When I cook a steak at home, it never looks or tastes as good as one from a restaurant. Doesn't matter if I use a BBQ, a grill, a heavy griddled pan or a George Foreman grill.

The steaks in a restaurant look shiny so I assume they baste it with something before or during cooking.

Anyone any idea what they use?

I am sure whatever it is, is what makes the difference.

Are you cooking the steak correctly at home?[LIST][*]Never freeze a steak.[*]If chilled, get the steak to room temperature before cooking. (about 30m on an open plate)[*]Get a good pan on the oven and get it smoking hot (never oil the pan).[*]Oil your steak and season with pepper and plop steak into pan. Leave for 2m 30s.[*]Turn steak with tongs (Never ever use a fork! It pierces the steak and lets the juices run out)[*]Leave for another 2m 30s[*]Drop a knob of butter into the pan and coat steak in it.[*]Take steak off the pan and place on plate to rest.[*]Throw some thinly sliced mushrooms into the pan with the steak juices and toss until done. You could flambé it with a bit of brandy if you want to show off to friends.[*]Serve![/LIST]

I never freeze a steak, although I did try it once and I could taste the difference, so will never do that again.

I usually take it out of the fridge and cook it straight away.

I will try your suggestion, but I do like my steaks well done so they will have to cook for longer than you suggest probably.

I'd do the same, but use a good pinch of salt on each side, adding the pepper at the end.

Key is to get the pan very hot to 'seal' the steak well - this creates the flavour you're after, (it doesn't actually 'seal in' juices contrary to popular belief)

Heston Blumenthal did some TV shows where he turned the steak every thirty seconds whilst cooking (and explained why...) which I've tried and also worked really well.

I don't like the 'let the meat rest' saying, i like mine piping hot.

I buy my steak from Donald Russell and they come frozen, as all their meat does. Their pave rumps are still the best rump I have ever tasted.

They will either baste it with the pan juices or brush it with melted butter just before serving.

You need to rest steak (and most meats) otherwise you won't be eating it at it's best.

You need to cook it at a very high heat. A George Foreman doesn't get nearly hot enough to sear a steak.

here is a steak I prepared earlier

http://imageshack.us/a/img847/4580/steak1.jpg

its all about getting the heat right, and finishing with a knob of butter while resting it in a little foil.

Keep it in the foil while resting it to keep the heat in

Next day off, I shall be trying to cook the perfect steak.

Sirloin and Ribeye are my fav's.

We've more or less stopped ordering steak when we go out as invariably they are disappointing.

The trick is to choose your meat very carefully. I buy rump, which should look right. It should be nice and thick, have some marbeling but not loads and have a strip of fat down the side for extra flavour. Always leave it out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature before cooking. Season well with salt and black pepper. Coat it in groundnut oil, heat your pan until it's smoking and put your steak in. I cook mine for a minute each side because we like them rare. Butter always improves the flavour and do rest your steaks - very important.

Rump is the best steak for flavour.

Seasoning, brining, marinading etc is down to the specific restaurant.

There's no reason why you can't use other seasonings that salt & pepper.
Some top end steak restaurants marinade their steaks in soy & worcestershire.
Some freeze steak to help with tenderising.
Some dry age them, some wet age them.

The important thing is that they have grills that can reach upto 800c.
You can't get that at home.
They will also baste with butter/oil.


A lot of this is from watching US TV shows where they go inside the restaurants and so you see how they do it.
It may be that the US has many more variations in steak preperation and cooking than in the UK.

The soy/worcestershire marinade is from a restaurant called Bohanan's.
David Burke's offer a 75 day matured 20oz ribeye
The freezing was from a restuarant on DDD.
----------------------
What I do is
Put a cast iron skillet on high heat. Leave it for 5-10 minutes until it is smoking.
Fry on one side for 1 minute.
Turn and fry for another minute.
Put onto a warm plate, add a knob of butter and cover for a few minutes to rest.

(* 300g 28 matured sirloin or ribeye)

I had a Rib eye the other day (from M&S) and it was very good but must remember to get it room temperature next time. Cooked on a griddle pan with onions - enough each side for medium rare (season with salt/pepper), then add garlic butter on steak to melt.
Fantastic

The ideal way to do well done steaks is by using sous-vide, i.e. it is cooked though in a sealed pouch in a water bath at around 56C. Some restaurants do that. They can then just flash fry the steak in a pan to give it colour and a tiny bit of flavour.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...-perfect-steak

That's how I do my steaks, but I'm not a big steak fan anyway.

Nah, old Grannies tale that.

No it's not. Resting a piece of meat allows the fibres to relax and the juices to flow.

Leaving meat, especially steak to rest is a load of rubbish in my opinion, it makes it taste worse, not better when it has been 'rested' as it is supposed to be hot, not luke-warm.

Make your mind up, is it your opinion or, like you stated earlier, an old grannies tale? Besides, if your steak is luke-warm after resting then you're either leaving it for way too long or just doing it wrong.

You don't rest a steak long enough for it to go luke warm. Pop it out of the pan onto a warm plate and keep it in a warm spot close to the stove for 5 minutes while you are dishing up your veg onto the plate/dressing your salad/buttering your jacket potato or whatever. The meat will be much juicier and more tender and still piping hot.

Mrs Turquoise Blue used to like her steaks well done. We once ordered the same meal, but with hers well done and mine rare. We got the wrong plates of food and my wife was quick to tuck into my steak. She couldn't believe how delicious it was and she devoured the lot! She now has her steaks rare and couldn't believe how many she'd eaten completely ruined in the past. Try your steak rare, you'll be amazed I promise you. If you can't bear rare, try medium to rare, or even medium, but purlease don't massacre any more steaks.

You are of course perfectly entitled to your opinion. But you're wrong.

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried young man.

I say *young man* because you are 3 years younger than me!

I would agree, it smacks of someone who doesn't know what they are doing

I make this mix and store in a empty spice jar. It can be used on loads of different meats and casseroles as well:

8 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Taste the spice first to adjust to how much you would add to your steak. Coat your steak in a bit of olive oil and sprinkle the mix to your taste on your steak; massage the steak with the oil and spices. Wrap your steak in cling film and leave to marinate until it comes to room temperature.

Heat a dry frying pan to high heat. Once it is at high heat place the steak into the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes on one side, turn for another 1-2 minutes. Timing depends on how thick your steak is. One minute for a thin steak, 1 1/2 minutes on each for a thicker steak. In my experience this will give you a medium rare steak. I’m afraid you will have to experiment with your timings depending on how you like your steak.

Move to a warm plate and cover with foil to rest whilst your prepare your dinner plate with veggies and whatnot, about 5 minutes. Any juices left on the plate after resting pour over your steak on the dinner plate.

Edit: The mix is a copycat from Outback Steakhouse and has passed my family's test.