Food: The Perfect Steak

I pride myself on my steaks and I've slowly been refining my steak technique to get even better.  Early on, I used to be a big grill advocate, but I've since learned to love the cast iron skillet.  For one thing, it's available year round and you don't have to worry about preparing the charcoal on the grill (while gas works, I'm not sure it really gets hot enough to get a good sear).  You can really heat cast iron amazingly hot and it has a high heat capacity, so it doesn't lose that heat once you put the meat on.  It's a direct heat contact, so you get a really nice sear on the meat without worrying about flare-ups, and you can then finish it in the oven under the broiler.

This time, we decided to try out a new technique, following this technique.  It still uses cast iron to sear the meat initially, but you then add garlic and loads of butter to the mix.  The butter browns almost immediately, giving a nutty flavor.  While the steak is searing, you then slightly tilt the pan and continuously baste the melted butter over the steak, letting it run down.  What happens is that the milk solids in the butter (the tasty part) stick to the meat, aiding the Maillard reaction and forming a nice, thick brown crust.  The rest of the liquid fat actually streams off the steak, so the result is not as horrifyingly fatty as you would think.  You can then finish the steak in an oven at 350 degrees to get the desired degree of done-ness.  

We tried this on a ribeye (really, the only kind of steak) and it turned out pretty good!  The butter solids gave a nice flavor to the meat.  I think I left the steak in the oven a tad too long, so it came out more medium than medium-rare.  But it was quite tasty and I think the experiment was a success.  There is actually a school of thought that advocates low heat with butter to prepare your steaks with even better, more robust flavor without the charred burnt parts.  I'm going to have to try that next.

I'm pretty much a cast iron convert now.  The great thing is that anyone can easily pick up a cast iron skillet for cheap and make some great steaks.  And, to be honest, I think the results are much better than using a grill.  We haven't rolled out the grill in quite a while.  Mmmm...I'm getting hungry again...

Searing a ribeye (the only steak!) seasoned with salt, pepper, and thyme

Adding butter and garlic cloves to the mix.  The steak was basted with the butter until a nice brown crust formed.  This was finished in the oven at 350 degrees for several minutes.

The finished product having a well-deserved rest

The final product, a little over-done, but still tasty!