Heston Blumenthal

How to cook a steak like Heston Blumenthal

Regular readers know I like steak and some of you know that I’ve cooked steak like Heston before. Now that I’m back on a low carb kick I’ve been dreaming of a nice steak dinner since picking up a piece of ribeye from Coles on the weekend.

I began preparing the steak this morning as I was making breakfast. I unwrapped the meat and laid it on a rack and then on a plate and put it back in the refrigerator to dry out a little.


This is Heston explaining his steak cooking method

When I arrived home after work I pulled the steak out and placed it on the kitchen bench to let it get to room temperature (which in Canberra today wasn’t much different to the temperature inside my refrigerator).


 

This is my steak after it had been drying in the refrigerator

Ribeye steak out of the refrigerator waiting to be cooked and eaten.
Ribeye steak out of the refrigerator waiting to be cooked and eaten.
How to cook a steak like Heston Blumenthal
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Ribeye fillet steak
  • Fennel
  • Parsley
  • Bok choi stalk
  • Red onion
  • Lime juice
  • Mayonnaise
Instructions
  1. In the morning before leaving for work unwrap the steak and put it on a rack on a plate and put it back in the refrigerator
  2. When you get home after work pull the steak out and put it on the kitchen bench to equilibrate to room temperature
  3. Cut the fennel, parsley and red onion into thin slices and squeeze the juice from half a lime
  4. Put the salad together
  5. Slice the stalk of some bok choi and set aside
  6. Get a frypan really hot and add some grape seed oil plus a bit of butter
  7. When the pan is smoking hot put the steak in the frypan
  8. Count slowly to fifteen and turn
  9. Repeat this for a total of 3 minutes
  10. When the steak is cooked put it aside in a warm place and let it rest for 10 full minutes
  11. While the frypan is still hot add the bok choi stalk slices and fry off
  12. After 10 minutes resting plate it all up
  13. Shoot a photograph
  14. Eat the meal
  15. Wash the dishes
  16. Write the recipe
  17. Blog (verb)

This is the steak and fennel salad plated up

Steak and fennel salad after the meat has been rested for 10 minutes.
Steak and fennel salad after the meat has been rested for 10 minutes.

Here is my breakfast this morning. Streaky bacon cooked in a benchtop oven and served with a fried egg.

Pay day bacon and egg
Pay day bacon and egg

So how do you like to cook steak?

How I failed Heston Blumenthal

Regular readers know I watch Heston Blumenthal videos for cooking tips. I’ve also been boiling eggs for many years so how could I fail boiling a soft boiled egg?

Well I was watching the Heston Blumenthal episode on eggs. He mentioned a foolproof method of producing a soft boiled egg with luscious oozy yolk. I watched this on the #CanberraDay long weekend and went to make them but I couldn’t find egg cups. So yesterday after work I bought new egg cups in anticipation that this morning I’d have lovely soft boiled eggs.
 

 
There is also a description on the SBS site.

So the mistakes I made are:

  • My smallest saucepan with a lid isn’t small enough
  • My induction hot plate is just too slow to bring the water rapidly to 100 °C and not helped with the not so small saucepan

So I have some potential solutions:

  • Buy a smaller saucepan and experiment
  • Experiment with shorter cooking time
  • Use a small portable gas hotplate that I have
  • Experiment a lot and cook lots of eggs

 

This is what I ended up with. 

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I was so disappointed I had to have second breakfast

Caramel tart topped with Queensland nuts (Genus Macadamia)

Caramel tart topped with Queensland nuts (Genus Macadamia) from the Urban Bean Espresso Bar in Phillip. A delicious breakfast 

 


 

Today’s lunch was nice and colourful

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So tonight while watching #MKR I had #breakfastfordinner

Smoked salmon with avocado and a cheddar cheese omelet with spinach leaves, red chillies and jalapeño peppers. I also added a little cream cheese.
Smoked salmon with avocado and a cheddar cheese omelet with spinach leaves, red chillies and jalapeño peppers. I also added a little cream cheese.

I think this weekend I’ll look for a smaller saucepan with a lid and use my gas hotplate. 

Have you ever failed a celebratory chef’s recipe?

Porterhouse Steak Heston Style

The Porterhouse steak Heston style is the second Heston style dish I’ve done today. For breakfast I made scrambled eggs Heston style 

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Here’s a video of Heston on MasterChef Australia describing his cooking technique.

