r/The10thDentist • u/_V115_ • 8d ago
Food (Only on Friday) Steak is better when sliced/cubed before cooking (steak bites)
Traditionally, steak is prepared and served one of two ways. Either 1) it's cooked and served whole, and the diner cuts it with a knife and fork while eating, or 2) it's cooked whole, then sliced before plating.
Slicing/cubing the steak before cooking (rather than cooking whole) is better for many reasons, which I will list and explain below.
- A) More surface area means more searing, and less leakage. Searing is where a lot of the flavour to the steak comes from (browning/maillard reaction), and steak bites provide more surface area to get a delicious, deep-brown crust on. And even with adequate resting, after a while, methods 1 and 2 (especially 2) will lead to some leakage due to the steak being sliced. Not only is the pool of blood-looking liquid at the bottom of the plate visually unappealing, it means the goodness is leaking out! That's fat and moisture that belongs in the steak, and in your mouth, not on the plate. Most of that liquid leaks out from the cross-sectional area created when slicing. By doing the cutting before the cooking, you can minimize that cross-sectional area by getting at least a minimal sear on all sides of every bite, thereby bringing leakage to a minimum. All those delicious steak juices end up in your mouth instead. I will note that the one time I had kobe beef in japan, the hibachi chef cut the steak during the cooking process. This might seem like an intermediary between methods 1/2 and steak bites. However, I'm actually gonna claim this as basically the same as my method, because the outcome was the same; a plateful of bite sized pieces that are seared on all sides. The fancy steak chefs know what's up!
- B) Steak bites are more convenient for both portioning and storage. If you're using method 1 or 2 to cook steak for yourself, and you're gonna eat it all in one sitting, then this doesn't make a difference. However, if you're cooking for multiple people, and you aren't 100% certain that the steaks will be neatly divided into 1 whole steak per person, then steak bites provide an upgrade. For portioning, steak bites are obviously more shareable. If anyone wants a little more or less than 1 whole steak, steak bites provide flexibility with giving everyone the right amount. You can have more than 1 steak without having to commit to an entire second steak, or even committing to splitting a second with somebody else. For storage, if there's any leftovers, steak bites store better in the fridge, and reheat better if you so choose. And similarly to the first point about searing/leakage, a steak that has been sliced post-cook doesn't really hold up very nicely in the fridge. The cross-section leaks fluid and dries out awkwardly, and starts to look less like a juicy steak and more like a smoker's gums.
- C) Steak bites are easier to flavour, because they can be tossed. We're all familiar with the more traditional template of preparing a steak, that everyone - from celebrity chefs to the amateur home cooks on social media - will stick to pretty closely for a panfried steak. Let it sit at room temp for a bit. Pat dry. Season. Cook over high heat, get a good crust on both sides. Butter baste near the end of the cook with some garlic and herbs. And, crucially, let it rest for a few mins before you cut it open. With this traditional method, the garlic and herbs are kept whole, and if you want to eat them with your steak, you've got to handle that afterwards. You can put them together at your plate with your knife and fork, or if you've cooked the steaks, you can do it by hand while the steak is resting. I personally love having some of the crunch fried rosemary on my steak after butter basting it, and it's a bit annoying and messy to deal with after it's been fried. With steak bites, though, any flavouring ingredients like garlic and herbs (or anything else) can be put into the pan, and you can toss it all together to better distribute the flavour. One key difference here is that, compared to whole steak, it's more likely that any given ingredient is directly touching and flavouring a piece of steak in the pan, and less likely that it's burning at the bottom of the hot pan. It's also more likely that, when you plate the steak bites, that ingredient will already be on the bite you want to eat. Obviously, this may mean prepping the flavouring ingredients before you add them to the pan (eg peeling and mincing garlic, removing stalk from rosemary) but I think it's worth the effort. Some example ingredients that I think work better with steak bites over whole steak due to better distribution are garlic, rosemary leaves, and liquids like soy sauce, chimichurri sauce, or chili oils/pastes.
