Oven Cooked Steak

in the pan
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tough!

Was 225 for 20 mins way to long to start? This steak was no where near as good as fry pan 2 mins, flip 2 mins, in oven 2 mins @ 550. Please school me as I have company tomorrow and will happily give it another shot tonight practicing - if it will be better than my method.
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It looks like it might have been in the oven too long. Did you get an internal temp of the meat when it came out? Also, I don't believe flipping the steak is necessary. Here's more info on it: http://www.americastestkitchentv.com/recipes/login.asp?recipeids=4190&LoginForm=recipe&iSeason=8 Free registration is required to view it.

 

No flipping, I just flipped for pics.
I did not measure the temp as I did not want to poke a hole in the meat. I should have to know how to adjust the time better.

I will try again (not for company today) and see how it goes. I have hope!

 

Searing some Prime tonight and then throwing it in the oven; good quality cut from a local butcher. But, because I'm trying an "au poive" coating on the raw meat, I've read that the sear shouldn't be done on high as it will burn the spices/peppercorns....but if I don't sear......


thoughts or experiences?

 

It looks like it was cool and a bit wet. I leave my steaks out at least an hour before doing anything & make sure they're dry before leaving them out. See, the "gray zone" on typical steak is due to the hot surface contact with wet surface. The goal is something akin to a quickie dry-aging, which dries the outside further and preps the inside, so the outside will end up quickly charred, sans gray zone and piiiiiink on inside. I'm sure sorry that didn't bode well for you on that occasion, though.

From Cooks Illustrated:

"Our steaks spend a long time in a warm oven, yet taste more tender than traditionally prepared steaks, which can be tough and chewy.

The explanation? Meat contains active enzymes called cathepsins, which break down connective tissue over time, increasing tenderness (a fact that is demonstrated to great effect in dry-aging meat). As the temperature of the meat rises, these enzymes work faster and faster until they reach 122 degrees, where all action stops.

While our steaks are slowly heating up, the cathepsins are working overtime, in effect "aging" and tenderizing our steaks within half an hour. When our steaks are cooked by conventional methods, their final temperature is reached much more rapidly, denying the cathepsins the time they need to properly do their jobs."

 

You say that like its a bad thing...

Green peppercorns SHOULD be seared, otherwise they taste like ....green peppercorns. Black and pink (any dried peppercorns) can be "smoked" for flavor. You can sear the meat without burning the peppercorns, even if they are dried.

JM

 

Went with a 400 degree oven heated pan, to the stove top (high gas) and seared the room temperature steak (which had been plastic wrapped with the peppercorn mixture for about 45 minutes) for about 1.5-2 minutes on side 1, flipped, another sear for 2 minutes on side 2, then back into the 400 degree oven. I think ~6 minutes would have done it, but I went longer (around 8-9 minutes) and got a medium-well steak out of it.

Added a little Cab. to the pan after wrapping the steak in alum. foil for about 5 minutes and reduced. Put reduction solids on top of steak and served with salad and simple pasta. Served with a '98 Mondavi Reserve (all my '97 is gone, and I'm not opening the 99 or 00 until all the 98 is gone).

Very dman good, although the peppercorm mixture which was "reduced" was spicier than than the rub which was cooked....that surprise me.
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you must get prime dry aged ,you'll never go back!

 

Just a couple of comments from a CIA Grad & fairly well trained cook / Chef...

Starting meat long and slow is good keeping the yield of the food, but not the best way of keeping the steak tender.

The goal of searing a piece of meat is to carmalize the outside so that moisture in the meat cant escape, that is what makes meat moist and tender ( that and fat content)

with strip steaks you need to make sure they are think, or else you will dry them out very fast. I would not cook a strip that is not thicker than at least 1.5 inches. you need to use very high heat to make a crust, then you can put it in a 400 - 375 oven to finish. when you put it in the oven I would recommend you put a big nob of butter in there as well. the fat will separate and milk solids will burn, but the oil will keep your meat moist, and the solids give a nice nutty flavor.


as for seasoning the meat - dry the beef off, well, only put salt on meat when you are ready to cook... immediately. salt will suck out the moisture.

