FOOLPROOF GUIDE TO MINIMALIST CAST IRON STEAK (Ribeye / Sirloin)

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Ingredients :  Steak / Salt / Pepper 

Equipment: Cast Iron Pan / Tongs (Chopsticks if you have skills) / Gloves

Optional Equipment: Instant read thermometer 

Optional Steak Butter Baste : Unsalted Butter, Rosemary or Thyme, Crushed Garlic cloves

Optional Side: Sliced onions and sour red wine / vinegar of choice



  1. Try to get dry-aged steaks if possible. Wet aged is also good. Chilled steaks > Frozen steaks. I prefer my steaks around 1.5 inches thick / 3.8cm. This lets you sear a solid crust on your steak without the insides being overcooked. Steaks should be at room temp before frying (or at most chilled. Don't fry frozen steaks unless you know what you are doing).
  2. Salt your steaks ahead of time. The salt will dissolve some protein and make it more tender. Don't add pepper until the end of the cooking process, as pepper burns in my hot cast iron pan. I will use ~0.8% of the weight of the steak in salt
  3. Dry your steak with a kitchen towel. This is important, because you don't want your steak to steam, but instead you want a crust to form.
  4. Put the steak fat cap down on your cast iron pan, and start to preheat the pan. As your pan pre-heats, the fat will render (melt) into beef tallow (oil), and also start to fry the fat cap. Beef tallow has a smoke point of 420ºF (220ºC), and is also packed with flavor. Cooking your steak in it's own fat has a feeling of completeness, like serving chicken with eggs, or cooking beans over a fire made of bean vines. The flavors from the beef tallow make your steak tastier, as your steak flavors aren't diluted with other oils.
  5. When the pan is hot, place the steak onto the puddle of rendered beef tallow. You should hear a sizzling, frying sound. If not, your pan hasn't preheated enough. Continue to preheat pan and render fat.
  6. When sizzling stops, flip your steak ONTO A DIFFERENT PART of your cast iron pan. That part of the pan is hotter than the part your meat was originally resting on. Crack some pepper onto the exposed side of the meat.
  7. Optional technique - melt some butter in the pan after the first flip, adding some garlic and herbs to the butter. Use a metal spoon to pour the hot oil onto the steak between flips
  8. Keep flipping until a crust forms on both sides or the thickest part of the meat reaches 130ºF / 55ºC. Don't forget to pepper the other side of the meat after the 2nd flip.
  9. Remove the steak from heat onto a cooling rack. Let it rest for 5 min. Resist the urge to cut a small piece and taste it.
  10. Optional (onion side dish) : Dump a sliced onion onto your hot cast iron pan, and over a low / medium low flame, start to fry your onions, using the onions to deglaze your pan. Those brown bits on the bottom of your pan are called fond, probably because people are fond of the flavor. Add a little red wine or vinegar (apple cider or malt) to help the deglazing and serve the onions as a side dish.


Additional reading

https://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/the-food-lab-more-tips-for-perfect-steaks.html

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