Start with a good piece of Fillet, Ribeye or Sirloin steak. This is what is should look like. It is a must! Don't be a cheapo and buy a cheaper cut or a lower grade with lesser marble. You will NOT REGRET getting a good piece of meat. (If you need advise on where to go for decent, fairly priced meat, please feel free to drop me a note and i'll refer you to my butchers. I've got a few i go to for my regular supplies.)
Ingredients:
- 1 x Onion: The big purple type, sliced.
- 1 knob of butter
- Light Soya Saunce
- Oyster Sauce
- Dark Soya Sauce (The thick kind that is not so salty)
- Coarse dark pepper
By now, you're probably saying to yourself.. "what the??!!.. This guy's cooking chinese food or what!" Ok ok..I challenge you to try it first..don't be too quick to judge. As i said in my earlier post..SMELL then TASTE..
Preparation
Start with the pepper, rub it into the meat. Next, Rub in about 2 table spoon of light soya saunce (1 for each side). Leave it to season for about 10mins.
Cooking
- Put the butter in a frying pan and start heating it up until it melts..NO HIGH heat please..If your butter starts browning, you've got the fire up too high for too long.
- Throw in the onion and fry until you can smell the fragrance of the butter infusing with onions. Remove the onions. This is also to leave an "oniony-buttery" glaze on the pan.
- Add a little butter in the frying pan, turn up to high heat (Not too long until the butter browns) but do get the pan as hot as possible.
- Slap on the meat. Leave it to burn on the outside for about 1 minute on each side. The beef should look just slightly burnt on the outside. Turn down the heat to medium-low.
- Throw in the onions you have earlier fried. Add about 1 table spoon of oyster sauce and a dash of dark soya sauce for coloring. Stir until you have the meat coated with the sauce.(All this is done on medium-low heat). Depending on how you like your beef, stir for about 1 to 2 min for medium rare, about 3 to 4 for medium, and 10 min or more if you're trying to make beef jerky..and Voila! You're done!
The heat control on cooking steak is an extremely important part of the art of cooking beef.
You can do other variations once you've mastered the steak and are getting bored:
- Remove the beef and keep some onions in the pan, put in some port. Deglaze the pan and all it's beefy goodness with the port. Add in a knob of butter. Bring to boil.
OR..
- If you just want it simple, you can add a little corn-starch with water added to the pan. This should suffice OR
- While seasoning the meat with pepper , you can add in some mixed herbs. A small pinch will do. The light soya sauce goes in after.
This beef recipe has been inspired by family traditions..taught by my dad. One of the first few dishes i learnt. I later modified this with western methods to create a fusion Roast Beef which is simply orgasmic. Stay tuned.
Happy Cooking!
Let me know how it goes.
