Recipe > Mains
Pan-Fried Steak with Thyme, Garlic and Red Wine
A classice steak recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients
1Tblsp olive oil
4 x frying steaks

Marinade:
1 clove garlic
2 Tblsp fresh thyme
1 Tblsp worcestershire sauce
1 Tblsp brown sugar
100 ml/ 3.5 fl oz red wine
1 Tsp cracked black pepper

For the gravy:
1 Tblsp plain flour
150 ml / 5 fl oz stock
150ml / 5 fl oz red wine
1 Tblsp fresh thyme

Mise-en-Place:
Roughly chop the garlic and thyme
Combine all the marinade ingredients.
Add the steaks to the marinade, cover and leave for at least 30 minutes

Method:
Remove the steaks from the marinade
Heat the oil in a frying pan until smoking hot
Pan-fry the steaks to required preference
(To cook a steak 2cm/ .75inch thick
Blue: approx 1 to 1.5 minutes each side
Rare: approx 1.5 to 2 minutes each side
Medium: approx 2 to 2.5 minutes each side
Well: What are you crazy, you want to eat leather? Don't be a chump.)
When steaks are done, remove from pan and keep warm
Add the flour and stir vigorously until it soaks up the pan juices and turns a light brown colour (30-45 seconds)
Add the stock and red wine
Heat rapidly until it reduces and thickens
Add the thyme
Remove from heat
Pour the gravy over the steak and serve

Adjust:
If the red wine makes the gravy too astringent for your taste either add more stock or 1 teaspoon of brown sugar

Presentation:
In opposite photos I served the steak with mash sweet potato and char-grilled broccoli
Arrange a layer of broccoli in the centre of the plate
Add the mash sweet potato on top of this. Aim for good centre height
Cut the steaks in half along the diagonal. Criss-cross the steaks on top of the mash
Either add the gravy over the steaks or around the plate in a circle
Serve

Science behind the dish: How flour thickens the gravy
Flour is largely constituted of starch molecules, as these are heated in water not only will the molecule swell but it will begin to unravel. It unravels in the form of elongated strands, these strands tangle with other similar, unraveling starch molecules to form a web or a lattice.
This web of molecules not only slows and traps the water molecules but also reduces the space that the water molecules can freely travel to and from. This is what causes the thickening of the gravy.


Chef Tip:
If working in a restaurant kitchen I will either keep the steak warm beneath a hot lamp or in a 'holding cupboard', if at home I turn the oven on to about 70°C to keep my plates and steaks warm while I finish the gravy. (Do bear in mind that the longer you keep steaks warm, the tougher they will get - so do your best to serve as quickly as possible)

Cowboy Tip:
Running short on marinating time? Flavours marinade faster at warmer temperatures, so if I'm in a rush I'll leave the steaks to marinade for 30 minutes on the work surface so that they'll reach ambient room temperature and marinade that bit faster.
However this isn't exactly hygienic practice, the longer you leave foods at a temperature warmer than 4°C you can expect bacteria growth. Therefore I never leave the steaks out for longer than 30 minutes and I ensure that I cook them straight away.