Western cooking is not my expertise. Making steak is definitely not either. Don’t think that you are able to make a good steak by just buying an expensive steak. If you make it wrong, you are going to ruin the expensive steak.
I made this steak at the guest home of our friend in LA on the Valentine’s Day. It’s not my own kitchen and for convenient sake, I used garlic herb butter bought from grocery store. I’m glad that Mr Large likes it very much.
自問真的不算很會做,研究過很多的食譜也當然實驗過無數次(當然也是失敗過無數次),目前總結了幾點想跟大家分享一下。I’m definitely not an expertise on this. I’ve been doing a lot of researches and also experiments. Here to share what I have found out so far.
You need to let your steak to be at room temperature before it’s cooked. So, please take it out from the refrigerator at least 30 mins prior to cooking.
Season with olive oil, salt and black pepper. (and I would massage the steak!)
Your pan needs to be hot enough when you put your steak on it.
Pan fry 1 min on one side and flip to the other side for another 1 min. Keep doing this until each side is cooked for around 4-7 mins (depending on your desire degree of doneness).
When it’s about to be done, add garlic, butter and herbs. Turn to medium heat and keep pouring the melted butter on the steak.
There should be a lot of reference online in terms of how to determine the degree of doneness. I usually just check the tenderness of the meat.
I have got some steak which is rather thick. Since Mr Large doesn’t like it too raw while it produces too much of smoke when I pan fry the steak, I therefore would only cook each side for around 5 mins. Then, I would put it in the oven to continue cooking. I would do either broil for 2-3 mins or bake for no more than 10 mins at 300F (150C). Add more butter at the end when it’s done
I have seen some recipes are to bake the steak first to the degree of the doneness you want and then pan fry the two sides at the end.
Lastly, please let the steak sit for 10 mins before you cut it. This is to make sure the meat juice won’t all come out when you cut it.
To be honest, I’m still a rookie at making steak. Still have a lot to learn and need practice. Meat is much cheaper here. I believe that I’ll have lot more chances to experiment!
其實我們要感謝Amazon的雲端服務AWS(Amazon Web Servicves),它是目前世界上最成功的雲端運算服務,AWS讓新創網站或中小企業在建置IT基礎環境的門檻降低了許多,更重要的是,它讓許多新奇且饒富創意的商業模式與idea成為可行,因此目前新創公司中有極大的比例,它們的服務便是建置在Amazon的雲端上,只要動動手指頭,透過操控Amazon的管理介面,便可以獨自完成以往數十甚至於數百人規模的IT團隊才能完成的任務。例如美國的線上影音租賃公司Netflix,它利用網路串流的方技術將電影傳送到使用者家裏,而其實它背後畫面的傳輸服務與網路環境都是來自於Amazon;Netflix的工作是隨時上傳最新的影片,然後利用他們自己的壓縮技術將畫面送到網路上同時傳送給成千上萬的收視客戶,以Netflix的人力及財力當然是不可能負擔得起這樣複雜且龐大的網路系統與運算能力,但是多虧了Amazon的雲端服務讓Netflix能以每分鐘幾美分的低廉價格租用Amazon的運算空間實現網路租賃DVD的商業模式成真,兩者分工合作,互取所需。
什麼是IaaS?
雲端運算一般分為三個層級,從最底層到最高層依序是IaaS(Infrastructure as a Service)、PaaS(Platform as a Service)、SaaS(Software as a Service),其中,IaaS我們稱它為基礎建設服務,指的是廠商經由網際網路,以服務的形式提供運算能力、儲存裝置、網路環境、資訊安全措施以及其它IT基礎服務的提供等等(如防火牆、DNS、負載平衡),因此,我們只要租用IaaS服務,便可以從頭到尾自行架設起需要的任何系統及服務。
Amazon早在2006年便正式推出了AWS服務,可算是IaaS服務的領頭羊,而Google和微軟的Azure則分別遲至2013年的4月才推出類似的IaaS服務(Azure Virtual Machine及Google Compute Engine),時間晚了Amazon足足七年;下方圖表的數據來源是Technology Business Research Group (TBRI)高級分析師Jillian Mirandi所提供的數據,顯示 AWS今年2014估計的收入大約是47億美元,而微軟與Google的IaaS服務則分別為1億5,600萬與6,600萬美元,後兩者合計尚不足AWS的零頭,可看出Amazon至今仍以近乎獨占的比例佔有大部份的IaaS市場。
不過隨著微軟和Google持續加強IaaS服務並提供不同的產品組合,雖然目前Amazon仍以優勢的比例領先,但沒有人能保證Amazon這種領先的態勢能維持多久;最新這一季Synergy Research Group的研究便指出,IaaS市場的前三大分別是Amazon、Microsoft、Google ,而Microsoft Azure是所有IaaS服務業者中營收成長最快速的,高達136%,這使得Microsoft已經跨入了所謂的魔術象限(Magic quadrant),和Amazon同樣位居Leaders的區域。(請參考下圖)