How to cook an almost perfect steak:
You start first of all with the cooking surface.
My preferred favorite is well-seasoned cast iron. It's dense, holds heat well, and evenly radiates it back into the target food. "Lodge Logic" skillets are a good place to start, but cruise around your local flea markets/garage sales/craigslist/Ebay/whatever until you can find an old-school Wagnerware or the equivalent. A heavy-bottom 12"-16" chicken fryer is ideal. What you're looking for is heavy and dense. If you can lift it with one hand, put it back. It's junk. And by "well-seasoned", I mean the skillet should look like a sheet of polished obsidian. You should have *no* problem sliding a fried egg off it onto a plate without any assistance from a fork or spatula.
The second consideration is the cooking medium. While any good cut of beef has some fat in it, this is an opportune time to add flavor & sticking-resistance. Hands down, my favorite mix for cooking steaks is half clarified sweet butter that has been used for reducing pork fat to cracklings and half rendered duck fat.
Finally, the meat.
We'll start with something simple. A single 1" slice of Ribeye off the Del Monte end of the primal. Let it sit in an elevated, covered strainer in your refrigerator for at least seven days. During this time, water will leach out of the meat, and the various microbes in the tissue will start to break it's cellular structure down. This process is called "dry aging" and concentrates the beef flavor. It'll end up looking all grey and weird, but it's okay. Those of a scientific mind will notice that the total weight of the steak has reduced by about 25%. This is a good thing because the next step is...
The marinade. While any flavorful liquid will work to replace the empty lost water-weight, my go-to if i'm in a hurry is the brand name "Allegro" pre-bottled marinade. It blends a good mix of savory smokey flavor & low saltiness. $3.75 a bottle. It rocks. If I'm not in a hurry, I let my dry-aged steaks brew for a night or two in a 50/50 mix of whole buttermilk and Coca-cola. The lactose in the buttermilk and the sugar in the cola aid easy caramelization, and with the long soak- the lactic and citric acids in the mix further break down the muscular tissue of the steak. Regardless of the marinade, remember to store your steaks in the coldest part of the fridge.
And finally, on to cooking.
Drain your steaks, and pat them dry. Place them on a platter on the counter to get to room temperature, and sprinkle both sides with sea salt. While this is going on, pre-heat your oven to the TOP of it's "broil" stage. Put your cast-iron on the fire. Drop in a couple of tablespoons of your cooking-fat-medium, and swirl it around a bit. Toss in a single kernel of popcorn, and start a timer. When you hear it go "POP" you know the skillet has reached 300 degrees, and you can pop it under the broiler for the same amount of time. After the timer dings this time, reach into the oven (Use good gloves!) and place the rocket-hot skillet (aprox. 600 degrees!) back onto the heat, topside.
Toss in the steak. Their will be a GREAT amount of smoke. This is normal, don't panic. Have a box fan ready to vent out the house. For a 1" thick ribeye, leave the steak alone to sear for TWO MINUTES (no fiddling! Leave it alone!) on each side to cook it to a perfect medium-rare (adjust cooking time according to your taste). If you want a nice crunchy sweet glaze, add a shot or two of Jack Daniel's Honey just when you flip the steak, It mixes well with the hot duck fat.
After four minutes, remove the steak to a heated platter & drape it loosely with aluminum foil. REST THE STEAK FOR A MINIMUM OF FIVE MINUTES BEFORE SLICING OR YOU WILL FUCK IT UP ROYALLY.
Then slice it thin against the muscle bias with a razor sharp knife, plate and enjoy.
Nom.
