Cooking the Perfect Steak at Home

Living in New York there is pretty much a steakhouse on every other corner where you are most certainly going to find a delicious cut of beef cooked by a professional. What if you want to stay in? It wasn’t too long ago when we weren’t able to go out of our houses!!!!

So let’s talk about how we can cook the perfect restaurant quality steak at home.

First you need to find the right cut of meat.

Finding the Right Cut of Meat

Let’s be honest, It's hard to make high end restaurant quality steaks without buying high end quality cuts. I can guarantee you that you will not find what you are looking for at your local grocery store. So if you are gonna do this thing right you'll need to take a trip to your local butcher.

Beside the quality of your beef, you will also be able to get it cut to your exact specifications.

Here are some tips when picking out your cut:

• Thickness counts. Your steak should be no less that 1.5 inches thick. This will allow you to get a nice char on both sides without overcooking
• For beginners, get a boneless cut. Bone-in steaks tend to cook unevenly as the heat does not distribute evenly.
• The perfect “at home” cut will be a boneless rib-eye. It is “fattier” that the other cuts and will have the most flavor.

Prepping Your Meat

You've got the ingredients, now you need the technique.

1. Let your steak sit (covered) at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before you start cooking

2. BE PREPARED!!!!! Have all your $#!+ ready to go. Have your stove top prepared, skillet, knife, seasoning, meat thermometer, cutting board, resting rack and serving platter ready to go. Also make sure your oven is pre-heated to 375 degrees. You will need this to finish the process. There is NOTHING worse than searching for your stuff or waiting for your oven to heat up while your steak is cooking. This is a sure way to f**k it up.

3. Then season your steak. Whether it’s salt, or your favorite rub, (we use our Big Buzz Coffee Rub) don’t be shy! Season that $#!+ heavy. This is what will give your steak what is called a “Malliard Reaction” but you know it as “caramelization or crust”.

Cooking the Perfect Steak

With a steak, you really have only two options. They are Grill or Cast Iron Skillet, any other way you just might as well go eat a diner steak!!!! Always grill when available, but wintertime in NY can be brutal so for indoors and the purpose of this blog, we will use a cast iron skillet.

The trick to a cast iron skillet is to get it really hot. 10-15 minutes over a flame before you start cooking. Do not put any oil in the skillet. We want it bone dry. This is what is going to give you that nice sear. Drop that bad boy on the skillet and sear each side 3-4 minutes using tongs to flip it when the first side is done.

After your second side is charred, grab your skillet and toss it in the oven. This is the tricky part, you don’t want to overcook the steak but you also want the fat to render so you get all that flavor. 4-8 minutes should do the trick. At 4 minutes, break out the thermometer and check the temperature of the steak. Here is a chart for what temperature your steak should be based on how you like it…..honestly, anything over rare, we can’t be friends.

Serving the Steak

You aren’t done yet. I know you’re hungry and I know you worked really hard and probably stressed the f**k out (I do every time), but you now have to let the steak rest. Take the steak out of the skillet and place it on your resting rack. THIS IS VITAL! You must let it rest a minimum of five minutes before serving. Letting a steak rest is critical to achieving that steakhouse quality flavor.

When cooking a steak all of the juices are pushed to the middle of the meat. Resting process will allow the juices to work their way back throughout the steak. Giving you that rich, juicy flavor and texture that you come to expect.

At this point you can add your fresh ground/cracked pepper and maybe even a pad of butter!!!

Last but not least…..don’t forget the sides! Fingerling potatoes, creamed spinach, broccoli rabe, French fries, vegetable medley, the options are endless!