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| Illustration: Cooking sticks |
1. Don’t cook a steak that’s fresh from the fridge.
Number one mistake people make when preparing steak. If it’s too cold, the outside will char and the inside will be a little bit rarer than it should be.
2. Don not be
Don’t put a piece of steak in a pan or on a grill that isn’t screaming hot.
If you don’t let the pan heat up, you’ll lose out on caramelization and you’ll end up steaming your steak.
3. Don’t be afraid to douse the steak with seasoning.
Oliva say, people either don’t season the steak enough or they only season one side. So, just use combination of kosher salt and sea salt, and a fresh ground pepper mix that has about seven different types of peppercorns in it.
4. Don’t leave a steak on an open flame for too long.
When grilling a steak, sear it fast and move it to the side — unless you want a charred piece of meat.
5. Don’t poke the steak with a fork to see if it’s done.
You’re testing steak, not cupcakes.
6. Don’t flip the steak more than once.
Put it in a hot pan, leave it alone until it starts to caramelize, and flip it only once.
7. Don’t press down on the meat.
Your number one job in cooking a steak is to keep the fat locked inside the meat. The more pressure you put on the steak, the more fat you lose.
8. Don’t serve a steak fresh from the pan or grill.
The amount of resting time depends on the size of the steak. Oliva lets the Delmonico’s 42-ounce double porterhouse rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving it. But he recommends 10 minutes for most any cut.
9. Don’t forget to re-season the steak before serving.
A lot of the seasonings get lost in the cooking process, so Oliva and his staff give the steaks at Delmonico’s a sprinkle of sea salt before they leave the kitchen.
