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[Meat and Offal]
4 sirloin steaks about 2cm/¾
in thick, or 4 fillet steaks about 2.5cm/1in thick
freshly ground black pepper and
salt
oil or dripping
Maître
d'hôtel butter
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Season steaks with pepper.
Leave to warm to room temperature if they have been chilled. Sprinkle
lightly with salt just before cooking.
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Brush the frying pan with a
little oil or dripping and place over heat until it is beginning to smoke.
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Brown steaks quickly on both
sides. For a rare steak keep the flame fierce for the whole cooking time.
For better done steaks, lower the temperature after the initial browning.
Length of cooking time varies according to the type of steak, the degree of
heat, weight of the frying pan, etc. With experience it is possible tell
from the feel of the steak how well done it is, for example it fells very
soft when rare and very firm when medium. But if you want to be certain cut
a tiny slit in the thickest part of the steak and have a look. Don't do this
until you are fairly sure the steak is ready because too many cuts will
result in loss of the juices. Cooking times, assuming a hot pan are roughly
as below:
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Serve each steak topped with a
piece of Maître d'hôtel butter
SIRLOIN
Rare
steak: 1½
minutes per side
Medium
rare: 2 minutes per side
Medium
steak 2¼ minutes per
side
FILLET
Rare
steak: 2¼ minutes per
side
Medium
rare: 3¼ minutes per
side
Medium
steak: 4½ minutes per
side
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