Cooking steak is easy. Simply take a juicy hunk of meat, season, and throw in the pan.But did you check that your sirloin had a good covering of fat before chucking it in your shopping basket? Did you prime the meat properly before cooking? And what sauce you serve with it?Comprising of so few elements, there really is nowhere to hide with a shit steak. So, to save you from messing up your next steak dinner, we reached out to Steve Pooley, executive chef at Jamie Oliver's recently opened steakhouse, Barbecoa, in London's Piccadilly.
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MUNCHIES: Hi Steve, first things first: which cut of steak should I go for?
Steve Pooley: The leanest cut is a fillet steak but because it hasn't got that much fat, you've got to work harder. You've got that beef flavour but not a lot else going on.Rib-eye has great intramuscular fat, a little nut of fat in the middle, and a small covering around. Sirloin is also really good because you've got a whole bit of fat around the outside.If you want to go a little bit cheaper, choose a bavette. It's quite tender and has a really lovely pronounced beefy flavour. It's quite intense but it's probably a third of the cost of sirloin or rib-eye.If you're at the supermarket or a butcher, what should you be asking for?
You want to have grass-fed. You get a better flavour because the animal has grown slightly slower. Also, if it's grass-fed, there's very good chance that it will be outside when the weather is good. By going with grass fed, you're almost guaranteed that they would have been outside, roaming, and happy which equals lovely steak.
Steve Pooley: The leanest cut is a fillet steak but because it hasn't got that much fat, you've got to work harder. You've got that beef flavour but not a lot else going on.Rib-eye has great intramuscular fat, a little nut of fat in the middle, and a small covering around. Sirloin is also really good because you've got a whole bit of fat around the outside.If you want to go a little bit cheaper, choose a bavette. It's quite tender and has a really lovely pronounced beefy flavour. It's quite intense but it's probably a third of the cost of sirloin or rib-eye.If you're at the supermarket or a butcher, what should you be asking for?
You want to have grass-fed. You get a better flavour because the animal has grown slightly slower. Also, if it's grass-fed, there's very good chance that it will be outside when the weather is good. By going with grass fed, you're almost guaranteed that they would have been outside, roaming, and happy which equals lovely steak.
Meat dry-aging at Barbecoa, a steakhouse in London's Piccadilly. All photos by the author.
You're also looking for a good marbling of fat, which you can visually check for. Some steaks have intramuscular fat which you can't see with the naked eye, but exterior marbling is a good indication that it's going to be moist because it'll dissolve as soon as you start cooking. I'm currently butchering a 14-year-old Dexter cow that's been out to pasture—the covering of fat on that is like butter, it's delicious.
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And what's the deal with wet- and dry-aging?
Wet-aging is when you break the carcass down into primal joints, steaks are cut from that primal joint and vac-packed. You get that slightly flabby texture which when you cook it and it's not quite so dense.Our preference is dry-aged because you get a much more intense flavour. Primal joints like a rump are hung on the carcass for a certain amount of days before it's butchered down. You get that lovely burgundy flesh and a lovely nutty flavour. We take our meat from 40 to 55 days. Any less than that is OK, but you just get a less nutty flavour.
Wet-aging is when you break the carcass down into primal joints, steaks are cut from that primal joint and vac-packed. You get that slightly flabby texture which when you cook it and it's not quite so dense.Our preference is dry-aged because you get a much more intense flavour. Primal joints like a rump are hung on the carcass for a certain amount of days before it's butchered down. You get that lovely burgundy flesh and a lovely nutty flavour. We take our meat from 40 to 55 days. Any less than that is OK, but you just get a less nutty flavour.
Herb brush for basting.
OK, I've got my meat. What's the best way to prep it?
