Ecuador has lots of good food, but beef is rarely listed as a favorite.  It tends to be tough, and since BBQ’s are rare, we can’t cook it our favorite way. We therefore mostly do without steak.  I recently discovered a way to make delicious tender sirloin steak though.

Obviously, you want to start off with the best meat you can find.  I buy mine at Valley Farm Butchers, at their new store on Gran Columbia, in Cuenca.  As of this writing, they charge $4.50/lb.  Being butchers, they will cut it to any thickness you want.  The image above shows 1 pound, sliced into 4 pieces of approx 3/4″ each.

Ingredients:

• Sirloin Steak — cut into 3/4″ slices
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Chili Powder to taste
• Herb Butter

You can season the steak as you prefer.  As noted above, I use salt, pepper and chili powder. We happen to like the spicy taste, so are heavy on the pepper and chili powder. Salt brings out the flavor, but I go pretty light on it, as I don’t want to actually taste the salt itself.

Wash off the steaks, then pat dry with paper towels.  Add the seasoning, and return to the fridge for an hour.  This hour gives the seasoning time to permeate the meat, and really does make a big difference in the final flavor.

Remove from fridge and let come to room temperature — about half an hour.

Place a small amount of oil in the bottom of a pan, and heat until very hot.  Make sure the pan is large enough for all the steaks to fit without crowding.  Cook in batches if necessary.

Once the pan is very hot, put the steaks in.  Turn them every 30 seconds until done.  Rare only takes a total of 3 min, or medium in 5 min.

DO NOT overcook!  That is a sure way to get tough meat.

When done, place the steaks on a plate, drizzle herb butter over them, and let them sit for 3 or 4 min before serving.  That lets the juices settle in the meat, and also allows it to finish cooking.

PS: For my herb butter, I mix 4 tsp Oregano and 4 tsp Thyme into a 250g (6 oz) stick of butter.  I then place the mixture in the fridge, pulling out as needed for future recipes.

By the way, I didn’t get a photo of the finished cooked steaks because fireworks started outside our window again, just as I was finishing cooking this meal.  I rushed over to the window to take some photos, and by the time the fireworks were over, it was time to eat…