Tender Cuts Class

<p>Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.</p>

Grant Crilly

<p>Close your eyes, and remember the best steak you’ve ever had. Remember how it waited, plump, and brown, and buttery, on your plate, sprinkled with sea salt that had just begun to melt into the surface. Remember that savory, roasted fragrance wafting from the kitchen or the grill. You sliced gently through the thick, crunchy edge, eventually breaking through to the juicy interior, firm enough to carve with your steak knife, but tender enough to yield to the blade. Perhaps it was packed full of meaty flavor; all fatty and marbled and dripping with juices. Perhaps the texture melted in your mouth; just a few slow chews, and your shoulders drop, and the corners of your mouth turn up into a smile, and all you can say is “mmmmmmm.” 

Hopefully, you have at least one of those moments. Unfortunately, they often take place in an expensive restaurant, and they’re usually pretty scarce. Many of us have only had one or two great steaks in our entire lives. But no longer. Master this technique, and you’ll probably have to stop yourself from making steak every night of the week. 

We created these steps with a one-inch piece of meat in mind, but they’ll work for thinner and thicker pieces as well. The only thing that changes is cook time—pull the steak out earlier or later depending on the size of the cut.</p>

Beef Steak