Cooking a steak doesn’t have to be difficult – Meta Description:follow these simple tips and you’ll have the perfect sirloin every time!
The sirloin steak is like a woman. She can be beautiful, tender, and caring. Or she can be bitter, tasteless, and.. rubbery? It’s all in how you prepare it.
Caution: Not allowing the meat to reach proper temperature to kill off pathogens can cause illness or death. Proper meat preparation is your responsibility and you should use a meat thermometer to ensure the recommended temperature is reached. Failure to adhere to proper cooking procedures, especially when serving meat rare or medium rare, can be dangerous.
Now that you have been sufficiently warned about the dangers of under-cooking meat, I want to introduce you to one of my favorite cuts of beef. Her name is Sirloin. And she’s both beautiful and delicious.
The sirloin is a cut of beef from the rear back portion of a cow. The sirloin can actually be classified into several cuts of steak: sirloin, tenderloin, top sirloin, and bottom sirloin.
When you buy meat at the grocer named ‘sirloin’ you are typically buying bottom sirloin. While bottom sirloin is still an exceptional meat, top sirloin and tenderloin are the prime sirloin cuts and command higher prices at grocers. They are the stars of the sirloin world and are the cuts you find at the finest steakhouses.
The picture in this article is of a 19oz. top sirloin steak which was pan fried. The cooking principle below is basically the same for any ‘loin steak.
Preparing a Sirloin
You can add whatever seasonings you want to your steak, but sirloin has a naturally delicious flavor — why would you want to ruin her? The basic sirloin rub is one of black peppercorn and sea salt. This is what the pros use.
The first step to preparing your steak is to unwrap your sirloin and gently place it on a cutting board, being careful not to drop it. Now take her in your hands tenderly rub a mixture of peppercorn and sea salt into the steak. Don’t forget to do both sides. There you go. Nice. She likes to be fully coated, so every bite is equally delicious.
Take the sirloin and place it in a zip-loc bag and into the fridge for two to four hours. Sirloin, much like a woman, needs extra time to get ready — but, also much like a woman, is well worth the wait.
Cooking a Perfect Sirloin
To cook a perfect sirloin you’re going to need to get your pan as hot as possible. Hotter. I mean really hot. Almost smoking hot. Okay, that’s good.
The reason we want our pan so hot is to sear the meat and cook it at a high enough temperature to kill off any nasty bacteria, but for a short enough time to keep the meat tender. Cooking a sirloin on low or even medium heat will turn it into a piece of unappetizing rubber.
Once your pan is of sufficient temperature, place the steak in the pan and leave it alone for four to five minutes. Don’t adjust the heat. Don’t turn her. Don’t move her. She might prefer if you don’t even look at her. If you need to, set the oven timer to remind you when 5 minutes is up and then leave the kitchen. Frequent turning ruins more fine steak than anything else.
Once five minutes have passed, flip the steak over and cook the steak for another four to five minutes before removing it from the pan and setting it on a plate.
Whatever you do: do not cut your steak open at any time until you are ready to eat it. In fact, after she is on the plate and before you do anything else, just go ahead and leave the room. Come back in five minutes. The cooking process stressed her out and she needs some time alone to relax.
The second best tip I can provide (after “Don’t flip the steak more than once!”) is to not cut the steak open immediately. The meat needs to relax so the natural juices, which are in the middle of the steak, can spread to the heavily cooked areas of the meat which were nearer to the pan.
After your steak is relaxed, and before it gets cold, server her, enjoy her, and be extremely proud of yourself for doing a sirloin up right.
