Every Friday, we feature a chef’s recipe. Special thanks to the folks over at Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse for this week’s contribution!
Steak is delicious when properly cooked, especially when it’s done by a fine steakhouse like Vic & Anthony’s. Home cooks, who do not have the benefit of heavy duty broilers like the ones used at Vic & Anthony’s, and want to prepare steaks “steakhouse-style” are left with the task of improvising a way to achieve similar results in their own kitchen.
It’s not as complicated as it might seem and with a cast iron skillet, a hot oven and following some simple steps, the home cook can achieve some very similar and delicious results like those found at Vic and Anthony’s.
Step 1:
You will need a Ribeye or N.Y. Strip steak that is 1-inch to 1.5-inch thick. If you are using a filet it should be 2.5 to 3 inches thick.
Step 2:
Heat your oven to 500 degrees.
Step 3:
Heat the cast iron skillet to 500 degrees or as hot as you can possibly get it.
Step 4:
Season the steak with a little olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Step 5:
Remove the skillet from the oven and place it on the stove on high heat. Leave the oven at 500 degrees.
Step 6:
Place the steak in the pan and sear for 1 minute, flip and sear the other side for 1 minute to get a nice crust on each side.
Step 7:
Return the skillet with the steak in it to the oven for 3 minutes; flip the steak and leave in the oven for 3 more minutes. This amount of time should produce a medium steak that is slightly pink in the middle.
Step 8:
Remove the skillet from the oven and add 2 teaspoons of soft, unsalted butter to the pan.
Step 9:
Let the butter melt, then remove the steak from the skillet to a hot plate. Pour the butter and juices from the skillet over the steak and serve immediately.
*All copy provided by Vic & Anthony’s
13 Comments
Yummy. My mouth is watering. Can’t wait to try this method!
It’s not a matter of “if” I’m gonna try this out…it’s “when”.
I’m skeptical of any recipe that results in a medium steak. Just saying.
Here are some other pro* tips. Get the steaks as dry as possible. You need this to get the steakhouse crust on the outside. There are a couple ways to do this. If you are following the recipe above, I’d recommend patting dry, adding salt (or salt and cornstarch) to the outside and sticking the steaks in the freezer for ~30mins. This will dry the outside. Normally, I just pat them dry and salt the outside though, because the freezer step adds a lot of extra time to process. I actually prefer to put the steaks in a warm oven (225F) to bring them to temp and then put a quick sear on them afterwards in a very hot pan. You’ll get the least amount of “gray” meat (the meat cooked between the pink middle and the seared outside) with this method.
*I’m not an actual pro
Great suggestions SirRon. Now, all we need is a good beer rec with this steak. We’re all ears.
Go heavy with steak. Full bodied. I drink hedonistically more than anything, so I would open some 750mL bottle that is hoppy and maybe aged in a barrel or something. Definitely something bottle conditioned.
That being said, wine is the way to go with a steak. Drink the beer while you are cooking. In that case, I’d go with an Independence Brewing Stash IPA. 🙂
This method would burn the crap out of any ribeye. I did this method twice last month. First, open all doors and windows in your kitchen as this will smoke out the entire area. Second, you’re really only going to want to sear it for 30 seconds a side. (When you see how much smoke this makes, you’ll know why. Third, I did this at a minute and a half on each side and it still came out medium. Fourth, it still tasted nowhere near as good as a quality steakhouse. The only time I’ve seen it replicated well was in a komodo style ceramic over like the big green egg.
Making a steak w/o a “komodo style ceramic oven” is like eating chili without beans:)
I really need an edit button. I meant I seared it for 30 seconds in a cast iron skillet that had been pre-warmed in a 500 degree oven and then heated up for an additional 10 minutes on a stovetop set to high. I seared for 30 seconds on each side on the stove and then put in the oven at 500 for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. I then put it on a bowl over a dish for 5 minutes covered with tinfoil to allow juices to set. Next time I’ll add the butter during this process. It was good, no doubt, but still not on par with the restaurant.
Here it is:
Step 1: Dry your steaks (salt, salt+cornstarch, freezer if you want to really tinker around). Make sure they are thicker than 1.5″
Step 2: 275F oven, 20-25 mins (rare-medrare)
Step 3: Heat oil in very hot skillet
Step 4. Add steaks. Cook ~1-1.5 mins on each side. Turn heat to medium, turn steaks sideways with tongs, cook sides for a minute or so.
Step 5. Let steaks rest on wire cooling rack, tent with foil.
Step 6. Add some butter, etc. and make a pan sauce w/ what is left in the pan.
Should rival what is given above. Guaranteed to be better than Fudd’s nachos.
I am going to make it my mission to get Fatty and SirRon together for a beer. Such a meeting would rock the very core of the Houston culinary food scene.
Hack-a-palooza. I think it is safe to say I’m anti-culinary scene.
Or we could have a chili cookoff.
You know I’d make that shit happen if still in Houston. A chili cookoff between you two…brilliant! I could f-ing charge admission on that.
I’m in. I’ll be sure and bring beans and cinnamon.
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