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Food

Pan - frying

By Pierre Langouste

Two popular ways of cooking steak in this country are to fry it slowly in dripping till it is as tough as old boots, or to cook on a lightly greased pan till it is done to a cinder.

Restaurants and grill rooms usually use the latter method but refine it by having a huge hot-plate instead of a number of small frying pans. The only virtue of it is that it prevents a cost-minded cook from using the same fat over and over again, as would probably happen if the steak were pan-fried.

Pan-frying in the French manner is by far the best method, for mutton chops and hamburgers, as well as steak.

The first essential is fresh, clean, cooking fat. (Stale fat is horrible; a friend of mine who used to say that no one could ruin a schnitzel has changed his mind after being served one cooked in stale fat.) The fat should be able to be heated to a high temperature without burning. This rules out dripping containing particles of gravy, as these burn easily. It should also have a non-objectionable flavour. Clarified butter is best on both counts.

To make it, melt some butter and bring it to the boil. Skim the froth off the surface till you can see the bottom of the pot clearly. Then decant the butter off the milk solids at the bottom, prefarably through gauze. You now have clarified butter, at about half the cost of the retail product, which may be stale anyway. You can heat it to 400°F without burning it.

Cooking the steak: Cut it thick, at least one inch, preferably nearer two. Heat ½ inch or more of clarified butter in a heavy-bottomed frying pan over your fiercest burner. When the butter is really hot it loses its yellow colour, but put the meat in before it reaches this stage. Cook equally on each side until done—this can be decided by cutting into the meat and having a look. My own opinion is that it is best eaten medium-rare.

This state is reached when the centre is still red, the juices have started and the jelliness of raw meat has gone.

Once it is cooked, don't keep it waiting, but salt it and eat it. If you can't do this, cover it with a damp cloth and put in a moderately hot oven (400° or gas 6) until you are ready for it. But it will go on cooking if you do, so the initial cooking should have been less than usual.

Cooking in butter may seem expensive, but it is faise economy to cook the most expensive cuts of beef in anything less worthy.

When cooking vegetables use really fresh vegetables— choose what is in season and ignore deep frozen vegetables.

Secondly cut them into regularly sized pieces—this will ensure all your vegetables cook at the same rate,

Thirdly take a large saucepan, fill it with water, add lots of salt, and place over your hottest burner. When it is boiling furiously toss in your vegetable.

Keep the water boiling while cooking for even distribution of temperature. The vegetable is done when it is tender to pierce with a knife but still crisp. Over-cooking vegetables is a crime.