A night out on the town doesn’t have to mean dining at an expensive steakhouse, but you might want to take some time to figure out how to cook the perfect steak at home so that you can enjoy one of life’s greatest luxuries any day of the week! Luckily, your local butcher Melbourne – wide can help with everything from selecting the right cut of meat to cooking and serving it just the way you like it because they know a thing or two about steaks. Follow this step-by-step guide on how to cook the perfect steak at home and get ready for some tasty goodness!
Find a good butcher
There’s no better way to guarantee a quality cut of meat than by buying it directly from a butcher. Knowing what to look for, how to grill or cook it and which side dishes complement it best will make all the difference between an okay meal and a great one. Plus, you’ll save money—butchers tend to offer some of their products at wholesale prices because they buy in bulk. If you can find a good relationship with your local butcher, don’t be afraid to ask them about discounts on large orders (and if they do give you a discount, don’t forget to tip).
What’s your cut?
On a whole animal, steaks are taken from parts of specific primal cuts. Understanding which cut is right for your recipe is an important first step to making sure you end up with a perfectly cooked steak. Even if you know that sirloin comes from a cow’s loin, it might be helpful to know exactly where on a cow it’s located and which other cuts surround it. Below, we’ve outlined what to look for when buying steaks based on where they come from on an animal and what cooking method you plan to use. No matter what cut or how you cook it, don’t overdo it with seasoning—seasoning should only enhance natural flavours, not hide them!
How do you like it cooked?
There’s a method to cooking meat, and in particular, steak, that results in a superior dining experience. The best Butcher Melbourne always recommends cooking with well-aged steaks – at least three weeks old. This aging process adds complexity to your steak so it’s worth asking your butcher for well-aged beef cuts. The reason you want a nice piece of aged beef is that they tend to be more succulent, full of flavour and fat that has had time to develop through its exposure to oxygen which will then enhance taste once seared on your BBQ or Oven-roasted on an open flame.
Let your meat come to room temperature
It’s tempting to pop that frozen steak straight into a preheated skillet, but you won’t get those delectable caramelized bits. Don’t be in a rush; let your meat come to room temperature for about an hour before starting to cook. Your patience will pay off in tenderness and flavour. If your meat is still cold, it won’t absorb any marinade you put on it. Patience is also key when it comes to cooking time. Use a thermometer—don’t guess! And don’t overdo it with time either—we recommend medium-rare or medium at most.
A final flame
While a perfectly cooked steak is still a great, rare thing to enjoy in restaurants, who says it’s not just as good (if not better) when you make it at home? Cooking steaks at home can be tricky. There are many things that can go wrong in your kitchen – but all of them can be avoided if you know what to do and what not to do. Here’s how to cook perfect steaks every time, courtesy of Butcher Melbourne.