Let's talk steak for a moment. page

[2tall]

How do you cook yours? What sort of butter do you use?

i"m looking for that heavy, rich steakhouse flavor.

I've tried searing in a cast iron pan as hot as it gets. A gas grill (i'm too impatient for chacoal.)
I've tried the slow cooking method where you baste it in butter.

I usually treat with salt and let rest for 1 hr at room temp. Seasoning with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

It always comes out lacking that certain flavor. And lately, meat has had kind of a wateryness to it that I just don't care for. So I usually end up scooping it up in blue cheese and carmelized onions.

What do you do?

[merryish]

I let mine get to room temp, pat dry, sear on high in a dry pan on both sides for about 2-3 min per side. Then finish off in a 400 degree oven for about 2 min per side. I season with salt and baste with butter after cooking - nothing else. "Recipe" courtesy of Alton Brown, and the steak in question is usually a grass-fed boneless ribeye.

Comes out fabulous every time. Hmmm, might have one tonight.

[namelesswonder]

Let it rest for 1 hr at room temp (not sure how I'll manage this in the winter, as room temp will be rather cold in the kitchen) with some salt only (I add pepper after cooking). Heat cast iron on very low heat for a few minutes, raise to medium or medium-high heat when I'm ready to steak. Add butter. Slap the steak on (gently, because slapping would actually make the butter splatter and that's wasteful). Don't touch it for 4-5 minutes. I wait for the juice to pool on top of the slab. If there's a lot of smoke, the heat is too high. It should sizzle the whole time. Add some more butter, lift the steak with tongs, use the other hand (covered with an oven mitt) to slide the butter into the center of the pan, flip the steak. You can put pepper on the top side now. After 4-5 minutes, you can either plate it and cover it for a few minutes to let the juices settle, or just turn off the heat and cover it for a few minutes (I always put more butter on it before it gets covered). This will keep it cooking a bit more, and is good for medium-well (my Boyfriend's preference). Flip onto the plate, and apply pepper to the other side.

I'm cooking fairly thin steaks, btw. Less than in inch, for sure. I probably also complicate things, but this is what works for me.

Have you tried marinades?

I don't know what you mean by watery. Juicy steak is the bomb.

This is also my pork chop method, except I'll pop it in the oven at 350F for 3-5 minutes (depending on thickness) until done because they're too thick to cook through.

[naiadknight]

It may be in your seasonings.
Bring it to room temperature, then salt the fuck out of it. Salt it until you consider it a salt lick, then add some more. Let it sit on a plate for an hour, still at room temperature. Rinse off the water and the salt and pat dry. Now, pepper your steak, just enough to be visible, not a crust. Blend half a head of garlic with 3 tbsp butter, smear this on the steak and work it all around with the back of a fork. Perforate any large veins of fat with the fork and work some of your garlic butter in there. Apply to your grill (we have it on low under the steak and on medium to either side.) Cook to your taste.

[sbhikes]

I use an oven probe and cook in the oven with probe at 275 degrees until the steak is 95 to 105 degrees inside (less = more rare). A little salt is on top while it bakes. Then I finish off in a frying pan searing the top and bottom for 2 minutes (using olive oil or beef tallow), then 1:30 minutes and around the edges so the fat looks pretty. Then let the steak rest under a foil tent for 10 minutes. This last step is very important.

[qqemokitty]

Salt and pepper each side, rub butter with garlic into the steak all around. Preheat oven to 425. Heat cast iron skillet. Place steak in hot skillet for 2 minutes per side. Grab skillet with pot holder and place in heated oven. 3 minutes per side until internal temp reaches 135. Remove from oven and place steak over an upside down bowl on a plate and cover this with all with loose aluminum foil. Leave for about 15 minutes.

Success!

[cmlloyd]

1 stick of butter
1TBSP garlic
1tsp salt
1tsp pepper
melt in a bowl

brush on steak both sides - let it sit for about 30 minutes

Get grill hot - Grill one side for 2 minutes - flip grill for another 2 minutes (grill closed) flip 1 minute put it on a plate. Grill times can vary depending on the type of steak, thickness and your individual preference,
but the flavor I think you will find is spot on.

I have made steak several different ways and myhusband and I agree this is the closest we've come to rest. steak, and we like it the best.

serve and aeoli sauce on the side (mayo/EVOO/garlic)

let me know what you think!

[sarasue624]

Get thee to a charcoal grill.

Take a book, take a friend, take your laptop (a lot of city parks have wi-fi in their picnic shelters). Grill up as many steaks as you can fit in your ice chest. Douse with butter as they're grilling. Eat a steak or two there.

Go home. Eat steak for the next week. Nothing can replicate the full-of-smoke taste of truly grilled steak.

If your steaks (no matter how you cook them) start tasting bland and you cook them medium-well, experiment with cooking rarer steak - my tastes definitely change the longer I'm doing well primally.

[BennettC]

sear in the cast iron. if it doesn't have enough flavor you aren't seasoning enough. try finishing with some seas salt after slice it

[cori93437]

A. Get GOOD Steak. Dark red, well marbled. I like them THICK, that way it can be properly seared and Blu-RARE.
B. Remove from fridge, un-package, pat dry, sprinkle with modest salt and rub in so that all surface is contacted. Then allow to rest and come to room temp on a rack. (The salt will pull some moisture from the surface of the meat, you don't want it sitting in a puddle getting wet, I dry the surface pretty regular, this helps form a pellicle for a crust)
Really good meat doesn't require a lot of seasoning. Even much salt.
C. Add fresh ground pepper... seriously. Get a pepper grinder. (Other seasonings are up to the individual.)
D. Bacon grease, not butter. Higher smoke point... and the flavor is VERY compatible. Plus, it forms a crust better. If using an iron skillet I put the bacon grease right in it enough to make a good puddle in the bottom... but not a swimmin pool. For the grill I melt the bacon grease in a small pan (just melted, NOT hot) and spoon it over the steak evenly. Usually the steak is still cool enough that it sort of forms a coating... if not as long as it's well coated that's fine.
E. Cook to your preferred level of done-ness... I use very HIGH heat and anything past rare to med-rare is a complete waste of good meat IMO.
If you are going to cook it longer start out at high heat for the sear and lower if necessary.

Butter and herbed butters should be reserved for melting over the steak after it is removed from the grill and is being served IMO.