Pigeon Cottage Kitchen

It sounds like a simple thing, a perfect steak, but it intimidates a lot of cooks and I ruined a few before I learnt how to do it properly. So, let me make it easy with my step-by-step ‘cook in the pan’ guide. Once you’ve mastered these simple instructions, you’ll wonder what the fuss was all about.

• First, choose your steak. Rump, in my humble opinion, is the best steak because it is marbled with fat which means that it has more flavour and more succulence. You might prefer sirloin or fillet. I ask my butcher to cut however many steaks I want to the same size. I like it at least 1 or 2 centimetres thick otherwise it cooks too quickly.
• Always cook it at room temperature. If you’ve kept it in the fridge, take it out and leave it up to an hour before you want to cook it. Season lightly with salt and brush each side with vegetable or light olive oil.
• Put a large frying pan on the heat. The pan must be good and hot before you think about cooking. You don’t need to add fat to the pan, the meat is already oiled.
• Once the pan is smoking hot, place your steaks in it. Don’t try to cook more than two at a time as the temperature will drop and you’ll end up stewing it not searing it.
• Medium rare is the most popular way to eat a steak. Seared and brown on the outside, pink on the next layer and red and slightly bloody in the middle. It only needs to cook for a couple of minutes each side and it is important to rest it on a board or warm plate after cooking for a good 10 minutes. It will still continue to cook a little, the meat fibres will relax and that’s how you get it tender and succulent. Tough steak can be due to choosing poor quality meat, under or overcooking, or having no rest period before you eat it.
• So, two minutes each side to get a good dark brown sear on the outside, then add two generous chunks of butter to the pan. It should melt and start to go nutty and brown almost immediately. Working quickly, spoon (or ‘nap’ as it’s known) the foaming butter over the steaks, flip them once, nap them again and then take them out of the pan and place on a resting board or warm plate.
• Resist the urge to touch or eat it for a good 10 minutes. Just before you plate, deglaze the pan with all its buttery steak juice with a good splash of red wine and then pour it over the steak. You could finely chop a shallot, cook it in the butter with a bay leaf and some thyme and then add the red wine and reduce the sauce to make a classic Bordelaise sauce.
• Sprinkle with cracked black pepper and flakes of Maldon salt.
• My final tips are: only serve the steak on the plate. Accompaniments like fries, tomato or green salad should literally be served as sides. Always use steak knives if you have them. Serve with a robust red wine.

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