Crying Tiger beef has long been one of our favourite recipes especially during the summer months when alfresco dining and barbecues abound. Recently I have started to take the dish beyond the original recipe, especially if I am cooking for a group of people. I love Crying Tiger whichever way it is prepared, but there is no doubt that this method of preparation takes it to a different level. The reason for this is that the state is cooked using the Reverse Sear method. This results in a perfectly cooked steak, meltingly tender, with the degree of rareness you require without the risk of over cooking it, as can happen with the traditional methods. This method does not take much more time than cooking steak in the traditional way but there are two things it does require. The first is a probe type cooking thermometer, the second is a steak at least one and a half inches or 35mm thick. Alternatively, you can check out the original recipe, where a thinner steak can be used and a cooking probe is not required. It's going to taste delicious either way! Finally, whilst the Crying Tiger paste is spicy, when used as a dip it's thinned with water so you can pretty much decide how spicy you want it to taste!
The first step is to marinate the steak, a teaspoon of sauce should be sufficient for the average size steak. Let the steak sit on a metal rack in the refrigerator for no less than four hours and up to 24 hours. IMPORTANT. When removing the steak from the refrigerator to cook, do so with enough time for the middle of the steak to reach room temperature. This could be 1-4 hours depending on thickness etc. Use your probe to check.
If you want to serve as I have done in the pictures then this a good time to chop the spring onions and chillies if using. Thin the remainder of the Crying Tiger sauce with a little warm water until you have reached the level of heat and thickness you prefer.
Heat the oven until it reaches a stable 120C (250F) oven as measured by your temperature probe.
Place the steak with temperature probe inserted into the oven. If your temperature probe is of the instant read variety with a plasic body then you can't do this without melting it so you will have to judge when to check it using the chart below. Increasingly, there are many inexpensive dual probes now on the market well worth purchasing.
Remove the steak from the oven when the desired temperature is reached and let it rest, loosely covered in foil until it reaches the final target temperature. This will normally be 5-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the steak.
Add a little oil to a frying pan (non-stick not recommended) and heat to the highest possible temperature. Cook steak for 1 minute each side. This stage can also be done on a BBQ but it needs to be at a high heat.
Remove and get ready to carve. The steak does not need resting time.
Enjoy:-)
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