 

 

Unfortunately, Heston doesn’t complete the TimTam Slam in this video. 

So tonight I used a Porterhouse steak which is a little unusual for me because I prefer rib fillet. Given the cost of living, the cost of meat and the need to budget more carefully I went with Porterhouse steak.

To accompany my porterhouse steak I had an avocado that I coated with pepper and chilli flakes. I also prepared a simple fennel salad with red onion, parsley and capers.

Porterhouse Steak Heston Style
 
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Porterhouse steak
  • Avocado
  • Fennel
  • Parsley
  • Red onion
  • Capers
  • Pepper
  • Salt
  • Chilli flakes
  • Lemon juice
Instructions
  1. The night before place the steak on a rack and on a plate and put into the refrigerator. This helps the steak dry out.
  2. Allow the steak to get to room temperature.
  3. Just before cooking rib in some oil and a little salt.
  4. In a smoking hot pan sear the steak and keep flipping every 15 seconds for a total of four minutes.
  5. Seal the edges, especially the fat.
  6. Allow the steak to rest for 10 minutes.
  7. Half an avocado and cover in lemon juice and then coat with cracked pepper and chilli flakes
  8. Prepare the fennel salad with fennel, parsley, red onion, capers and lemon juice.
  9. Slice the steak and put onto a plate, add the salad and then the avocado.
  10. Shoot a photograph.
  11. Eat the dish.
  12. Wash the dishes.
  13. Write the recipe.
  14. Blog (verb)
 

 

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I drained the lemon juice out of the fennel salad by straining in a coffee filter paper.

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You can see the steak is rare in the middle and nicely coloured on the outside. The fat could have been rendered better but it was fine (I like animal fat).

So how do you like to cook your steak? 

Scrambled eggs Heston style

I forgot wilted spinach leaves with my scrambled eggs

Oh well I had spinach leaves and it would have been nice to have something green on the plate.

I’ve been watching a bit of Heston Blumenthal on TV lately and I thought I’d give his scrambled eggs technique a go. I normally cook mine in a frying pan in butter and stir a little once every 15 seconds and the whole thing is usually ready in a couple of minutes.

Heston cooks his eggs low and slow in a bain-marie. I found this YouTube video which shows the technique nicely.

 

 

Heston always seems to add beurre noisette and sherry vinegar. I didn’t do this because I was hungry and didn’t have any unsalted butter or sherry vinegar.

The process of making the scrambled eggs turns out to be really easy although it is time consuming. Putting a glass bowl on a saucepan, i.e., a bain-marie is easy and it’s the first time I’ve used this technique, I’ve never even heated chocolate this way. In my mind it just always seemed like an extra effort and I’m a lazy person and especially a lazy cook.

It takes about seven minutes before anything starts to happen and when it does the fluffy folds of eggs start to come together. By the end the eggs are creamy and really nice. The eggs went nicely with the streaky bacon and the bacon spam.

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Scrambled eggs Heston style
 
Recipe Type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Streaky bacon
  • Bacon spam
  • Eggs
  • Cream
  • Salt
  • Dried flowers
Instructions
  1. Put the bacon and spam into a bench top oven and cook for 20 minutes at 200 °C
  2. Get the water in the saucepan simmering
  3. Break the eggs into the glass bowl and add some cream plus a little salt
  4. Place the bowl over the simmering water and gently stir for about 15 minutes
  5. When the eggs start to come together and look like scrambled eggs take the bowl off the saucepan and put the eggs on a plate
  6. Add the bacon and spam to the plate
  7. Add some dried flowers to the scrambled eggs to make it look pretty
  8. Shoot a photograph
  9. Eat breakfast
  10. Wash the dishes
  11. Write the recipe
  12. Blog (verb)
 

 

A nice big saucepan with water
A nice big saucepan with water
Eggs in the bowl
Eggs in the bowl
Eggs in the ban-marie
Eggs in the ban-marie
Yes my oven is dirty
Yes my oven is dirty
Dried flowers from the Essential Ingredient Canberra
Dried flowers from the Essential Ingredient Canberra
Eggs coming together
Eggs coming together
Eggs are ready
Eggs are ready

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How do you cook your scrambled eggs?