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Cooking a Steak

As we have already adverted to those good old sayings current upon the subject of the principles of cookery, we would refer to that perhaps most common one of all, viz. "The test of a good cook is to cook a steak and boil a potato." Let us dwell for a few moments on the important dish in all English households--a steak, or a chop.

I candidly confess that I think a chop or steak one of the very best tests of a good cook, for the simple reason that the proper cooking of either calls forth certain qualities on the cook's part, which nothing but experience can give.

These qualities may be briefly summed up in the words--forethought, patience, and common sense. In the first place, the state of the fire is of paramount importance; and probably the chief cause of chops and steaks being, as a rule, inferior when cooked in private houses to those prepared in public establishments is the difficulty of maintaining a clear fire in the former. To attempt to cook a chop over a fire on which coals have been recently placed is simply an act of insanity. Here, therefore, comes in the quality of forethought to which we have alluded. By keeping the fire bright, and supplying it with half-burnt cinders and the ashes of previous fires, much may be done to rival "the grill" of large establishments. We will, therefore, suppose a moderately bright fire, free from gassy exhalations, and also suppose the cook to be above the barbarism of even thinking of a frying-pan as an easier, and, with a view to the "grease-pot," a more profitable piece of machinery than the gridiron. First, place the gridiron on the fire for a minute or so, and then take it off and smell it. It may seem to some absurd to mention such trifling matters of detail, but then cooking--good cooking--consists in constantly observing details. As we said, smell it, for the simple purpose of finding out if it has been properly cleaned. Suppose, for instance, it has cooked a bloater on the last occasion; the heat will bring out the possible omission of cleanliness on the part of the person whose duty it was to see the gridiron put by in its proper state. Having, therefore, warmed it, rub it carefully with a piece of paper; and let those who doubt the advice thus given go down themselves to their kitchens and try their own gridiron, and observe the colour of the paper after this very necessary operation. If the gridiron has been used on the last occasion for fish, it will be found a good plan, after wiping it with paper, to finish with rubbing the bars with a small piece of onion. By this means a flavour highly objectionable is destroyed, and one that, even if detected, would do no harm is given. Suppose, therefore, the gridiron clean, and the chop or steak placed on it. No advice with regard to time is here possible. The cook has to depend entirely on his judgment, but the old rule of "ten minutes and ten turns" is generally a safe one to go upon. Next, cook the chop or steak quickly in the early period; the reason of this--to keep to our subject, the principles of cookery--is in order that we may surround it with that hard rim that keeps in the flavour. Next, do not be too much afraid of what cooks call "a flare." In fact, err, if possible, on the side of encouraging a flare. Sometimes it will be found advisable, when you think the cooking process is not going on sufficiently quickly, to drop a little piece of fat or dripping into the fire to make a blaze. The end desired is red inside, black out. The difficulty is to know when the chop or steak is done; and the only proper method to find this out is top inch the meat. Uncooked meat is flabby, over-cooked meat hard. A well-cooked chop or steak hits the happy medium between these two alternatives.

The proper thing with which you should turn or test a chop or steak is a pair of cooking tongs, made especially for the purpose. Whatever you do, however, do not cut it to look at it, for in this case you sacrifice all the first principles of cookery, and commit that most deadly sin for a cook--viz., you let out the gravy. Suppose, therefore, you pinch the steak with the tongs, or press it with the side of a fork on the gridiron, and it feels spongy; this means that the inside is not simply red but blue, and that, therefore, it requires a little longer cooking. Suppose, however, it feels firm, not hard; this means it is done, and the outside appearance of being black, which, for fear of being misunderstood, we will call being well browned, like the outside of a well-roasted sirloin of beef, should for this very reason have been acquired early in the cooking, as any further attempt to obtain colour would be attended with the risk of over-cooking and, consequently, drying up the meat.

There are many things best cooked on the gridiron besides chops and steaks; for instance, kidneys, mushrooms, tomatoes, bloaters, etc.; but we would here mention one case of the use of the gridiron, not perhaps generally known, and that is of cooking substances wrapped up in oiled paper; for instance, a slice of salmon grilled. It is, of course, at once apparent that a clear fire is here indispensable. Should any blaze exist, the paper would catch fire, and there would be an end of the attempt. The principles of cooking, however, are here very clearly exemplified. Why should the slice of salmon be wrapped up in this oiled paper? Simply for the good old reason of keeping in the flavour. Just as in cooking mutton cutlets en papillote, all the flavour that would otherwise escape is by this means kept in the meat. To grill, therefore, properly, it is requisite that the cook should possess patience. It is no use placing a chop on a gridiron, and leaving it to look after itself for a few minutes. It may, for instance, stick to the gridiron a few seconds after it is put down; and the smaller the fire and the gridiron the more likely this is to occur. To obviate this possible contingency, a push, if only to move the chop an eighth of an inch, is requisite. Again, if the chop appears to be cooking slowly, lower the gridiron to the fire; on the other hand, if it appears to be doing too fast, raise the gridiron; and, as we have before suggested, if the browning process does not take place as it should, make a flame by means of throwing in a little piece of fat or a little dripping. In serving up a chop or steak, it should be borne in mind that, like a souffle, it should be sent up directly. A mutton chop to taste right should almost burn your mouth. This principle is well recognised in some of our public restaurants which possess their "grill room." You cannot warm up a chop or steak any more than you can warm up an omelet.

In removing the chop from the gridiron, especially if it be in a flaring state, take care to let it rest for a few seconds in mid-air to let the fat drop from it, as, should it be placed on the dish just as it is, a little of the fat will run off it and give a greasy appearance to the dish that is far from desirable. Of course, too, the dish on which the chop is placed, as well as the cover which goes over it, should be made not merely warm, but hot.