# The Perfect Steak



## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

My quest for the perfectly cooked and seasoned steak has been quite the journey and has turned full cirlcle and gone right back to basics in the end. My steaks have seen about everything you can throw at them from marinading for days to marinading for hours, from encrusting them with various seasonings to just cooking the thing with nothing on it. I have grilled them super fast over smoking hot coals, I have slow cooked them on dying ones for an hour, I have smoked them and fried them and anything else anyone has ever tried.

After reading a lot on-line and watching several YouTube vids, I have come to the conclusion that simple IS better. Hight heat, short amount of time, minimal seasoning. This is how great places like Ruths Chris and others cook their steaks.

They use industrial broilers that reach 1600 degrees and flash broil each side for a minute or so. This gives you a nice dark crust and a pink middle. My idea of the perfect steak. I dont own an industrial broiler so I just use what I have. Here is my version...

First start out with a good cut of meat, I like filets, ribeyes (not the real fatty ribeyes though) and strip steaks. Take out the meat and set it on the counter for a few minutes. It needs to warm up a tad from fridge temps so it doesnt shrivel under the high heat. Find the heaviest pan in the house. I use a wok that is pretty sturdy. Put that on the biggest burner and turn the heat as high as it will go. The pan needs to be as hot as it will get and hold that heat. It should vaporize a water droplet instantly. Coat all sides of the the steak with a little bit of olive oil and a fair amount of montreal steak seasoning. OPEN ALL THE WINDOWS or your wife will be TO'd! haha Turn on the range fan also. Place the steak in the pan and DONT touch it for 2 minutes. After two minutes turn the steak and cook another two minutes. Press down on the middle of the steak at this point. It should be pretty soft still but have a good dark crust on it. Turn it over one more time and put a little butter on it. It is now cooked medium rare. Remove it from the pan and let it sit on a plate for a couple of minutes. If you dont let it rest it all the juices with run out of it and it will be very dry. 

Now let the smoke clear and the ignore the neighbors who are knocking, asking whats burning. Cut into the perfect steak and enjoy some red meat bliss. 8)


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

Yep, I found a little seasoned salt and black pepper makes a great taste. To get the steak medium rare, I'll let them sit out so the interior is room temperature. If the interior of the steak is still cold, the exterior will cook faster and you won't have that proportioned cook for the entire steak.

Cooking on a gas grill seems to help the flavor. I trim off all the excess fat so the flames won't flare up.

If the steaks are really thick, I'll put it back in the freezer for about 15 minutes after it's room temperature. That gets the outside chilled down, but the interior is still room temp (seems to help the overall cooking).


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Your theories sound pretty on-point with what I know, guys. Here is a suggestion or two for of my own for you to try. 

-Like Neuces said, let it sit out until it reaches room temperature.
-Put only salt on before cooking. Salt is a mineral, so it won't burn. Pepper will burn, along with the rest of the ingredients in Montreal seasoning, so add these after the steak has cooked, right after the steak comes off the grill. If you put in on with the butter, the flavors will meld into the meat. 
-In my experience, grilling is ALWAYS better that frying. I just prefer the flame kissed flavor, but having lived in an apartment without a grill, I know frying is sometimes the only way to go. 
-With thinner cuts of meat, cooking on high heat, steaks don't have to be on there for very long at all. In fact, they will keep cooking for a couple minutes after you pull them off. 
-With thicker cuts, like a thick cut top sirloin or a filet, try grilling on high heat for a few minutes on each side to get the crust and flavor, and then transferring to a hot cast iron pan and finishing them in the oven. 

Holy crap. I really need to eat a steak now!


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

> The Perfect Steak


You're all wrong Steak boy !!

Bone-in rib eye's with a little fat. 

Warm up the BBQ, throw on the steak, let it burn for two minute's, turn it over. Turn it over again and pile on Johnny's Seasoning, two minutes turn it over again and pile on the Johnny Seasoning. Turn one burner off, scoot the steak to the unused side of the BBQ and shut the lid. In 5 or so minutes flip it over, if you see liquid bubbling on the steak, it is now "medium rare". 
Share the steak with the wife, she smiles and eats most of it. You've just make some good points !!


