| We've always done it at home and it is not hard a all! you need olive
oil or butter (but oil works best because it gets hotter without being
burt)... you need some VERY HOT oil in the pan and then add the meat,
(steak, or whatever) let it "fry" and only move it when kind of golden,
sear all over. The "searing" keeps the juices in the the resulting
steak is very juicy and tender...
I always sear my steak, move it to a plate, keeping covered, then I
make a quick sauce sauteeing mushrooms in the same pan with garlic and
as ounce or two or good wine diluted with a small teaspoon of corn
starch and a bit of soy sauce... I let it cook and thicken a little bit
making sure to scrape the pan to get all those drippings in pan and pour
over the meat. It is very tasty, very tender and quick to make. Serve
with some homemade fried potatoes and a spring of parsley and... you
get the "perfect" conbination, very traditional, very good.
Ana
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| Last week there was a new cookery programme on hosted by the world (?) famous
Raymond Blanc. One of the things they looked at was searing. Both Raymond and
various researchers came up with the following conclusions
Searing does not, as is widely believed, seal in the juices. In fact the opposite is
true. The act of searing shortens the muscles fibres of the meat. Subsequent
cooking causes the 'shortened' fibres to contract faster than the inner fibre, thus
squeezing juices out of the meat. One bonus of this is you get much more leavings
(for a fine gravy) or the juices flavour your stew.
The true act of searing, it would appear, is to develop the flavours of the meat.
Without searing the final dish is somewhat bland.
Angus
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| The following comes from Bon Appetit, 1988.
Regards,
Jim
Sauteed Steak - The Basics
Sauteing, or panfrying, is the perfect technique for cooking small steaks. The
meat is seared, which produces a tasty brown crust that seals in most of the
juices. Sauteing is also the fastest procedure, in the time it takes to sear
the steak on both sides, it is usually cooked through til medium rare.
As the meat is sauteed, some of its juices collect in the pan. These provide
the base for a quickly made sauce, called a deglazing, or pan sauce. It is made
in just minutes directly in the skillet by adding wine and beef stock, then
boiling it until reduced. Once the sauce has absorbed the flavors of the pan
juices and has become concentrated, it is enriched with butter. Presented with
this easy sauce, steak goes to the head of the list as one of today's best
tasting "fast foods".
COOKING TIPS
Select a skillet just large enough to accomodate the steaks. If the pan is too
small the meat will steam without browning; if too large, the juices will burn.
If necessary, use two skillets, then when making the sauce; stir half of the
wine into each skillet, scrape up the browned bits, then combine the ingredients
into a single skillet before continuing.
To gauge doneness, press the steak quickly with a finger; if the meat resists
only slightly, it is rare. Also check color of meat juices; red indicates rare,
and pink for medium-rare. A further test is to make a small cut in the thickest
part of the steak and check the interior color.
There is no need to remove sauce from the skillet to measure how far it has
reduced, an estimate is sufficient.
Unlike other sauces, pan sauces are generally concentrated essences and should
be served in small amounts.
(Bon Appetit, March 1988)
The Basic Sauteed Steak (continued)
INGREDIENTS: freshly group pepper
4 medium steaks, 1/2 lbs. each, 3/4 to 1" thick
New York sirloin, rib eye, or tenderloin
2 tblsp. butter (1/4 stick)
1 tblsp. vegetable oil
salt
2 tblsp. minced shallots
1/2 cup dry white or red wine
1/2 cup beef stock (see recipe) or
unsalted, canned beef broth
5 tblsp. well-chilled butter, cut into tablespoons
2 tblsp. minced fresh parsely
or
1 tblsp. minced fresh parsely and 3 to 5 teasp. other
minced fresh herbs
DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 180 F. Pat steaks dry. Grind pepper
generously over both sides of steaks and press in. Melt 1
tablespoon butter with oil in heavy large skillet over
medium-high heat.
Add steaks (do not crowd) and cook 3 minutes, adjusting heat
if necessary to prevent burning. Using tongs or spatula, turn
steaks and cook about 2 more minutes for medium-rare. (For
thick tenderloins, reduce heat to medium and cook to desired
degree of doneness, turning occasionally, about 6 minutes).
Transfer steaks to ovenproof platter. Season lightly with salt.
Keep steaks warm in the oven.
Pour off drippings from skillet. Add 1 tablespoon butter to
skillet and melt over low heat. Add shallots and stir 1 minute.
Stir in wine, increase heat to high and bring to boil, scrapping
up browned bits. Cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons, stirring
constantly, about 2 minutes. Add stock and boil until reduced
to 1/4 cup and sauce is almost syrupy, stirring constantly,
about 2 minutes. Cool 30 seconds.
Set skillet over low heat. Add 4 butter pieces 2 at a time,
shaking and rotating the skillet. If sauce separates, remove
skillet from heat and mix in remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.
Immediately pour sauce into a small bowl. Stir in parsley.
Adjust seasoning. Transfer steaks to plates. Spoon sauce
over and serve.
The Basic Sauteed Steak (continued)
VARIATION: Beef stock pan sauce. Omit wine, use 1 cup beef stock.
Boil until reduced to 1/4 cup and sauce is almost syrupy.
Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice.
Add butter. Stir additional 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice into
finished sauce.
VARIATION: Madeira pan sauce. Substitute 1/2 cup dry Madeira for wine.
Add stock to skillet at same time; boil until reduced to 1/4
cup and sauce is almost syrupy. Remove from heat and add
butter.
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| re: .3
>Searing does not, as is widely believed, seal in the juices. In fact the opposite is
>true. The act of searing shortens the muscles fibres of the meat. Subsequent
>cooking causes the 'shortened' fibres to contract faster than the inner fibre, thus
>squeezing juices out of the meat. One bonus of this is you get much more leavings
>(for a fine gravy) or the juices flavour your stew.
>
>The true act of searing, it would appear, is to develop the flavours of the meat.
>Without searing the final dish is somewhat bland.
I believe Harold McGee ("On Food and Cooking", "The Curious Cook") did
experiments and concluded the same thing, that searing doesn't keep juices
in.
Personally, I sear meat because I like it better that way. I like both
the crusty texture and the charred taste. In fact, one of my favorite ways
to make steak is to cook a thick (2-3 inches) steak on a very hot grill.
With a really thich chunk of meat I can get that wonderfully crusty, bordering
on burnt outside, with the inside nice and rare. Yum!
-Hal
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