Read This Before Following This Oily TikTok Steak Recipe
Ask any meat-loving chef, and they'll tell you they know the perfect way to cook a steak. But they can't all be right. Or can they? After all, just off the top of our heads, we can think of 10 perfect ways to cook steak, each of which might be deemed "perfect," but doesn't it really depend upon whom you ask? For example, we can't say enough amazing things about the sous vide method — as long as you blot, salt, and sear it before serving. But not everyone would agree. In fact, a certain viral TikTok steak recipe posted by MeatLikeMike (aka Mike Elender) on February 24, 2021, might have you questioning whether you've been cooking steak wrong all along. (Spoiler alert: you haven't.)
Elender's steak recipe is basically a cross between sous vide and confit, in that the steak is cooked low and slow in liquid (just like sous vide), except that the meat is exposed directly to the liquid (as it is with confit), rather than separated from the liquid via a vacuum sealed bag to (which is the very definition of sous vide), and the liquid is oil (which is the very definition of confit). We're not fundamentally opposed to Elender's distinctly creative method. However, you'll want to read this before following his oily TikTok steak recipe.
Here's why the TikTok steak recipe isn't all that it's cracked up to be
The first thing you need to understand about the viral TikTok steak recipe posted by Elender (@MeatLikeMike) is that although he calls it "steak confit," it actually isn't. "Confit" implies that the meat is preserved in salt prior to cooking "low and slow" to a temperature at which the cooked meat can be safely stored for several months in the fridge (via Science of Cooking). However, Elender's method, which involves submerging a Wagyu steak in olive oil and baking until it reaches an internal temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit, does not appear to involve the requisite salting. Nor does it allow the steak to even come close to reaching the minimum temperature recommended by FoodSafety.gov (145 degrees Fahrenheit).
The other thing you need to understand is that like many Tik Tok recipes, Elender's offers only the barest of minimum of instructions. For example, if the method were sous vide, you'd want to preheat the water to precisely the temperature you want your steak to cook to. But the oily TikTok steak recipe doesn't specify how hot to preheat the oven, or whether you should even preheat the oven. Nor does it say exactly how you'll know when your steak has reached the desired temperature.
Finally, there's no information on how to achieve the desired sear. Luckily, Giada De Laurentiis has provided very detailed instructions.