Searing and grilling steak is — if you'll pardon the pun — a high-stakes endeavor.
One wrong move and that beautiful, tender fillet you brought home from the butcher could
be instantly transformed into a chewy, gray mass of rubber.
Unfortunately, scientists have yet to figure out how to turn back time and remedy an overcooked
steak.
"Great Scott!"
Fortunately, though, the late, great Anthony Bourdain left behind some pretty solid advice
to prevent home chefs from ruining a perfectly good steak.
Bourdain rarely messed around when it came to doling out cooking tips.
And his most important rule when preparing a near-perfect steak?
In his own words:
"Do. Not. F---ing. Touch. It."
In a video for Tech Insider, Bourdain explained that the worst mistake you can make when cooking
a steak is to mess with it too much after you take it off the heat.
He said:
"It should rest on the board — meaning sit there at room temperature — for five to
seven minutes, at which point, stay away from it."
So what's the deal here?
Well, allowing a steak to rest for a few minutes after coming off the grill means you'll give
its cells a chance to redistribute themselves evenly before serving.
Slicing into your steak before those cells relax back into their preheated shape means
all the juices you've trapped inside of the steak will end up on the outside — and all
over your counter.
Bourdain went on to explain:
"All the difference in the world between a good steak and a totally messed up steak is
going on in that period of time that you're just doing nothing."
On his official site, the British chef and author Jamie Oliver also suggests bringing
your meat to room temperature before cooking, and making sure the pan or grill is screaming
hot before adding the steak.
So after all that babysitting, is it possible that the most important thing you can do is
nothing?
According to Bourdain, yes.
He explained:
"Don't wrap it in foil, don't cover it, don't poke it, don't prod it.
Just let it sit there.
Leave it alone, and you will be rewarded."
Anthony Bourdain had some other steak tips to hand, too, with the first being arguably
the most infamous:
"Traditionally, well-done eaters get very little respect from the kitchen."
"So when you say 'I want it well done,' you're saying…"
"Please give me a lesser cut."
The next was the need to select a good cut.
It doesn't take a chef to know that not all parts of the cow are created equal.
And while many amateur cooks might consider filet mignon to be the most desirable cut
on the animal, Bourdain claimed in another video for Tech Insider that most chefs would
beg to differ.
Offering his views on the tenderloin, the fat-free muscle from which filet mignon is
derived, Bourdain said:
"Within the industry, it is a joke.
Most chefs [...] find this to be, in fact, the most boring and uninteresting piece of
meat on the animal."
Instead, he recommended rib steaks for their "perfect mix of fat and lean."
His second choice was sirloin.
Even after you've got your nice, well-marbled ribeye, however, you'll want to keep another
of Bourdain's tips in mind: in yet another video for Tech Insider, he recommended that,
before dropping your slab of meat on the grill or pan, you should apply a whole heap of high
quality, large-grain sea salt.
He only suggested one additional spice: freshly cracked black pepper — though he added that
this was his own personal preference.
Bourdain had plenty to say on the method via which you should cook your steak, too.
He wasn't really breaking new ground here, as a lot of chefs will tell you the same thing:
Either charcoal-grill it at a "decent temperature" or pan-sear it with olive oil and butter,
making sure to baste the steak with the butter.
Once the meat has developed its char, Bourdain would have you finish cooking it in the oven,
"just a little bit."
You'll need to pull it out of the oven before it reaches the desired temperature, however,
because it will continue cooking during that all-important rest time afterward.
As Bourdain said:
"That is the way God intended us to cook steak."
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