Page 222 - YC Cooking School

Rule of thumb for cooking steaks

For medium rare, cook a 3cm thick steak for approximately 3-4 minutes on each side. If you
prefer your meat medium, increase the cooking time by about a minute on each side. For a
medium to well done steak, fry it on each side for 6-7 minutes.

Also, like you would when frying duck or any piece of meat for that matter, it’s important to

keep connected with your steak. Talk to it (not really), prod it and touch it to check for
doneness. Remember to turn the steaks onto their fat side for a few minutes to render or
crisp up the fat right at the end.

Baste your steaks to keep them tender

To keep your steaks soft and packed with flavour, spoon the juices and fat back over the
meat while you’re cooking it.

Resting time
Always make sure that you rest your meat after you’ve cooked it. Meat should be allowed to

rest for roughly half the cooking time before you slice it.

Flambé the pan
Flambé is a fancy French word for adding alcohol to a hot pan, letting it catch alight and then
cooking it off so that it evaporates and leaves behind gorgeous charred flavours. This

technique is impressive but is also potentially dangerous, so take care and stand back from
the flame if you want to keep your eyebrows intact.

Deglaze the pan
Deglazing is a quick and easy way to lift the caramelised bits of crust from the base of the

pan so that they don’t go to waste and can contribute to the overall flavour of the dish or
sauce. You can deglaze a pan with alcohol, water or stock.

Allow your sauce to reduce on the heat
A pan sauce will need to reduce before it reaches the right consistency, so allow it to bubble
away on the heat for a few minutes. Some of the liquid in the sauce will evaporate and you’ll

notice that it will change in texture and get thicker. You can reduce a sauce as much or as
little as you’d like, depending how you like it. Remember to taste your sauce before serving,
as reducing it will intensify the flavours.

Return the resting juices to your sauce

As your steak rests, it will release a small amount of juice. These juices contain precious
flavour, so don’t chuck them down the drain. Rather return them to your sauce so that they
add to the overall taste of the dish.

A few notes on vegetables

Chopping onions
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