Steak Out: How to cook a rib-eye
I have never cooked a steak. I make ox tail soup, roast whole chickens, and bbq racks of ribs so it's not an aversion to handling raw meat. In part, my reluctance stems from fear of making $40 of meat unedible.
For reasons that perhaps I will share some other time, I am cooking more red meat. I Live with The Monkey That Must Eat at Peter Luger's Every Trip to New York, so off we went to get us some STEAK specifically, a bone-in rib eye. Pam and Eddie both make excellent steaks so we invited them over for a little cook-off. Each steak was brought to room temperature and cooked 3 different ways.
1. The Alton Brown method. Very easy.
Stick a cast iron skillet in the oven. Heat to 500 degrees. Salt and pepper both sides of the steak (just a pinch of salt.) Make sure you have abestos lined oven mitts. When oven reaches 500, remove skillet and place on range over high heat. No oil/butter on pan. Cook each side of the steak for 30 seconds. Stick the pan back in the oven for 2 minutes. Turn the steak and cook other side for 2 minutes.
This method resulted in a medium done steak. Unlike the other methods, the steak didn't get that nice seared burn that seals the flavor or whatever it does. That said, I did not mess up the meat. Perfectly edible.
2. Pam's Way Even easier and tastier.
Heat a pan range at high heat. Add a touch of olive oil and a pat of butter. Don't salt, pepper or otherwise season the steak. Cook the steaks for just under 2 minutes on both sides.
Even easier than Alton Brown and resulted in a medium rare steak. Perhaps it was the touch of butter and olive oil, but this steak had the most meaty flavor and the right amount of salt--despite using no salt. The pan also made for a nice burn/seal. While Alton's method was good, this was really good. Go Pam.
3. Eddie's Steak Yum.
I know you're not really supposed to marinate a good cut (blah blah), but I love Eddie's steaks. So I stole his recipe. In a shallow pan, mix about a third cup of soy sauce and just enough mirin to mellow the saltiness, but don't make it too sweet. Let steak sit for 45 minutes (any longer and the steak loses shape or some terribly wasteful thing.) Cook the Alton Brown way.
Since the marinade is really just for a light flavor, it didn't overshadow the Essence of Steak taste. This was my favorite, but next time I'm going to cook it Pam style to try to get those juices sealed.