A quick primer on cooking meat. I see a lot of home cooks with issues on properly cooking a steak.
Some guidelines:
Keep the meat at room temperature for one hour before you cook it. It's impossible to make a properly cooked steak going from a cold fridge into a hot pan.
Season the meat an hour before.
If pan roasting, use a good amount of fat. Using less fat is not healthier. Fat doesn't get 'absorbed' into the meat. I recommend peanut oil. Try not to smoke the oil, it imparts bitterness and it's not good for you.
If pan roasting, your burner output is far more important than what pan you use, contrary to popular belief. That said, a Lodge cast iron camping skillet is often best. There's absolutely no need for high end All-Clad. If you must have a stainless steel pan, I recommend Vollrath.
Keep some butter, a smashed clove of garlic, and a few sprigs of thyme on hand.
Heat up your pan or grill until almost smoking hot. Lay the steak in and let it sit there. It should sizzle very loudly, but not pop. After 30 seconds, flip it. Even if it's a thick filet. The whole "only flip once" thing is a myth, and a bad one. Cook your steak on the second side, and flip it again. Keep doing this every 30 seconds. If you're cooking a filet mignon, brown it well on all sides, turning every 30 seconds. The idea is you're recreating a rotisserie effect, so that you brown the outside just long enough so that the heat reaches the center of the steak in a very gradual process, instead of just letting the meat cook on one side until the center is done. If you do that, you have a very thick layer of well done meat around the cooking surface. Some people think agitating the meat loses juiciness, and this is wrong. The reason meat loses moisture is from the contraction of the fibers. Muscle reacts to heat by contracting, thus "squeezing" out moisture. Agitating the meat has nothing to do with it, though you should avoid further squeezing with tongs. Be gentle.
Keep a meat thermometer handy, an instant read digital.
Your heat should be medium high, but adjust it if it seems too hot or scorches the meat. Keep turning the meat around, getting good caramelization all over, and check the temp of the meat. When it gets to 95 in the center, add a small knob of butter, a smashed garlic clove, and a few sprigs of thyme and/or rosemary to the pan, and spoon the butter over the meat, basting it as it browns. Do this for a minute or two until the internal temp hits 105. Pull the meat off and let it rest. If the outside of the meat was sufficiently hot, the meat should continue cooking as it rests to 120, a perfect medium rare. If your pan was just sizzling and the surface of the meat is only 150 or 160, you'd want to pull it at 110 to hit that medium rare. It takes practice. Let the meat rest in a warm area for 6-7 minutes, and then serve.
One of these days I'll make some youtube videos.
IMO, the best accompaniment to meat is an arugula salad, some shaved parmesan, and aged balsamic. Toss the arugula in some lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, plate it, shave some parmigiano on top (the best you can afford, like vaca rossa from Whole Foods) and drip a few drops of good balsamic on. When I say balsamic, I'm not talking about shit from a jug or straight vinegar. Aged balsamic has the consistency of cold maple syrup and can cost up to $150 for a 100 ml bottle, but you should be able to find a 250 ml bottle for 40 bucks or so if you're interested in the product.
Some guidelines:
Keep the meat at room temperature for one hour before you cook it. It's impossible to make a properly cooked steak going from a cold fridge into a hot pan.
Season the meat an hour before.
If pan roasting, use a good amount of fat. Using less fat is not healthier. Fat doesn't get 'absorbed' into the meat. I recommend peanut oil. Try not to smoke the oil, it imparts bitterness and it's not good for you.
If pan roasting, your burner output is far more important than what pan you use, contrary to popular belief. That said, a Lodge cast iron camping skillet is often best. There's absolutely no need for high end All-Clad. If you must have a stainless steel pan, I recommend Vollrath.
Keep some butter, a smashed clove of garlic, and a few sprigs of thyme on hand.
Heat up your pan or grill until almost smoking hot. Lay the steak in and let it sit there. It should sizzle very loudly, but not pop. After 30 seconds, flip it. Even if it's a thick filet. The whole "only flip once" thing is a myth, and a bad one. Cook your steak on the second side, and flip it again. Keep doing this every 30 seconds. If you're cooking a filet mignon, brown it well on all sides, turning every 30 seconds. The idea is you're recreating a rotisserie effect, so that you brown the outside just long enough so that the heat reaches the center of the steak in a very gradual process, instead of just letting the meat cook on one side until the center is done. If you do that, you have a very thick layer of well done meat around the cooking surface. Some people think agitating the meat loses juiciness, and this is wrong. The reason meat loses moisture is from the contraction of the fibers. Muscle reacts to heat by contracting, thus "squeezing" out moisture. Agitating the meat has nothing to do with it, though you should avoid further squeezing with tongs. Be gentle.
Keep a meat thermometer handy, an instant read digital.
Your heat should be medium high, but adjust it if it seems too hot or scorches the meat. Keep turning the meat around, getting good caramelization all over, and check the temp of the meat. When it gets to 95 in the center, add a small knob of butter, a smashed garlic clove, and a few sprigs of thyme and/or rosemary to the pan, and spoon the butter over the meat, basting it as it browns. Do this for a minute or two until the internal temp hits 105. Pull the meat off and let it rest. If the outside of the meat was sufficiently hot, the meat should continue cooking as it rests to 120, a perfect medium rare. If your pan was just sizzling and the surface of the meat is only 150 or 160, you'd want to pull it at 110 to hit that medium rare. It takes practice. Let the meat rest in a warm area for 6-7 minutes, and then serve.
One of these days I'll make some youtube videos.
IMO, the best accompaniment to meat is an arugula salad, some shaved parmesan, and aged balsamic. Toss the arugula in some lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, plate it, shave some parmigiano on top (the best you can afford, like vaca rossa from Whole Foods) and drip a few drops of good balsamic on. When I say balsamic, I'm not talking about shit from a jug or straight vinegar. Aged balsamic has the consistency of cold maple syrup and can cost up to $150 for a 100 ml bottle, but you should be able to find a 250 ml bottle for 40 bucks or so if you're interested in the product.