Portions

The Perfect Steak - How to Cook It

This method may suprise you but I assure you it will rival that of any great steak house and give you consistent results time after time.  It may appear a little daunting at first, but once you have tried it a few times it will become a quick and easy favorite.  Also keep in mind that every oven is different so you may need to fine tune your times.

First you will need a few indispensible items:

• A shallow fry pan that is oven safe
• Tongs
• An oven safe meat thermometer with an external digital temperature read
• A small rack or inverter saucer
• Aluminium foil

Ingredients:

• Quality cut steaks of your choice cut to 1.5" to 1.75" thick (AAA tenderloin, rib eye or strip loin work best)
• Grape seed oil
• Salt and pepper
• Plus any additional seasonings of your choice

Method: 

Allow steak to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before starting.  Putting a cold steak in a hot pan may lead to a tougher outer texture.  Rub a small amount of grape seed oil on all sides of the meat.

Preheat oven to 425 F degrees.

Preheat fry pan on stove top to highest heat and then reduce to medium high to prevent scorching.

(you may want to turn on an overhead fan at this point)

Once pan is hot, sear steak as follows (always use tongs to turn meat to prevent piercing and loss of juices)

30 seconds on the first side, 30 seconds on the 2nd side and quickly but gently "roll" the outside circumference around the pan for no more than 5 seconds in total. 

Insert meat thermometer from the edge of the steak to the center.

Place the steak back onto the first side that was seared.

Place the pan into the preheated oven and cook steaks for 2 minutes.

Turn steak over and cook again for another 2 minutes.

Continue cooking and turning steak at one minute intervals until your desired internal temperature is reached (see TIPS).

Remove the pan from the oven and place the meat on a small rack or inverted dish within the pan to prevent meat from cooking in its own juice.  Season with salt and pepper or a spoon of butter if you wish.  Make a tent of aluminium foil and leave a small air space to prevent steaming the steak while it rests.

Rest the meat for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the residual cooking to finish the steak to your preference.  Remove foil and thermometer at this point.  After you remove the steak, deglaze the pan with a small amount of red wine.  Reduce and serve as a glaze.

Serve with mixed greens, a caramelized onion chutney and a french baguette with rosemary garlic butter compound.

TIPS - to allow for residual cooking, remove steak from oven when thermometer reads
130 F to obtain rare of 140 degrees.
150 F to obtain medium of 160 degrees.
160 F to obtain well done of 170 degrees.