A perfect finish starts at room temperature
There are some very key basics that I tend to assume that everyone is aware of, which is wrong of me especially as one of my all time favourite sayings is ‘assumption is the mother of all #%CK Ups.’
So for those who do not already know this little tip I hope you find it to be very helpful.
Never ever cook your protein straight out of the fridge! Well never ever might be a bit drastic as vegetarian proteins do not count and I'm pretty lazy on this one when it comes to mince. But you should follow this rule with things that don't require a lot of cooking time such as steaks and seafood.
You want to let your meats and seafood be at or near to room temperature before you start cooking them. This is something which was taught to me very early in my cooking career, and I guess you could say it is an opinion but it is one that you would be hard pushed to budge me on.
I'm not saying let your meat sit out on the bench for half a day. But for small cuts of meat 10 mins or more will do, solid chunks you’re looking closer to the 20 minute mark and with fish you only need long enough to take that chill off, so that when your hand touches the surface it doesn't feel stone cold.
Mainly this is so your protein will cook evenly and the heat can disperse better. In my opinion, the surface of the meat will seal faster as well when it's not stone cold to start. There will always be those who would argue to differ but if you want a perfectly medium rare steak and you spend a lot of money on purchasing a gorgeous fat steak that’s about 5cm thick, the last thing you want is to bite into a cold centre, right? In addition, you absolutely have to start at room temperature with anything that you want to eat rare as even after resting time, you’re skirting on dodgy street.
It is the same with fish. If, for example, you have beautifully seared tuna your cook time is very short, so while sashimi is delicious, I am not a fan of a hot exterior and a cold centre. Beginning at room temperature will mean the fish will be warm right through and a much more enjoyable eating experience.
Make it one of the first things you do when getting yourself all set up.
Take your protein out first, collect the rest of your ingredients and eventually it will become second nature.
And everyone knows what I mean when I say ‘rest your meat’?
When I think of the technical aspect, I start to wonder if perhaps I will end up a vegetarian one day because it makes me a bit queasy. We rest meat, especially beef and lamb, so that the blood will disperse itself evenly throughout the whole cut of meat, and as a result you won't lose all that blood when you cut into the meat (sounds a bit yuck aye)?
My rule here is, for smaller cuts of meat I rest for half the cooking time. For larger cuts I will often go closer to the entire cooking time and then flash that meat again at a very high heat in either a hot pan or in the oven.
Now go cook yourself a perfect steak. xxx