As women have migrated from the kitchen to the cubicle, we are left with processed fast food and vacuum packed microwave meals. Vegetarian diet is being pushed or downright forced to our children and every last food item at the supermarket is packed with soy that will fuck up your hormones. To make matters worse, many a man doesn’t know how to cook nutritious and tasty meat at home. This article will give a step-by-step guide on how to prepare a juicy beefsteak.
The benefits of eating beef are numerous: Not only does it provide high-quality protein for building muscle but also packs cholesterol, the building block of testosterone. It is also a natural source of creatine, which is well proven to enhance sports performance. Finally, embracing your position at the top of the food chain tastes delicious.
The beef
”Closest to the bone, sweeter is the meat” – Louis Prima sang about the similarities between meats and women.
While you do not need Kobe beef to succeed, the general guideline is simple: the better the quality of the meat, the better the steak. The quality then depends on a variety of factors like the cut, the level of marbling, and aging. The cut for a good steak is always loin. Tenderloin is the better part and sirloin is the lesser. The T-bone and porterhouse steaks have a slice of both connected by a T-shaped bone. Vicinity to a bone is always good. It will add to the flavor.
Well aged quality beef is maroon with creamy marbling, not rosy red and evenly colored.
Marbling is the fatty tissue spreading throughout the muscle. The cross section of well marbled beef is full of tiny fat channels that make the steak juicy and tasty. Aging, on the other hand, will tenderize the meat. Wet-aged beef is more common, but dry-aged is a little more flavorful. Also young age of the cattle and little physical activity equal to better quality. In short, the best steaks come from young beef cattle with extensive marbling and a long period of dry-aging, and the worst ones from old dairy cattle with no marbling and little wet-aging.
What else you’ll need
We will fry the steak on a pan. While a carbon steel skillet will do, your best bet is cast iron with its superior heat capacity. Coated skillets can’t take the temperatures needed. A meat thermometer ensures the steak is cooked to our liking. For seasoning you’ll need freshly ground black pepper and salt, preferably sea salt for some healthy minerals. Frying the steak with butter will add taste and a beautiful color. A little oil prevents the butter from burning.
What about those world-famous steak rubs, secret recipes of which every restaurant prides themselves on? Understand that they are merely a marketing strategy. Barring salt and pepper, a good steak needs no spices.
Preparation
- It is important to take the beef out of the fridge early enough to make sure it is room temperature throughout before we start cooking. Cold meat will leak its juices out when cooked.
- If you have a tenderloin or a sirloin, it usually still has a membrane that must be removed. You will identify the white membrane by the fibers it has running to the direction of the loin. Simply stick a sharp knife under it and slide the blade along the membrane to remove it. Do not touch the white lumps on the backside. Those are fat. If you have a T-bone or a porterhouse steak, it suffices to trim off excess fat if there is any, that being layers more than quarter of an inch thick.
- The T-bones and porterhouse steaks we buy are usually individual, but the loins must be sliced. Go for thick steaks, for sirloin 2” and for tenderloin 3”. No baby portions here. Remember always to cut against the grain.
- Give the steaks enough time to warm up. I aim for two hours, just to make sure. Right before frying, season them heavily on both sides with salt and pepper. Salt will absorb moisture, so never add it too soon.
Cooking
- Heat up the cast iron skillet very hot. This is needed to fry the surface of the steak quickly, sealing it and trapping the juices inside. On low heat the meat would boil.
- When the skillet is hot, add a knob of butter and a little oil. Adding the butter too early will give it time to burn. Place one or two steaks on the skillet. Too many steaks and the pan will cool down. Now, let the steak be. Don’t press it down. Fry all the surfaces. This should take a little less than a minute per side. It is no problem if the corners burn a little.
- Stick the probe of your meat thermometer in the middle of the steak (don’t let it touch bone) and place it in the oven in 250-300°F. If your skillet is all-metal, go ahead and throw it into the oven with the steak on it.
- Cook till 125°F for rare, or 140°F for medium. Then wrap the steak with aluminum foil and let it rest for 10-15 minutes in room temperature before serving. Cooking releases the delicious juices. If we were to cut into the steak right away, all of that would leak out.
Sides, gravies, and drinks
Scalloped potatoes: simple, clean, tasty, and full of saturated fats
Basically a steak is enough as it is. Perhaps with a leaf of parsley on top. Still, for a man-sized appetite it is best to complement the meat with some carbs. Time everything properly and you will have the whole feast done at the exact same minute.
Start the meal preparation with a side of scalloped potatoes. You will need two and a half pounds of thinly sliced white potatoes, three cups of heavy cream, a minced garlic bulb or two, and salt and pepper. Stack the potato slices on an oven tray about two inches high with layers of garlic and spices between. When done, pour in the cream. Bake in the oven in 400°F for two hours. This dish will stay warm for a while, giving you the time to cook the steaks.
