A steak may cost a fortune at a restaurant, but it is certainly no “convenience food” the following day. You may find yourself confronted with the question:
“What is the best way to reheat steak?” Give it a brief warming-over in the microwave. Do not try to get it fully hot, or it will develop an “off” flavor. Better yet, skip the reheating, and simply enjoy cold, on a salad, or on a sandwich.
That’s the quick answer, but please keep reading – The secret to fully enjoying that leftover steak has a bit more nuance to it.
Keeping it Fresh: protect your leftovers
It’s good to have a cooler with an ice pack in the trunk of your car, in anticipation of having more steak than you can finish at the restaurant.
Once you get your leftovers home, use them by the next day, or they will no longer taste good. If you happen to be away from home at the time, pick up some good bread or rolls at a local market, and maybe a small hunk of Cheddar or Brie. That way, you can pack a pretty classy picnic lunch, and enjoy a peaceful meal, away from the restaurant crunch.
Where Most Go Wrong: trying to resurrect the steakhouse experience
Please, do yourself (and your steak) a huge favor, and ignore all those articles reassuring you that you can resuscitate your expensive meal from the previous evening. They put you through a whole ritual of a pan, a rack, the perfect oven temperature, etc., only to leave you with a mouthful of disappointment.
A user at the Cheftalk forum gives the best explanation out there for the cause:
Your largest mistake was to attempt to continue the cooking process — rather than reheating it gently until it was just hot enough to eat. There are a few exceptions, but as a general rule you can’t cook meat twice. You can only cook it and reheat it because of changes at the cellular and molecular levels having to do with moisture crossing the cell membranes and protein denaturing, respectively.”
boar_d_laze of the Cheftalk forum
Leftover Steak: reheat, or retreat?
For best flavor, do not reheat it at all, but use it to create a dinner salad; along with lettuce, tomato, cheddar, hard-boiled egg, and vinaigrette dressing.
Get Into a Stew – A savory favorite
If you have your heart set on a savory, hot dinner featuring your leftover steak, working it into a beef stew is your best bet.
Melt some butter in a soup pot, and sauté some onions. A can of mushrooms is good, too, if you have one. When everything is nice and golden-brown, add your meat, and two each of potatoes, carrots, and celery ribs; all cut into 2” pieces. Pour over this a quart of beef broth, bring to a boil, and simmer one lowest heat for two hours.
To thicken, whisk 1/4c of flour into 1/2c of cold water. Then, whisk this mixture into your stew.
French Dip: a surprisingly simple favorite
For a compromise that doesn’t taste like a compromise, you can make a French Dip sandwich. For this simple favorite, just slice the leftover steak thinly, and layer on a split baguette. Serve with a cup of heated beef broth (my favorite is Swanson’s, view here) for dipping.
Still Want to Reheat your Leftover Steak?
Cook’s Illustrated has a good technique for those who want to take a deeper dive, beyond my little zap in the microwave. I can’t make any promises, though. The more you reheat, the greater the chance of W.O.O.F. (Warmed Over, Old Flavor).
When we rewarmed leftover cooked steaks [placed upon a rack, on a cookie pan] in a 250°F oven, until they reached 110° and then briefly seared them, the results were remarkably good.”
Cook’s Illustrated
Resources for Further Exploration
n. b. – Shopping links in this article help to support this website, but at no charge to you. Thank you.
