Single Guy’s Kitchen

Men love steak. It’s one of the laws of the land. Why else would steakhouses exist in every city, town, and major road intersection? Everyone knows that a steak is best prepared in the backyard over a gas flame or a set of hot charcoals, but what if that is not available? Do the steak craving city dwellers and grill-less apartment men have to go without or pay obscene restaurant prices?

Relax. Good steak can be made right in your kitchen and you can still drink beer when you do it, just like in the backyard.

Per usual Alton Brown is my mentor when it comes to cooking and I’m following his lead on this one. The concept is simple and no exotic tools are required. You’ll need a cast iron pan (I used a grill pan but a flat skillet will work too), an oven, and a good pair of tongs. The key to grilling is searing the meat so the outside has that nice texture and flavor while still cooking the inside enough to safely eat. In fact most will start their grill off on high heat and then lower it once the steaks are on. The concept is very similar except instead of a grill, we have a pan and an oven.

Some steak basics: let the meat come to room temperature before you cook it and keep it simple with the seasoning. I like to stick to just kosher salt and black pepper.

I basically followed Alton Brown’s method with a little time change, so here goes. Put your empty pan in the oven and preheat it to 500F. This way you’ll have two hot sources for both direct and indirect cooking. Once the oven and pan are preheated, pull the pan out and set it on the stove over high heat.

Lightly coat your steak with vegetable oil, apply salt and pepper to your liking and set it on your super hot pan and do not touch it! This is where I varied from Mr. Brown a little. Since I was using a grill pan and had less contact with my steak I chose to leave it in the pan for a full minute per side rather than 30 seconds like he recommends. If using a flat skillet I’d say go with 30 seconds.

So don’t touch your steak for a minute (or 30 seconds) then flip it with the tongs and let it go another minute (or 30 seconds). This sears the outside of the meat and if you are using a grill pan, produces those nice grill marks.

Remember the oven? With the outside seared, it’s time to cook the inside. Slide your steak (still in the hot pan) into oven and let it go cook for two minutes. Flip it and let it cook another two minutes. After both sides have had their two minutes, remove the steak from the heat and loosely wrap it in foil to let it rest. I threw a small pat of butter in with the foil for added flavor. Let it rest for a good two minutes before cutting.

Close to perfect if you ask me. I’d call it extra medium rare in my case. The steak was cooked excellent and very even throughout. I was impressed. This was better than most of my outdoor grill attempts. It was missing a little something on the outside texture and it didn’t have that fire aroma that I find very pleasant. That said, this was a very easy method though with minimal work involved and I couldn’t be happier with the results.  Even my roommate liked it (see below).

A couple of other thoughts, I was a stickler with the time but things may vary based on the thickness of your steak. Mine was a good inch maybe inch and a quarter so your results may vary. Remember to let it rest too. The steak will continue to cook even after you remove it from the heat so you actually want it a little less done than desired when you remove it from the heat. However, If you like your steak a little more done than I do, add more time to the oven portion of the cooking, just remember to keep it even between the sides.

Otherwise just cook it to your taste, enjoy it with a local beer, and by all means, don’t ruin a good steak with A-1or some other abomination.