Pastured beef raised in the wide land of New Zealand is known for its lean meat. For this reason, even I, who easily gets upset stomach by Japanese steak, can eat a fair amount of New Zealand steak. Somehow, I suddenly felt like having a steak, so I tried to grill a New Zealand beef scotch fillet steak at home.
What part is a scotch fillet?
Scotch fillet is meat located on the back, which is part of the ribs, and it’s also called リブアイ in Japan. This part of the meat contains a moderate amount of fat and has a tender, juicy texture. It can be a little more costly than other steak meats, but if you overcook the leaner New Zealand beef, it will become hard, so I bought less fail-safe Scotch filet steak meat. When I first came to NZ, I had no interest in food at all, and everything looked the same, but now I can finally look at raw meat and somewhat understand the difference.
Scotch steak
Scotch fillet steak is easily recognised by its beautiful marbling and the strip of fat that runs through one end of it. These steaks are prepared from a boneless beef rib set, taken from the back of the cow, after the shoulder (or chuck).
The higher fat content of scotch makes it a popular choice for pan frying, as the fat keeps it moist and flavourful.
Scotch steaks may be shaped into a neat circle with plastic wrap or string. This is purely an aesthetic decision, and you should remove any plastic prior to cooking.
Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, a website operated by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage of the New Zealand government, introduces the parts of the fish. The part labeled “Rib-eye” is Scotch Fillet. In New Zealand and Australia, I have the impression that many people call it Scotch fillet.
Preparation
I was in charge of the vegetables (just steamed vegetables…lol) and tried to ask my NZ partner to cook the steak. However, my partner, who does not usually cook much, knew that I always cook from the Japanese recipe site Cookpad, so he said, “Let’s look up a recipe on a Japanese recipe site. You can’t read Japanese! You probably prefer English recipes for NZ meats! Then ask ChatGPT.” I said. He is a software engineer, and ChatGPTis his best friend. So, we cooked Scotch fillet steak using ChatGPT’s recipe.
Cooking with ChatGPT recipes
Here is the ChatGPT recipe we referred to.
Bring to room temperature: Remove the steaks from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature for 30-60 minutes. This allows the steak to cook evenly when grilled.
Dry: Press the steaks down gently with kitchen paper to dry them. This will remove any moisture from the surface and ensure firm browning and crispiness when grilled.
Seasoning: Season both sides of the steak generously with salt and pepper. This simple seasoning enhances the meat’s flavour.
Heat frying pan: Heat a heavy frying pan (cast iron is ideal) over medium to high heat. It is important that the pan is well heated.
Grill: Add a small amount of olive oil or butter to the pan and add the steaks. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side to brown thoroughly. If desired, add herbs or garlic to both sides of the steaks for extra flavour.
Rest: Remove the steaks from the pan, wrap them in aluminium foil and let them rest for 5-10 minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute inside, resulting in a juicy steak.
At last, we’ve got a problem. We do not have aluminium foil. My partner asks Dr. ChatGPT about the purpose of residual heat cooking. The following is his polite and detailed reply.
Cooking with residual heat: By wrapping the steak in the aluminium foil, the internal temperature is maintained at an even level, allowing the steak to cook further in the residual heat. This ensures even cooking in the centre.
Retention of juiciness: Wrapping the steak in the aluminium foil keeps the juices inside the steak and allows the juices to escape, resulting in a juicy, flavorful steak.
Retains heat: The aluminium foil wrapping keeps the meat juices in the steak. Wrapping the steak in the aluminum foil prevents the steak from getting cold and ensures that it is served at the proper temperature.
Shouldn’t we ask how to do this without the aluminium foil? We decided to transfer it to another dish, cover it, and let it sit for 10 minutes, anyway.
Review
With the power of IT (?), we cooked Scotch fillet steaks. They turned out wonderfully delicious, and I was very satisfied to fully enjoy the deliciousness of the New Zealand meat.
By the way, for sauce recipes, our Cookpad comes to the rescue. I used this recipe, 『5分簡単 市販より旨い！ステーキ ソース』, as a reference, which is a Japanese-style sauce, and it was a big hit with my boyfriend.
Now that I think about it, the aluminium foil part was the most important part of the recipe, for sure. Even though it is called steak in one word, the cooking of meat is very deep. I came to think in that way since I am in more meat country than Japan. Next time, I think we will try to cook lamb with the help of Teacher ChatGPT.