A steak doesn’t really need a gravy, but if you mess up the beef, you can try to disguise it under a coat of other flavors. Prepare the gravy while the steaks are resting. Heat up the liquid left on the skillet and add heavy cream, mustard sauce, black pepper, and salt if needed. Let the gravy boil down a little for an even tan color.
If you are somewhat bourgeois and want to have a glass of red wine, suit yourself. I’ve always found that the perfect companion for a steak is a cold beer. The great thing about a steak is its versatility. Whether you serve a filet mignon with Cabernet Sauvignon wine or a T-bone with a Bud Light, the cooking process is the same.
Who to cook it for
There’s nothing worse than an unappreciative guest. Never cook a steak for those who would rather have a jar of Ben & Jerry’s. Cook for people who are worthy of it. A small family gathering or an evening with your closest buddies is the right occasion.
Read More: How To Cook Four Delicious Entrées
Key is this. All sides should be prepared. All seated at table. Drinks poured. Potato salad served. Say blessing prior if you are religious. And then, take steaks piping hot from grill. First 2-3 minutes of hot steak is best.
I look down on people who take steak off grill, put it aside 10 minutes and then sit down.
They have ruined the steak. Steak must be served piping hot right off grill.
No no no! You have to let meat rest so the juices inside condense and your meat remains moist. Cutting into a piece of meat fresh off the grill dries it out. All those delicious juices you created just go pouring out.
I think it’s better hot
If it’s insulated with moderately crumpled aluminum foil and allowed to rest for about 5 min. it’s better, as it gives the heat time to get to the center of the steak. The juices then can be flash-reduced in the pan, and poured over the steaks.
If they’re tempered in a ziplock in a stockpot waterbath to 120-133F then seared – then resting affterward is unneeded, but the steak does still get better after a couple minutes, which is only a small portion of the eating time.
I’ll confess to being one of those persons who likes sauces and stuff on my steak. Not the stuff that comes from the bottles but pan dripping type of things.
A nice red wine reductions with shallots. Pour it on and a nice piece of butter. Heaven.
Yes.
Might I suggest you use some mushrooms and shallots to absorb the drippings, reduce red wine over top, and then thicken with cream? Result works very well with potatoes and rice in addition to steak.
Can’t eat mushrooms, but certainly understand.
let me be a buzz killer – and remind that beef is one of the most unhealthiest meats (along with lamb). especially for men – as it affects our prostate badly. so the rule of thumb is – avoid beef like the plague – and limit its consumption to a few times a year. for regular use we should stick with pork and poultry.
Please… Spend the money and buy Grass Fed meats, not Grain fed poison, then follow a rotation style diet.
Everything in moderation even the Veggies.
Totally disagree. This is the debunked idea that saturated fats are bad for you. Early humans and wild animals always go for the highest fat-content parts of an animals first; organs, brains, etc. Grain fed meats approximate animal meats in their most desirable and nutritious form. In the wild, animals are at their best after foraging on wild grains during the season when the are flowering. Disregard any nutrition disinformation you have been force fed during the last 25 years!
None of your Grain fed animals today meet the requirements of eating as animals do in the wild, the grain fed meats of today are of animals, and that is all of them, Cattle, Pork, Chicken, Farmed Fish, etc are for the most part fed with GMO grains and propped-up with antibiotics to aid in digestion and preventing disease from being kept in small enclosures.
Its the quality of the Meat and Fats you consume, that is why organic and as fresh as possible is preferable, except for a well aged portion of beef.
Saturated fats are the best, never disagreed on that, its Mono-Saturated fats, I.e all this “Vegetable Oils” being hydrogenated oils, like any form of butter replacement product out there.
I had my fair dealing of Antibiotics stuffing my health, due to the current drug them, cut and burn mentality of the medical and pharmaceutical industry. There is a lot of Nutrition disinformation out there, lots of half truths mixed with lies, just like politics, anywhere a $ is to be made.
Since going Organic and fresh, I am in the best shape of my life, physically and mentally also do not look my age, always get under estimated, even with the greys.
You missed the main reason to avoid beef: vCJD. This might not affect you Yanks but over here in the UK vCJD is so widespread that most other countries won’t accept blood donations from British Expats.
And no, following the usual food-poisoning-prevention advice of rigorous hand washing and proper preparation (read: overcooking) won’t protect you from contracting vCJD: Prions aren’t affected by anything short of a long bath in strong acid.
Disagree with you about lamb being as bad for you as beef though; last I checked, Scrapie isn’t transmissible to humans.
