So I bought some petite sirloins (a little over 2 2/3 lbs. total for 5 steaks) on sale. I haven’t cooked steaks myself in a dog’s age, and was wondering if y’all had any suggestions on how.
Looking for methods with the least margin of error (in terms of both food safety and preventing overcooking) and, of course, taste. I have non-stick pans, a broiler pan, and a George Foreman grill — no cast iron, flat griddle, or BBQ grill. Prefer simplicity in added ingredients.
Thanks in advance!
Easy: season generously with S&P. Heat a pan as hot as you can. Add some oil and keep heating until it shimmers. Slap in your steak(s). Don’t overload the pan or it’ll cool down too much. Let er sizzle for 2.5-4 mins, depending on the heat and how you like it done. Flip and sizzle another interval. Take out and – and this is an important step that should never be omitted – let it rest about 5 mins. Little more S&P. Eat.
More complicated: put steaks in a plastic bag with some garlic cloves on top. Hit em hard through the plastic with the bumpy side of a meat hammer. Really smash that garlic into the meat and pound the steaks to at least half this original thickness. Mix up some soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, brown sugar. Cut your steak in strips and add to the mix. Let sit in fridge a while. Sauté until done the way you like. Remove the meat and reduce the Marinade. Toss the strips and eat with rice.
Even more complicated: make some Stroganoff or Beef Bourguignon.
I second Oly’s first suggestion.
I’d also suggest you use a cast iron skillet.
This is blasphemy to a lot of folks but I preseason my steak with seasoning salt. Also, since I hate my heart, at the very end, I’ll throw a nice dollop of butter (not margarine, real butter.) in the pan and let it get all melty to pour over the steak. After the butter melts, use a spatula to scrap up all the burnt on spices off the pan.
Don’t forget to let you steak rest for five minutes. (Tent with aluminum foil to retain heat if you want.)
Alternative method: Sear them good on the stovetop and finish in the oven.
Also, here is a good chart that tells you how long to cook the meat per side (both pan and broiler) for desired doneness. I’d suggest getting the broiler pan good and hot before putting the meat on it.
I do it like this.
The link you gave just goes to Omaha steaks home page. I didn’t see any chart.
Non-stick pans can’t get hot enough, at least you’re not supposed to heat them that hot (unless you don’t care about possible toxicity or making them no longer non-stick). Working with the equipment you have, it sounds like the broiler is your best bet.
As long as the broiler pan fits the broiler you’re using, preheat the pan in the broiler so the steaks sizzle and sear when you place them on the pan. Generally, place the room temperature steaks, salt and peppered, fairly close to the heat so they sear top and bottom. If they’re an inch thick, I would still flip them in the broiler, and do 4 minutes on each side to get medium rare. Expect smoke.
We have steak quite a bit. This is what I do. If you use a cast iron pan, you can move it right from the stove top into the oven.
I usually only use salt, not pepper, because the pepper sometimes burns, plus the kid doesn’t like pepper that much. I have a nice smoked salt that I got at my local natural foods co-op. Yum!
For a marinade alternative, grab a bottle of Dale’s. Sock the steaks in it in either a bowl or a sealable plastic bag for 30-60 minutes. Cook in skillet, broiler, or George Foreman, whichever is easiest for you. If you go with the Foreman, remember it cooks both sides at once, so cut your expected cooking time in half. Then cut it again if you want medium rare. And you do.
As I said in the OP, no cast iron, and I don’t want to buy one just for these few steaks (and I don’t see myself using it often enough to make it worth it after the steaks are gone).
Is that really practical for such small steaks, though? That sounds like something you do with full-size ones, not the minis I have.
Fits… the broiler…? I don’t know what this means. It slides into the oven. If the pan plus the steak would touch the coils, I can lower the oven rack.
I have absolutely positively no idea whatsoever what the “expected cooking time” is for any method. None. Zero.
Thanks for the suggestions so far, though. Keep 'em coming.
Oops! I read it the exact opposite way. I thought you said you did have cast iron.
In that case, I’d season them up and throw them on the Foreman Grill.
The reason why people are telling you to make the pan super how is so you can get a nice crust on the streak. With what you got, I’d say your FG is the closest you’re gonna get to that.
BTW, last weak, my son and I had steak Bearnaise. It was awesome. And hate me all you want foodies, but for the Bearnaise sauce, I just used one of those Bearnaise packets and added milk and butter.
You can use your nonstick pans up to medium high. That’s not optimum, but it will work. What I’d be leery about with the broiler pan and grill is that to get the best sear on a steak without overcooking the inside you need good full as possible contact between the surface of the steak and the heat. The broiler and grill won’t do that.
If they were my steaks I’d heat your pans on med high, then cover the bottom with a thin layer of oil, then proceed as above.
That method seems to satisfy your equipment limitations and your stipulations about ease, margin of error, etc.
What don’t you like about it?
Those seem like they’re really thin steaks. Your cooking time is going to be about 4-5 minutes on a high heat setting. Don’t worry about food safety - searing the outside of them is all you need to worry about (it’s surface area you have to be careful about, not anything inside).
Well, that’s weird. I’m sure there are many others.
Petite sirloins have a tendency to be tough and chewy, no matter how you cook them, so I would definitely recommend marinating them. Alternatively, I will sometimes use these types of cuts in stir fry, by cutting them into very thin strips and marinating them in the usual soy, rice vinegar, Asian type of marinade.
The most important part of a steak is the browning. For a nice , even sear, make sure you dry the steaks first ( I dab em with a paper towel). Most meats are wet pack these days and the excess moisture makes steam when it hits the pan, making for tough grey meat.
This goes for marinated meats too, take them out of the marinade and pat dry. If you want sauce set some of the marinade aside before soaking the meats and deglaze the pan with it.
I recommend against using no-stick pans for searing un-coated meats. The resultant browning is uneven and poor. And because it takes longer to start browning, you usually have to choose between whether you want a flavorful or juicy steak.
I just want to say that I’m very happy that nobody has uttered the ridiculous “seal in the juices” when browning meat. I guess ignorance has finally been fought here on that old bromide.
Oh, Jesus, I just realized that those steaks are STILL in my freezer. I was just too paralyzed with “oh, I have to cook them just right or they’ll be overdone/food poisoning central,” and never did anything to them.
I assume it’s way too late now, right? This is why I don’t cook steaks at home.
Not necessarily. Beef lasts in the freezer a long time. Are they freezerburnt or otherwise look/smell off? If not, they’re probably fine. Cook 'em up.
While I can look up what freezer burn looks like, I’m afraid my conception of “looking off” is most likely overly paranoid, and I’m not so sure about smell either (can you smell anything while it’s still frozen?). Any standards or tips?
Freezer burn looks like ice crystals on the steak. At least that’s been my experience.