There's nothing better than good quality salt and freshly cracked pepper. But it needs to be good quality. You can't use table salt because it's too bitter. Something like sea salt covers the meat so much more easily as well. When it comes to pepper, buy peppercorns and give them a smack in a pestle and mortar, or in a bag with a rolling pin because then you release that beautiful odour.Then, you can add anything you like. Maybe a bit of paprika, maybe a little bit of onion salt, maybe some dry thyme.We tie up in a bundle of herbs—some rosemary, sage, thyme, and a little bit of myrtle—and make a paint brush to baste on melted butter.What's the best way to cook steak?
I prefer cooked on coals or wood because you get that flavour from the fat dripping down onto hot coals, which then comes back up as flavoured smoke. If you've got a barbecue at home, you can make a dirty steak by cooking directly onto the coals. Squash your coals or embers down to create a flat surface and then cook the meat .
There's nothing better than good quality salt and freshly cracked pepper. But it needs to be good quality. You can't use table salt because it's too bitter. Something like sea salt covers the meat so much more easily as well. When it comes to pepper, buy peppercorns and give them a smack in a pestle and mortar, or in a bag with a rolling pin because then you release that beautiful odour.Then, you can add anything you like. Maybe a bit of paprika, maybe a little bit of onion salt, maybe some dry thyme.We tie up in a bundle of herbs—some rosemary, sage, thyme, and a little bit of myrtle—and make a paint brush to baste on melted butter.What's the best way to cook steak?
I prefer cooked on coals or wood because you get that flavour from the fat dripping down onto hot coals, which then comes back up as flavoured smoke. If you've got a barbecue at home, you can make a dirty steak by cooking directly onto the coals. Squash your coals or embers down to create a flat surface and then cook the meat .
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Seasoned rib-eye.
Single origin charcoals and British wood are best, and we use holm oak at the restaurant. The wood has to be kiln-dried with a really low water content so it doesn't smoke and smog. I love the fruit woods like cherry and lemon to give a great flavour.If you're indoors and you wanted to get geeky, you could use some beef fat or tallow in the pan to start your meat off. I would still baste it with a little bit of butter, turning it every now and them, and basting it more with all the fat that comes off. You could use a temperature probe to check how it's getting on. If it's reaching around 54 to 56 degrees Celsius, that's a good medium-rare point.When it's cooked, you need to rest it for roughly around a third of the time that you took to cook it. But if it's a big cut of meat, it might need more. Something like a rib-eye takes around 12 to 15 minutes to cook, so I'd give it about four minutes to rest.
Cooking steak over coals and wood.
Naming no names, what's your opinion of people who order their steaks well-done ?
It is a bit of a shame. I would prefer to cook their steak medium to well, keeping the juice but having no blood run through it. Well-done almost seems a waste to the farmer, the cow, the supplier, and the chef! You're not going to get the best out of it.Steak cooked and rested, it's time to eat, right?
We finish the dish with a drizzle of olive to add another layer of flavour. We use single estate Tuscan olive oils like capezzana and fontodi, because they're quite heavy and they can take the steak over other lighter Italian olive oils which are better with fish.
It is a bit of a shame. I would prefer to cook their steak medium to well, keeping the juice but having no blood run through it. Well-done almost seems a waste to the farmer, the cow, the supplier, and the chef! You're not going to get the best out of it.Steak cooked and rested, it's time to eat, right?
We finish the dish with a drizzle of olive to add another layer of flavour. We use single estate Tuscan olive oils like capezzana and fontodi, because they're quite heavy and they can take the steak over other lighter Italian olive oils which are better with fish.
Steve Pooley, executive chef of Barbecoa, slices the steak.
A dressing also goes really well. Chop up some garlic, lemon, shallots, maybe some dried chili, and a touch of oil. Then slice the steak on that so that it kind of infuses. Other than that, I'd always have a fillet with something like a béarnaise sauce to add fat to the lean cut. With something like a rib-eye or sirloin, a delicious habanero ketchup is lovely.And everyone likes steak with chips.Thanks for chatting with me, Steve.