Valentines weekend. The older I get the more cynical I become and the less I'm drawn in to the mass generic marketing campaign that is Valentines day. Although I agree with the idea of Valentines night, It's very easy to take for granted the relationship you have with your partner and Valentines night certainly stands as a reminder to show a little bit of appreciation to a loved one.
Over the years I've had my fair share of disastrous 14th of February's. One time that springs to mind was taking my now wife (yes It's hard to believe) to a slightly expensive restaurant, no expense was spared, a bottle of wine was shared and the food was ordered.
Now most times I would struggle to tell you what food I ordered in a restaurant 10 plus years ago. On this occasion however I remember it well, I confidently picked the seafood linguine for main probably thinking at the time how cultured & well travelled it would make me seem.
Unfortunately it didn't quite transpire like that. This was the night I discovered I was severely allergic to mussels. In fact I didn't have to wait very long to make this discovery, as it transpired I wasn't even able to order my desert before I had to arrange for the taxi to pick us up much earlier than expected. I spent that night lying on the bathroom floor slightly disappointed with Valentines night.
Not all Valentines night's have to end that way. Some of my most memorable valentines nights have been a simple night in, a bottle of wine and two fantastic steaks. At Coates Butchers one of our best selling steaks is our flat iron steak. A fantastic cut that's easy to cook, tender and extremely flavoursome at £7.50 for two 7oz steaks it's a great deal too.
One of the questions I regularly get asked in the Butchers is how to cook a steak. I've included a couple of tips below that I always follow for a perfect steak.
I always use a griddle pan to cook my steaks,
Lift your steaks out of the fridge about 30 minutes before your going to cook them and let them come up to room temperature.
Season well using salt & pepper,
Get the griddle pan nice and hot, I don't like to add oil or butter to the pan It's just not needed!
Once your pans nice and hot, add your seasoned steak to the pan and leave it alone. Don't be tempted to keep flipping it or moving it, Just leave it alone and let it cook. use the below timings as a guide for a 7oz steak.
Rare 90 seconds per side.
Medium rare 2 minutes per side,
Medium 150 seconds per side
Well done about 5 minutes a side.
By letting one side cook then flipping it half way through the cooking process the outer edge of the steak will start to develop a nice crust to give it a bit of bite rather than being broiled.
The most important stage though is let it rest. At home i have a grill above the oven that gets warm when the oven is on but not hot. I always pop mine on a plate in the grill for 5-10 minutes to rest. Remember during this time your steak is still cooking.
Check out our store for the full range of steaks we sell and remember our Rump steak hamper is also on offer this weekend and has some great items in it.
Lastly if your ever unsure about weights, cooking or just want some advice, Ask us were here to help and are happy to do so.