Pepper you can put on anytime, but i recommend just at the same time as the salt.


for a good Pepper corn sauce or steak au poivre....


take your steaks, dry and salt with sea salt on both sides, use a lot of salt.

crack green and pink peppercorns with the bottom of a sauce pan on your cutting board.

on the salted meat spread thin amount of butter, then press the steak on the peppercorns, press down hard... get the corns in the meat. ... then sear in a pan till very dark brown well carmalized. .. remove and put in an oven proof dish and finish in the oven till its done to your liking.

in the pan you did the searing, deglaze with about 2 cups of madiera wine, or sherry like harveys bristol cream... add in 1/2 the pepper corns you cracked to the sauce, and reduce. I like to also add "glace De viande" you can get at a good store like whole foods or you can add some campbells beef stock... ( dont use consomme - too salty ) reduce the liquid untill its reduced by 3/4ths.... then take off the fire, let it cool for a min... then add in 1/2 stick of whole butter.... keep it creamy and dont let the oil separate from the butter.

the sauce should coat the back of a spoon... spoon the sauce on the bottom of your plates, and place the beef on top ... you can also mix a bit of soft butter with some of the pepper corns and put this on top just before you serve the meat.

this is a great dish.

Variation.... add 4 -5 whole shallots trimmed and cut in half... with the meat... cook with meat untill they are golden brown.

 

Spirot, Moving Chicane, thank you for the peppercorn tips. Pics look great! I will try.

Here's another batch getting ready to flip. MMMmmm. Berretta Organics NY Strip.
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2000 Mondavi Reserve Cab tonight with a Prime, this time I went with a homemade "coffee rub" - fresh ground Peet's Sumatra, salt, pepper, a bit of paprika, a bit of cayenne, and some garlic powder.

Seared on top, cooked in, the oven - I missed timed it somewhere and ended up with a medium-well/well steak; good in places but mostly too cooked. And while the flavor of the coffee rub was present, and was good (if not a bit mellow), it really "built up" over the course of the steak and was a bit much at the end.....not "linear" in flavor like a strong peppercorn finish. Interesting.

Throw in some asparagus with lemon zest, course salt, toasted pine nuts, and some bread - great dinner on a rainy SoCal. night.

I'm sure the Shepherds (dogs) were smelling the good stuff from their crates!
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Interesting. I use strong black coffee in my barbecue sauce but never in a rub.

Did you try that in a restaurant of just make it up?

 

Sitting around cursing the rain today and talking with wifey about lunch, going to get lunch (sandwich at Jim's Fallbrook) and picking up a steak while in there, I had a flashback to some FoodTV show years ago that had a "coffee rubbed" rib-eye or something similar. A couple of FoodTV.com and epicurious.com website searches later, confirmed it could be done and tried my own mix (probably could have gone just coffee, salt and pepper).

 

Lately I've been running only olive oil and rock salt.

This coffee stuff has me intrigued though....

 

I love just oil and salt never used big rock salt. Do the crystals dissolve or stay crunchy?

 

Everything I've tried (rock, kosher, exotic, etc.) to now has dissolved.

 

+1 (dissolve) Use sparingly too.

Only adding salt really brings out the flavor of a good cut of beef.

 

There's some good-looking steaks in here... now I'm hungry!

I'll have to try to convince the wife that we need to go buy some steak to try these techniques.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

I remember that one - it was the result of an accident, of course. During a heated argument in restaurant kitchen, coffee grounds spilled, steak landed . . .

 

I saw a show where they coffee rubbed and roasted prime rib. I know it sounds off and I haven't tried it but I regularly put (brewed) coffee in my home made BBQ sauces.

It certainly looked good.

 

You haven't had a good steak until you've had it with some good Detroit Zip Sause!

 

30+yrs ago my mom would broil steak in the oven on a baking pan and season with "McCormicks Steak Seasoning", I can still taste those steaks. The cast iron "pre-heated" is a great method but really smokes up the kitchen. For many years now I just marinate my steaks in this stuff. I leave them for atleast an hour and they are so good and so tender you can cut them with your fork.
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Nice looking steaks! As far as temp, they will rise about ten degrees after you remove them from the heat.

Remove them when you're ten degrees from desired doness and let them rest for ten to fifteen minutes.