How much and how to properly fry a steak in a frying pan at home

On the way to the perfect steak:

Choosing meat

Before frying a steak, you need to prepare the main ingredient - meat. In the classic version, it should be a piece of excellent beef from a sedentary muscle. When choosing it in a store, you should pay attention to 3 aspects:

• Marbling. A good workpiece must certainly have thin layers of fat. During frying, the fatty inclusions melt and, thereby, make the meat more tender, more aromatic and softer.
• Slice thickness. Steak is not a chop. To make the dish juicy, the thickness of the workpiece must be at least 2.5 cm. Ideally, it ranges between 3-5 cm.
• No mucus. If the meat is sticky, it is better to refuse the purchase. It is impossible to prepare a tasty dish from a poor preparation.
• Steak in a frying pan is no less tasty when made from pork. The features of choosing pork stock are no different from beef stock.

Preparing the meat

If the meat is frozen, then before preparing a delicious steak from it, you need to completely defrost the product and thoroughly wipe it from moisture.

But defrosting in the open air or in the microwave is not suitable here: in the first case, the meat will leak, and in the second, it will dry out the edges.

You need to defrost meat in the refrigerator.

Or, if you need it faster, in cold water.

A product that is not completely defrosted will bake unevenly!

After refrigeration, it is simply covered with foil or cloth, and allowed to “breathe” in the open air for 1.5-2 hours, because before frying, it is very important to bring the steak to room temperature.

Steak at room temperature should be patted dry with paper towels. Leaving the meat wet will cause the steak to smell bad.

Then the meat must be cleared of films and cut across the grain.

About the marinade

To marinate or not? There is no consensus among chefs on this issue. Some recommend not salting the product before cooking, citing the loss of juiciness. But then it is no longer possible to salt the steak evenly. And rarely does anyone like the combination of a salty crust and an unsalted middle.

Therefore, it is best to do this: 8-10 minutes before frying the steak, rub the workpiece with sea salt, then pepper, and just before frying, grease it with olive oil. In the absence of olive oil, you can use refined sunflower oil.

This method allows you to “seal” the pores well and minimize the loss of juiciness. Before frying, you cannot beat or pierce the workpieces. This will turn the meat into sole.

Which frying pan is suitable

It is best to fry steak in a heavy frying pan with a grooved bottom. If you don’t have one at hand, any other thick-walled container will do. Thin-walled ones are not suitable: the meat will burn in them.

The frying pan needs to be heated for at least 5-6 minutes over medium heat. The vessel should be hot, but not smoking. The hissing of the steaks after laying out will confirm that the container has warmed up enough.

Sufficient heating of the dishes is very important, because in the process of placing steaks on it, the meat becomes crusty, thereby “sealing” the internal juices and preventing them from flowing out.

Frying steak

Before cooking a steak in a frying pan, do not pour oil into it. For frying, the fat with which the workpiece is lubricated, as well as what is contained in its tissues, is sufficient. In some cases, only light wiping of the surface is allowed.

Place the pieces of meat in the frying vessel as close to its center as possible, without touching each other.

Fry the steak over maximum heat until golden brown, which prevents the juice from leaking out. At the same time, lightly press on both sides with a spatula, hold for a minute and turn over. Then the temperature is lowered a little and, turning from time to time, the meat is brought to readiness.

It is very important to thoroughly fry the ends of each piece, and also to melt all its fatty inclusions. It is most convenient to cook thin slices directly in the frying container, and thick pieces in the oven.

If you fry a steak on a grill pan, you can make a beautiful mesh on it. This pattern is obtained if, after the first roasting, a piece of meat is turned perpendicular to its original position and placed again on the same side. It is performed on both sides.

The duration of cooking a steak at home in a frying pan depends on the thickness of the workpiece, as well as the required degree of frying, which is determined individually.

Approximate time for frying a piece of meat 2.5 cm thick:

When the slices are cut thicker, more cooking time is needed.

