It is not customary to fry beef-steaks for people who know what
really good cookery is. To speak more plainly, a steak, _killed_ by
heat and swimming in grease, is a culinary solecism, both vulgar and
indigestible.
Cut the steak thick, at least three-quarters of an inch in thickness,
and if you cannot get tender meat for this purpose, it is best to
substitute some other dish for it. But since tender meat is not always
to be had, if the piece you have purchased is doubtful, lay it on a
clean cloth, take a blunt heavy carving-knife, if you have not a steak
mallet, and hack _closely_ from one end to the other; then turn and
repeat the process upon the other side. The knife should be so dull
you cannot cut with it, and the strokes not the sixtieth part of an
inch apart. Wipe all over on both sides with _lemon-juice_, cover, and
leave it in a cool place for one hour. Lay on a buttered gridiron over
a clear fire, turning very often as it begins to drip. Do not season
until it is done, which will be in about twelve minutes, if the fire
is good and the cook attentive. Rub your hot chafing dish with a split
raw onion, lay in the steak, salt and pepper on both sides, and put a
liberal lump of butter upon the upper. Then put on a hot cover, and
let it stand five minutes to draw the juices to the surface before it
is eaten. If you have neither chafing-dish nor cover, lay the steak
between two hot platters for the same time, sending to table without
uncovering. A gridiron fitting _under_ the grate is better than any
other. If a gridiron is not at hand, rub a little butter upon the
bottom of a hot, clean frying-pan, put in the meat, set over a bright
fire, and turn frequently. This will not be equal to steak cooked upon
a gridiron, but it is infinitely preferable to the same fried.
I shall never forget the wondering distrust with which my first cook,
a sable “professional,” watched me when I undertook to show her how
to prepare a steak for the third breakfast over which I presided as
mistress of ceremonies. And when, at the end of twelve minutes, I
removed the meat, “rare and hot,” to the heated dish in readiness, her
sniff of lofty contempt was as eloquent as indescribable.
“Call dat _cooked_! Folks ’bout here would ’a had dat steak on by
day-break!”
A remark that has been recalled to my mind hundreds of times since at
the tables of so-called capital housewives.
The best—nay, the only pieces for steak are those known as porter-house
and sirloin. The former is the more highly esteemed by gourmands; but
a really tender sirloin is more serviceable where there are several
persons in the family, the porter-house having a narrow strip of
extremely nice meat lying next the bone, while the rest is often
inferior to any part of the sirloin. If the meat be tender omit the
hacking process and lemon-juice.