Here's How to Cook The Perfect Steak

With expert tips from Pipers Farm

Steak Cooking Tips from Pipers Farm

Champions of sustainable farming for three decades, Pipers Farm offers 100% grass fed and free range meat (along with delicious dairy and pantry goods). Who better then, to share their tips for cooking the perfect steak, than these Great Taste Award winners.

Director, Abby Allen shares her how-to in time for family feastings.

When it comes to cooking a fillet steak to perfection, it’s understandable why there can be some anxiety around not wanting to ruin such a fine cut. However, there is no need to panic, it really as rather a simple process that requires just a few key steps.

Step 1

Choose the right beef. There are fillet steaks and then there are native breed, grass fed, four-week hung fillet steaks. Starting with the very best ingredient gives you a huge step ahead in the texture and flavour department.

Pure native breeds such as the Devon Red Ruby, tend to be much smaller animals, this means the meat will have a finer grain. When it comes to a fillet steak, the velvety texture that it is so famous for is dependent on the fineness of the grain. If your steak has come off a much larger animal the ‘eye muscle’ will have a more open texture and larger more defined protein strands, this tends to create a ‘chewier’ experience - no matter how well you cook it.

Grass Fed meat is not only better for you, as its rich in vitamins and minerals not found in such abundance in grain fed beef, but the beautiful notes from the grassy terroir are imparted into the meat. Its why 100% grass fed beef is always the preferred choice for celebrated chefs, there is simply far more complexity to the flavour profile.

Hanging meat on the bone in time honoured tradition allows the fibres to relax and to tenderise, whilst also drawing out moisture and further intensifying flavour.

Step 2

Prepare the steak. You may have read many times that meat needs to be removed from a chilled environment before cooking. There is absolutely true. If your meat is cold when it hits the pan, it can cause the muscle fibres to tense up. Remove your steak from the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking. While it rests on the side warming up, season it all over with really good quality sea salt. During these 30 minutes, the salt will act as light cure, penetrating the meat and further intensifying the flavour.

Step 3

The cookery. When it comes to steak cookery, we always recommend using a cast iron pan. There is something a little special about a really good quality pan, it will conduct the heat better, giving you that all important seer, and it tends to distribute the heat more evenly, making your cookery more straight forward.

Just before you are ready to cook, season the steak with freshly ground black pepper.

Place your cast-iron pan over a high heat. Once it is very hot, add your fat. Our top tip: ditch the olive oil, which doesn’t like high temperatures and can often burn and give a bitter taste. Instead use Beef Dripping, it can withstand very high temperatures and adds an extra, rounded beef punch to the steak. If you can’t find beef dripping, we recommend using an Organic Rapeseed oil.

Once the fat is sizzling add your steak to the pan. Don’t move it about, simply allow the cut side to caramelise beautifully, your naturally non-stick cast iron pan will allow the steak to move freely when the time comes. Leave the steak to caramelise for 2-3 minutes. At this stage your senses are important to judge whether you think 2 minutes is enough, or to go for 3, as this will depend on the thickness of your steak. Watch the ‘Mallard reaction’ as the bottom edge of the steak will become darker while it caramelises and the first few millimetres up the side of the steak will start to become a light brown. You should also begin to smell the umami beefy flavours become more intense in your kitchen.

Flip the steak over onto the other side and cook for a further 2 minutes. This time, there is an additional clue as to how your steak is cooking, if you watch carefully, you’ll begin to see a few droplets of blood breaking through the surface. As soon as you see these droplets, turn your steak onto its side and seal all the edges. At this point too, if you’re looking for real indulgence, add a knob of butter to the pan, along with a small sprig of rosemary, a bay leaf, a couple of sprigs of thyme and a crushed garlic clove, and baste the steak with the foaming aromatic butter all over for 30 seconds.

Leave your steak to rest for 8 minutes before diving in.

Following this simple guide will provide you with an utterly divine fillet steak cooked to medium-rare. If you like your steak well done, do not under any circumstances choose a fillet steak as it is the ultimate crime and you’d be better off gnawing on some beef jerky.

See more from Pipers Farm on pipersfarm.com