Each degree of steak frying can also be determined using a thermal needle:

• 49-50 °C – rare steak, pink
• 54-55 °C – lightly done; the meat is pink, but without bloody spots
• 60-61 °C – medium doneness, tender light pink meat
• 65-66 °C – steak is almost done, the meat is grayish in color, with a sufficient amount of juices
• 70-71 °C – the meat is completely cooked: almost dry, gray in appearance, practically without juice

You need to remove the pan from the stove when the value indicated on the thermometer is 2-3 degrees below the desired value: the meat will still “reach”.

And experienced chefs can easily determine the readiness of the product by only applying a little pressure on it. Rare will be soft, well-done will be quite elastic, and medium will be something in between.

The more often the meat is turned, the more evenly it will cook. When turning over, do not use a fork: punctures in the steak should not be allowed.

Steak resting

The finished steak needs time to rest. Its quantity is already indicated in the table above.

To do this, place the meat on a wooden board, cover with foil and keep for several minutes at room temperature. During this time, it reaches full condition and completely distributes the juices, which will no longer flow out, but will fully reveal their taste.

You can cut the dish only after the period of time allocated for rest has passed.

If immediately after cooking, rub the meat on both sides with butter (can be green, with your favorite spices), and then leave it to rest, it will turn out even more juicy.

Cutting a grilled steak down the middle stops the cooking process. Otherwise, the dish continues to arrive even during its consumption.

Serve steak

When preparing grilled steaks for serving, it is important to take a closer look at the utensils. If possible, heat the plate: this will allow the pieces of meat to remain warm and juicy longer. Sharpen the knives: not too sharp, they can ruin the serving and prevent you from enjoying the structure of a properly fried steak.

A tasty and juicy steak, like any other dish, needs its taste to be emphasized and complemented by suitable notes. The most successful side dishes for it are vegetables. They also advantageously reveal the taste of fried meat in various salads and sauces. A glass of red wine will always harmoniously complement the picture.

How to fry eggplant slices without batter?

Fried eggplant slices can be a hearty side dish or an excellent appetizer. They can be supplemented with your favorite spices, garlic, herbs, mayonnaise or any other sauce.

Ingredients for cooking:

1. 1-2 blue ones;
2. 0.5 liters of cold water;
3. 30 ml vegetable oil;
4. 1-2 tsp. table salt.

Cooking process:

1. We rinse the eggplants, cut off the stem, peel them, and cut them into even circles 5 mm thick.
2. Pour water into a deep bowl, add salt, and soak the prepared vegetables in the solution.
3. After half an hour, squeeze out the circles, sprinkle with vegetable oil, and mix together.
4. Place a portion of circles on a hot frying pan and fry on one side for 5-7 minutes. Turn over and cook until done.
5. Place the fried vegetables on a napkin, which will quickly absorb excess fat. Then transfer to a serving plate and decorate as desired.

Fried marbled beef steak with mushroom sauce

Marbled beef is famous for its veining.
They form patterns on the meat that resemble precious stones. Melting during the cooking process, these fatty inclusions fill the workpiece with juices, which is why it becomes more tender and softer. Preparation time 10 min

Cooking time 25 min

Total time 35 min

Ingredients

• 600-700 g beef tenderloin
• 300 g mushrooms (chanterelles)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 pcs onion
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 glass water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 90-100 g butter
• salt, spices to taste

Instructions

Meat

• When choosing a suitable piece for a frying pan, it is better to avoid the thick edge: it is more suitable for an open fire. But the tenderloin, which has less fat, will come in handy here.
• The meat sprinkled with salt, pepper and seasonings is placed in a hot frying pan and fried for 1 minute on each side. Having turned 90 degrees, hold it again for a minute to form a mesh. Next, reduce the temperature and fry until desired doneness.
• To fry a steak correctly, thick pieces are cooked in the oven.
• The meat is removed from the frying pan, rubbed with the remaining butter, covered with foil and sent to rest.

Sauce

• Chopped onions are brought to transparency in a frying pan, after which chanterelles are added to it and simmered.
• Melt half the butter in a separate saucepan.
• Sprinkle a thin layer of flour on top and let it simmer a little.
• Pour in water and stir so that there are no lumps.
• Bring to a boil and add mushrooms.
• Pour in cream, chopped garlic, salt and season with spices.
• Evaporate the sauce a little.
• A rested, juicy steak is placed on a prepared dish, poured over with mushroom sauce and served hot. You can sprinkle with herbs, and use vegetables in any form as a side dish.

