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Cooking
Steaks Steakhouse-Style At Home
Lee asks: I don't have an outdoor grill. What's the best way to prepare steaks on the stove or in the oven at home? Tom sez: The best way of all is to use botht he stove and the oven. Not only does that give perfect reseults, but it offers you the option of making a first-class sauce for the steaks quickly and easily. This is the method used by many restaurants that don't have steakhouse-style broilers. And it's what I most often do myself at home. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add a couple of pats of butter and tilt the the pan to distribute it evenly. Generously salt and pepper the steaks, and put them into the skillet. Let them sit there without moving them for two to three minutes per side. They will stick to the pan, but become more or less unstuck when they're ready to turn. Turn them onto a different part of the pan and repeat the searing on the other side. If the steaks are really thick filet mignons, cook them on their sides as well as on their faces. This may be enough to cook the steaks to the right degree of doneness, especially if the steaks are less than an inch and a half thick. If so, turn off the oven and keep the door open a crack, and store the steaks in there while you do the next batch, or while you make the sauce. If the steaks are still very rare, put them on a broiler pan in the oven and close the door. To make the sauce, add a liquid--wine, Cognac (carefully, because it might ignite), beef stock, or even water--to the pan and bring to a boil while whisking to dissolved the pan juices and browned bits of steak. You can then add mushrooms, peppercorns, cream, or whatever else strikes your fancy, along with salt and pepepr to make a pan sauce. Steaks are rare at 130 degrees on the meat thermometer, medium rare at 135-140, medium at 145-150, and beyond that who cares. Revised 3/10/08 Copyright © 2008 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. |
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