- a skillet (or a frying pan and a baking dish)
- tongs
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- a meat thermometer (optional)
- a steak
Recipe-Free Cooking
From the store to the kitchen to the table: We outline the steps that get you from something raw to something cooked using simple ingredients, free of measurements and complicated techniques. A method that you can have in your back pocket and whip out whenever you like. We call it recipe-free cooking.
Illustrations by Bill Russell
Want more like this?
GOOD solid advice
While the steak is resting make a nice little pan sauce using the pan you seared in, making sure to scrape up all those tasty little bits! The juices that collect on the plate the steak can be added back into the pan sauce.
This is great and would love more such articles on basic things.
I heard a chef, on NPR, who said any meat can be cooked: 3 minutes on one side, 3 minutes on the other and 3 minutes in a 350 degree oven (not sure if I have the oven temp right). It almost follows this same article.
There's a youtube video w/Alton Brown. Preheats oven to 500 and puts a seasoned cast iron skillet inside. Then takes the skillet out and puts it on a burner at med-high and sears the steak for 30 seconds a side and puts it in the oven for another few minutes...
It got me thinking about doing a similar thing on the grill.
I find the Cook's Illustrated method to be the best and most controllable for me. It's the reverse of the sear then oven method: put the cut in the oven, with a temp sensor and let it get a little over 110 degrees F for med rare, and then plop it into a hot pan for the final searing (I use my cast iron), about 2 min on every side, even the edge with tongs.
I cook my steaks on the weber basically the same. I bank up the charcoal on one side of the kettle, fire it with a brush burner, throw the grill on. I normally have taken the meat out of refer 45 minutes to an hour earlier, hit it with S&P or some Dizzy Pig rubs.
I start out with the brickets about 1 inch from the grill and roaring hot. I sear one side for a little longer than a minute, then turn 45 degrees, go for another minute and a half, turn the meat and do the same on the other side.
I then take meat from directly over coals and move to otherside of the grill away from coals, drop the lid and let the steaks get to 195-198 degrees internal temp, pull from grill, cover with foil for 10-15 minutes or so. Perfect every time.
I sent this to my less culinarily experienced siblings as they call me 4 times every time they cook a steak (or anything really). It's basically exactly what I tell them to do but in illustrated form. Thanks, Chow, for saving my family all those wireless minutes.
Duck, are you absolutely sure you heat your steaks to nearly 200 degrees?
140 degrees is rare, thus, you should cook to an internal temperature of around 125-130 degrees for for a nice rare steak after the residual heat does its job.
160 is well done. If you heat your steaks to an internal temperature of 195, I cant help but feel sorry for whomever you serve it to.
You can also sprinkle coarse salt liberally in the skillet at the beginning, while it's heating up. I think this somehow helps a crust develop when you put the steak in.
I usually just sear the steak on all sides in a butter and olive oil mix, about 4 minutes total, then toss it in a warm (lowest setting) oven for 20-30 minutes. It comes out warm all the way through, but still medium rare to medium (bloody but warmed through). I will admit that I hate crusty meat- I eat around grill marks, they just ruin the flavor.
Wow coconuts, that just sounds...well, nuts! Different strokes I guess. I cant imagine meat without some sort of carmelization or searing. Eating around grill marks? Thats one I have never heard of!
I cook in a fine dining restaurant and we always baste ours in butter. Essentially, follow the directions as above, sear until brown on both sides, two minutes a side or so. Add a knob of butter to the pan and it will begin to bubble and melt immediately. Tilt the pan so the butter collects in a pool and keep basting for 15 seconds or so. Then put it in the oven to finish, usually two minutes or so on a 400+ degree oven. Rest 10 minutes and put the pan aside, saving the butter. The butter will have gone brown and nutty (beurre noisette, essentially) and makes a fantastic sauce. Alternatively, you could rest the meat IN the beurre noisette... you'd want to use a plate or something (not the hot pan as it would continue to cook the meat past medium-rare, which nobody who really cares about tasting steak really wants). There's lots of other stuff you can do to that butter (while the meat is resting) to make a more refined sauce... fry off some shallots and herbs in it...add a bit of beef stock and red wine to it and reduce it down...or some marsala, whisky, etc...