Notes

If desired, the mushrooms can be chopped, and instead of chanterelles, you can take any others.
Those who like smooth sauces can use a blender. Dish: Main courses

Keyword: beef, Steak

Preparing the grill

First of all, when preparing pork shish kebab, you need to prepare your work area. Then they should light the coals in the grill. If you cook pork kebab in the oven, in a frying pan or in a tandoor, also prepare the place where you will fry the meat.

To prepare this dish you need either firewood, birch wood is best.

Advice! If it is difficult to find firewood from this tree, then you can buy high-quality birch coals in any supermarket.

In order to speed up the cooking process of this dish, you first need to start lighting the coals.

While the coals are burning, you need to cut the meat and marinate it.

To ignite coals or firewood, some use various lighter fluids and gaseous dry agents. However, the most acceptable option is to use a gas burner. After all, different ignition mixtures may contain different chemicals, and, ultimately, can ruin the taste of the meat.

Something to remember! In addition, special lighter fluids emit an unpleasant odor at high temperatures, which no one likes and can spoil the taste of the final product. And when it’s hot, this is unacceptable!

For the effective process of igniting coals or birch firewood, ordinary paper is used, which can be taken from the same bag in which the birch coals were stored.

On average, coals flare up within twenty to twenty-five minutes. The most important thing when frying is to have patience and not start frying the product over an open fire. It is necessary to wait until the coals and firewood burn out and the flames are not visible in the grill.

Something to remember! You can tell that the coals are ready for frying a product by the white coating that appears after they have completely burned out.

This moment in time is ideal to start preparing this dish.

Pork steak with mustard sauce

The spicy taste of this bone-in steak is sure to find its admirers.
Tender pork, emphasized by mustard notes, perfectly reveals the whole range of taste sensations, turning an ordinary meal into a luxurious meal! Preparation time 3 hours 20 minutes

Cooking time 25 min

Total time 3 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1200 g pork pulp on the bone
• 200 ml dry white wine
• 500 ml chicken broth
• 50 g butter
• 1 head red onion
• 1 head garlic
• 3.5 tbsp dry mustard
• 1.5 tbsp honey (liquid)
• 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 bunch of greens
• salt, pepper to taste

Instructions

Marinade

• Before frying the steak in a frying pan, it is marinated. To do this, mix honey, mustard and lemon juice in equal proportions.
• Pour the mixture well over the meat, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and put it in the refrigerator for several hours.

Sauce

• Fry chopped onion in butter until soft, then add garlic to it. Add 2 tablespoons of mustard, wine and broth. Boil.
• When half the mixture has evaporated, add cream, salt and spices, and then bring to a boil.
• You can add a little vegetable oil to the butter to make it burn less.
• Remove the boiling sauce from the heat, grind it in a blender, and pour it into a gravy boat.

Meat

• Before frying the steak, remove the remaining marinade from it, dry it a little, and generously grease it with olive oil.
• You need to clean the marinade thoroughly because anything left on the steak will burn.
• Then, constantly pouring the liquid that flows out, fry the steak in a frying pan, and then leave it to rest.
• Pieces of meat are placed on a dish, poured over the liquid in which it was fried and decorated with herbs.
• Add a suitable side dish and place a gravy boat next to it, or pour the sauce over the steak.

Dish: Main courses

Keyword: pork, Steak

Steak in a frying pan from beef in red wine

Red wine goes well with cooked steaks.
But if you marinate beef with this drink during cooking, the result will be truly stunning! Anyone who tastes such a steak will be able to verify this personally. Preparation time 5 hours 20 minutes

Cooking time 25 min

Total time 5 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 600 g beef tenderloin Or 2 pieces
• 120 g red wine (dry)
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 80 ml olive oil
• 1 piece chili
• 1 piece bay leaf
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 0.5 tbsp each black pepper, coriander and fennel seeds
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary

Instructions

Marinade

• Heat a frying pan and lightly fry the fennel seeds, coriander and black pepper, along with the bay leaf and chilli.
• Grind the mixture in a mortar along with the garlic.
• Pour the seasoning mixture into a large container, which also contains the wine, sauce and rosemary. Mix.
• Place the meat there and marinate for a day in the refrigerator.
• Then leave for 2 hours at room temperature.
• If you don’t have much time, you can marinate for 5-6 hours at room temperature.

