The Nearly Lost ART of the Truly Great Steak--How to Cook a Really-Really Good Steak

Once upon a time in an age long past, you could go to your local corner butcher or even the local SAFEWAY and buy  an aged PRIME CUT of beef. You knew it would be tender and depending on the cut, more or less flavourful and tender. The reason for this is that ageing allows natural enzymes to breakdown the hard connective tissue in meats and for water (which is nowadays often added) to evaporate away, concentrating the flavour. 

Dry Ageing

The old method of ageing meat is known as dry ageing. Dry ageing is done by hanging meat in a controlled, closely watched, refrigerated environment. The temperature needs to stay between 36 degrees F and freezing. Too warm and the meat will spoil, too cold and it will freeze, stopping the ageing process. You also need a humidity of about 85% to reduce water loss. To control bacteria you need a constant flow of air all around the meat, which means it needs to be hanging in a well ventilated space. The last and most important ingredient in this process is an experienced butcher to keep a close eye on the ageing meat.

There are many reasons that packers don't typically dry age meat these days:

• The average city dwelling consumer now demands "bright red, fresh, juicy, moist appearing," beef;will not buy anything else and is neither aware nor caring that there is anything much better.
• Because of the weight loss of aged beef, the price per pound can be pretty outrageous. the modern producer is not going willing lose any profit, you must pay for the weight loss.
• Add in the labour costs (by this I am referring to the inflated wages demanded by executives, managers, and trade unions, for the much reduced working staff). Logically, costs should be going down but they are not. The price keeps moving up--to the point that seniors and low wage earners can no longer afford to buy meat ot any kind.
• For ageing to properly improve the quality of a meat joint, it should contain substantial marbling. This means that there is fat evenly distributed throughout the meat. Only the highest grades have this kind of marbling and make ageing worthwhile.
• North Americans are becoming very fat concious. Actually fat of any kind has become taboo--and what about the 'BAD"cholesterol?
• Ageing takes about 11 days before you see much improvement in the flavour of the meat. After that flavour continues to intensify, but, so does the weight loss and the risk of spoilage. Eventually the meat will fully digest and be worthless so many fine European restaurants who do their own dry ageing will limit it to 20 to 30 days.
• Because of the high wages and space necessary to age meat; dry ageing--anywhere in North America has become very-very rare. 
• Since only the highest grades of meat really benefit. Because most of our prime quality meat is exported. And because the meat producers can still receive a  high profit through not doing so, why bother with dry ageing? 
• Actually, only a few restaurants will buy aged beef. The truly fine restaurants all age their own.
• The less expensive alternative to dry ageing is called wet ageing and is the ideal method so far as the meat producers are concerned. All meat now  requires some sort of packaging before export or shipping so the meat is shipped from packing plants to butchers or for export in vacuum packaging. Butcher shops, , hotels, restaurants can set this packed meat aside in their own refrigerators and allow them to age and also greatly reduce the loss formally incurred through spoilage. Since the meat is packed in it's own juices the enzymes will still break down the connective tissue and make it more tender. However, because there will be NO fluid loss the concentration of flavour that you get from dry ageing just will not happen. Many expensive joints and especially ANY part of the fillet will be almost tasteless so you are really wasting your money buying them

A Truly Great Steak, the Nearly Lost Art 
A good steaks may be cooked through direct use of a broiler or grill, but; truly great steaks are seldom prepared that way. Even in large professional kitchens-- equipped with several different types of broiler, or over an open camp fire-- pan broiling is by far and away, the preferable method.
Note: This process creates a good deal of smoke. You won't notice it much on the patio, but your fire alarm probably will notice if you choose to do this indoors. If you're doing this in the kitchen; you will want to turn off the alarm for the duration.

Start with a good steak at least 2 inches thick. I much prefer a Porterhouse or other sirloin. 

