Now that summer temperatures and blissfully long days have magically arrived here in Finland once again (which feels ridiculous considering we still had a foot of fresh snow on the ground last month) two questions come to mind.
When can I swim in a lake again?
When can I make a fire next to said lake and grill something?
Winter lasted from all of November to, well, basically a few weeks ago this year (as per usual we skipped spring almost entirely in Finland) and cooking outside in the sun is one of those treats that make up for those cold, dark winter months.
I find this such a motivating time of year, especially for my cooking. I get excited about trying new techniques, revisiting old ones, and cooking one type of ingredient that, for much of the year, I don’t tend to obsess about all that much.
And that ingredient is meat. Or, specifically, prime cuts like steak.
My wife and I started eating less meat some years ago now. And one thing we really don’t tend to eat much of at all is prime steak cuts.
But with the chance to cook over high charcoal heat and make use of impromptu smoke from a branch of juniper or pine, fast-cooking cuts like pork loin, or strip steak of beef are so much fun to work with during these summer months.
It also helps that my 5 year old, Sam, spontaneously stared chanting “I want steak. I want steak” the other day in a very little-boy-from-The-Shining-redrum kind of way.
The other thing I can admit to, despite not eating much of it at home, is that I absolutely love cooking steak. When I started out as a restaurant cook, being put on the hot section with responsibility for cooking the “protein” was a big deal for me. I don’t think I’m going to win any “cool” points admitting this, but I still feel a sense of achievement when I’ve carved a steak ready for plating and it is cooked as I’d intended.
Now I am cooking meat again most days and nights in the restaurant, I feel it’s a great time to share a few tips to how I cook prime, fast-cooking cuts of meat.
I hope there are some new tips here for you, which include the simple processes I follow to create evenly cooked steaks from edge to edge.
And even if it’s all old news to you, I end this post with a bit of a summer condiment I think is great to go alongside grilled meat on a hot summer’s day that is far more interesting than the ubiquitous ketchup, mayo or heavy compound butter or cream sauce.
The secret steak…
First, a word on cuts I’m particularly fond of…
I’m cooking a lot of what we call in Finnish ulkofilee (trans: outer fillet) in the restaurant at the moment. This cut, using US terminology, is synonymous with the strip cut from above the tenderloin.
I particularly like this cut because slicing it 1 inch thick makes for a good 150g-200g portion. A weight I think makes for a very pleasing main course. And that 1 inch is the minimum thickness of steak you want to make sure you can get great colour on the crust without overcooking the inside.
But more on that in later in this newsletter.
I’d choose the strip over fillet any day, it’s tender and really delicious.
But my very favourite cut is the one I have probably cooked the most of in my cooking career. And that cut is the hanger steak. Also known as butcher’s steak (as far as I know because it wasn’t traditionally in high demand and, it being so lovely, the butcher kept it for themselves.) If you are of a more romantic persuasion it is called onglet in French.
Alongside ribeye, this cut was what I grilled the most of at a restaurant in Stockholm called Oaxen Slip. It has a fantastic flavour and, though not to the same degree as fillet, very tender. The entire hanger steak muscle consists of two “lobes” separated by a large membrane of sinew. This takes a little work of trimming, but once that is done it is very easy to work with. We would portion it into 170g steaks and cook it medium rare. But another great thing about this steak is how it might even be better pushing toward medium. The muscle of the cut is made up of a very large and loose grain, so cooking it further than you might fillet or strip is no bad thing at all.
If you prefer your meat more medium than rare, this is the steak for you.