There has been 1 vCJD death in Britain in the last 5 years, and only 177 in the last 26 years. http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/documents/figs.pdf
Wow, I didn’t realise that deaths from vCJD were so rare. So in that case, why won’t the US accept blood donations from British Expats? Not trying to be sarcastic; I genuinely want to know what the reason is.
There were legitimate fears that it could develop very slowly and go full-blown CJD after decades. The fall-off in cases seems to refute that, but once it’s policy, it is hard to change. The Red Cross has a virtual monopoly on blood in the US and it it very bureaucratic.
I’m interested to know why you believe beef and lamb are the most unhealthy meats, and how they affect the prostate. Also, why do you think chicken and pork are better?
The best arguments I’ve heard against eating too much red meat are:
-to avoid a diet too rich in iron, which causes all sorts of oxidative stress.
-the potentially inflammatory molecule Neu5Gc.
Yet, I love red meat and I come from a country where I can get good quality beef and lamb at a decent price, so I enjoy it without worrying too much. I especially love lamb, but sometimes you just gotta have a good steak. Moderation though, eh?
I guess ultimately, white fish and shellfish are the most nutritious meats, but they just don’t satisfy in the same way. : )
look it up. there’s tons of info on it. some conflicting, but the consensus is that read meat isn’t good for prostate, and pork is borderline white meat.
Yes I know I could look it up, but given the massive amount of conflicting literature about nutrition online, I would prefer to know your personal opinion, and any specific sources you might have to offer.
I don’t understand how pork is better though. Pork is a red meat (if not as red as beef or mutton), which is only almost white to due feeding and caging practices as far as I know, and I avoid meat raised such a way in the first place.
In my country, New Zealand, sheep and cattle are mostly free ranging, grass eating healthy animals, whereas chickens and pigs are mostly caged, overfed on low-quality but fattening feed and unhealthy. Why should I pick the latter over the former?
you need to look it up, go through tons of info and make your own conclusion. i don’t have a goal to change anyone’s opinion. pork meat is “red”, but by its qualities is often considered closer to white meats.
So, although you were the one who made the claim you are refusing to cite even a single source to back it up??!! Lame.
Bah, I’ve read enough on nutrition in my life to go through another such phase.
The first five search results already had enough of a disparity that I can’t be bothered.
No, No ,No ,NO!
Never cook a steak in a skillet!
Only on a grill.
Then only on high heat and flip it every 15 to 20 seconds. Yes it is labor consuming. You get out of it what you put into it.
The steak sitting on heat only heats from one side and constant flipping keeps the heat even and cooks it evenly.
NEVER put salt or pepper on it before cooking!
Properly cooked steak never needs salt anyway. Or pepper really.
Wrap in foil? That is overkill. It traps heat and causes overcooking.
After cooked properly, just let it sit in a dish in its own juices for 5 minutes(MAX!-I do three). It will reabsorb what has leaked out and it will not cool off in that period but continue to cook.
This goes for hamburger patties as well.
The author has no idea how to cook properly. I realize that tastes and methods are different, but the cooking instructions in this article are of the most base of sins of an amateur.
The preparation instructions are right on. They are a rule. Cold meat cooks like crap.
…plus frying is an unhealthy way to prepare food – as opposite to grilling or baking.
How is it unhealthy? I am guessing that you consider animal fats(saturated fats) unhealthy. Wrong!
grilling and baking is much healthier than frying. it’s a well known fact by now – look it up. my doctor outright banned me from eating fried food years ago because of certain stomach issues. don’t wait until it happens to you.
The amount of added fat is negligible, less than a tbsp. and butter or bacon grease is better for you than vegetable oil or margarine. The doctors have been proven wrong on this again, just like on eggs. Pan frying is not deep frying, which is unhealthy if used often.
i concur that there’s a difference between deep frying and the method described here.
as to the eggs, i guess you’re referring to the entire “amount of cholesterol in food” myth. i just learned about it recently. that was a great discovery. now i regularly eat things that were considered off limits for frequent consumptions such as full eggs with yolk and chicken/pork liver.
My Dad taught me the perfect way to cook it, and it’s never failed me.
1) Get yourself a 1.5″ thick steak custom from a butcher. Season with steak rub spices or simply little salt/pepper and leave in zip-lock bag. Preheat BBQ when ready to cook.
2) BBQ on medium-high for 2 minutes. Rotate 90 degrees and cook for another 2 minutes.
3) Flip steak and repeat prior instruction for the ideal cross-hatched pattern. Internal temperature at this time should be around 115 degF (blue) – 120 degF (rare).
4) Remove steak, and tent in aluminum foil until ready to serve. The tenting allows it to cook slightly further but retains the moisture. Maximum time though should be around a few minutes.
