One of the best things to do during the spring and summer is Grilling meats outdoors.
When the weather is perfect, and everything is right with the world, there’s nothing quite like sipping on a beer while flipping over a burger or checking the doneness of a steak. Not only does the smell of the meat over the charcoal flame make a stomach rumble with delight but also the hunk of beef that is cut into a perfect portion, seasoned, and seared on a ripping hot grill or a cast-iron pan is one of the most delicious things you’ll ever eat.
A few extra minutes on the grill – or a few degrees in the meat’s internal temperature – can make or break a perfect meal. But if you don’t know how to cook it, you’re going to mess it up. Then it can be overdone, chewy, or bloodier than you might like. Steak is a finicky food. That is why there’s a tip that might change your habits for future cooking from a respected chef regarding your frozen steak.
You’ll get more mouthwatering nibbles out of the slab of meat if you grill the steak straight from the freezer rather than letting it thaw out. A lot of people let steak thaw out after keeping it in the freezer and that’s apparently a big mistake if you want your meat to be done just right.
The result was clear as day as Dan Souza, the senior editor of Cook’s Illustrated, chose to test this advice first before acting on it. Because of this, he used two virtually similar steak pieces that came from the same cut, cooking one straight from the freezer and letting the other one defrost.
Before jumping into his project to test the difference in America’s Test Kitchen, Eight pieces of a steak cut by Souza. Since he used the same strip of loin steak, he froze every piece in the same manner. In addition to doing that, Souza also waited until half of the chopped pieces had defrosted.
Before popping both into an oven that he had set at 275 degrees Fahrenheit, Souza seared both halves of the steak in a hot pan. He seared each side for about ninety seconds.
He also waited for the steaks to both achieve the optimal medium-rare internal temperature of 125.5 degrees.
The steak was clearly better when cooked directly from the freezer. Not only did those vary depending on whether it was frozen or not but he weighed both slices of steak before and after cooking.
Cooking the frozen steak might take longer for about eighteen to twenty minutes to reach the desired doneness but a few extra minutes in cook time would be worth the wait, while the thawed steak cooked in about ten to fifteen minutes to reach the same internal temperature.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: AWM, Reshareworthy, Sweetandsavory
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