Steak - the freeze, sear bake method?

Siliconslave · 22 Feb 2012 at 13:49

There have been a couple of articles floating around US sites about Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine series of books (seems to be a Heston style of science combined with cookery)

The focus of these articles has been his steak prep method:

Cover the steak in plastic wrap (or butcher paper) and place in the freezer for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 200°F and place a rack in the center of the oven.
After freezing for an hour, season the steak with a generous amount of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Place a cast iron skillet over a high flame and heat until screaming hot (at least 10 minutes). Add a thin layer of safflower oil then quickly but carefully set the steak in the skillet. Sear one side only until golden brown. Press the steak down with tongs to get an even sear. Alternatively, you can set a heavy bottomed pot or press on top of the steak to get a nice even crust.
Transfer the steak, seared side up, to a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven. Cook until done to taste (30 minutes – 1 hour). An internal temperature of 125 for rare, 145 for medium and 165 for well done.
Let stand for 10 minutes covered in a aluminum foil before thinly slicing. Season with a sprinkle of kosher salt.

Anyone tried it or willing to give it a go? I've actually got some steaks in the freezer (sacrilege i know but we were given and had no time to eat them

) so might have to try it over the weekend

Siliconslave · 22 Feb 2012 at 16:28

f00b4r said:
You might want to check out this link if you want convincing on trying the method and some others adapted for home users:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/d...pted-to-home-entertaining.html?pagewanted=all

EDIT: of course we want to see pics of the result!

That was one of the articles i was (vaguely) referring to, I do fancy the Gin-infused celery

Siliconslave · 23 Feb 2012 at 14:01

#Chri5# said:
Where can I buy racoon urine online?

unfortunately you need to get your own raccoon otherwise its just not fresh enough, there's been a bit of a run on them lately so pets at home are all out until next season.

I have no problem with top chefs doing things, and some of the techniques filtering down if they are approachable and effective, sure some of them are never going to be for us mere mortals but if you refine your pallet to the point you notice the difference between one technique and another what's the problem with there being a market to serve you.

Siliconslave · 1 Mar 2012 at 17:06

So i tried this out over the weekend and was very impressed - it worked really nicely. We had two sirloin steaks in the freezer from about a month ago which i let defrost for about 15 min while the pan heated, seared both sides to a nice deep brown and popped them in the oven at about 100c for around 45 min - left them to rest for 10 min then nommed.

The meat was nice and pink through and evenly done with a wonderfully soft smooth texture.

It was actually one of the best steaks I've cooked and I'd imagine very repeatable. I'm not convinced it was significantly better (or worse) than pan frying them well but the sweet spot seems wider which i'd imagine is the attraction.