Guaranteed, best steaks ever. I don’t have much experience in pan-fried steaks. I guess I’m a bit of a purist. Anything more cooked than “Medium” is considered garbage to me.
Ideal side-dishes: pan-fried asparagus and mushrooms in Parmesan cheese, ceaser salad (home-made dressing), baked potato.
Wrong. Thin steaks are grillable. A 3″ porterhouse is seasoned and goes into a skillet. After it is seared, it gets set on edge for even cooking in the oven. Then add more butter to the pan and some fresh herbs, e.g. rosemary and baste the steak as it cooks. Then let it rest. Fucking mind blowing.
Ruined the steak.
What you have done is just made roast beef.
Only use a skillet to brown beef before tossing it into the slow cooker, glad you were also skimming the article and immediately screaming at the lack of grill. amazingribs.com is like the bible of outdoor cooking
Browning in a skillet is part of the cooking process. Therefore, yes, this is skillet cooking even if it goes it another method later.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Grilling – fine. A sufficiently hot, massive skillet is better at making a crust than a grill unless you really know what you’re doing with charcoal and wood chips. Gas grill? Please. Not. Rapid flips – doesn’t do much either way, but may prevent forming a proper crust. But no salt?! You’re an idiot. Step away from the grill.
The secret to a good steak is to get it up to temperature before you actually cook it. Unless you have a sous vide machine, the best way to do this is with a big stock pot of water heated to 135-138 deg. F ( 57-59C – use a thermometer!).
Optionally you can pre-sear the steaks straight out of the fridge at very high temp for about 40s per side. When searing, press the steak into the pan with a spatula so the full surface is in contact with the pan. It is better to dry the steak surface then oil or butter the steak than to oil the pan.
Put the steak in a Ziploc, optionally with some butter, olive oil or Worcestershire sauce as a thermal filler, a bit of garlic, salt, pepper can also be good.
Lower the bag into the water with the seal open so all the air is pushed out of the bag before sealing it. If your stove will go low enough, put the pot on so that it just maintains temperature.
Check the water temp. every three minutes for the first 12 minutes to get a sense of how often it needs a bump in temp. It will take 45 – 90 minutes to get the internal temperature of the steak up to 2 deg F / 1C less than the water. Hold the steak at that temperature for 20 – 40 min depending on temp., longer for 135F bath, shorter for 138. Now the steak is cooked to FDA standards and has about a seven-sigma killing of any e. coli. Lower temps take asymptotically longer’ — anything below 130F will never be fully safe, but the post-searing can make up the difference and a water bath above 125F is not a big risk. Even at 138F, the steak will look totally raw inside, so don’t worry about it being too well done at these temps. – the usual doneness temps don’t apply with slow heating.
Sear the steaks 30 seconds per side on a 600F – 800F heavy skillet, hot enough that a drop of water will skitter frictionlessly across (plus a bit). Let rest 3 to 5 min. (longer for thicker cuts) in a warm but not too hot insulated place, aluminum foil wrapping works well.
Enjoy your first-ever perfectly cooked steak.
Your cooking is pedestrian at best. Straight from the fridge? Idiotic.
I do agree though that gas grills are evil.
Pre-sear is not cooking, just adds some Maillard taste. Sous-vide is like a really thorough tempering. The post-sear is the proper cooking . You could grill instead of post-sear, but it would be harder to keep it rare.
Pre-sear is very much part of the cooking-it is cooking. It is insanely easy to control the grill cooking for a good rare steak.
What I’m trying to say is pre-sear doesn’t make a big difference in the outcome. Just think of the ziplock in hand-hot-for-one-second-stockpot method as a better way to evenly temper the meat to near the target temperature before the real cooking.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak.html
Very useful link, thanks. I would have posted the link to the PDF from Cooking Issues’ blog I use, but the site is gone.
A grill, especially a real charcoal one, will do great. Yet how many of us has access to one?
Your method may work for thin steaks cooked rare, but how do you cook a 2-incher medium if you keep flipping it? The heath never reaches the center. Foil is there to help slowly cook the steak throughout.
A spot-on point that patties should be cooked like steaks. I guess they never get that in these fast food joints.
Sorry but you’re way off on the no frying claim. Tell that to the Japanese, who cook the most prized steaks in the world on flat grills. It’s the best steak I’ve ever had and I’ve eaten steak all over the world. You should get out more.
I suggest not to use oil more just a little water . Very little .
It is fucked up how soy IS in everything. I stick to organic veggies, fruits and nuts.
Fermented soy should be fine… I still like soy sauce, and sometimes have tempeh (kind of like a fermented tofu, with a rich umami taste).
The problem with soy is that it’s found everywhere, as you say. I guess it’s just a cheap, subsidised crop that acts as a filler.
