It varies depending on the cut and sometimes the steak house, but medium rare or medium with the outside seared well, never charred.
i havent done this in several years but i used to butterfly a good cut and stuff it with oysters and a pat of butter. talk about rich.
Good point cause how those are defined can vary from one place to another as I've found out. I rub a lot of butter over it as soon as I take it off the grill. I was told a lot of those "fancy" restaurants do this, maybe steve could tell us if it's true, I'm sure he knows.
I remember when I was working at Del Lago I learned both of these things. I walked into the kitchen and told the meat chef, Frank, that I wanted the steak I ordered to be cooked between medium and medium rare. He looked at me and said "which one do you want?". I repeated what I said. He then explained, in a not so patient way, that there was no in between. It was one or the other. As to the butter, when the busboys would bus the table, they would take all butter from the table and deposit it in a container that was under a heat light on the serving line. This is where the drawn butter came from that was drizzled on every steak before it left the kitchen.
A lot of places put the plates under the salamander (broiler) to get them super hot...then they plate the steak...put drawn butter on it and the plate...and then spray water on the plate right before it comes out the kitchen. That's why the plates "sizzle" when the waiters bring the steak out to the table...It's showmanship...the sizzle soon dies down after all the water sprayed on the plate evaporates.
I saw a video one time of a guy frying chicken. He put several drops of water in the oil as it was heating up. He said that when the oil stopped making noise from the water, the oil was at the right temp. I always meant to put some water in my oil and check the temp when it stopped. Now that I think about it, it probably has a bit to do with the amount of water you added.....
Throwing a few drops of water is a way to tell if the oil is hot. If it's over 212 deg F the water will sizzle and pop as it instantly hits it's boiling point. It really doesn't give you a very accurate reading as to the exact temp though. It stops making noise when all the water evaporates, not when it gets to any specific temperature.
Interesting, thanks for sharing. WOW! Never realized that. Figured you'd know. :yelwink2: We have some of these Nordic Ware plates.
Right on... only way i'll eat a steak is seared for about 60 seconds per side. if it' still kicking the better it is. Besides it's the healthiest way to eat steak. :thumb:
