JeffJudge.com

I saw a post tonight on food tips, and it reminded me to publish my take on how to cook a good steak. I’m not going to get incredibly detailed here, just the highlights.

A great steak only needs three things: high heat, garlic salt and black pepper. Heat is critical. Heat makes or breaks steak. If you want to make someone cry, give them a great piece of meat that hasn’t been cooked with the right heat. It’s seriously night and day. Heat=good steak.

Here’s the play by play:
(1) Buy some damn good meat. I’m talking New York strips from Costco, Whole Foods or your local butcher. You get what you pay for, so don’t be a cheap ass.
(2) Preheat the oven to 425° F.
(3) Heavily season both sides of the steak with garlic salt and some pepper. Remember, salt is good. Garlic is good. Garlic salt on a steak…you know where I’m going. Pepper for taste.
(4) Grab a grill pan (these are usually square and have ridges) or cast iron skillet, set on the stove and turn the burner just shy of high.
(5) Once the pan is hot enough (run your fingers under the kitchen sink and flick water on the pan to test…it should sizzle away), throw your steaks on and man up. After a 3 mins, flip and cook for 2 mins on the other side. You want to get a nice sear on both sides. Don’t screw around here…stick to schedule!
(6) Throw the pan (w/steak) in to the oven and cook for another 4 minutes or so. The best way to tell if a steak is done is to press on it with your finger. There is some trick about how to test for how done it is by doing the same with your finger and your palm, but that’s just overthinking it. Medium rare (dark pink in the middle) is the way to cook a steak: the meat should be soft, but not spongy. If the meat is firm, game over. It might take you a few times before you get this down, but you will.
(7) Pull the pan out, let the steak rest for 4-5 minutes while you prep up the rest of the meal and enjoy. Don’t get too excited here, you *need* to let the steak rest so the juices will distribute and the meat will finish cooking.

Remember, the key here is to seal the meat to retain the juice. That’s where the heat is critical - the sear will lock it in. Seriously, this works every time.

Pair this with a nice bottle of red wine (cab, zin, pinot) and a quick salad of heirloom tomato, buffalo mozarrella, fresh basil, olive oil and cracked pepper.

Finally, I’m available for consultation on a paid steak basis :)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 10:51 pm and is filed under . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.