Steak - the freeze, sear bake method?

I didn't mean that science in cooking was a fad (perhaps I should have made that clearer). I'm well aware that science has been used in cooking for centuries. It was the fact that it had been brought to the masses and was now the trendy thing to be seen to embrace that's faddy - especially the outlandish stuff peddled by Blumenthal and his acolytes.

oli collett said:
Because your results don't meet that which you would expect from the method
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Isn't that what science is about? If you expect a certain result and you don't get it, you try to find out why.

I suspect there's a lot of "the Emperor's new clothes" about this fad.

As for the steak method in the OP. I can have a properly cooked, tender, juicy steak on my plate within 15 minutes. Why the hell would I want to faff around for 2 hours putting it in the freezer and baking it? It's not necessary so why do it?

Obviously I'm wasting my time here. Probably best if I just leave you guys to your alchemy and I'll stick to cooking simple but tasty dishes :p
 
The method in the op was about adapting modernist cuisine methods for a dinner party.
If you are cooking for one or two people and have a good cast iron pan it may not make much sense to do it this way but if you are doing multiple courses for several people, as in the linked article, then it would life a lot easier and probable produce better results.

I have to say i am kinda torn between the arguments above e.g. i cook sous vide all the time and it really can produce either stunning results time after time
or produce results that are impossible by conventional cooking. However it is only a tool and some things i do not use it for e.g. perfect soft boiled
or poached eggs for weekend breakfast
are always done conventionally as both myself and my other half have perfected these and it is easier to do conventionally for us.

Also do not forget that there is a big difference between the modernist methods improving things (taste/texture or just plain reproducibility of results) and the stuff that is added for theatrics for television or their actual restaurants ;)
 
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.
 
Stan_Lite said:
I, for one, can't wait until this "scientific" cooking fad goes away. I get fed up of seeing it constantly on the interet or on the telly. I don't know about anybody else but I prefer cooking to alchemy.
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I like both, I still thing understanding what is actually happens, still helps normall cooking, this sciences cooking is still good for a few dinner parties or special meals. But for every day meals, any gain isn't worth the effort.

Oh and no I haven't tried the freeze steak method.
 
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