Once you have your steak you will want to lightly brush it with oil. Choose an oil with a high smoke point (sun flower oil is good) to prevent excessive smoke from forming. It is very important that you get each side of the steak well coated with oil, but not as important that you get the edges. The steak won't stick, but you need the fat to conduct the heat from the pan to the steak as fast as possible.

Season the Steak

You will now want to lightly season the steak. Typically we are talking about only a good, coarsely ground or preferably cracked black pepper. The oil is going to hold the pepper in place (quite often, in large camps, I would do both of these steps in one by putting oil and pepper together on a bake sheet and then simply dipping the steaks). You can put on any seasonings you like but please remember we want to maximize the flavour of a good steak, not the seasonings.

Preheat a Cast Iron Skillet

To make this whole process work, you need a smoking (almost white hot) cast iron pan (other pans probably won't take the required heat). IF YOU ARE AMONG THOSE WHO INSIST ON A STEAK HAVING "GRILL MARKS", A GRILL PAN MAY BE USED; OR AS IS DONE ON OCCASION IN TOP KITCHENS; THEY CAN BE APPLIED WITH A BRANDING IRON. The skillet needs to be clean and without any fat, oil, or cooking spray. All the oil you need is already on the surface of the steak. To test the pan, drop a single drop of water on the pan. If it dances for a second before disappearing your pan is almost hot enough but you are not quite ready to get your steak cooking. Make sure that you have your steak. You require a clean plate, or a cast iron sizzler and a properly prepared steak plank, a heavy duty grill mitt, a pat of butter, a pair of tongs ready. You will also need an oven or broiler that has been preheated to at least 400 F. Make sure you have all your preparation in place for you will not get a chance to step away.

Place Steak in the Hot Skillet

Note: You are going to get a good deal of smoke, popping, and sizzling but you need to wait exactly two minutes without touching the steak. You might think it is burning, but I promise that everything is fine (unless flames are shooting toward the sky. If such is the case, turn off the gas and run).

Place the steak in the centre of the hot skillet. It is important that as much of the steak is in contact with the metal as possible (some cooks will use a bacon press on top of the steak) so never try to cook a steak that is bigger than your pan and make sure that the steak is well seated on the pan. YOU ARE GOING TO COOK THE STEAK TWO MINUTES.

Turn the Steak Over

After exactly two minute, turn the steak over placing it exactly where it was. Like when you first put the steak in the pan, make sure that you have it well seated in the pan. It is important to maintain that surface contact. You will continue cooking the steak for an additional two minutes.

Note: Most importantly, you want to notice and admire just how beautiful that steak is looking now. Observe the deep brown (not blackened and charred on the edges as it would undoubtedly be if you were cooking directly on a grill) colour of the cooked surface now staring up at you. Beautiful, isn't it.

Again, be patient and let the steak continue cooking (burner still on high) for two more minutes. During this time make sure you have your grill mitt on. This mitt needs to be one of the new highly heat proof type, since the metal you are about to pick up is about 500 F and heavy

Always, "Finish" the Steak with Butter

Your steak has been cooking for about four minutes now and if you want it very rare it's time to take it off the heat. If you want it more than very rare—say medium rare—you need to transfer it to a preheated oven (or broiler). You want your oven (or broiler) above 400F.

Note: Very importantly before you close down the lid or door, you want to drop a pat of BUTTER on top of the steak right in the middle. This butter will melt almost instantly and pour down over the steak giving an extra rich, almost nutty flavour. Basically the butter turns to a rich caramel.

If you want to get a precise temperature reading on this steak, you can put an oven safe thermometer or older style meat probe (the kind with the remote unit) so you can read the temperature without opening the door or lid.

Testing for Doneness

This is almost as much an art as a science, but if you are using a thermometer (as you should be) you will be able to hit it very close. Remember all meats continue to cook for a period after they are removed from the heat; you need to remove the steak 5 degrees F below your target temperature. Say you want a medium rare steak (about 130 F) then you need to get that steak out of the oven/broiler and off the skillet when the centre of the meat reaches 125 F degrees. If you want something that is cooked any more than medium rare, why are you reading this recipe?