How to Make the Ultimate Cast-Iron Steak with Herb Butter

[Music] so as I mentioned this steak recipe is the whole reason I am now a proud owner of a 12-inch cast-iron pan well that's going to come in handy because you did just promise me am i right the best steak that I'm ever going to have you know it so I'm gonna put my order in I would like a steak with a nice crust on the outside juicy on the inside and medium-rare you got it now the key to such a steak is getting this cast-iron pan ripping hot and of course here in the Test Kitchen we tested a lot of ways to heat up the skillet we found the oven worked best so I'm gonna put this guy in the oven 500 degrees but when the ovens hot which will take about half an hour this bad boy in it that skillet would be perfectly hot all right so while that skillet is heating up in the oven let's take a look at this beautiful steak I have for you whoa I'm looking so this is a lot of me there's one for you one for me that's the way you thing actually this would serve for people cuz this is two pounds of meat and it's about an inch and a half thick and that's important because you want there to be enough time to get a good sear on each side without making the steak overcook cuz you said you wanted medium-rare you listen to I'm listening all right so I'm just gonna put some salt on these New York strip steaks and I'm gonna let them sit while the skillet heats up that of course helps enhance that beefy flavor all right so let's set these guys aside I'm just gonna wash my hands before we continue I have another surprise for you which is on top of our gorgeous steaks I'm gonna put a little butter little flavorful butter cuz you are no stranger to butter so I have here a shallot I'm gonna mince this up this should give us about two tablespoons of minced shallot then you want to cut it up just like you would an onion but you want to use the tip of the knife so here first I'm gonna slice down then I'm gonna slice across and then make it into a nice fine mince now I'm just gonna run my knife over this a couple more times make sure those pieces are nice and finely minced used to get graded on the circle a nice cool to the chef would go in here and they'd look for the largest piece they could find and they'd pull it out and say I that's an F really yes so now I'm a very fine mincer all right so I'm gonna add this challenge to four tablespoons of unsalted butter now we're gonna add a little bit of parsley this is of course the parsley leaves we're just gonna mince this up it's about a tablespoon of minced parsley now we're gonna put a few chives into our butter we're gonna cut these very finely all right so that's of a tablespoon of chives last but not least a little garlic this is a small clove of garlic little salt little pepper we're just gonna mash this all together to make our very flavorful compound butter right so this pan is screaming hot it's been in here for a good half an hour which is why I have my industrial heat proof mitten on all right so here's a nifty thing slide this on your skillet goal help prevent you burning yourself as you walk by you know me too well before we get cooking we're gonna finish patting our steaks dry because they've been salting for a while so a little moisture has come to the surface and moisture prevents browning from happening so you want to Pat it away and we're gonna season it with a little pepper so our steaks are ready to go so we're gonna put this skillet over medium-high heat add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and really get this oil smoking before we add the steaks and again that doesn't take very long because this skillet is screaming hot I see some smoke on that oil so it's time to get going you know the stakes yeah so the cooking time on these steaks is about nine minutes total but every two minutes we're gonna flip it over and that ensures an even crust and even cooking throughout the steak and about halfway through we're gonna turn the heat down to medium-low because if you don't you're actually gonna get too thick of a crust on these steaks believe it or not well that is a far cry from what we always say we always say put it in the pan and leave it alone and don't touch it don't even look at it for at least five minutes you're saying this every two minutes is really the key for more evenly cooked beef that's right and I am NOT above using a timer because this steak is worth every second and every penny okay all right it's been about two minutes on this first side oh that's not even the final crust honey that's just the base layer of crust to crust the bills on top of it I'm telling you best steak ever all right so it's been about two minutes on that second side yeah I'm gonna flip them back over and now as I mentioned before we're gonna turn the heat down to medium-low cuz these steaks need to cook for another three to four minutes and you could tell this crust would almost get too thick if we left that heat to high so medium low another three to four minutes this actually reminds me of is back in the 70s I used to lay out on a lounge chair and try to get tan I would flip over every few minutes just to cool down luckily I never develop the substantial crust that's right so we're suntanning these steaks for about another two minutes all right let's flip these guys oh look at that crust I mean that is not a crusty seat outside of a really good grill or a killer five-star restaurant all right so beef steaks have been in the pan for about seven or eight minutes and it's time to take their temperature all right so we're looking at the temperature about 120 or so on the nose so let's get these guys out of that hot pan cool turn the hand off fly that off the burner of it oh good nice Oh isn't that this the best-looking a steak you've ever seen all right just cuz we can just a little butter I'm just gonna put it as you know we're gonna let this sit for about five to ten minutes before we slice into it but let me tell you the weight is gonna be worth it of course I'm gonna tent it with foil help keep the heat in foil keeping the heat in keeping the Bridget out alright president the time has come oh the smell of that butter melting over the hot sticky kiddin me alright so it's time to slice into this guy oh yeah look at that not much of a grave end right there and look at that red center and seriously juicy all right let me get some of these pieces right from the middle for you that have a whole bunch of that butter I might just steal a little butter from into the other stone yeah there you go look at that mm-hmm all right I'm goin in if you don't hear from me in a few days call my family and tell them I love them mm-hmm you take a breather and then that good you don't actually need teeth to eat this it is so tender mm-hmm melt in your mouth America I am leading with you you need to buy a cast-iron skillet this pan makes a killer crust on steaks and it all comes down to time and temperature preheat the skillet in a 500-degree oven and then move it to the stovetop meanwhile you need to salt flavorful strip steaks and then sear them in that hot skillet flip the steaks over every two minutes to build a substantial crust and then cook them through evenly dollop the cooked steaks with any easier compound butter and there you have it from our Test Kitchen to your kitchen the best dinner that you will ever have no foolin cast-iron steaks thanks for watching America's Test Kitchen what you think we'll leave a comment and let us know which recipes you're excited to make or you can just say hello you can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description and don't forget to subscribe to our Channel see you later I'll see you later

Channel: America's Test Kitchen

Views: 291,259

Rating: 4.9171143 out of 5

Keywords: cast-iron, cast-iron skillet, cast iron steak, cast iron skillet, cast-iron steak, steak, steak recipe, beef, steak with butter, steak with herb butter, herb butter recipe, recipes, cooking, learn to cook, america's test kitchen, america's test kitchen steak, steak recipes, butter

Id: pqIwp0ihfgQ

Length: 8min 12sec (492 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 17 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/DistinctMediocrity]

Everytime I do this the smoke detectors sing my praise. Delicious, but messy. I'd suggest a splatter guard if you have one.

[u/friedchickenpaws]

My only issue is when they lowered the burner to med-low. It's cast iron, that doesn't cool down as fast as stainless steel. So two minutes wouldn't do anything. But I do use that style of butter on my steaks