Meat

• Remove the meat from the marinade, remove any remaining residue and dry.
• Pour the remaining sauce into a saucepan and simmer over low heat for about half an hour.
• Fry the meat pieces for 7 minutes on each side.
• After cooking the steak in a hot pan, wrap it in foil for 10 minutes.
• Place the rested piece of meat hot on a dish, along with garlic, sprigs of rosemary and chili. Thoroughly pour the prepared sauce over the meat. Pour the rest of it into a saucepan and serve along with the main dish.

Dish: Main courses

Keyword: beef, Steak

What kind of pan to fry in?

The quality of bacon depends on the pan. There isn't much choice here. You can get delicious slices if you use one of three options:

• cast iron container;
• stainless steel;
• with non-stick coating.

The best frying pan is considered to be cast iron. It has a thick bottom, which means your dish will not burn. In addition, the pieces of pork will not stick to it.

Cookware with non-stick coating has proven itself well. Bacon pieces won't stick to it either. But achieving a crispy crust will be more difficult.

A stainless steel frying pan does not have such good characteristics. Practice shows that strips of pork stick to it. It is difficult to get evenly cooked slices.

Pork steak in soy-ginger marinade

Preparation time 50 min

Cooking time 45 min

Total time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 600-700 g pork steaks or 2 pieces
• 7-8 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp cane sugar
• 1 head garlic
• 1 PC. Chile
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary
• salt to taste

Instructions

Marinade

• Grind the garlic (leaving only 2 cloves) and chili pepper.
• Add soy sauce, ginger and cane sugar to the mixture (can be replaced with regular sugar).
• Mix thoroughly.
• Salt the prepared steak pieces and marinate with this mixture.
• Leave for half an hour at room temperature.

Meat

• Thoroughly clean the meat from the marinade and coat it with vegetable oil.
• Heat a grill pan and fry the steaks until crusty.
• Place the pieces on a baking sheet and transfer the meat to the oven for half an hour. Give it a rest.
• The rested meat is served on a board. Carefully pour over the liquid in which it was prepared. Rice, salad mix or any other greens are used as a side dish.

Dish: Main courses

Keyword: pork, Steak

Cooking features

Despite the fact that cooking nuggets is an elementary task, there are some tips, nuances and tricks that experienced chefs are willing to share:

1. Before cooking the chicken semi-finished product, check the condition of the oil by dipping a toothpick into it. If bubbles come from it, the oil is ready and you can start frying.
2. Do not place chicken in cold oil or on a frying pan that is not hot. In this case, you will not be able to give the dish a crispy and appetizing crust.
3. Fry the nuggets in plain vegetable oil. Olive oil is not at all suitable for preparing such a dish.
4. The semi-finished product can be improved with garlic marinade, which combines perfectly with the taste of tender chicken meat.
5. Try not to overcook the nuggets; frying them too long will cause the nuggets to become dry and tough.

Using these tips, you can fry delicious frozen nuggets the right way.

Ribeye steak with chimichurri sauce

On the menus of fashionable restaurants, this brightly flavored dish always takes pride of place.
And many gourmets dream of tasting it. For information on how to cook ribeye steak with a hint of lime at home in a skillet, see the recipe below. Preparation time 1 day 30 min

Cooking time 25 min

Total time 1 day 55 min

Ingredients

• 600-700 g ribeye or 2 pieces
• 2 tbsp each olive and sunflower oil
• 3.5 tbsp soy sauce
• 2-3 limes
• 1 tbsp wine vinegar
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1 bunch parsley
• salt, pepper, mint and oregano to taste

Instructions

Meat

• Marinate the prepared steaks overnight in salt, pepper and soy sauce.
• Before frying, remove any remaining marinade.
• Fry the steak meat on both sides in a frying pan to close the pores and reduce the heat slightly.
• When ready, cover with foil and set aside to rest.
• You can brush the steak with green butter before covering with foil.