Chef Ivan Slinko, who worked for many years in the legendary Odessa steakhouse, taught me how to check the steak doneness without a thermometer, but simply by touch. The whole city knew: Ivan knows his meat. The butchers at the bazaars knew Ivan and always offered him only the best. And in the restaurant menu, instead of the usual description of the dishes, there was an intriguing inscription: “Today Ivan is frying …” The idea behind Ivan’s method is as follows:
Chef Ivan Slinko, who worked for many years in the legendary Odessa steakhouse, taught me how to check the steak doneness without a thermometer, but simply by touch. The whole city knew: Ivan knows his meat. The butchers at the bazaars knew Ivan and always offered him only the best. And in the restaurant menu, instead of the usual description of the dishes, there was an intriguing inscription: “Today Ivan is frying …” The idea behind Ivan’s method is as follows:Let’s start with the right hand. Put your thumb and forefinger together as if in an okay gesture. Do not open them. With the index finger of your left hand, touch the palm of your right hand, at the base of the thumb. Do you feel how soft the muscle is now? Now on the right hand, connect the thumb with the middle one. Touch the muscle again. Feel that it has become tougher. Continue changing fingers on your right hand until you get to the little finger. Notice how the muscle changes from very soft to hard with each finger change. The idea behind the reception is as follows: the softness that you felt when touching the palm of your right hand with your thumb and forefinger together corresponds to the degree of doneness. Thumb and middle fingers – medium rare. Thumb and ring fingers – medium well. Accordingly, thumb and little finger – well done.
Now when cooking the meat on one side and flipping it over on the other, you can feel by touch how the doneness changes from rare to well done. Remove your steak from the frying pan or grill when it’s done, let it rest for 5 minutes and I’m sure everything will be great.
- Prep time: 15 minutes + 20 minutes’ marinating
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Serves: 6
- Difficulty: easy
- Course: main course
- Cookware: knife, frying pan
- Cuisine: European
Ingredients
- 800 g beef fillet
- 6 streaky bacon rashers
- 100 ml olive oil
- thyme
- rosemary
- freshly ground black pepper
- sea salt or smoked sea salt
Cooking method
Step 1
Cut the meat (see tips) across into 6 pieces, each about 3cm thick. Shape the steaks with your hands. Season the meat with pepper and salt, add olive oil, rosemary and thyme leaves. Marinate for 20 minutes.
Step 2
Wrap each piece of beef in bacon and secure with wooden sticks. Place the frying pan on a slightly above medium heat. Fry each steak on both sides for 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat, cover frying pan with lid, and let steaks rest for 3 minutes before serving.
My tips and tricks:
Most often, beef fillet is sold whole, with an average weight of about 1½-2kg. The central part of the fillet is the most tender and lean. This is what we need for fillet steaks. The fillet must be cleaned from the silver skin, the wide and narrow parts must be cut off (they are called the “tip” and “wing”). You will have a central part weighing 500-800g. Use the remaining “tip” and “wing” for other dishes. Cut the filet steaks across, into pieces 3-6 cm thick. When frying the steaks, do not overload the pan. Lay them out so that most of the pan is uncovered, so that the liquid from the meat has time to evaporate and the steaks are fried, not steamed.
- 800 g beef fillet
- 6 streaky bacon rashers
- 100 ml olive oil
- thyme
- rosemary
- freshly ground black pepper
- sea salt or smoked sea salt
- Cut the meat (see tips) across into 6 pieces, each about 3cm thick. Shape the steaks with your hands. Season the meat with pepper and salt, add olive oil, rosemary and thyme leaves. Marinate for 20 minutes.
- Wrap each piece of beef in bacon and secure with wooden sticks. Place the frying pan on a slightly above medium heat. Fry each steak on both sides for 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat, cover frying pan with lid, and let steaks rest for 3 minutes before serving.