My notes on my search for the perfect cooking method of steak
Inspired by the Blumenthal show, I’m going to look into whether I can replicate the perfect steak. Sources: “Handbook of Food Science, technology”Muscle tissue consists of 75% water. Of that, 1% is permanently bound within protein molecules. 10 to 15% of that is ”immobilized” and is located close to the 1% of the bound water . The other 59% is free water between the extracellular space and is easily lost.A decrease in pH (more acidic), decreases the amount of water binding groups in the muscle tissue, and thus decreases it’s ability to hold water.Muscle tissue contains mostly actin and myosin.From the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/experimental_kitchen_low.shtml), it looks like 55 deg C is the temperature at which myosin shrinks and causes it to lose water. This seems to be unavoidable, unless you want to eat raw meat. The other temperature is at the 60-65 deg C range, where collagen begins to break down. This seems to be the key point as collagen is the tough material that’s apparently holding the muscle tissues together and making it chewy. So from the Blumenthal show, and the various other sources, bringing temperatures up quickly will cause water to be expelled (inevitable), but will not give enough time for collagen to break down. Focusing on the temperatures between 55-60 deg C and giving the meat a long time in that temperature range will allow for enough collagen to break down to give a more tender taste.Update : ok, so I got myself a 12 oz piece of “well aged” steak from St. Lawrence Market. Cut out the excess fat, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed it into a plastic oven bag (along with the cut out fat - for the fatty flavour), and cooked it inside a toaster oven at an average temperature between 60-65 deg C . Two bimetal spring type oven thermometers were used at the same time to ensure some form of accuracy. In hindsight, the 2nd thermometer should’ve been a digital thermometer. This was cooked for around 4.5 hours. At the end of that time, quite a lot of liquid seemed to have exited the steak and a test cut showed that the steak was thoroughly cooked to a pinkish colour. The steak was then finished by quickly searing it for 30 seconds on each side, and rested for around 4 minutes. Texture was ok… not mouth meltingly good (I’m comparing this to steak served at the Harbour 60 in Toronto) . The flavour of the steak was ok, most likely due to the aged nature of the beef rather than the cooking method.Overall, I’d say this was a failure. In hindsight, I might try for 2 hours instead.