Friday, February 18, 2011

Steak Night, Resurrected

Dear readers, I have to apologise for my infrequent postings. I have had no energy for baking or blogging for the last couple of weeks, and though I have written a few bits and bobs it took a lot of effort. It wasn't until yesterday, when some workplace wellness people were encouraging us to sign up for the latest and greatest "keep active" kind of challenge that I realised: I am probably low in iron. I know I'm not great at holding on to the stuff, and we don't eat that much red meat (I do try to get my leafy greens in but prior experience tells me that's not enough)...

So I decided we need to reintroduce the short-lived tradition of steak night. I probably don't need to tell you about it every week (I wouldn't want to become known as Mrs Steak!) but I got heaps of great tips when I asked you for advice so thought I'd share some of them - though my technique is still far from perfect -for anyone else who hasn't quite got the technique yet.


Tip number one was to buy some decent meat - so I popped down to Moore Wilson Fresh and checked out their selection. I couldn't remember which cut was most recommended but this one apparently won the "Steak of Origin" award, so obviously gets something right. ;-) It's also been aged, and is kind of pricey - I know that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best but price often closely correlated with quality so I went with it. Probably not the sort of money you'd want to spend on your dinner every night, though! (in our student flat we used to allow $3 per person per meal, so two pieces of steak = dinner for 6+ hungry students)


Most of the key things are pretty simple - and largely it's all around not messing about too much. The process I followed (with thanks to Mary, Grizabella, Kate and my Aunty Jenny!) was:
 - bring the meat to room temperature
 - rub with a little olive oil, salt and pepper
 - sear the steaks in a hot pan - preferably cast iron or similar (bonus points for ovenproof)
 - put in a hot oven for about 10 minutes (depending on size/thickness)
 - rest on a warm plate covered with foil for 5-10 minutes
 - eat!


Eye fillets are pretty thick, and the bloody look of them after 10 minutes made me think I needed to cook them a little more, which was misguided - for our preference of medium-rare they would have been perfect at 10 minutes. We didn't cook them much more, though - only a minute or two, so they were what I'd call medium, a bit of pink left, and beautifully tender and moist anyway.


This was definitely a good way of getting our iron and protein - and hopefully it will help fuel lots more baking. ;-) What cut of steak do you like, and how do you have it?

8 comments:

  1. I love eye fillet...drooling here. Of course for economic reasons I only buy it when its on special...or on a dinner menu (both hardly ever!). Other wise rump with a nice mushroom sauce is a family favourite.

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  2. I'm a scotch fillet girl. I like a bit of fat running through my steak. And I like my steak rare

    A nicely cooked steak is a real treat. With a sharp rich bearnaise sauce. Yummmmm

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  3. I love steak, I've never had eye fillet though...I tend to get rump. Yours looks so good - I like it fairly rare. Hope it did the trick and you're feeling better soon, nothing worse than that low-iron slump.

    Oh and infrequent, what?? I wish I could blog at what you consider to be an infrequent level! Don't stress about it :)

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  4. Scotch fillet is my choice,the flavour is to my mind,superior to eye fillet which I ate for many years before being converted.It's not as expensive either,so do try it.

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  5. Oh,and further to my post re scotch fillet,we like it with creamed horseradish sauce and sometimes a red wine and butter sauce made from the pan drippings.

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  6. Price of steak not bad if you consider it to be similar to drugs from the chemist.

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  7. Eye fillet is my fav and I cook it pretty much as you have. Yum! I've bought those steaks from Moore Wilson before too and liked how they were all round and perfectly shaped - very restauranty - but reckon the eye fillet I buy from the supermarket has a bit more flavour. Slighty cheaper too. Eye fillet might be expensive but at least you're only paying for meat, no nasty gristly bits you have to cut off!

    Hope it does the trick and brings up those iron levels.

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  8. Jacksta, I don't think it'll be a regular on our menu but it was a nice treat! Mushroom sauce - yum. :-)

    Kaz, I'm yet to have a bearnaise I really like, but haven't yet tried making it myself, so must try that.

    Laura, this was seriously tender - definitely a good treat meat. But I'm not sure the cost-benefit analysis plays out for too many repeats. :-)

    Anon, thanks for the tip re: scotch fillet - will have to add that to our shopping list.

    Mum, true - actually it's about the same price as Floradix, a "natural" iron supplement I used to take which was utterly disgusting, so this is definitely preferable!

    Libby, they are sooo round! Actually we giggled a bit at the careful wrapping to help them hold their shape but they looked good. I will have to try the supermarket equivalent for comparison. :-)

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