Everything you needed to know about cooking beef (but were afraid to ask Heston Blumenthal)

…or experiments in molecular gastronomy parts 2 and 3

He’s a tricky one to have in the kitchen our Heston Blumenthal. Everything is very technical, usually takes about two days to prepare and I’m too scared to argue with him about any of his techniques. I’m even having trouble finding some of the stuff he uses like his stainless steel injection baster.

I feel that I really need to work up to his recipes. To do this I’ve recruited a couple of guys who are much more accessible than Heston, Hervé This (pronounced Teess) and Harold McGee with their excellent books Molecular Gastronomy, exploring the science of flavour and On food and cooking respectively.

My first experimental success was to cook some lamb chops to perfection at 60C. Experiment number two was with a couple of tuna steaks. They took 45 minutes at 60C in the oven but I did have to cut them open to discover whether or not they were cooked. I then browned them in a pan. Jak said they looked a little raw in the middle; 30 seconds later they were almost overdone. A mixed, but not altogether bad result.

Today it’s beef, about 750grams of a cheap single fillet steak. What I’ve decided to do is cook it until it is 60C in the centre. Apparently at 70C a chemical reaction oxidises some iron compounds turning the meat pink (I have no idea why this happens at 60C in my experiment). At 80C meat turns brown through another chemical reaction.

I’ve no idea how long my steak will take so I’m using a meat thermometer, not ideal as it pierces the flesh of the meat.

I wonder whether or not to salt the meat first in addition to peppering it and rubbing it down in olive oil. I consult This on this (that’s awkward) and apparently it makes no difference if I salt it before or after cooking.

Next, to stop the meat drying out I cocoon the whole affair with aluminium foil. Then I just leave it there in the oven, for three hours it turns out – at 60C (140F), of course.
After three hours I brown it on the outside in a frying pan (you could use a blowtorch) for a minute or two. I don’t even let this steak rest.

Beef roasted at 60C (140F) for three hours.

The result is a perfect pink and extremely juicy tender steak. In my last experiment I noted that the lamb chops cooked slowly didn’t leak any juices. This chunk of steak did because of the thermometer piercing its flesh. I have learnt though that I could have sucked up the juices in a syringe and injected them back into the meat and let it sit for 10 minutes or so to absorb the juice. Next time.

There’s still a lot of experimenting to be done. I quite fancy cooking the meat for a slightly shorter time at a lower temperature so the centre is towards the raw side. And I would brown the outside for a little longer. I am simply not used to eating met that is evenly pink all the way through, although it is very enjoyable.
Food Fascist on cooking meat

Salt before or after?
It really doesn’t matter according to This.

Cook slow and cool or fast and hot?
Slow and cool produces a much more tender and juicy cut.

In the oven or poached in liquid?
These experiments have been undertaken in the oven. However, if you were to poach the meat it would absorb a percentage of the cooking liquid when cooling. This means you can flavour that liquid. Or if you are cooking in the oven you could inject it with a prepared gravy or seasoning. Perhaps even truffle (but not truffle oil, please)

What happens to a roast while cooking?
Apparently it loses one-sixth of its weight

And when you let a roast rest?
The outer parts of the roast have lost moisture. Letting it sit redistributes the juices from the centre.

What about marinades?
They do work but you want to use acids and red wines (as opposed to whites).

If you want the detailed science read the books.