
A steak doesn't immediately stop cooking when you remove it from the pan.
Heat stored in the hotter exterior continues moving toward the cooler center. This is known as carryover cooking.
Depending on the steak's thickness and cooking method, its internal temperature can continue rising several degrees while it rests.
So if you're waiting until the thermometer shows your exact desired finished temperature before removing the steak from the heat, you may already be too late.
That's why an experienced chef anticipates the finish.
If I'm aiming for medium, for example, I'm watching the steak carefully as it approaches that temperature rather than waiting until it has already gone beyond it.
You can always cook a steak a little more.
You can't uncook it.
WHY I PREFER PAN-BROILED STEAK
This is personal preference, but after a lifetime around cookware and kitchens, I believe a great steak cooked in the right skillet on top of the stove is hard to beat.
Pan cooking gives you exceptional control.
You control the heat.
You control the contact between the meat and the cooking surface.
You control the browning.
And you can watch and feel exactly what's happening to the steak.
A quality full-body, multi-ply stainless-steel gourmet skillet is particularly well suited for the job because good construction distributes heat across the cooking surface while responding to changes in burner temperature.
But there's another part of the equation people frequently overlook.
MATCH THE PAN TO THE STEAK.
You don't need a gigantic skillet to cook a small filet.
Ideally, choose a skillet appropriately sized for the amount of food you're cooking.
As a general kitchen guide:
7- to 9-inch Gourmet Skillet
Excellent for smaller portions such as filet mignon, steak medallions and smaller individual steaks.
9- to 11-inch Gourmet Skillet
A versatile choice for New York strip, top sirloin, flank steak, skirt steak and many everyday steak portions.
13-inch Gourmet Skillet
Bring out the big pan for substantial T-bones, porterhouses, large bone-in steaks and oversized cuts.
The same principle applies to chicken and chops.
Use the right tool for the job.
YOUR COOKWARE IS YOUR KITCHEN TOOLBOX
I know what some people are thinking:
Why can't I just buy one big frying pan and use it for everything?
You can.
You can also use a pair of pliers to drive a nail.
That doesn't make it the right tool.
It has always amazed me how willing people are to spend hundreds—or thousands—of dollars filling a garage with tools they may use only occasionally.
Sockets.
Wrenches.
Drill bits.
Saws.
Screwdrivers.
Specialty tools for jobs they might perform once every few years.
But suggest having several properly sized, quality skillets in the kitchen and suddenly somebody says:
“Why do I need all those pans?”
Because your cookware is the toolbox of your kitchen.
These are the tools you use to prepare the food that feeds you and your family every single day.
Cheap tools usually produce cheap results, and poorly designed cookware can make a simple cooking job unnecessarily difficult.
I could write an entire article about cheap cookware.
Don't get me started.
For now, remember one of the principles I've taught throughout my career:
A PAN FOR EVERY PURPOSE AND A PURPOSE FOR EVERY PAN.
When you're preparing steaks, chicken or chops, have the proper cookware in your kitchen and learn how to use it.
Once you understand the pan, the heat, the Maillard reaction, internal temperature and carryover cooking, making a great steak stops being guesswork.
It becomes technique.
And once you've mastered the technique, you can repeat it again and again.
Because, as Chef Tell always reminded me:
“COOKING IS CHEMISTRY!”
