how do you cook steak to make it tender?

i had a spanish chef that always cooked steak in tinned tomatoes after searing the steak for colour,this made the steak juicy and the acids tenderised the meat.and then the tomatoes could remain or be disguarded.and gorgeous they were too

If you have a piece of steak that you're not too sure about being tender cut it into very thin strips.  Get your frying pan on your hottest burner , put a little oil in and when its as hot as it can get without catching fire chuck the steak strips in and quickly turn them over.  Cook for no longer than 30 seconds max,  they will be cooked right through and browned but still tender.  Pile them onto a hot plate and sprinkle with a little salt.  Dont add salt at any stage before they are cooked as salt draws out moisture.

This works really well if you fancy a steak sandwich/soft bap and top with fried onions.

Wow, I didn't realise there was a foody section in the forums, I only ever read the grow your own bit.

I was a chef for 10 years so maybe I can be of some use for once instead of being the one asking all the questions!

I've often had a tender juicy steak at a restaurant and thought "they're definitely adding something to get that sort of texture and taste" - like msg or something like that. Mine always end up looking so clean, whereas theirs have a rich gravy coating over them.

No there's nothing 'added' or there shouldn't be anyway, there's no need.

All you need is a good piece of meat and a very hot pan. In restaurants the pot washers will stack up the frying pans directly on top of the stove for the cook on meat section. (Usually the saucier. Often he/she will be responsible for meat and fish, but not always. Fish can be a seperate section)

Then when a steak comes on order, or duck breast, lamb, etc.... anything that's going in a flat pan... the cook takes the pan from the bottom of the pile and it can have been there all day waiting for service so it's blooming hot.

Little bit of oil in the bottom of the pan, pomace oil or other light flavourless olive oil is common, let that get hot, season the meat on the board and then just before the oil is smoking put the meat in the pan and DON'T touch.

Don't start poking it and moving it about like they do on telly.... just let it sit and you have to trust that it's working and going all brown and crispy on the underside. If your pan was hot enough then it is.

There will also be a box of butter cut into small cubes and usually covered in iced water to stop it melting during service. Cooks will throw a cube or two into the pan during cooking which brings the temperature down just enough to stop it charring and also gets in the gaps between meat and pan causing that "gravy coating" you're talking about.

And that's it really, don't fiddle, try to leave it to cook nearly all the way through before turning it.
Once you turn it you can spoon more butter over the top to keep it 'shiny' and then quickly out of the pan three or four minutes before you need it. It doesn't need more than 30 seconds once it's been turned.

There are other ways of getting meat cooked but I think that's the kind of 'restaurant steak' people have been asking about in this post?