I do love my soy sauce, but in moderation. I am unsure how soy sauce, edamame, and tofu/tempeh effect hormones, but soy protein isolate and all soy extracts really fuck with estrogen levels in men AND females. I really try to stay away from it, I even fry with avocado/coconut/olive oil because soy IS vegetable oil. Very scary if there is an “agenda” behind soy.
Fair call. Most vegetable oils are terrible for you – but I certainly use a lot of coconut.
As a Kiwi I miss getting fish & chips (deep fried in vegetable oil) but I find after not having eaten eat for years, and then trying it again, I feel sick, so it’s not hard. And then occasionally I crumb my own fish and fry some chips in coconut oil – fantastic!
I don’t know about elsewhere, but even most bread in my country has soy, often even proudly labelled as if it’s something to be proud of. Especially ridiculous is the “European style” bullshit that is “kibbled soy and linseed” or something , though I never saw any bread remotely approaching such a thing in Europe.
Suggest one consult with America’s Test Kitchen on how to cook a steak.
Dan Kurt
p.s. When I want a steak I go to Ruth’s Christ Steak House and get a boneless rib eye, shoestring potatoes, spinach, and a red wine; my wife gets a tenderloin and shares the sides and bottle of wine. Someday I hope to share a porterhouse with my wife at Peter Lugars should New York not be nuked.
I love Ruth Chris, but I, a New Yorker and beef lover, consider Peter Luger the best American steakhouse of all time. I went there, both in the original Brooklyn and Great Neck locations, and most everything there (except for their chicken) is good and great, including the desserts.
Do go to Peter Luger’s (though make an early reservation; it helps). And show up on time. And pray for the peace of New York, my homeland.
I suspect this is like pizza, lots of thoughts on what is best. I use a similar method (after searing on grill or cast iron grill pan, I broil in the oven and flip the steak for even heating – total cook time for a 1″ steak is about 5 minutes max – I aim for medium rare) with delicious results. I don’t suppose we’ll ever reach full consensus on everything, but can we all at least agree that if you cook a steak past medium, you’ve ruined it and it should be fed to dogs?
100% on everything. Very measure and no we wont agree on everything but if you cook it past medium you forfeit your right to an opinion !!
Damn you. This article made me hungry. And I had tri-tip just last night.
Seared from frozen on a barbecue.
Then rubbed with pepper and salt.
Then slow cook to internal temp of 130. Don’t hate on me for the temp; it’s how I like it. Takes about an hour in a 200 degree oven. Beef takes patience.
Hey RoK editors. Request an article on how to make sausages!
Try white sausages with scrambled eggs. I tried it in Germany and still make it once in a while since then.
Mexican chorizo (sausage) and scrambled eggs with a little fresh salsa. I just made it and it was fantastic.
Mexican chorizo is usually made from the thymus and salivary glands (neck) of the hog.
These are often called “sweetbreads”, and are a delicacy in many parts of the world including the South Eastern United States.
I love chorizo, but try not to think about what it’s made of.
Ja, weisswurst ist gut.
My great-grandfather passed along a “kochwurst” recipe that my father has been known to make. It’s a cooked white sausage (as opposed to a cured sausage) that is heavy on liver and pork renderings. The result is indescribable and very good on toast.
1. Get some real gristly, fatty offcuts.
2. Put through a meat grinder to mince it all up.
3. Mix with spices, as well as maybe a little flour.
4. Fill into specially prepared casings, preferably natural rather than synthetic.
Pork is the most commonly used, but personally I would go for lamb.
There are hundreds of sausages – which sausage would you like to make? My father has a recipe for a jaegerwurst (cured and smoked venison/pork sausage) and kochwurst (cooked white pork sausage), but that’s all I have immediate access to. Both sausages take a few hours of work, minimum, and the technique requires refinement to properly reproduce.
Best to stick to recipes that are easier to reproduce for now, methinks.
Yeah, I’m a wurst-o-phile myself.
A little trick I’ve discovered is using frozen (or mostly frozen) meat. If you grill it, you get the outside crunchy while the inside unfreezes, gets hot but doesn’t cook.
Of course, this is not needed when you cook a thick steak, but it works very well with everyday’s thinner ones.
This is a really good and informative article.
Cooking a good pan-fried steak is definitely an acquired skill (art?).
I’ve never heard of the trick of putting a little oil in with the butter to keep it from scalding, I’ll have to try that.
I once had a GF that could cook really good pan-fried steaks, but never really watched how she did it, my mistake.
And yes, you can get all kinds of steaks from your local supermarket, but I highly recommend getting them from your local butcher shop if you have a good one near you, there is usually a big difference in the quality and not too much in the price. Fortunately I have a great one near me, highly rated.
