"How much steak you cook steak?"
and "Cube Steak"
This story is a translation of my personal opinion as a Korean for non-Korean speakers.
Please let me know if anything is uncomfortable for you as this is my personal story,
and please direct any comments or concerns to me as an individual,
not to Korea as a whole.
- dooFteP -
🅘... Ⓢ○meⓉ🅘meS....
🅘'M hav🅘nG s†eaK...
S○me†🅘meS 🅘 d○n'† 🅘ikE n○† kn○w🅘nG hoW †○ c○○k 🅘†....
whe†heR 🅘†'S welL-d○nE, ⓜed🅘uM, ○r rarE...
🅘†'S verY saD †ha† 🅘 caN'† c○nf🅘den†lY ○rder 🅘†...
WelL, 🅘 guesS n○† kn○w🅘nG d○esn'† meaN 🅘 can'† ea† ⓜea†... ^^
🅘... prefeR s†eaK c○○keD welL-d○nE.....
bu†...
n○† rarE w🅘†H bl○○dY ju🅘cE dr🅘pp🅘nG....
bu† c○○keD †hr○ugH †○ mY l🅘k🅘ng.....
[Parody of Cyworld mini homepage]
Hello to my fellow Tistory neighbors,
Today, I want to talk about steak.
In the past, family restaurants were very popular,
but now, with the change in households
from families to single-person households,
people tend to go out in couples, and as a result,
the family restaurant industry itself is declining.
To cater to this trend,
upscale buffets and restaurants have launched menus
and courses catering to couples,
and they are steadily holding their ground.
I used to only eat steak on special occasions
like birthdays or anniversaries.
Every time I go to a steakhouse,
I wonder what the perfect level of
doneness for me would be.
I remember just saying
"Just cook it to a reasonable level"
or giving the answer I was forced to memorize
during my middle school English class,
"Well-done, please."
Before explaining about
the degree of cooking for steak
✨I will explain about "Juices".
Many people think that the liquid
coming out of meat is blood (hemoglobin),
but in reality,
the blood has already been largely removed
from the meat we eat and
it contains a lot of myoglobin.
Myoglobin is contained in places
where muscles need a lot of oxygen,
and meat that has not had the blood
drained after slaughter cannot be sold.
Please be sure to understand
this point before pretending to
know about it anywhere. 🙏
There are three ways to cook a steak:
Well done - similar to crispy pork belly before it's fully cooked
Medium - similar to eating cooked beef at home
Rare - similar to "Mom, this doesn't seem fully cooked" feeling.
But we can't just stop at "three ways",
can we? Shall we break it down further?
✨ Well-done
When a steak is cooked until completely 100% done,
it becomes very tough and difficult to eat
if it is not properly aged.
It is perfect for those who dislike redness in their steak,
as there is almost no redness or myoglobin flowing out.
In the Korean industry,
"well done" is requested frequently due to
the preference for more thoroughly cooked meat.
✨ Medium well
It is cooked to about 85% despite
its name and is a tricky level of doneness
that requires a skilled hand to cook it properly.
While it may appear fully cooked on the outside or inside,
when sliced,
a good amount of red juices should flow out.
This is the level of doneness that most Koreans prefer.
✨ Medium
This is not a state where 50% is cooked,
contrary to its name.
It's more like cooking expensive beef at home,
where the outside is well done and the inside
is slightly pink at around 75% cooked.
This is a level of cooking where you can enjoy
both the tender texture and the overflowing juices.
Those who have tasted steak tend to prefer this medium.
✨ Medium rare
This is a state where the steak is cooked to about 50%,
despite its name.
Unless someone has tasted it before,
ordering this level of doneness can result
in a high probability of disappointment.
Those who are true steak aficionados
typically prefer medium doneness.
For most people,
this is where they start to be surprised while eating
and may request to cook it a bit more.
✨ Rare
It's cooked to about 25% doneness.
This is the stage where people
who love beef tartare might say that
beef should be eaten raw,
but they are often shocked by
the slightly warm and mushy texture.
It's also where people might try to
imitate what they saw in movies or on TV.
Usually,
in family restaurants,
there is a further explanation of rare and
confirmation of consent before cooking it to order.
✨ Blue
It's not completely raw with a bright red color,
but it's cooked to a hygienic level,
similar to beef tartare (with options - lukewarm).
It's called "blue" even though
it's not uncooked because the origin of
the term has little to do with steak and
comes from another context.
"cuire au bleu, mettre au bleu un poisson".
Whole fresh fish with scales intact,
either still alive or very fresh.
This refers to soaking a whole,
un-scaled fresh fish in a court-bouillon made
with white or red wine, vinegar, salt, aromatic herbs,
and other seasonings to cook it.
The slime on the fish's surface reacts with the vinegar
to produce a blue-green color.
The mucus on the surface of the fish reacts
with the vinegar to create a bluish color.
[Knowledge Dictionary] Blue [BLEU]
I've learned about the different levels of doneness,
and it seems that medium-well and
medium are just right for my taste.
Even though I crave steak,
it's always too expensive to eat at restaurants,
so nowadays more people are buying steak cuts
from supermarkets or online stores
and cooking them at home.
While T-bone steak used to be famous,
these days Tomahawk is the hottest product.
Tomahawk steak allows you to enjoy all
three expensive parts: sirloin, fillet, and ribeye,
so it is difficult to find the whole cut of meat,
and even if you do,
it is very difficult to cook at home,
so many people regret buying it.
I also received two expensive tomahawk
steaks as a gift,
but I remember struggling to
cook them without an oven.
There is also a sibling product called "Donmahork,"
but it mainly features pork loin,
and there is very little ribeye or pork belly included.
It's better to just buy a regular sirloin steak to enjoy.
I received that as a gift once too,
but in the end,
I quickly cut off the bone and grilled it comfortably...
(The bones were for our dog Bokgil at home).
So, I was wondering if there is any steak
that can be easily prepared at home,
and I came across cube steak.
Nowadays,
various brands have released cube steak,
which can be found in many stores.
In Korea, many people still have the perception that
"cooking steak at home is difficult,"
so many people are not aware of
the existence of cube steak.
Cube steak, also known as "chap steak,"
is usually cooked by adding vegetables that
children do not like,
then adding steak sauce and
mixing everything together.
The advantage is that anyone can
easily enjoy seasoned steak at home.
The disadvantage is that the level of cooking
is set to at least medium,
which can't be adjusted.
That's about it.
Still, being able to eat delicious steak
at home is great,
and I think the invention of
cube-style steak is really wonderful.
How about having cube steak for dinner tonight?
The End
Image support - MeatMadam, FoodranPlus
Translation support - Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer
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