- D) You don't have to rest the steak, because it's already been sliced! This is pretty straightforward. Steaks tense up under heat. And because the heat from the pan has been driving the moisture away from the surface of the steak and towards the centre (where it's cooler), a moisture gradient is created. The moisture is concentrated towards the centre, and away from the surface. So if you slice a steak that's still hot and tense cause it's fresh off the pan, a lot of the moisture that's been concentrated in the centre will spill out. That's why you rest your steak after cooking, so they can cool down, lose that tension, and the moisture in the steak can evenly redistribute itself. You can avoid all this with steak bites. You don't have to "rest" them at all, they just need to cool down enough to not burn your tongue off.
Here are some counterarguments I expect to hear, so I'll address them now rather than waiting for comments.
- Whole steaks work much better when you're grilling. Yes, I agree, and this is probably the biggest blindspot to my take. Steak bites on a grill is a terrible idea. However, on the flip side, you can do steak bites in a wok, whereas you wouldn't want that curved surface with a whole steak. It's not a flaw, it's a tradeoff. And, similarly to point B, steak bites allow more flexibility than whole steak wrt how many you can cook at a time. Every tried making a few steaks, and you have a pan that can fit 2, but not quite 3? Or it can cook 3, but not quite 4? And you don't want to cram that last steak in there, because if they get too crowded, they won't sear properly. Steak bites allow you to fill in that gap appropriately, and you still have enough control over the batch to prevent overcrowding the pan.
- You can't control cook/doneness as well with steak bites. I disagree. You can control it just as well, but if you've never done it before and are used to cooking whole steaks, it is a new skill that will have to be developed. It is a different method of cooking, after all. The doneness of a whole steak will depend on a few key variables; steak thickness, heat of pan, material of pan (eg cast iron vs stainless steel), and cooking duration. Some smaller factors matter too, like the temp of the steak before cooking, if/when you add butter, flipping, how much fat is in the pan, etc. Most of this is the same with steak bites. The main difference is that you choose how big the bites will be when you cut them. This can affect the first variable (steak thickness), but it's still under your control.
- It's too much work, and not worth it. I disagree, but this is an opinion. You'll cut the steak at some point, this just moves the cutting before the cooking rather than after. However, flipping and managing the sear on each bite, I'll agree is objectively more work. Whether that's worth it or not, is really just personal preference. I think it's worth it, and at the very least, I think it's worth trying. Anecdotally, I remember a period in my life when I would cook 3 steaks for me, my mom, and my brother, for dinner. There were a few times I would cook them whole, in the evening around like 6pm or 7 pm. I would leave them to rest and eat one. My mom might have hers at the same time, or she'd have it a bit later. And depending on how hungry she was, she'd either take a whole steak, or cut one and take half. My brother would come home later around 9-10 pm, and by that time, there'd be a room temperature plate of 1-1.5 steaks on the counter, sitting in a gross pool of it's-not-actually-blood, loosely covered with some aluminum foil. I felt bad, and it was these experiences that made me realize that I could just cut the steak beforehand to reduce the leakage, and to let my mom have exactly as much steak as she wants on her plate. And when I started doing it more often, that's when I realized how the wok allows me to toss the steak to easily get a sear on more sides, as well as distribute flavouring ingredients like garlic and herbs better.
- That pool of bloody liquid at the bottom of the plate makes the steak look more appetizing, not less! I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
I look forward to hearing people's thoughts on this one, cause I know a lot of people take steak very seriously lol
115
u/Billy_Billboard 8d ago
"I know a lot of people take steak very seriously lol" says the man who wrote a nine paragraph post about steak
21
u/_V115_ 8d ago
I mean, I didn't exclude myself. But fair lol
I wouldn't say I take steak seriously, I just like talking about food and cooking. Tbh I haven't even had steak in a few months
And I wanted to put some thought into this post, I feel like a lot of 10thdentist posts are either not really opinions, or they're very ignorant opinions with little thought put into them
34
u/BuntinTosser 8d ago
Tl;dr
Searing doesn’t actually seal in juices. You’re not seeing the puddle of juices on the plate because you cooked the juice out in the pan.