I’ve always been told that salting a steak before cooking it made it tough, but the GF mentioned above told me that’s not true, she always “pushed” course salt and pepper into the meat before cooking it and it turned out great.
I get a lot of good from reading this site although I don’t always agree with everything I read here. I need to send you guys a donation.
Shit, I accidentally gave myself an up vote… please ignore.
No seasoning (salt / pepper / garlic powder)? No marinating? Come on, man!
Mmmmmmmmmmmm…………meat! What time is dinner?
I follow the directions above until the oven part. Once it’s off the skillet, it’s done. I like mine pretty rare, so I keep the inside pretty raw. A dash of salt and pepper, some runny eggs on the side to slop it all up, and you’re all set.
I don’t do the oven part either. I also like them rare.
I always soak them in a good red wine before I fry them.
(I am in the school of thought that says you shouldn’t cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink. Extravagant I know.)
After I have seared them in the skillet, I then pour the wine they have been soaking in over them. You end up with a sticky sauce that you can spoon over the finished steaks.
I like to eat them with dijon mustard and with the remains of the bottle of the good red wine they were soaked in.
Runny eggs? I guess I need to try that one.
Just my expert opinion here: try marinating a cut of 1.5″ thick steak with a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice for no more than 15 minutes. Follow that up by drying and allowing the steak to sit for 20 minutes. There is no need to salt & pepper the steak until cooking time, and I’ve actually read that cracked pepper loses its flavor within 30 minutes. In addition, I tend to lightly season it with red pepper flakes and garlic powder. Now, if no access to a charcoal barbecue, then I recommend investing in a cast iron skillet. Beat that.
I had a great steak at a Greek restaurant once and I’m pretty sure they marinated in lemon juice. It was very different, but I loved it. I’m going to try this method. As for the pepper, I haven’t heard about it losing flavor after cracking, but it can lose flavor if cooked at high temps, like you will be doing with a steak, so I’ve found it’s best to pepper after cooking.
I find that pepper works best at the end of the process, but not after cooking. Added early enough to absorb into the flavors, but late enough not to burn.
As someone who’s cooked thousands of steaks – just my 2 cents.
Salting – When salting a thick piece of meat, do as Bobby Flay says “make it rain”. Use a course salt such as kosher or sea salt and give it a good amount. It’s hard to over salt a thick steak. As for when to salt: Right before cooking – OK, 40 minutes before cooking – good, a couple of hours before – even better, and the night before – best.
Kenji over at Serious Eats has broken down the science of this if you want to learn some more about it.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/the-food-lab-more-tips-for-perfect-steaks.html
I generally salt them when I take them out of the fridge and let then sit for as long as possible. Unless I have company coming over I rarely have the foresight to do it the night before.
Searing – Don’t use butter to cook your steaks. You want high heat to get a good sear and the butter will burn no matter what you mix it with. If you have ghee or clarified butter then great use that. Otherwise use a high smoke point oil such as peanut oil, avocado oil or vegetable oil.
For the butter I like to do one of two things. The first is to put it in pan when I place the pan in the oven. I will also put some crushed garlic cloves or chopped shallots and a sprig of thyme or a sprig of rosemary. Try different combos to see what you like best or just use what you have on hand. Another method is to melt some butter in a small pan while your steaks are cooking and add the shallots or garlic to it and let it saute a bit and then add the aromatics such as thyme or rosemary. When your steaks are done and resting brush or pour some of butter on top of the steaks. They will absorb the butter and the flavors and it’s exquisite 🙂
Pepper: I like to grind my black pepper on my steaks before searing them. The pepper burns and helps form that nice crunchy crust that we all love. The problem with this is that it will smoke more. If the smoke in your kitchen is a problem then you can pepper your steaks after. It’s still good.
Oven: I differ with the author on what temp to use. For the oven I crank it up as high as it goes or use the broiler. Either way for my oven it’s 500. As counter intuitive as it is, the higher heat allows you to have more rare pink in the middle. The reason is that the steaks will be cooking for less time at the higher heat and you will get more of the maillard reaction on the outside of the steak which makes it so delicious. The heat will have less time to transfer to the middle of the steak. When a lower temperature and longer time is used, more of the interior of the steak will become that unappealing grey transition zone between well and rare.
As far as never cooking steak in a skillet – I respectfully disagree. I have half a dozen smokers and grills in my backyard that I passionately use but my cast iron skillet is my steaks best friend. With a skillet you lose non of those wonderful juices that a steak releases as it cooks. Also when the steaks are done if you add some shallots and butter then deglaze that pan with some bourbon or cognac to get up all the frond (burnt bits on the pan) and add some heavy cream and pepper – it takes no more than 5 minutes – you now have Steak au Poivre and it is heaven on a plate.
