The Perfect Steak Night

When the weather says stay inside, put away the grill and break out the cast iron.

There’s something primal about men and grilling steaks. Give us a nice piece of beef, an open flame, and a pair of tongs, and suddenly we’re convinced that we’ve mastered one of mankind’s oldest and most important skills.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. I love grilling a steak.

But sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate. Maybe it’s cold, raining, or just one of those evenings when you’d rather stay inside, pour yourself a drink, turn on some good music, and enjoy the kitchen.

And I’ll argue that knowing how to cook a truly great steak in a cast-iron skillet is every bit as badass as anything you can accomplish standing over a grill.

This is my idea of the perfect steak night for two to four people. Nothing terribly complicated. Just really good ingredients, a little patience, a few tricks I’ve learned along the way, and the understanding that the evening is supposed to be as enjoyable as the meal itself.

First, Find a Really Good Piece of Beef

I’m partial to two cuts: a prime ribeye or a prime New York strip.

Go to a good butcher. Tell him what you’re doing, and don’t be shy about asking to see a few different steaks. You’re looking for excellent marbling, a beautiful shape, and some serious thickness.

How thick? Look at your index finger. Not the tip, not the first knuckle, but nearly the entire thickness of that finger. Somewhere around an inch and a half to two inches is what we’re after. This isn’t the night for a skinny little supermarket steak.

If you’re buying ribeyes, look for a big, beautiful, circular center with fine marbling throughout. Around the outside, you’ll see that wonderful crescent-shaped muscle called the spinalis, or ribeye cap. Steak enthusiasts go crazy for that part, and with good reason. It’s spectacular.

But personally, I love the center of the ribeye. I call it the heart. Give me a generous, beautifully marbled heart without too many big seams of fat running through it, and I’m a happy man.

If you’re buying strips, look for a clean, even shape, generous marbling, and no strange veins or tough-looking connective tissue interrupting the meat.

And either way, you’re probably going to find a pretty substantial fat cap along one edge.

Now, your butcher isn’t going to cut that off. That’s how he keeps his thumb on the scale.

Don’t get upset. We’re going to put that fat to work.

The Day Before: Salt, Air, and a Little Patience

Ideally, buy your steaks the day before you’re planning to cook them. If you can’t manage that, the morning of your dinner will do just fine.

When you get home, take them out of the butcher paper and pat them thoroughly dry with paper towels.

While the meat is still cold and firm, take a very sharp knife and shave most of that external fat cap off in thin strips. Don’t throw it away. Put those little ribbons of fat in a covered container in the refrigerator. They’re going to become our cooking oil.

Now generously salt every surface of the steaks.

I like a good coarse salt. Kosher salt, coarse sea salt, or a nice Himalayan pink salt will work. Don’t be timid, but remember that different salts have different crystal sizes, so a handful of one isn’t necessarily equivalent to a handful of another.

Set the steaks on a wire rack over a plate or sheet pan, uncovered, in the refrigerator.

We’re doing two things here. The salt is seasoning the meat, and the circulating cold air is helping dry the surface. Moisture is the enemy of a beautiful crust, and a dry steak will brown much better than a wet one.

Let them sit overnight if possible, or at least several hours.

A Couple of Hours Before Dinner

Take your steaks out of the refrigerator while you’re getting the kitchen organized. I like to give them a little time to lose that refrigerator chill before cooking.

For food safety, don’t leave raw steaks sitting at room temperature for two full hours or longer. About 30–60 minutes is plenty for getting organized, and a thick steak doesn’t actually need to reach room temperature to cook beautifully.

You’ll notice that as the meat warms slightly, it relaxes. That stiff, cold steak begins to soften.

Now we’re getting somewhere.

The Cast Iron Trick

Here’s where that fat cap comes back into the story.

Get yourself a big, heavy cast-iron skillet. If you’re cooking four steaks, you may need two skillets or to cook in batches. Crowding the pan is a great way to steam a steak when what you really want is to sear it.

Take those thin strips of beef fat you saved and put them in the cold skillet over very low heat.

We’re going to render them slowly.

Don’t rush this part. Let the fat gently melt until you’ve got a beautiful pool of clear beef fat in the bottom of the skillet. The little pieces will gradually shrink and brown. Remove the solids once they’ve given up their fat.

You’ve just made your own cooking oil, from the very steak you’re about to eat.

And it’s wonderful.

When it’s time to cook, bring that rendered fat up to a good searing temperature. You want it shimmering and hot, but not smoking uncontrollably.

Cooking the Steak

There are a dozen opinions about how to cook a thick steak.

Some people swear by the reverse sear. Others sear first and finish in the oven. Everybody seems to have a method they consider sacred.

I don’t get too worked up about it.

Personally, I like doing the whole thing right there on the stovetop.

Start with a hot skillet and lay the steak carefully into that rendered beef fat. You should hear a serious sizzle.

Let the first side develop a beautiful brown crust, then flip it. Once you’ve established some good color on both sides, turn the heat down a bit.

This is where patience comes in.

With a steak this thick, we’re not trying to burn the outside into submission while leaving the middle raw. We’re trying to develop a beautiful crust while gradually bringing the center up to the perfect temperature.

I like to turn the steak periodically as it cooks, managing the heat so the crust keeps developing without scorching.

And here’s another thing.

Men love to pretend they can tell exactly when a steak is done just by poking it with a finger. There’s always some fellow at the grill explaining how the meat feels like the fleshy part of his palm.

That’s fine, I suppose.

But there’s absolutely nothing unmanly about owning a really accurate instant-read meat thermometer.

You can be as macho as you want and miss the temperature by ten degrees. Or you can use a thermometer and nail it every single time.

I’ll take the thermometer.

For me, the sweet spot on a beautiful prime ribeye or strip is about 132–135°F after resting. It’s a warm, beautifully pink center, with enough heat to soften that gorgeous intramuscular fat.

If you prefer medium-rare, somewhere around 125–130°F is your neighborhood. A little more done, up around 140°F, is perfectly acceptable.

Remember that a thick steak will continue cooking after it leaves the pan, so pull it several degrees before your desired final temperature and let it rest for five to ten minutes.

Anything much beyond 140°F?

Well, you might as well stop reading this article.

You probably don’t deserve the rest of the meal.

Just kidding. Mostly.

Will Kelly