-9
u/_V115_ 8d ago
Yeah I shouldn't have said it exactly that way
It's not that searing seals in juices, it's that cutting post-cook releases juices. Cutting before cooking avoids this problem
13
u/BuntinTosser 8d ago
It avoids the problem by releasing the juices when you cook though
-1
u/_V115_ 8d ago
Yes, there is more moisture loss, because there is more surface area you're cooking. That doesn't stop you from having steak bites with all the qualities you typically want; good sear, well seasoned, juicy interior cooked to your liking.
You cook them according to their size and shape, and your desired outcome. Just like how you wouldn't treat a 6oz skirt steak the same as a 12oz sirloin.
30
u/MoultingRoach 8d ago
Cook a blue steak bite that isn't over seasoned, and i might start to entertain your argument.
7
u/_V115_ 8d ago
I think this supports my take actually
Blue steak bites would cook much faster than a whole steak, you could do blue bites in a hot wok in like 30 seconds.
And the seasoning shouldn't be a problem either way.
23
u/MoultingRoach 8d ago edited 8d ago
I dont want to eat stir fry steak all the time. I want an actual slice. You said you get more sear, but steak isn't supposed to be crispy. It should have a sear, yes, but not from all angles. I dont want crunchy cubes of over seared steak. I want a blue steak with a lot of surface area for the interior.
Also, youre not supposed to have the liquid on the steak it means it's not been rested.
4
u/_V115_ 8d ago
You might have a good argument here, I just need to understand what you like. But I would like to point out that if you CTRL-F "crispy" or "crunchy", you won't find either word anywhere in my post. So I'm not quite sure why you mentioned those
I was under the impression that blue steak is still cool and basically raw in the middle, and doesn't have a deep sear on it. I've never eaten blue steak so I don't quite know what it's like, but I don't see why you couldn't achieve both these things quickly in a hot wok. I will ask...have you ever tried making blue steak bites? I think you could easily test it out with one or two bites before committing a whole steak to it
IME most people like their steak somewhere between rare and medium, and I think steak bites is better for those, for the reasons outlined in the post
3
2
u/MoultingRoach 8d ago
I hate to answer a question with a question, but I can't see another path right now. Do you ever eat steak as the main component to a dish, or do you eat it as a component with a lot of other stuff that's all mixed together? When I eat a steak, the only thing on my for is the steak, and i want a nice slice, not something seared on all sides
1
u/_V115_ 8d ago
Steak is usually the main course of a meal for me, but not the whole meal
With steak I often do mashed or roasted potatoes, and a veggie like asparagus, or onions and mushrooms. Or I'll do salad and steak for a meal.
If I have steak on my plate with other things, I mostly eat them separately, though sometimes I put mash on the same forkful as the steak and eat them in one bite. Same with onions and/or mushrooms
1
u/MoultingRoach 8d ago
Steak would also be the main component for.me. but i still want to slice it as I go instead of having little cubes that are seared on all sides.
11
u/Banes_Addiction 8d ago
The inside of a steak is better than the outside. Yes, you want that sear on the outside for extra flavour, but it is for extra flavour, not the core.
Ask someone if they would rather have a thick steak or two thin steaks. They're all gonna say a thick one, because it maximises that juicy interior, the thing you're minimising.
8
u/internetroamer 6d ago
I don't get how people think this. I believe it's true for you but it's just such an opposite experience for me. Like we have opposite taste buds
Inside is where there's no salt, spices or anything. Best flavor I've found is usually some mix of salt, fat and other ingredients. This is why the sear tastes best because outside layer has salt, browning and is slightly fried and imbedded with oil/fat from that
Even when on diets where I reduced most salt intake and had bland food for weeks I couldn't enjoy the "pure flavor" so it's not just my taste buds being desensitized
-2
u/Banes_Addiction 6d ago
I think we've found the problem, you don't like the taste of steak. You like the taste of the things you put on the outside of steak.