Bobby Flay has a nice article on how to cook a Peter Luger style porterhouse. If you can get your hands on some good dry aged prime beef and a little practice you can make a steak just as good.
http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/bobby-flay-porterhouse-steak-rules
At the end of the day no matter how you like to cook your steak a man needs only three things to be happy
Cheers
Butter does burn. If I had the patience I’d also make clarified butter.
Interesting point on the oven. I’ve always thought that the Maillard reaction should be achieved on the skillet. I aim for low temperatures to get that even color inside the steak, not a continuous transition from well-done on the surface to rare at the center.
Huge thanks for your well thought-out comment! As much as I swear by mere salt and pepper, I may need to try some of those garlic-shallot-things. Sounds delicious.
If you are not marinating it in kratom you are doing it wrong.
Kratom in the right proportion unlocks the steak’s electrolytes.
It’s circular. The very best Kratom is cultivated in soil fertilized with beef trimmings and Gatorade.
Lately I have been eating steaks more frequently… I used to avoid them because of the price of beef, but now I don’t care anymore. Beef is too good to pass up.
I cook my steaks in a very simple manner, on a skillet, and it takes like 2 minutes. I like “medium” or “medium-rare”. Nothing fancy… Then I put a ton of steak spices on it. It’s very good.
or, find the right woman….
If she was the right woman, she would be cooking it for you.
…on March the 14th
One important tip: Never under any circumstances allow a woman to cook it, your steak and in fact your life will be ruined.
I take pride in my ability to take cheaper steak cuts – flat iron, skirt, and sirloin – and make them edible for a decent weeknight meal. Marinate, spice, grill or fry, and rest for at least 10 minutes. Then serve with salad.
Great article. I broil my steak in the oven for a minute or two each side in my cast iron skillet, then lower the temp to 350 or 400 to finish. That’s basically the same thing you’re doing here, except you’re searing it on the stovetop instead of using the broiler.
Agreed on the photo of two cuts.. I bought a nice bright red cut a while back, that looks more like the cut in the right picture, instead of what I thought was the more unhealthy and fatty version on the left. It was rather tasteless. The fat gives the meat its flavor. Something like the left cut is what you want.
Most of the points here echo what I’ve read from other sources on best way to prepare a steak, so follow them and you will have a good meal. Also appreciated the potatoes side dish.. I’m gonna try that.
I’m not into celebrity chefs, but I like this guys video on cooking a steak, it’s only a couple minutes long. He doesn’t show the steak afterwards so I think he screwed it up, but it’s still good advice haha
I just put some rub on mine and sear it over a flame on the grille. Have never done the oven thing as I like them medium rare. Pan frying seems to change the flavor to me, so I use the grille year round.
Done right, a cheap strip steak can come out tender and juicy.
Salt and pepper both sides of the steak before cooking. Garlic powder and onion powder give a nice taste also. I prefer small fillet cuts, but to each his own.
Well thought out red-pill, manly articles and subsequent discussion threads this week. Keep it up guys and we’ll retake the world …
Agreed
Great, now I’m hungry.
When you’re a vegan and you haven’t told anyone in five minutes.
Yes I want buns of steel and balls of meat.
Pan Frying a steak? Stopped reading.
Mixed soy sauce and port wine always makes a delicious gravy for steaks.
I prefer my steak done. And cooked on a charcoal grill. Only.
Pan frying steak is so feminine. Men use grills. No matter the weather. Only woman would pan fry a steak.
or the other option is to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15tUzlriGDI
Cook like a man: with a battle axe!
Season steak how you like, but keep it simple.
Mushrooms, onions, green and red peppers in a pan with butter. Watch the pan on medium heat, then to low, add in garlic, salt, pepper, paprika stir regularly until soft. Remove from pan, flash heat it up, add new butter and as it turns bubbly golden add the steak(s) to the pan. Sear the steaks too and bottom. Put in an oven on broil for 5-6 minutes and flip then another 5-6 minutes. This depends a little bit in thickness but if you go over 9 minutes per side you’re probably going to make it well done unless it’s insanely thick. Shame on you if you cook a good steak past medium.
Put a pat of butter on top after you remove from the oven and let it sit 5 minutes. Plate, add a healthy dose of the pepper, mushroom, onion sautée. The garlic and vegetable mixture should have added even more flavor to the steak without being overpowering.
Add an awesome salad for a good meal.
Determining the right timing is difficult. That’s why I always use a thermometer.
You’re right, cooking past medium is a sin. My suggestion: send those who do it to Toronto.
I like it Sous Vide – sealed in vacuum bag or good ziplock then 170 degree water bath for hour or more, then 90 seconds a side over flame and into my belly.
