I took it out of the refrigerator (where I’d left it overnight, loosely draped in a paper towel) an hour before cooking, dried it thoroughly and heavily seasoned it with salt and pepper. Oh — here’s another thing you don’t need to believe: salting your steak in advance like that will draw out all the juices and you’ll be left with a few muscle fibers sitting sadly in a pool of watery blood. What salting your steak in advance seems to do is make it taste better, and that’s about it.

I set a small, thick-bottomed skillet (anodized aluminum as it happens, but iron, steel or copper are other options) over medium heat and let it get hot, but not wicked hot: for what it’s worth, after less than a minute, its surface temperature had reached about 360 degrees F. At that point I greased it with barely half a teaspoon of clarified butter; oil would be fine, of course — its purpose is to conduct the heat of the pan to the surface of the meat before the steak renders some of its own fat. A few seconds later I put in the steak and left it untouched — untouched — for four minutes, even lowering the heat a trifle after a while. There was not a wisp of smoke and hardly a spatter of fat. At that point I got rid of most of the fat in the pan and turned the steak, to find a beautifully seared, crusty surface. The steak got another four minutes on Side B; I turned it again and gave it a further 90 seconds on each side. I am convinced that the extra turnings promote even cooking, but I have no proof of that as I’ve never tried it any other way. Then it went onto a plate and rested for maybe six or seven minutes while I finished cooking the french fries. Because, in our house, a one-pound steak is for sharing, I sliced it, making sure not to lose any of the juices.

Five-Minute Artisan Bread

   

December 15, 2007



   

From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007). Copyright 2007 by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

  


  Serves 4

  

Note: This recipe must be prepared in advance.

  
 
• 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (about 1-1/2 packets)
 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
 
• 6-1/2 cups unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting dough
 
• Cornmeal
 
  

In a large plastic resealable container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm (about 100 degrees) water. Using a large spoon, stir in flour, mixing until mixture is uniformly moist with no dry patches. Do not knead. Dough will be wet and loose enough to conform to shape of plastic container. Cover, but not with an airtight lid.

But if your goal is to cook and cook quickly, to get a satisfying and enjoyable variety of real food on the table as often as possible, a well-stocked pantry and fridge can sustain you. Replenished weekly or even less frequently, with an occasional stop for fresh vegetables, meat, fish and dairy, they are the core supply houses for the home cook.

While you’re stocking up, you might clear out a bit of the detritus that’s cluttering your shelves. Some of these things take up more space than they’re worth, while others are so much better in their real forms that the difference is laughable. Sadly, some remain in common usage even among good cooks. My point here is not to criminalize their use, but to point out how easily and successfully we can substitute for them, in every case with better results.