Perfect Sirloin Steak with Tasmanian Pepper Sauce
Sirloin Steak is a delicious and easy-to-make dish.
Sirloin Steak is a delicious and easy-to-make dish.
- Carbohydrate 21.7163671782212 g
- Cholesterol 264.190731822793 mg
- Fat 75.4909779249239 g
- Fiber 0.1407 g
- Protein 97.641103700372 g
- Saturated Fat 34.4230950629692 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (701g)
- Sodium 529.166385999324 mg
- Sugar 21.5756671782212 g
- Trans Fat 8.70168674704092 g
- Calories 1251 calories
Step-by-step
- Buy the best meat you can afford. When you pan-fry steak there is nowhere for bad ingredients to hide so make sure you get the best - nicely marbled and preferably dry-aged. And once you have spent your hard-earned cash on a good steak do not hide the quality of the meat by slopping a marinade over it!
- Have the steak cut an inch thick if you like medium rare or rare meat; or thinner if you like it medium or well-done. The thinner a steak, the more difficult it is to get it seared on the outside and pink on the inside - so go thicker the rarer you like your steak.
- Use a heavy cast-iron pan, preferably a griddle pan with ridges, and pre-heat it before adding the meat. Putting your meat in a cold pan just encourages it to stick as it slowly heats up and you won't get that lovely crisp sear that you get from a truly hot pan. The meat should sizzle loudly when you put it in the pan. If it doesn't, your pan is not hot enough. Heavy cast-iron has great heat-retention properties and provides very even heat distribution, which is what you need.
- Do not oil the pan - brush a little oil onto the meat. Oiling the pan just risks a smoky kitchen as the oil heats up; and wth a griddle pan, the oil will end up down in the valleys rather than anywhere near the meat by the time you get cooking.
- Salt the meat with a little coarse-grained salt just before cooking. No, it will not toughen your meat, it will draw out moisture and help to form a good crispy crust - but don't season it hours before you cook it, literally just before it goes into the pan.
- Once your meat is in the pan, cook only until moisture beads start appearing on the uncooked surface, then turn. Only turn your meat once. Turning the meat only once produces a better crust, as well as pretty grill marks :)
- Test for doneness by pressing on the meat with a closed pair of tongs, not by cutting into it with a knife. Cutting the meat in the pan merely releases all the beautiful juices and dries out your meat. Ever seen a slightly-cut steak served in a steakhouse?? Didn't think so. Rather press on the meat with tongs. For rare, the resistance should feel like pushing on the fleshy part of the base of your thumb; for medium, like pressing in the centre of your palm; and for well-done, like pressing on the base of your pinky finger (i.e. pretty hard!)
The ingredient list does not tell you that Tasmanian pepper carries a distinct, lingering heat that behaves very differently than black peppercorns, punching through rich dairy without dominating the beef. Sourcing dry-aged sirloin rather than wet-aged cuts ensures proper surface dehydration, which is essential for achieving the Maillard reaction.
Pan Physics and Meat Searing
Relying on a heavy cast-iron griddle pan prevents the temperature drop that occurs when cold meat hits a thin metal surface. Brush neutral oil directly onto the one-pound cut instead of pooling fat in the skillet to minimize smoke accumulation in a compact kitchen space. Apply coarse salt immediately before contact with the metal, allowing the crystals to dissolve slightly on the surface without drawing out internal moisture prematurely. Sear the meat until beads of moisture appear on the raw upper surface before executing a single flip. Test doneness by tactile resistance rather than piercing the muscle fibers, comparing the firmness to the palm of the hand to gauge internal temperature accurately.Building the Pan Sauce
After resting the protein on a warm plate for at least five minutes, sweat the finely chopped shallots in salted butter over medium-low heat until translucent. Deglaze the pan with a splash of brandy, scraping up the browned fond left behind from the sear. Stir in plain flour to form a roux, cooking out the raw starch flavor for sixty seconds before whisking in beef stock and single cream. Simmer the reduction until it coats the back of a spoon, then fold in crushed Tasmanian pepper just before serving to preserve the volatile aromatics. Pair the rich dish with bitter greens dressed in lemon juice to cut through the heavy cream and high fat content of the pan sauce.
