5 mistakes people make when grilling steak

Cooking meat, especially steaks, can be confusing. Picture: Supplied

Cooking meat, especially steaks, can be confusing. Picture: Supplied

Published Jan 21, 2020

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Cooking meat, especially steaks, can be confusing.

According to Lindsay Evans, who is also known as the  recipe geek, cooking the perfect steak depends on many things - the quality of your chosen meat, the cooking method you choose and the amount of seasoning you use, just to name a few. 

Below are a few common mistakes that Evans has highlighted that people make when cooking a delicious steak.

Purchasing beef from just about anywhere 

If you are on a quest to cook a good steak, the first thing you need to do is purchase good beef. So basically…do not purchase your beef from your local budget grocery store. Instead, head over to your local butcher shop and buy a good cut of meat. 

Sure, it may cost a little more, but we can guarantee that if the quality of the meat is superior, so too will be the end product. 

Cooking cold meat 

One of the most important rules to follow when cooking steak is to bring the meat to room temperature before cooking it. You need to plan and take your meat out of the fridge at least half an hour before you cook it (for thicker cuts an hour will do). Meat that starts at room temperature will result in more evenly cooked steak. 

Cooking meat, especially steaks, can be confusing. Picture: Pexels

Under seasoning 

Stop skimping on seasoning. When it comes to seasoning a steak, you need to be bold. You need to sprinkle enough sea salt and pepper on the exterior of the steak so that you can see a layer of it. A tiny pinch will not do. 

That layer of seasoning will not only flavour your steak from the outside in but will aid in the formation of that gorgeous crust. 

And simple is better. Coarse kosher salt or flaked sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper are ideal.

Over fussing 

Once in the pan, your steak does not need to be constantly fussed over, so for goodness sake put down the tongs. 

To get that gorgeous crust that we previously mentioned, your steak needs time to sear - untouched. 

So, add a tablespoon of oil with a high smoke point to the pan, get your pan good and hot and then put your steak in and just let it sit for 2 to 4 minutes (depending on the thickness). Turn it over and repeat. If your steak is very thick, you can pop it into a 204 degrees Celsius oven to finish it. No constant fussing necessary.

Not letting your steak rest 

You've done everything right to prepare and cook the perfect steak and then you plate it immediately and get busy eating. Right? Wrong. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make, and it will ruin all of the careful preparation and cooking you have done. 

Your steak needs time to rest, untouched, to let the juices redistribute and let the meat settle. So pop it onto a cutting board (you don't want to leave it in the hot pan, where it will continue cooking) and give it 10 minutes. Then you can get busy eating. 

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