THE PERFECT STEAK
A few pointers take a rib-eye from good to great
Aperfectly cooked steak is what many people — with good reason — think of as a perfect meal. This is a classy take on a restaurant-quality steak dinner, and other than remembering to salt the steak ahead of time (not a deal breaker, but recommended), it’s only 30 minutes from start to finish.
Note these instructions are for a thick steak, at least 1½-inches thick. Thinner steaks don’t need the additional oven-roasting time, and will likely be overdone if they go into the oven after they are seared on both sides.
Here are five things that help make a good steak great, and a great steak marvelous:
1. Salting the meat a day before cooking it draws out excess liquid, concentrating and developing the flavor, and allows the meat to form a nice caramelized exterior. You can salt it an hour ahead too, but the longer time allows the seasoning to get past the surface into the middle of the meat.
2. Let the meat come to room temperature before cooking, or the inside will take significantly longer to warm up and cook, and by that time the outside of the steak will be overcooked.
3. Pat the meat dry before putting it in the pan. If the meat is wet, it won’t sear well.
4. Use an oil with a high smoking point, like canola or vegetable, to cook steaks on the stove. Butter or oil with a lower smoking point will burn, and cause the steak to have a burnt taste, even if it is not overcooked itself. Butter is a lovely thought, but add it at the end and just allow it to melt in the hot pan.
5. This doesn’t affect the quality of the steak, but turn on the exhaust fan! Odds are there will be a lot of smoke, so prepare by turning on the fan, opening windows and doors as you can, and thinking of this as a test to see if your smoke alarm batteries are still working.
And there you have it. Roast some potatoes once the oven is preheated, add a little sautéed spinach (cooked up while the steak is in the oven) or a green salad, and you’ve got that perfect steak dinner in your own home.