If you’ve not seen it yet, you may like to comment on my How to cook a Blue Steak which has attracted a lot of polarised views!
There’s been so much debate however, I thought it was time I put up a video showing how I cook my blue steaks. Note that I don’t say that this is *the* way, or the best way, but this is just how I cook my blue steaks. (Sorry for the sizzling sound when the steaks go on the pan!) Enjoy:
11 April 2011, 12:59 am
Canola oil is your best bet — loads of Omega 3, very high smoke point, almost no taste. (We use canola or high oleic safflower for cooking, or extra virgin olive oil for salad dressing.)
Do you try resting your steak at all? I find that improves the flavour a lot. I very much agree with 30 sec / side (or 60 sec / side for a thinner cut of steak, where you’re only cooking 2 sides), but giving it a 5-min rest between a couple of warmed plates can be v. tasty.
11 April 2011, 9:25 pm
According to my friend Evil Chemist (professional biochemist and way, way more into nutrition than anyone else I know), and what I can find out myself elsewhere, the body can adapt to use a lot more short-chain ALA than 5%, particularly if a good overall Omega 3 : Omega 6 ratio is maintained in the diet as a whole (i.e. better than is generally found in the Western diet). I figure that given that my extra virgin canola oil has a good Omega 3 : Omega 6 ratio (around 2:5), and a high smoke point, it’s probably better than your generic, non-extra-virgin olive oil, particularly if you want to fry your steak at tasty temperatures. 😉
15 April 2011, 8:08 am
It all comes down to which expert you’re following, and how controlled your diet is. I take the view that Omega-6 is an important nutrient that you don’t want to be deficient in. However we’re talking about the odd gram or 3 a day here.
Sadly, as you allude to, the Western diet is crammed full of the stuff. E.g. it’s the primary saturated fat in the spoonful of mayonnaise that I’m currently enjoying my breakfast mackerel with. Similarly you get far too much from any fried food, including crisps (something you don’t eat much of, I know), and also chocolate. Anything with vegetable oil in (most processed foods) has too high levels of Omega-6.
So rather than try to count up how many grams of Omega-6 I eat each day, my simplistic approach is simply to minimise it at every possibility, knowing that when I cheat, I’ll be getting far too much anyway.
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid#Conversion_efficiency_of_ALA_to_EPA_and_DHA
quotes 2 sources that back up the short chain ALA to long chain EPA & DHA conversion rate of just 5%:
13 ^ Gerster H (1998). “Can adults adequately convert alpha-linolenic acid (18:3n-3) to eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3)?”. Int. J. Vitam. Nutr. Res. 68 (3): 159–173. PMID 9637947.
14 ^ Brenna JT (March 2002). “Efficiency of conversion of alpha-linolenic acid to long chain n-3 fatty acids in man.”. Curr. Opin. Clin. Nutr. Metab. Care 5 (2): 127–132. doi:10.1097/00075197-200203000-00002. PMID 11844977.
It’s also mentioned in one of the many Zone Diet books I’ve got, but I haven’t the hours required to find the reference.
As I understand it, the synthesis of Omega6 to bad Eicosanoid hormones (the bad being Arachidonic Acid (AA) goes like this:
Linoleic Acid (Omega-6) to Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) via Delta 6 Desaturase (enzyme)
GLA to Dihomo Gamma Linolenic Acid (DGLA)
DGLA to Arachidonic Acid (AA) via Delta 5 Desaturase (enzyme)
DGLA is also converted into “good” eicosanoids, but not if Delta 5 Desaturase has converted it all into bad AA
Delta 6 Desaturase is inhibited by Trans fats and DHA.
Delta 5 Desaturase is inhibited by Glucagon and EPA, and is activated by Insulin. Which is why you want to be taking EPA.
So, Omega-6 feeds this whole train of reactions, leading to the creation of bad Arachodonic acid (AA). It can be inhibited at the start by DHA (fish oil), which is why we should ensure we take some of that. And later in the chain, it can be limited by EPA, which is why we take some of that.
