The Pound of Flesh
This is where we begin, beyond all else a steak should have approximately these qualities:
- The Meat is bright red with no graying or excess blood
- The Cut of the meat is even and ideally flat for searing
- There should be no smell or other signs of rot on your meat
- Try to aim for no more than an inch and a half in thickness unless you like your steak very rare
One of the mistakes I made was not having my butcher form this delicious mass into a thinner pair of steaks. The meat I used above is about 1.3 pounds of Rib Eye. This was a lot longer of a cook time than I liked from start to end about half an hour from seasoning to consumption. I am a hungry spy.
Spices and Salt
The simplest method to use for a pan steak is simple
- Salt of your choice liberally on the outside of the meat
- A few quick coarse grinds of pepper
- A light spread of oil just to make the meat look barely wet
You can do more than this but the reason for the oil is to spread the heat evenly when we sear both sides of our steak. The searing process prevents the juices from exiting the meat like cauterizing a wound. The salt and pepper, or what ever seasonings you choose, are burned into the meat in this process or get pushes out quickly by the heat, which is why it is recommended to use a fair amount.
The fat or oil you use needs to be able to withstand over about 435 degrees Fahrenheit. Peanut, canola, safflower, anything like that works. Using a lighter oil will just burn, making the steak kind of nasty and tasting like burnt oil.
Fire to Flesh
To sear your steak, your pan needs to be hot.
How hot? as high as you can get it. The simple test for stupid hot pan, take a drop of water, drop into pan. If it vaporizes on contact it should be good to go.
You will turn down the heat after the searing process is done. Don’t just leave it on high and wonder why your steak is charcoal.
Set a timer for 30 seconds, press your steak gently into the pan and leave it alone until your timer goes off. Your steak should look similar to the steak above when you flip it for another 30 seconds on the raw side. Also use tong’s to turn your meat, burning yourself is not recommended.
After the last side is seared, turn your steak over and reduce your heat to medium. From this stage you have a few options I will list later below. Otherwise, leave your steak on medium flipping it once every 60 seconds to your preferred level of medium rare. At this stage adding butter, garlic, or mushrooms is up to you. (You may be mocked for this.)
A Fairly Rare steak looks like This
Getting Fancier
If you use an oven safe pan, like cast iron, take it pan and all to a 500 degree oven or 475 degree broiler. Leave it for 2 minutes, then flip it in the oven for another 2 minutes. You can check the meat’s temperature at this point and the center should be around 130-140 for medium rare. After this remove steak from heat and let rest for 3 to 4 minutes so it doesn’t bleed everywhere when you cut/devour it whole.
Resting
Whatever method you use to warm your meat resting is typically a good idea. This lets the meat juices settle down and not try to bleed from the meat when you cut into the muscle. This also keeps the crispy seared outside intact if it’s allowed to rest somewhere it can drip any excess fat or blood.
Meat Bag
For those nights of much longer fights consider a more low and slow method of cooking. I submit the DeadTear-recommended method of food in a bag: cooking sous vide. If anyone out there would like to write about this way of cooking your meat, there’s definitely room for a user submission on the topic.
