2 sirloin steaks, each 225g / 8oz |
2 teaspoons of butter (15 grams / ½ ounce) |
2 tablespoons of olive oil |
½ teaspoon Balsamic vinegar |
Salt and pepper to taste |
Recipe by David Marks.
Steak from the supermarkets is fine but it definitely is not the best and is of significantly variable quality. A good steak comes from dry aged beef that has been hung for around three weeks. Most beef sold in supermarkets is fresh beef. Find a good butcher who hangs his meat for around three weeks. We used "Eats of Eden" who are in the Bourne End garden centre (Hedsor Road, Bourne End, Bucks SL8 5EE).
We looked around for three week dry aged beef (sirloin steaks) which is available in the supermarkets for a price comparison. We found some interesting results price wise and description wise! Here are the results of our survey (23 April 2007) using the supermarket's online stores:
Sainsbury's | 21 day Dry Aged | £21.89 kg |
Tesco | 28 day aged | £17.49 kg |
Asda | "Extra Matured" - no time given | £17.47 kg |
Waitrose | "Hung" - no time given | £20.29 kg |
Eats of Eden | 21 day Dry Aged | £16.25 kg |
So, the moral is clear, use your local butcher. His meat is better, you can talk to him about it and in the case of Eats of Eden, it's cheaper than all the supermarkets!
The weight of the steak will not affect the cooking times but the thickness of the steak will. A nice chunky thickness is about 2cm (¾ inch) and our cooking times are based on this. If the steak is thicker, cook for a little longer, if it's thinner, cook for a little less.
You need to be reasonably accurate with the cooking times so a timer is useful. Also a thick frying pan cooks more evenly than a thin lightweight one. If you have a lightweight frying pan, be sure to place the steaks with the fat side in the middle of the pan.
Place the steaks in the pan and firm them down to the base of the pan. This will help seal in the steak juices.
Cooking times will vary according to how you like your steak. Below we list the cooking times for rare, medium and well done steak which is 2cm thick.
Rare | 2 minutes then turn the steak and cook for 1½ minutes |
Medium | 3 minutes then turn the steak and cook for 2½ minutes |
Well done | 4 minutes then turn the steak and cook for 3½ minutes |
Simmer for 4 minutes then pour the sauce over the steaks.