I may be gay but I just love a big juicy piece of meat in my mouth same as any heterosexual American guy… wait a minute… What I mean to say is, I love eating steak. It’s a pastime of mine passed down from my father to myself and from my stepfather to myself. We grilled all year long, even in the wintery months in the mountains of Pennsylvania. My job was to shovel a path through the snow from the back door to the grill. Sizzling steaks would come off the grill and onto our table. I always took mine medium rare. For it’s the only way to eat steak. My sister, on the other hand, always got hers medium well. I never understood it. It’s probably why we never got along as kids. Her choice in steak temperature made me question her life decisions.
Life in this steak paradise was great until I moved back to New York City and realized that I lived in an apartment and grills were verboten. “Whatever shall I do? I do declare I feel the vapors coming on,” I wondered, doing my best southern belle impersonation. Thankfully my roommate at the time was dating a chef at a great steakhouse so I got a free lesson in the art of cooking steak without a grill. I do impart these words unto you, dear reader.
You’ll definitely need to pick up a good cast iron grill pan and season it. I won’t tell you how to do it in this article as I’ve only so many words per article and I’ve wasted half on my flowery language. Now, that you have your fancy new seasoned grill pan it’s time for the meat portion of this tutorial. Get a good piece of meat. You don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on it but do yourself a favor and graduate from Shop Rite’s pre packaged stuff. Find the butcher in your neighborhood and support the local businesses. I order mine by the finger and by that I mean the thickness of the steak is usually one to three fingers. I go for two. If you’ve had your steak in the fridge let it sit out for about 30 minutes or until room temperature. This will help facilitate a more even cooking. Now let’s spice up the steak. My seasonings of choice are garlic and rosemary. Take a clove of garlic, cut it open, and then rub the steak down on both sides. Now sprinkle some of that beautiful rosemary onto the steak. The smell will probably be making your mouth water at this point. If you’re feeling frisky like I do most of the time, add a little bit of Worcestershire Sauce for a bit more flavor.
Now let’s get it cooking! You want to sear the outside of the steak. Take your grill pan and put it on high heat on the stove. You want that baby toasty. You do not want to cook your steak through on the stove. Just char the outside so all the juices are trapped inside. Depending on thickness, I’d say no more than two minutes each side. Once it’s seared, take the grill pan with steak and pop it in the broiler. Keep it in there for about five minutes, depending on how you want your steak cooked. Once it’s out of the broiler, you can get fancy and melt some butter with herbs in the pan and spoon it over the meat a few times. Probably not the healthiest thing to do but certainly tasty. Now that it’s done, put the meat on a plate and let it rest for a few minutes. After which you should open your mouth and insert steak. And this is how to cook a steak. You’re welcome.
Moutwatering awesomeness!
Indeed!
butter on your steak? WTF
Don’t knock it before you try it 🙂
Butter on your steak is awesome! Try it!
another tip I learnt the other day… If you like black pepper on your steak, never put it straight on it, you have to put it in the pan and cook it just before you add the steak. The flavor is much more subtle and therefore you can really enjoy the flavor of the meat! Also, if you add salt on the meat, use thick salt or Maldon salt and add it once it’s on your plate! Amaaaaaazing! 😉
+1 for Maldon salt. My secret weapon in the kitchen!
not a fan of trudging through snow to grill. i will try this next time i cook a steak indoors. thanks!
You’re welcome! Hope it all goes well.