Miso-glazed Sirloin Steak

A quick and delicious steak can simply be seasoned with just salt and pepper, and the right cut. Sirloins are very tasty cuts and can hold their own with just the basic seasonings. I bought a pack of organic 1 inch thick sirloins, which came in three pieces. Of the three, only one of the steaks were used to cook with a miso glaze.

Now, any steak lover would agree that nothing but salt and pepper is all you need to season a good piece of sirloin, but I digress. I thought, “A tasty piece of meat can’t be bad if I want to make it tastier, or can it?”. I had to experiment

I was inspired by Nobu’s miso-glazed black cod recipe for this and I must say, I was glad I decided to experiment. Miso-glazed steak is a keeper. I like my steaks cooked medium rare because only then are good cuts worth its salt, so to speak. It is pointless to cook your steaks till it’s well done because then, it’s no different from eating leather. When it comes to red meat, especially good cuts, either cook it medium rare or buy a cheaper cut and cook it until it falls deliciously apart otherwise, stick to chicken thighs.

So, back to my miso-glazed steak. What I did was a fairly simple process but let’s start with the glaze, which essentially is made up of these ingredients:

1 tablespoon miso paste
1 tablespoon mirin
1 garlic clove, grated
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon of oil
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
a teaspoon, or more, of water to further thin the miso paste if it’s too thick

Mix these ingredients together with a whisk until you get nice paste.

Take your steak and generously rub half of the miso paste on and leave it marinade for 20 minutes.

Heat your pan, I used non-stick because it’s convenient, on high with a bit of oil until it is very hot. Once the pan is hot, pan-sear your steak on one side for 3 minutes. Do not move it around, do not poke at it however tempting. After three minutes, turn the steak over and cook for a further 2 minutes and no more..

You should have a nice char on your steak after turning it around, brush the remaining miso glaze over the steak and repeat on the other side.

Let the steak rest for 5 minutes before serving. The miso marinade is enough for two steaks but you can definitely double or triple the portion without any doubts.

P.S. I rarely eat or cook red meat, this is one of the very few times, and quite possibly the last time I am going to eat red meat again. Why I bought the pack of red meat was beyond my explanation except it looked so yummy I had to try some.

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