Fancy a change from the traditional turkey? Steak is your answer. Josh Palmer, head chef at The Lamp Room, in Seaham, tells us how to cook the perfect one
Method
1. Bring your steak up to room temperature. A cold steak won’t cook evenly! This should take 20-30 minutes.
2. Bring a heavy bottomed frying pan to a high heat, just starting to smoke. Season the steak with freshly cracked black pepper & plenty of salt & rub with olive oil.
3. Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the pan & lay the steak in, away from yourself. Sear for around a minute before flipping it & searing the opposite side. Add a knob of butter to the pan with a crushed clove of garlic & a small bunch of thyme & rosemary.
4. Baste the foaming butter over the steak, flipping it every minute or so until it reaches your desired level of doneness (see below). Occasionally add extra butter to make sure it doesn’t burn.
5. Remove the steak from the pan & place on a wire rack, leaving the garlic & herbs on top. Let the steak rest for the same amount of time as it was cooked, this will ensure that the meat is tender & juicy. Be patient, it’s worth the wait!
Cooking times for a 3.5cm thick cut fillet
Blue: Should be cooked about 1½ mins each side. It will look almost purple, and be just warm.
Rare: Should be cooked about 2¼ mins each side. It will look dark red in colour with some juice flowing.
Medium-rare: Should be cooked about 3¼ mins each side. It will be more pink in colour with a little pink juice flowing. Soft, spongy and slightly springy.
Medium: About 4½ mins each side. It should be pale pink in the centre with hardly any juice flowing.
Well-done: About 4-5 minutes each side. This steak should only be a trace of pink in colour – but not dry.