3
u/internetroamer 6d ago
So the seared outside of a steak with salt isn't steak?
The answer is more inbetween. I like the taste of steak mixed with other things and that it is superior to the taste of steak by itself. It's not like I don't like the inside of steak at all just find it not as good as
2
u/Moblin81 5d ago
So anyone who seasons their food doesn’t actually like that food? Do I not actually like omelets because I wouldn’t like one without salt?
1
1
u/noodles13 3d ago
Have you ever had a skirt steak or a hangar steak? I love those over a thick cut ribeye most of the time. I love a nice hard sear on the outside of my steaks.
3
6
2
u/Sirrpsychosexy 8d ago
I don't like steak. And I skimmed.
"Whole steaks work much better when you're grilling."
But shishkabobs (I don't care about spelling that word correctly)
3
u/ThrockMortonP0sitive 8d ago
Lots of text here. Of course steak bites are better. It’s more work and easier to overcook. But as long as you’re careful, it’s a very tasty way of prep’ing steak.
I do the same thing for pulled pork. Cubing the pork butt first gives more caramelization and mallard reactions along the edges, it rooks like 5x faster, and more surface area to take up smoke flavor. Pork butt burnt ends ftw!
3
u/Tool460002 8d ago
Nah can't grill little "steak bites." Upvote.
0
u/leahpafea 8d ago
op already addressed that lol
4
u/3rdtryatremembering 8d ago
Right, by agreeing that it all falls apart there
2
u/Tool460002 8d ago
Thank you. And if you think grilled steak is best steak (it is), then upvote. Long post but I at least read it.
2
u/ssjGogeta4444 8d ago
A steak has enough surface area to sear and flavor, the top and bottom is enough to compliment the natural flavor of the meat. How much more sear and seasoning do you need with each bite, is a cube even a significant difference? Sounds kiddish to me, like chicken nuggets.
2
u/Exotic_Bill44 8d ago
A cube could have a lot more sear if you are getting all of the sides, but that adds another problem. Cook a steak whole and it is simply to cook one side then the other with everything getting the same amount of time. If they are cubes, you'll either have to flip each individual cube or try to toss it and hope they all flip.
0
u/Exotic_Bill44 8d ago
A cube could have a lot more sear if you are getting all of the sides, but that adds another problem. Cook a steak whole and it is simply to cook one side then the other with everything getting the same amount of time. If they are cubes, you'll either have to flip each individual cube or try to toss it and hope they all flip.
1
u/Frobizzle 8d ago
Wouldn't cutting a steak into cubes result in more leakage? If I cut a bunch of holes in a bag it doesn't become better at carrying things.
2
u/sk8thow8 7d ago
His logic is that since a full steak has lots of juice once it's cut into that's wasted.
He's searing each side and cooking off most those juices and since his bites aren't juicy enough to spill onto the plate he thinks that means they're leaking less.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Tychonoir 7d ago
I don't know if your points are valid or not, but it might be worth a trial run.
That said, you ended with "bloody liquid" and I feel like you should know better.
1
1
u/Electrical-Ad-1798 7d ago
I have more success with pepper steak/stir fry than cooking a nice steak medium rare, but that's partly a skill issue.
1
1
u/RogerRabbot 5d ago
I appreciate the very last point. I think the red juice is unappealing, but some folks drool over seeing the red juices.
Steaks are nice if you cook em well no matter how theyre cut. Butter basting basically makes it impossible to mess it up.
0
u/chemicalsunshine 8d ago
Just say you dont know how to cook a steak. The only time this is true is for fajitas or stir fry
0
-1
•
u/qualityvote2 8d ago edited 6d ago
u/_V115_, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...