We want some DGLA however, we just don’t want it converted to AA via Delta 5 Desaturase, which is why your Omega-3 fish oil should contain more EPA than DHA. (Sears’ stuff is 2:1 ratio.) This is also why we don’t want to eat a high carb diet. High carbs produce insulin which activates Delta 5 Desaturase to produce more bad eicosanoids.
Simples… er no, it’s not! Perhaps a picture will help:
17 April 2011, 8:25 pm
Personally, Colin – I would completely avoid seed oils. (Canola, which is just rapeseed oil, and vegetable/grain oils). Use Ghee/Clarified butter, lard, or beef tallow. All of them have exceptionally high smoke points and taste way better than the others. Plus it’s the way we used to fry things until people freaked out about saturated fat.
4 May 2011, 7:33 am
Looks delicious, except for the seared part (and no, I don’t eat it raw). If my steak has sear marks or dark brown, the outside is burnt. Nice grey color on the outside and deep red on the inside is perfect. Then throw it on a bed of white rice and we’re done.
And no, I’m no cook. I can’t even cook my steaks right.
17 July 2012, 7:49 pm
I cannot see the argument for miniscule amounts of Omega 3’s in cooking a cholesterol / triglyceride laden steak. That’s just the Yank in me. Beside, seed oils taste bad when they are taken to high temperatures so why bother with them.
Olive oils work well for pan cooking a steak and the light variants have a very high smoke point. The Black and Blue steak we cook in the colonies are usually done on a grill ( which certainly ruins them ) but some do it in a pan and I am one of them. I use an old cast iron skillet with a very thick bottom. I get it hot hot hot and condition the steaks with oil and black pepper. If you leave the steaks a bit cool from the refrigerator their centers will resit cooking allowing the outside to be charred heavily and leave the centers “blue”.
A 1and 1/2 inch thick strip steak with a cool center is peppered heavily and seared for 1 and 1/2 minutes on a side. Let it stand 5 minutes then serve. This with a fried egg and hashed potatoes is the ultimate Texas Breakfast.
3 February 2013, 6:31 pm
I spend about 3 months a year in Brittany (for the last 10 yrs) and the photo of the blue steak you show is exactly as I like mine done, but in France that would be called “saignant”, rare in English. I have a few French friends who eat blue steaks. I have been in their kitchens, boats, bbq etc and they just show the steak the heat. Most though, seem to have saignant.
Once in a restaurant, one French friend told the waitress “blue please and tell the chef to cook the steak for 3 seconds turn it and cook another 3 seconds and serve it.”
On your video, you cooked your fillet steaks for nearly 3 minutes, I must admit they did look nice but I only cook about 30 seconds per side and I call that rare. I baste mine in unsalted butter before I fry them, in a very hot pan, in order to get the outer “skin” brown as quickly as possible without cooking the inside.
Keep up the good work.
28 May 2015, 2:50 pm
Temperature
If you don’t mind please you can send me exeit steak s temperatures
Like a
Blue steak
Rear steak
Medium rear steak
Medium steak
Medium will steak
& will don steak
Please if you send me inside & outside color s after cooking temperatures off all
I wish you all the best
&I’m waiting for your mail thanks
Abdul Rauf
25 June 2016, 6:45 pm
My blue Steak is as follows.
Rump no thicker than 1-1/12″ left out to room temperature covered olive oil rock salt and pepper and garlic cloves crushed finest. Leave on for half n hour or so before flying.
Pan on hot hot hot, big knob of butter into the pan with the steak and count to ten slowly. Turn and same again turn on side count 10 again and other side 10 that’s a count of 40.
Serving fried onions tomatoes courgettes and the steak butter to the steak.
23 December 2016, 6:41 pm
I thought a “blue steak ” has crumpled blue cheese on the top of it . In fact, I would grill the steak in the broiler and just at the end of it’s cooking cycle I would pour the blue cheese chunks on top of the steak and let it melt a bit . Then serve it w/whatever you want it with…cole slaw, a green salad or use your own imagination…broccoli or cauliflower .
So, am I way off the beaten path of what is really a “blue steak”???
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