Twice cooked steak

I'm still working my way through that cookbook, The Science of Good Cooking, albeit very slowly.

This post is about:

Concept 5: Some Proteins are Best Cooked Twice
Recipe: Pan-Seared Thick-Cut Strip Steaks

The idea behind this concept is that by roasting AND searing meat, you can get a perfectly cooked steak while still getting that satisfying crunch on the outside. It's tough to completely cook meat on the stovetop without either underdoing it or overdoing it.

This was actually pretty simple - simply bake the steak on a rack at 275 degrees for about 25 minutes, and you will have medium steak that you then quickly sear in the saucepan. You use the pan drippings to make one of the pan sauces - we chose the red wine & mushroom pan sauce - while the meat rests.

I served this with some broccoli slaw, butternut squash risotto, and Brussels sprouts. You can see the nice chunky mushroom sauce there, as well as a few sliced pieces of steak. Turned out well!

Next up is about slow-cooking meat to make it tender. Sounds like a perfect winter project.