A Steak Pun is a Medium Well Done
This is part 3 of a 7 part series on my exploration of past-iron. Its best to read them in order:
Part 1: Return of the Cast Iron Cookware
Part 2: The Search for Cast Iron Knowledge
Part 3: A Steak Pun is a Medium Well Done
Part 4: Rare Stake or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cast Iron
Part 5: Cast Iron Politics?
Part 6: A Brief Walk Through the History of Cast Iron Cookware
Part 7: Heritage
Steak is the stereotypical meal for the manly man. Barring the problematic notions of masculinity though, steak is actually pretty good. Cast iron is also the best pan for cooking steak. Considering both of those things, it made sense for me to learn how to cook the perfect steak using cast iron.
Now I’m not the best cook, I’m not a bad cook, but I’m not the best. That adds on to my laziness, so I like to do things good and simple. Also, knowing that cast iron cooking requires different techniques, I knew I needed to find some tips for cook steak. The best one I found was this NYT article, which produces a simple but still excellent steak. It removes itself from some conventional wisdom, calling for a salting of the pan rather than the steak, and calling for quick and early flipping. Armed with the recipe, and two half off Entrecôte steaks from Migros, I was ready for the challenge.
This post is about the first steak, therefore. What I did right, and what I did wrong. It was a Sunday night that I decided to cook the first one, what better way to send off the weekend than a nice steak? In addition to the steak I had some carrots and onions for the sides. I also deviated from the recipe in one manner, I found some garlic and decided to include some to try to add some more flavor to the steak. Just as the recipe called for, I started heating up my pan. Because cast iron heats unevenly, its a good idea to ensure the cast iron is completely heated before placing the food in it, to ensure even cooking. I turned the stove onto high (unfortunately I don’t have access to a stove that produces real flame, that adds a bit to the rusticness) to ensure the steak would cook fast. I chopped up the garlic, and sprinkled it all over the steak before placing it on the stove.
Which was the biggest mistake of the night. Turns out, when you place thinly sliced garlic on an incredibly hot surface…they burn. Badly. Within seconds, all the garlic was black chars, some had even fully disintegrated, and one even caught on fire, I swear I saw embers. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture, since I was crying at the loss of all that good garlic. The other thing, which I absolutely should have seen coming, was the smoke. When my father cooks steak, smoke coming from the stove top always happens, and the fire alarm often goes off. Thankfully, I got the fan on quick enough and opened all the doors before my fire alarm went off this time. You can see the smoke in the photo (which was taken seconds after placing the steak onto the pan.
I followed the advice and started flipping quickly and often. Within two minutes of placing the steak down, it was flipped to get the other side (by this point, the garlic was all but gone). Now I like my steaks pretty rare, which is perfectly safe because bacteria doesn’t live in the meat tissue itself. I find it tastes the juiciest that way, so in all the steak was on the pan for about 4–5 minutes. I played it by ear, since I don’t have a thermometer, but I tested to see if the steak was just a little bouncy, and then took it off. I then threw in the carrots and onions which cooked quickly.
The steak ended up well, it was quite rare, and very tasty. There was no garlic taste, so the sacrifice was in vain. I unfortunately did not snap a pic of the inside, I was far too hungry. I quickly gobbled down the steak, proud of my accomplishment. After eating it, and spending a little time on the couch processing the food, I went to clean my pan, which is another important part of cast iron cooking. One can never use soap, it would break down the seasoning, so I scrapped the charred bits of garlic off, then used some paper towels to wipe off the excess.
In all, the first attempt was mostly a success. The steak was quite rare, I had succeeded in not overcooking it which was my biggest worry. It tasted great, the NYT recipe had really come through. And I had connected with the past by cooking an age old dish in an age old pan. The garlic was a problem, I still had more, and I did not want to give up so easily. There had to be a way to cook the garlic in a way that would not completely fry them. I was determined to solve the issue, but that’s for another blog post….
