I picked up a 1lb NY Strip steak and a 1lb swordfish piece to make a “surf and turf” dinner for tonight.
I’ve never cooked a steak. Help. What do I do? I’ve got a range and an oven. Some dutch ovens, an over-sized cast iron pan, and a coated cast iron. I have a digital thermometer that I can stick into things and take temperature.
Also, my wife is mostly pescatarian, but is interested in sharing this with me- I’m content to experiment and eat a not-particularly-successfully-prepared piece of cow, but she’ll be uninterested in anything overly chewy, so I want to get this right!
Other ingredients in the house that may be relevant are: onions, garlic, rosemary, sage, butter, miso, salt, assorted spices, dried mushrooms, some wine, liquors.
I suggest preparing the steak with a reverse sear. This should give you a tender steak that can be medium rare on the inside with a caramelized crust. I will describe the process briefly, but here is an excellent article - How to Reverse Sear a Steak - Jessica Gavin
Basically you bake the steak at a low temperature to bring the interior of the steak up to a medium rare or medium doneness. You then fry that steak on a hot cast iron skillet to get the exterior nice and crusty. Turn the steak often which frying it, to help prevent too much heat getting into the interior of the steak. I usually sear for about 15 seconds, then flip it. I might flip it 10 or so times in total.
Do you know how you want the steak to end up? I like my meat rare, and with a 1 pound chunk I’d sous vide it for 4 hours at 125 degrees Fahrenheit, then sear it on your cast iron pan 30 seconds a side.
No sous vide? I’d get one even if it meant delaying the meal. Any other technique and I’d end up medium rare
You’re going to get a lot of advice, most of it contradictory. The most important thing to get good flavor and avoid getting an overly tough steak is to avoid overcooking. Shoot for medium rare, and you can always toss it back in to the oven to finish it to medium if you think that not done enough for your palette. For a first time cook, I’d recommend doing the reverse sear as it is easy to control and doesn’t really take much technique; however, you are going to need a flat griddle or cast iron pan that will fit that ginormous strip. You might consider cutting that sucker in half given the size and that you are splitting it with the wife.
Personally, season with salt and pepper, put some bacon grease in the cast iron, heat to high temp, throw in onions, and steak. Heat for about 4 minutes per side, until nice and brown, the throw into a pre heated oven (400) for about 6 minutes. That should be a good medium rare and not chewy.
I’ve done it straight from the fridge with a reverse sear with no problem–it just takes a little longer. The idea is simple and the same as with sous vide pretty much. Bring it slowly just under desired final temperature so all the meat is cooked evenly, and then blast it for a minute or so on each side to get a delicious sear and some of the Maillard reaction goodness going.
ETA: And as soon as I saw @kayaker, I knew sous vide was coming. That guy would sous vide a cake if he could (somehow, I bet someone has.) Sous vide is great, but most people don’t have it. But basic set-ups are pretty affordable with that Anova sous vide stick.
I love sous vide and it makes getting a nice tender steak (or chicken, or whatever) really easy by just following instructions and, but decent sous vide setup (immersion heater, stock pot or dedicated container, vacuum bags and pump, and magnets or clamps) will cost $300-$500 to start with, and a cheap one is unreliable and shouldn’t be used. Sous vide has a lot of utility if you cook a lot (good for vegetables, too, especially tough stuff like Brussels sprouts) and can replace a lot of roasting and baking that you would do in an oven but you have to put money into it and it does take some counter space.
This is all great … reverse sear makes sense, and seems straightforward enough. I expect that when I take it out at the appropriate temp before I sear it it should look… grey and unappetizing?
Ideally you have a meat thermometer so you can test the internal temp.
As mentioned, put it in a low temperature over (like 200F) and cook until you get an internal temp around 120F (depends on how well done you like your steak). Take it out and put it in a ripping hot cast iron skillet with a bit of high-heat oil (or a stainless steel skillet…non-stick is not ideal since Teflon does not do well with high heat). Brown each side for about a minute (or so…keep a close eye on it). This is gonna be smoky. Open windows. Hope your fire alarm doesn’t go off.
Also, be sure to season the steak generously on both sides before cooking (sprinkle with salt…preferably kosher salt but regular is fine too…just be careful with table salt). Season 10-15 minutes before cooking if you can.
Pepper too (fresh ground if you can).
I find this guy a little annoying but he has the right idea and a quick watch.
Yes, it will not be ready for its glamor shots, that’s for sure. The other bonus for reverse sear is that the surface dries out, making searing even more effective.
If you want a detailed run-down on it, here’s a link:
(And reading quickly through that article, it is fine with doing straight-from-the-fridge. In fact, it even suggests putting your steak in the fridge on a rack and baking sheet overnight to dry it out a bit and popping it straight into the oven the next day. You can even reverse sear from frozen.)
