steak in a pan

Cooking the perfect steak is easy. Sear the outside of the steak in a hot skillet to add color and flavor, and then simply finish the steak to desired doneness in a hot oven. This cooking preparation is especially ideal for thick cuts of steak.

How To Cook The Perfect Steak Filet

• Choose a good cut of beef. The perfect steak is never the cheapest steak!
• I’m using a Top Sirloin Steak for this video, but any good cut of steak will do (and remember, marbled steak makes a juicy steak!)
• Let the steak come to room temperature before cooking.
• Season the steak well, on both sides, with coarse salt and pepper.
• Preheat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
• On the stove top, heat a little oil in a heavy-bottomed, oven safe skillet. You’ll want a nice skillet that’s great on the stove top and in the oven, here’s a deal if you want to check current prices for a cast iron skillet on Amazon.
• Add steak to the hot skillet.  The beef should sizzle when it hits the pan.
• Sear on medium high heat for approx 2 minutes.
• Turn steak with tongs and sear other side for 1 minute.
• Slide the skillet into the oven and continue cooking steak to the desired temperature.
• Test the doneness of the steak by pressing on it with your fingers. Steak becomes firm as it cooks. A well done steak is very firm, and a rare steak very malleable. Poking or slicing the steak to check for temperature will result in loss of juices, so this should be avoided.
• When steak is almost cooked to desired doneness, remove the steak from the oven and skillet and place on a plate to rest for 5 minutes. The internal temperature of the steak will continue to rise for a few moments after leaving the oven.
• Allowing the steak to rest for 5 minutes before serving will preserve the juiciness of the cut.

Best Steak Cuts for a Great Dinner

A simply prepared steak can taste terrific, but it requires a good cut of meat.  The cheapest meat never makes the best steak.  Less expensive cuts of beef can be great as roasts, in stews, fajitas, or marinated, but spending a little more will make all the difference when cooking a nice steak dinner.

• Ribeye Steak – This is a well-marbled and tender cut of steak, and also my favorite.
• New York Strip or Strip Steak – marbled and tender, but comes in 2nd behind the ribeye in my book.
• T-Bone – This cut is a T-shaped bone with a strip steak on one side of the bone and a partial cut of the beef tenderloin, or filet mignon, on the other side of the bone. It’s a big steak, not as big as the porterhouse, but still more than I want to pay for.
• Porterhouse – this steak is really two steaks, it includes the strip steak and the entire filet mignon hugging a T-shaped bone between them. It looks great and tastes great, but it’s pretty pricey, and since it includes even more of the tenderloin than the T-bone steak, it isn’t a cut of steak I buy unless it’s a crazy deal.
• Top Sirloin Steak – sirloin steak can be divided into “top” and “bottom” cuts. TOP SIRLOIN steak like I cooked in the video above makes a nice steak, but anything less than top sirloin can be a little tough for a simple steak preparation.
• Filet Mignon or Tenderloin – I almost hate to include this cut, since it’s the priciest steak by cost per pound, and also the steak I’m least likely to buy, but lots of people love it. It’s lean and tender, but too lean for my taste. In my book Fat = Flavor.

How To Test When A Steak Is Done

A steak is done when it’s done to your liking.
I like my steak cooked medium rare.
To test the doneness of a steak, simply press down on the beef with your fingers. The more give there is in the steak, the less cooked it is.
As a steak cooks it becomes firmer, so as the meat becomes more done, it becomes less pliable. This is something that is easy to figure out as you cook more steaks and test them for doneness in this manner.
It is the best way to check for doneness; avoid cutting the steak open or puncturing it to test for temperature. Slicing or poking the steak before it rests will result in a loss of juices, which is really another way of saying a loss of flavor, which defeats the entire point of buying a nice cut of steak

Try This Top Sirloin Steak preparation

Give this top sirloin steak a try, or any kind of steak you like, just keep it simple and buy a nice cut of beef.

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–Chef Buck