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

I feel a steak out coming up!! That would be fun! Next time theres a forum outing(Not this weekend, fishing is too good right now :wink: ) we will have a cook off!! Steaks will be like 4-5 bucks each or something to cover just the cost of the meat and we can see who the true pros are! haha

In my opinion, a fatty steak like a ribeye is better cooked on a grill. A leaner cut will be better under a broiler or a on a pan... The most expensive steaks in restaurants are cooked this way.


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## troutwhisperer (Jan 1, 2009)

Hey thats a good idea, lets see who master of the grill,and since I,m the newest member I will volunteer to be a (taste tester )judge . I will show no favoritism or accept bribes just let me do what I do best. :mrgreen: BRING IT ON!


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## USMARINEhuntinfool (Sep 15, 2007)

I'm diggin this idea, I like to grill once or twice a week... I enjoy mine RARE... MMMMM guess I'll be grilling tonight my saliva is building up...


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## shotgunwill (May 16, 2008)

I gotta thank you Nor-tah for the idea.

I had myself some red meat bliss tonight. I bought some 8 oz. filets at Harmon's, got some country bacon to wrap them with. I hit them with salt, pepper, and garlic salt, which is always a favorite at my house.

I broiled mine. I buttered up the cookie sheet(*BAD IDEA* using the cookie sheet, as it is now ruined :evil: ), and cooked them 8 minutes per side as per http://www.filetmignons.info/ This was what they claimed to be medium, but I found them to be medium - medium well. I'll go seven next time. Aesthetically, there was a little charring of the bacon, but the meat was browned nicely. My wife absolutely loved it, and has requested that we do it this way from now on.

Good one Nor-tah!


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

You're pretty close. 

First, if you want a great steak, you've got to start with a great cut. Buy some quality beef (Costco has some good meat for the price) in Choice grade or better. I don't think Prime is requisite, but Select from Wal-Mart will never a great steak make.

You can also wet or dry age, depending on your obsession, equipment, time, and funds, but that's fodder for another thread.

Set the steaks on the counter for at least 30 min, and sprinkle with kosher or sea salt flakes.

Cook hot and fast on the hottest part of the grill to rare (115 - 120 internal temp). You want lots of char and carmelization on both sides. The carryover heat will continue to cook the steak to med-rare (~125 - 130 internal). Use tongs--do not puncture the meat.

Let rest 5-10 minutes. While resting, add a pat of pure butter to the steak, and spread it around as it melts. The salt and butter really bring out the taste in the meat, which is why you want to start with quality meat.

This is how Peter Lugers does it, but they dry age their beef. But they add nothing more than salt and butter. It's so good you moan when you eat it.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

+1 on the Costco meat. I baught three ribeyes there a month ago. Best steaks I have ever had outside a restaurant.


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

Nor-tah said:


> +1 on the Costco meat. I baught three ribeyes there a month ago. Best steaks I have ever had outside a restaurant.


Outside a restaurant? You must be eating at some very high-end steakhouses. There only a couple of them in Utah that serve a better steak than you can easily make at home.

Speaking of which, have you ever deep-fried a ribeye? It sounds wrong (though not as wrong as deep-frying a prime rib roast), but it's amazingly fantastic. You only want to leave it in the oil for 2-3 minutes to cook it med-rare, but it's turns out amazingly great.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

I have had a few steaks that were amazing in a restaurant. Ruths Chris a couple times and Mastros in Scottsdale. Still havent had to pay for one myself 8) Dry aged beef is sooo good.

What kind of oil do you use for frying them?!


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

> There only a couple of them in Utah that serve a better steak than you can easily make at home.


I can agree with that !!


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Buy your own beef- cut your own steaks- put a light coating on of sea salt and then cook on grill however you like them though I can't imagine having a steak anything more than medium rare. Just don't bring out the Ketchup Please


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## pkred (Jul 9, 2009)

I tried the sea salt and the wicked hot pan for 2 min on each side. Thick new york..... That was some good stake thanks guy's.


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

Nor-tah said:


> What kind of oil do you use for frying them?!


I use peanut oil, from the same jug I use for frying turkeys, french fries, etc. Try it sometime, you'll like it!


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