Sirloin… but not as you know it…
Steak. Sirloin Steak. The classic.
I love Sirloin specifically for being able to have it really rare. The issue with Rib Eye, which is actually my favourite, is that it it’s anything less than medium and the fat hasn’t rendered and it’s just not that nice.
Anyway, I’ve cooked a lot of steaks – significantly more than briskets – and I thought, if I post every time I cook steak on here it’s gonna get real boring real fast.
But this, I decided to do different.
The butcher (pre-Harrisons) asked me what I wanted.
“Steak. Sirloin Steak. Please.”
And of course, then he asked me a question no butcher should ever ask.
“How much?”, as he picked up a nice looking piece, ready for slicing.
“Well”, I said… “I think, yeah, I think I’ll take all of it, thanks.”
“Ah, roasting it are you?”
At this stage I had no idea what I was going to do, I just wanted all that steak. “Something like that”, I replied.
So here we are:
Now I cook a lot of steak. I’ve read a lot about cooking steak. I know about cooking steak. First rule of steak club is, talk about steak club as much as possible (haha I’m so funny, I know).
Second rule of steak club, is the cook on the BBQ if you can. If you can’t, cook on cast iron if you can. If you can’t, a good frying pan, but if you can’t do that, get out.
So cooking on cast iron, the pan wants to be insanely hot. Primarily because as soon as you put the steak on the pan, it’s going to drop in temperature really quickly; cast iron less so than a traditional pan (which is why it’s better).
Warning: There will be smoke. Lots of smoke. But, I would drive my wife mad (especially at this house) because the back door was near the hob and subsequently I refused to have the door open. I’d mask myself up and cope with it as long as possible, usually until I can get the steak resting, at which point it’s away from the back door and I can let the clouds of smoke out.
So, I also don’t / didn’t use salt or pepper pre-cooking. Primarily because, cover a steak in salt, then put it on a stupidly hot pan, all that’s going to happen is the salt will burn on the outside. I can’t remember which chef was talking about this but I took their point, and instead add the seasoning after it’s seared.
(That’s why you can’t see any salt or pepper on that steak).
MMmmm… I can smell that from here. I don’t tend to start fat-side down as that’ll burn with the pan being super hot, so tend to do bottom, top then sides or sides then top – not really a big deal – but, bottom first.
What I could really have done with on this piece of meat, was a Meater or – perhaps – I should have kept a closer eye on the temp as (I’ll show in a minute) it overdid slightly.
I was, naturally, worried about underdoing it – because it’s a pain after it’s rested so long. Aha yes, that brings me on to rule three of steak club – rest it as long as you possibly can. A normal steak, I’ll cook for around 3-4 minutes, but it’ll rest for half an hour or more. The end result is worth it, trust me. So if it’s rested for ages, then you have to cook it a bit more – it’s a real faff. I’d eat it mooing, but the kids are naturally a little fussier.
Anyway, end result was not bad:
So as you can see – one side was left unturned far too long, as it’s overdone – but 75% of that looks perfect. Next to the steak, I think you have a chicken wing or thigh? I can’t actually tell, and I don’t have any other photos to help give me a clue sadly!
Either way – chicken & steak, with a little coleslaw – now there’s a winning dinner! (Yes I was doing a ‘low carb’ thing, if you’re wondering!).
But the most important question of all.. would I cook it this way again?
No.
It was nice, and I enjoyed it, and there are naturally ways to do this ‘properly’ (sear, then roast) which I have subsequently done, but I wouldn’t just fry it. Partially because it’s very difficult to get it evenly cooked, but also, the texture isn’t right.
A steak that’s maybe an inch thick, seared on both sides with ample resting time – it’s luxurious.
A sirloin cut like that, seared and then very slow roasted to perfection, is again, very luxurious.
This was neither; and like I say it was very nice, but I wouldn’t do it again!
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