There is nothing more luxurious than cooking your own steak perfectly and, to help you along the way, there are loads of opinions and tips on the best methods. Here are ours!
Possibly a more important ally than your local bartender (depending on your value system), butchers are full of knowledge and are there to help. Your butcher wants to tell you what’s hip, what should be hip, where the steak comes from, and, most importantly, how to cook what you buy.
A good steak spends more time hanging out rather than cooking. Pull it out of the fridge at least an hour before you want to cook it. In a pinch, 30 minutes will suffice.
You can’t season the inside of a steak, so to pull out the natural flavor of a large piece of meat, you must liberally season both sides with coarse kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and press it in. Make sure to pat your steak dry with a paper towel before seasoning.
Place a heavy-bottomed cast iron pan over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes and drizzle about a teaspoon of grapeseed or canola oil in the pan. When the oil begins to smoke, add the seasoned steak and lay it in the pan away from you. The pan should sound like Eric Clapton just took the stage to full applause. Turn the heat down a bit.
Some people don't like too much flipping when they cook a steak, but we disagree. More flipping actually results in even searing. When the steak is almost done, feel free to rub it with garlic, add a pat of butter, and/or rub it down with herbs like thyme or rosemary.
Touch can be misleading depending on the size of your steak and your preferred level of doneness. Unless you’re a pro, stick to using a thermometer. You can’t go wrong. A rare steak comes in at 125 degrees F, and each level of doneness after that is an additional ten degrees, leaving a well-done steak anywhere above 160 degrees F.
Give it 5–10 minutes to rest. This allows the juices to have a chance to relax and reabsorb into the steak.
Use a sharp knife and slice your steak perpendicular to the natural grain. Make sure to drizzle any remaining juice left.
Check out these steak recipes to put all your new tips and tricks to work!
This is one of the easiest and most flavorful marinades for steak ever! Despite the use of soy sauce, this is not an Asian dish; the bourbon and brown sugar shine through!
Rich, hearty, and oh-so-delicious, this steakhouse star can be made in your kitchen in just a few minutes.
You may be thinking, "Really? Coffee on steak?" YES! The coffee rub is a mixture of ground coffee, cocoa powder, ground mustard, brown sugar, and a few other spices, and it gives the steak such a rich, bold flavor.
