The Silent Room

I went on another little culinary adventure. This time, I thought I’d escape paying a fortune to enjoy a good piece of steak. So I checked up on whatever ingredients and tools I have at home and attempted to make a piece of medium-done steak myself.

Here’s how it all happened…

The difference between mamak steak and gourmet steak are two things: the cut of beef and the method of cooking. Mamak or roadside steaks are usually cooked by cooking the meat on a grilling plate until it’s well done. Gourmet steaks are first seared on a grill, and then roasted under a gas broiler. This allows the different doneness of the steaks.

The aim is to get a medium-done steak, so this two-stage cooking would require a strong iron skillet/roasting pan and an oven. In my case, I tried it with an electric toaster oven. Now let’s move on to the ingredients.

1. A piece of decent-sized of steak with some marbling on it. [I got a 'tender flank'; don't ask, I also dunno.]
2. Salt and pepper for seasoning
3. Olive oil/Cooking oil
4. Steak sauce of your choice [I used HP Fruity sauce for a sweet and sour taste]
5. Random herbs/spice of your choice [I use oregano and mint]
6. Butter [I used margarine D:]

Preparing the Steak

Many recipes don’t mention anything about marinating the beef, but since I’m so used to marinating my barbecues, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. After washing the steak, I cut some streaks on it and rubbed in some olive oil before rubbing in salt, pepper, herbs and coating it with a thin layer of steak sauce. Then I sealed it up and let it sit in the freezer overnight. Before cooking, I let the steak thaw up to room temperature.

Searing the Steak

I coated the roasting pan with cooking oil by soaking tissue blob and rubbed the oil all over the pan. I preheated it until it was smoking hot and let the steak sit on it for precisely two minutes before flipping it over and cook it for another two minutes.

Baking the Steak

The oven was preheated to 200 degrees C. Before moving the steak, I put a tiny block of margarine on it and let it sit on the toaster oven for about 4-5 minutes, hoping that I could get it at medium, or at least medium well. With fingers crossed and not knowing what to expect, I went to make some fries, the only side dish I found in the fridge. For a balanced meal, I recommend stir fried [pre-boiled] baby carrots with cherry tomatoes – none of which I remembered to buy at the supermarket.

Resting the Steak

I read that good steaks need to be rested, so I moved it to a plate and covered it with aluminium foil and let the juices even out for a couple more minutes. Meanwhile, I tried everything I could to clear out all the smoke from the kitchen. There was so much smoke it was actually quite scary.

Eating the Steak

Unfortunately, I overlooked one important thing: the thickness of the meat. I realised too late that the steak I had was pretty thin compared to the usual slab of meat served at gourmet restaurants. As a result, the steak was overcooked and was as tender as a Dunlop off-roading tyre. In other words: I phailed.

At least the fries were good. And that concludes today’s lecture. Any questions, class?