The BEST Cast Iron Steak
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Dinner, Main Course, Meat, Steak
Cuisine
American
Author:
Jay Gleaton
Servings
2
Prep Time
120 minutes
Cook Time
8 minutes
Cooking a steak at home shouldn’t feel like defusing a bomb. You don’t need a fancy grill, a sous vide machine, or a degree in culinary arts, just a cast iron skillet, a decent cut of meat, and the willingness to embrace a little smoke.
A cast iron skillet might just be the best steak-cooking tool. It gets screaming hot, sears like a champ, and, if you treat it right, it will outlive you. The best part? It's simple and you end up getting better than restaurant quality steak right at home. You just need to season it like you mean it, and let the skillet do the heavy lifting.
If you’re not aiming for a crust so good it makes you question why you ever ordered steak at a restaurant, then what are we even doing here?
Grab your skillet, crank the heat, and let’s get started.
Ingredients
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Best quality rib eye steak you can get
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2 Tbsp Butter
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1 Tbsp Vegetable oil
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Fresh green herbs (thyme & rosemary)
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1-2 Tbsp Steak Seasoning No. 5
Directions
Remove your steak from the fridge about 2 hours before cooking it and add steak seasoning. This will give it time to come to room temp, and for the salt in the seasoning time to penetrate the meat and for the mushroom powder and black garlic in the Steak Seasoning No. 5 to re-hydrate helping with the sear and the crust formation.
In a well ventilated kitchen, Heat Cast iron pan on high heat with a tablespoon of oil until jut starting to smoke.
Add steak to the pan and let it sizzle for about 2 minutes per inch of steak without touching it.
Add herbs and butter to the pan and using a spoon, spoon the butter and oil over the top of the steak. Arroser is the french culinary term used to describe this method and it just means to baste. Flip the steak and get the other side seared as well.
Wrap with aluminum foil and rest the steak 5 minutes per inch of thickness.
Slice and serve either on its own with some of those juices that have collected in the foil or with some chimichurri or herby garlic butter.
Recipe Video
Recipe Note
When I say 2 minutes per inch this will cook a steak just barely on the medium side of medium rare if you have brought it to room temp before cooking it. But the math is easy. If you have a 1 inch wide steak about 2 minutes on a side is going to do it. If you have a two inch steak 4 minutes per side is going to just about get you there. Any thicker than a few inches is going to need some oven time, Either before or after searing. I prefer the reverse sear if you're going that route.
Photo Credit: Pedro Marashi | Southern Exposure
