Cooking with Platypus - 24 Hour Steak

platypus · 10 Sep 2009 at 08:37

I made this dish over the last few days, and whilst its not a true 24 hour steak, it does cook a very small amount over the period due to the citrus. It's easy to do, just choose a good piece of meat - I had a huge rump steak. The vegetables (other then the mushrooms) came from my garden, as did the rosemary

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This is for two people.

Preparation Time: 24 hours
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Two [Rump] Steaks.
Four large springs of Rosemary.
Olive Oil (enough to cover the steaks).
1 standard bag of Black Peppercorns
2 Oranges
2 cloves garlic
Vegetables of choice: I used Green beans, mushrooms, and potatoes.

Method
The idea behind this meal is to prepare the steak with some bold flavours and let it sit in its juices whilst ever so slightly letting it cook. Ideally you'll have a pestle & mortar for this, but if not a large bowl works just as well.

Chop the rosemary so it is very fine indeed.

Place into the bowl, along with the black peppercorns, and then grind into a fine dust.

Place your steaks into a bowl that is just large enough for them.

Next, fork the steaks in several places, on both sides. Pour in enough olive oil to only just cover them. Take the steaks out and place on a plate, and then tip the contents of the bowl into the oil, and mix it all together, adding most of the zest of the oranges. Squeeze the orange juice into the mix.

Put the steaks back in, and place the remaining zest on top.

Place clingfilm over the top of the bowl, and put in the fridge. Leave over night. In the morning, take the steaks out, and turn them over. Put the clingfilm back over the top and then back in the fridge.

Now the idea is that if, like me, you work 9-5ish, you can then come home, and get ready for tea with the hard work done. Prepare some vegetables - I chopped the mushrooms to fry in with the steak, and steamed the green beans. The potatoes take the longest of course, but its all rather easy from here on in.

So, get your vegetables done, and the potatoes on, and then finely chop some garlic. With about 15 minutes to go start to steam the beans over a low-medium light. With about 10 minutes to go heat the frying pan, and add in the garlic and mushrooms.

Depending on how you like your steak, start frying it from any time now, making sure to fry both sides twice to properly seal the meat. Serve with a well bodied red, I'd recommend a 2004 Bordeaux.

PaulStat · 10 Sep 2009 at 08:42

mmm sounds nice, I like the look of your chopping board, where did you get it from?

Azza · 10 Sep 2009 at 08:44

mmm steak, mmm peppercorns.

jamief · 10 Sep 2009 at 08:48

Sounds good, but you should never cook a steak in a frying pan, cast iron skillet or griddle every time

Guest2 · 10 Sep 2009 at 08:50

I could eat that now. and im not even hungry

Davepen · 10 Sep 2009 at 09:14

dude..... nice

platypus · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:31

PaulStat said:
mmm sounds nice, I like the look of your chopping board, where did you get it from?

Habitat if I recall, it was super expensive though, £120 iirc.

jamief said:
Sounds good, but you should never cook a steak in a frying pan, cast iron skillet or griddle every time

We can agree to disagree. I like frying steaks if they've been marinaded, because it's quicker to seal the meat

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oli collett · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:37

jamief said:
Sounds good, but you should never cook a steak in a frying pan, cast iron skillet or griddle every time

Why?

The Dread Pirate · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:39

Sounds good

MonkeyNews · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:40

platypus said:
Habitat if I recall, it was super expensive though, £120 iirc.

£120 for a chopping board, that is ridiculous. :eek:

jamief · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:40

platypus said:
We can agree to disagree. I like frying steaks if they've been marinaded, because it's quicker to seal the meat .

I don't think you can get a frying pan hot enough to seal a steak as quickly as a griddle/skillet - a griddle which you preheat in the oven to 250oC will seal the steak in seconds... I find that a frying pan kind of boils the meat, but each to their own

oli collett · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:43

jamief said:
I don't think you can get a frying pan hot enough to seal a steak as quickly as a griddle/skillet - a griddle which you preheat in the oven to 250oC will seal the steak in seconds... I find that a frying pan kind of boils the meat, but each to their own

I can comfortably get my frying pan up to heat (but it is a very good one). I just leave it on the heat for heat for 10mins or so until the oil just begins to smoke. I can get the steak blackened on the outside and rare on the inside doing that.

mangobreeder · 10 Sep 2009 at 11:25

jamief said:
Sounds good, but you should never cook a steak in a frying pan, cast iron skillet or griddle every time

get a decent frying pan, my le creuset pan gets up temp no problem, and holds the temperature too. ideal for doing a steak

RoboCod · 10 Sep 2009 at 11:44

£120 chopping board and what looks like a £5 knife from wilko

manic111 · 10 Sep 2009 at 12:13

Incidentally a coffee grinder will work as well as a pestle and mortar for your spices

ben90 · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:02

Make sure you get a good end frying pan, cheap ones actually rub the materials used to build it onto the food, which you can imagine is not good for you.

gillywibble · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:08

dannyjo22 · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:09

jamief said:
I don't think you can get a frying pan hot enough to seal a steak as quickly as a griddle/skillet - a griddle which you preheat in the oven to 250oC will seal the steak in seconds... I find that a frying pan kind of boils the meat, but each to their own

platypus said:
We can agree to disagree. I like frying steaks if they've been marinaded, because it's quicker to seal the meat .

You cannot seal meat. Its a myth.

Read a book by McGee 'Food and cooking an encyclopedia of kitchen science history and culture'. Its the book that inspired Heston Blumenthal who also explains why sealing meat is a myth.

NickK · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:27

manic111 said:
Incidentally a coffee grinder will work as well as a pestle and mortar for your spices

You'd not be let near my coffee grinder *shudder*

Also I was also going to say about the myth of sealing meat. It doesn't seal the liquid in but does kick start the browning and the cooking giving a better flavour.

Forgot to say - I have steak tonight too

I'll be frying it, but the pan I have has a good 1/4 inch metal base. I thought it was a fully copper base but it's not (from Sainsburys so not surprising!). I then went on the hunt for really good pans (very manly) here with a metal handle for the oven but I'm waiting till I've sorted the job out first.

Glaucus · 10 Sep 2009 at 14:31

jamief said:
I don't think you can get a frying pan hot enough to seal a steak as quickly as a griddle/skillet - a griddle which you preheat in the oven to 250oC will seal the steak in seconds... I find that a frying pan kind of boils the meat, but each to their own

Then you aren't letting the pan heat up.

As for sealing, that is what the term is called. As such perfectally acceptable to use the term. But it doesn't seal anything in. I adds flavour, texture, colour and starts the cooking process.

Anyway nice looking steak.