Too hot. 125-140F is best for steak; I prefer 135F bath and 133F internal. 170F isn’t hot enough to break down collagen, as with stew beef, but too hot to preserve pinkness and texture. 150F is absolute max for decent cuts.= and is pretty much just for ribs.
how to fry a steak? No shout out to the caveman t-bone or charcoal weber? Real playboys have rotisseries over charcoal…
According to some damn liberal writing for Huffpo (I believe it was), we should feel guilty as men for cooking steaks. Because it is not mangina enough and deprives women of the right to be like men.
Maybe it was Slate. Been a few months
Even the most ardent feminists I know start to get leaky, between their thighs, when a man knows how to cook a nice steak. It’s a guilty pleasure, like a good rack of smoked ribs.
Vegetarians, vegans, that’s a whole other story.
Salt, peper and oregano are the holy trinity in terms of flavouring meats in Greek cuisine and I adhere to that very strictly in terms of preparing whatever I eat in that vein-I grill myself up a nice tenderloin or sirloin like that and skip all the fattening side dishes and unnecessary carbs and eschew marinades and sauces as for me those are designed only to cover bad cookery or pervert the flavour of the meat itself-I’m a simple creature of habit but it works for me.
The GF I mentioned here that cooked really good pan-fried steaks used only salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary that she grew in her own little herb garden in most of her cooking.
I should have hung on to her.
It’s all a learning experience-as long as you are better for it I am sure should another come along whom is feminine and has other desirable traits they would be held onto.
I’m just going to throw this out there. And some of you may scoff at it but I’ve found that Michelob Light is the absolute best beer with a home cooked steak. And if you don’t believe me I challenge you to try it. Part of that challenge is finding it. Hardly anyone carries it anymore. But if you can find it try Michelob Light with a steak. (Not Michelob Ultra or Amber Bock or But light or Miller lite or microbrew or anything else.) It has to be michelob light. I don’t know why but it is amazeballs with my ribeye steaks.
Another side item that is quick and easy and goes great with a home cooked steak is sauteed spinach. Get a bag or two of baby spinach (trust me, it wilts down a great deal so for a couple servings you’ll want to make sure you have enough). Put some butter and olive oil into a pan and get a jar of that organic minced garlic and throw in a couple spoonfulls. Then add the spinach and grind some sea salt on top as you let it wilt down. It goes so quick you can make it as your steak rests. Delish.
My Mother liked her steaks well-done.
My Father was disgusted with this and used to say why don’t I cook you an old shoe, you wouldn’t know the difference.
Rest their souls.
Another tip is to get the surface of the steak as dry as possible. Moisture on the surface inhibits the meat from getting as hot as you want it… and getting it that hot is the key to developing a nice crust on it. I salt mine heavily… let it sit for a few minutes… then pat it dry and wipe most of the salt off. The salt will draw water out via osmosis. The other way you can do it is to stick a room temp steak in the freezer for 20 min or so and the super low humidity will also draw moisture out.
For those who scoff at using a pan… the reason is simple. Most people don’t have grills that can get hot enough that it will slightly char and caramelize the surface while not cooking the interior. On a lower temp grill, you have to cook it to long in order to develop that char, thus ruining the steak. With a cast iron skillet, the skillet gets very hot and retains it’s heat when the steak hits it. Thus giving you the ability to cook the outside well without ruining the interior of the steak.
I have cooked a lot and the best way I have found is through science. The Food Lab is probably the best resource for how and why to cook things in a certain way. Sous Vide is not only dead easy, it is also the way many of the high end steak houses cook those tender steaks and get them to your plate hot and delicious.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak.html
Interesting this suggestion of cast iron skillet rather than coated pan.. I usually try to use this electric lava-rock barbeque cause then I don’t have to clean anything, but I imagine a piece of cast iron here glowing a dull red. Yes have also always felt it is a bit too much for the teflon coated pans and really they are for more delicate non-stick jobs like an omelet.. Don’t forget the mustard..
Don’t ever fry a steak on a pan. Cook it as God intended: marinade and throw on a charcoal grill. In lieu of marinade, use Montreal Steak Seasoning.
BBQ is good but searing with a bit of olive oil on a pan, especially a steak that marinated for 2-3 days is incredible
Hmmm… Interesting. I will have to try this with a thoroughly marinaded steak, and get back to you. I was mostly referring to people who fry them in butter. Yuck.
Yeah I agree that butter’s meh. And be sure to sear the meat. Hot pan, put the steak in, if you like it nice and rare, count one minute, flip, one minute and flip again, then take the pan to your plate and put the steak in.
I made this for my boyfriend:)
With the cast iron, am just wondering if you go for enameled or bare?