When cooking steaks at home, do you cross your fingers and hope that they won't turn out over- or undercooked?Do you end up cutting into the meat or stabbing it with a meat thermometer to check for doneness, only to lose the flavorful juices as they drip out--and possibly also finding out that it's already overdone?
Are you tired of "guesstimating" if your homecooked steaks are cooked right, and ending up disappointed more often than not?
Here's a little trick used by professional chefs and experienced home cooks to tell when a steak is perfectly cooked to order, be it rare, medium, well-done or anything in between:
Use your finger and your face!
Here's how it works:
1. Poke your cheek, without smiling or making a face: That's what a rare steak will feel like when you poke it.
2. Poke the end of your chin: That's medium-rare (red center that's warm).
3. Poke the end of your nose: That's medium (pink center that's hot).
4. Poke the area between your eyebrows, above the bridge of your nose: That's medium-well (just a very thin line of pink in the hot center of the steak)
5. Poke your forehead (not much "give" there!): That's well-done (cooked through but still juicy, no visible pink in the center)
Go ahead and give this method a try the next time you cook a steak at home--or test it when you order steak at a restaurant. With a little practice, you'll be cooking steak like a pro and wowing family & friends. Just make sure your face and finger are clean, before and after!
Do you have a foolproof way for telling when a steak is cooked to perfection? Please share by leaving a comment here.
Zestfully yours,
Gloria
PS: For those seeking more flavor, here are some excellent steak sauces to choose from. One of my personal favorites is Marie Sharp's Exotic Sauce, an inspired blend of tropical ingredients with a dash of hot pepper flair. YUM!
PPS: Want to get those impressive steak-house sear marks on your home-grilled steak? Simply use a GrillGrate on your grill!
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