I think this is a rip of Alton Brown's 'Pan Seared Rib Eye'.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recip...
Pan Seared Rib Eye Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: Steak Your Claim
1 boneless rib eye steak, 1 1/2-inch thick
Canola oil to coat
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Place 10 to 12-inch cast iron skillet in oven and heat oven to 500 degrees. Bring steak(s) to room temperature.
When oven reaches temperature, remove pan and place on range over high heat. Coat steak lightly with oil and season both sides with a generous pinch of salt. Grind on black pepper to taste.
Immediately place steak in the middle of hot, dry pan. Cook 30 seconds without moving. Turn with tongs and cook another 30 seconds, then put the pan straight into the oven for 2 minutes. Flip steak and cook for another 2 minutes. (This time is for medium rare steaks. If you prefer medium, add a minute to both of the oven turns.)
Remove steak from pan, cover loosely with foil, and rest for 2 minutes. Serve whole or slice thin and fan onto plate.
I meant my statement to read...
I think this is basically a rip of Alton Brown's 'Pan Seared Rib Eye'.
Okay so for medium rare use these times, but what if I want it rare? Shorten up the skilet time, the oven time, or both?
Thanks
So my fiance and I have NEVER made steak before, but this "recipe" made me want to try it. I'm not sure we used the right kind of cut (it was fatty throughout, so when we cut it all off, we ended up with small pieces and slivers!) We also don't have a cast-iron skillet, so we used a basic skillet and transferred the steak pieces to a baking dish. It worked out REALLY well. EXCEPT... that we are steak mutilators, and don't like our steak sitting in a pool of blood at the end.
Any tips on how to get a more well done steak without the red juices? (Or is it simply that we should leave it in the oven longer?)
Just wanted to share a non-pro's take on this recipe.
If you don't like the red juice - stop eating steak ayme (lol j/k)
I'd leave it in the oven longer - perhaps an extra 3-4 minutes - To make sure you get it perfect everytime - its best to invest in a meat thermometer (about $10-15) Cook it to 160 internal if you dont want the meat to be pink at all - about 150-155 if you want a little pink but not as much juice!
The thermometer is the best method - because no matter the thickness, cut or size of the steak - the temperature wins the day with doneness
Ribeye tends to be a little fatty throughout - if you like less fat to navigate around - try a NY Strip or Delmonico - A little more expensive - but a lot less waste!
My wife and Mother in Law like well done meat. For less red in the middle, I find the best results from a thin cut. It's still fairly edible to me (and I prefer Rare to Med Rare).
For a hungry man-sized portion, just cook two thin cut steaks
I n my experience, cooking beef to 140' (as most sources suggest for rare) yields well done. I never cook beef past 122' for rare.
UHMMMMM
Sound very good!
I wish I was good at!
A line chef from a hotel restaurant (who I think was trying to hit on me) once told me that they use this niffty little trick in the kitchen. Hold your thumb to your index finger and make an "O" with your fingers, like an OK motion. Then relax your whole hand, bring the other three finger kind of in line with your index, and just relax. Poke the meaty muscle below your thumb with your other hand. Feel how soft it is? Move your thumb to your middle finger. Notice it gets stiffer? Ring finger is a little stiffer and the pinky is the stiffest.
Now, poke your steak. Notice how as it gets more done, it gets stiffer? You can use your thumb as a guide. He told me that thumb-to-index is rare to medium-rare. Thumb-to-middle is medium. Thumb-to-ring is medium to well. Thumb-to-pinky is well-done.
I've tried it and apparently, there's an art to it, but as a general rule, it works. I found the first to fingers rarer than expected and last two fingers more well done. There's a sweet spot in how to your relax your fingers, but now I check my steaks with "thumb-to-middle finger" for a delicious medium-rare. I never gave the guy my number, but I'll never forget his neat trick.
Hey Sox Foodie,
That is honestly the most sensual way I have heard anyone suggest to prepare a steak.
Relax, go for the O, and it gets....well, you said it.