How to Cook a Proper Steak

I spent 50 years in the farm country of the Midwest prior to moving to Juneau. Growing up there gave me a unique appreciation of steak. Kansas City was the beef capital of the world for a very long time due to it’s proximity. Pretty much all cattle came through the Kansas City stockyards prior to being transported around the country. I even still have cousins that ranch beef cattle in the Midwest. It is easy to find a great steak house when you live in the heart of farm country.

Since moving to Juneau I have yet to find a “steak house” where I could get a great hunk of red meat. This doesn’t surprise me, I know I am in Alaska and cattle are not real abundant here in Juneau. So I am going to give you the no frills version of how to cook a great steak. This won’t be fancy and anyone can do this. So from beginning to end, this is how to enjoy the perfect steak.

Go to the grocery and get ribeye and make sure it’s bone-in. Yes, the grocery. A little ammonia is not going to kill you and the bone won’t hurt you either. For the purposes of this type of cooking, make sure you get a ribeye. If you want to be all fancy and get grass-fed, certified organic and environmentally conscious, go ahead, I’m sure it’s better for you but I don’t care, just get a steak.

Take the steak home and let it sit at room temperature for a bit. You don’t want to cook any steak that has just come out of the refridgerator. Get a large cast iron skillet, 14” would be great, 12” will work. If you don’t have one, come to the mall and stop in Gourmet Alaska, and buy one, they have them in stock.

Put the pan on the stove and crank that burner up to hot, yes HOT (you will need mitts to pick up or move the pan, otherwise you will be visiting the burn unit at the hospital). Take some coarse salt, not fine salt, coarse. Typically kosher, sea salt or yes even rock salt. Put a lot of salt in the pan and toss it around. When the pan gets hot enough to send you to the hospital with burns, put the steak on.

Now crack some pepper on the top of the steak as the bottom is searing, but don’t even think about adding garlic or onion powder or compound butter. This is steak, all you need is salt and pepper.

After a bit (3 minutes for pink, 5 for cooked good), flip that hunk of meat over and do the same thing you just did with the other side, i.e. sit down and wait for your steak to be ready. Now if your steak is still mooing when you go to flip it, that is a good sign that it needs a little more time on the skillet.

When it’s done, sling that on a plate. You now have perfect steak. Also, make some potatoes to go with it, baked, roasted, mashed, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the side is potatoes, remember this is a steak and potatoes are what you eat with steak. For a vegetable, I like mine roasted. Asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts or even green beans make a nice choice.

If you want a wine to go with your steak, get one that is high in tannin like a Cabernet Sauvignon, most Red Zinfandels, or a Bordeaux. Make sure you open the bottle and let it sit open for about 15 minutes prior to pouring a glass (this is known as letting a wine breathe). Without going in to the science of red wines and why they need to breathe just trust me on this one and do it, you’ll thank me for the tip later.

Now sit down and enjoy your dinner!