All About Steak!!!

2024.5.5

I am going to tell you this: When a Chinese moves into the UK to study, the first thing she/he would want to learn is how to COOK STEAK! (Just kidding)

This steak in the photo was the third steak I have ever cooked.

At the very start you heat the pan until you can feel the rising hot air warming up your hand above the pan. This is actually a very quiet process, so quiet that it is frightening to see its change and reaction once you gently put the steak into the pan. 

But first, you have to pour some olive oil in. To me, pouring the oil is like watering a flower: you need to slightly swirl the oil bottle in the middle of the air to ensure that the oil in the pan is evenly spaced. Every swirl needs to be elegant, quick, sharp.

Your stomach gnaws you to remind you that it's time to put the steak in, finally. It's the moment everyone has been waiting for. It is definitely a shock when the steak starts to hiss and sizzle in the pan. The thing is, it can get louder and louder as the animal oil in the steak and the olive oil melt into each other. The sizzling can reach a peak when you flip the steak, as the oil pressed underneath it is exposed. You cautiously adjust the steak in the pan from time to time, scared that tiny bits of scalding, boiling oil can bounce up and "bite" your naked arm. But you cannot escape from it. You scream and shout and roar and really want to throw the whole pan out of the window, but what you actually do every time is to just continue the process... 

Eventually, the whole process is done! You turn off the switch, place the steak beautifully on a plate, take a picture (that's me), and are ready to eat! As you slice the steak and put it into your mouth, your smile cannot be hidden anymore - the crispy, cooked outer layer and the soft, red inner meat perform the greatest symphony on your tongue. Getting a glimpse of the dirty, greasy pans and cutleries that you have to wash, you convince yourself that it is all worth it. Then, the entire process repeats...