El D,

That is a great sear but too rare for my tastes. If you want to cook it a bit more next time, throw it onto some indirect heat after the sear. Something that think I usually sear on direct and then cook it a couple minutes more on indirect.

That steak doesn't even look all that rare to me — that's just about right for a good cut.

really? I think it's very very rare.

I think it looks good as long as it's warm in the middle

ok got a nice piece here, just took it out of the fridge. 'ossenhaas' in dutch, dunno what this cut is called in english.

its pretty thick, about ~ 1.5+ inch at the thickest parts, with varying thickness all over. i want to sear it and finish it in the oven. how long in pan and how long in oven for max steaky goodness?

fwiw those of you who want to respond to didonk, google translates ossenhaas to tenderloin.

atak/pwn/others: That NY strip was completely warm all the way through.

nate: That steak I did as follows. Rub some olive oil, salt, and pepper on steak. Heat cast iron pan to high. Cook on fat strip for about a minute and render off some fat. Cook first side for one minute. Flip. Cook for one minute. Turn down heat to medium/medium high. Cook for two more minutes. Flip. Cook for two more minutes (here I cook for less/more based on touch test for doneness). Wrap in foil and rest for about ten minutes.

you should tent, not wrap

Tony,

Please elaborate, thanks.

If you wrap you ruin the crust.

if you wrap it steam forms and softens the crust
tenting allows any vapors to escape

Lolz, I rested this badboy for an hour before cooking, seasoned it beautifully and took pictures of it's amazing marbling.. I seared it nicely then let it rest in a warm oven .. at this point I thought I'd try some cheese (Which wasn't cheap cheese btw) on top, I have steak 2-3 times a week because I love it so I thought I'd forget committing a cardinal sin and go for it.

I don't regret it, it tasted amazing. I hate people who are food snobs and tell others what they can't eat.

Also, it wasn't American mustard, it was djon mustard, which goes amazing with any type of beef!

Get me that under-title! Don't get me wrong I won't do it everytime, but if I can't make a sauce and don't fancy a plain steak I'll defo do it again.

All in good fun I guess, I cooked a beautiful bit of rib-eye last night and made a steak sandwich.. my god it was amazing. No pics tho

Why do you think it would be wilted? I think it took me about 5mins to eat the whole thing, even if it was slightly wilted directly under the steak the rest was beautiful and crunchy.

Haters gon hate I guess?

With a strip steak like ElD's, I like to turn it on it's edge and crisp the surface of that layer of fat that's down one side. makes it super delicious imo.

Oh yeah for sure.

I preheat a plastic composite meat cutting board (one with a "moat" running along periphery to catch juices) as the steak is cooking, then rest my steak on the warm cutting board very loosely tented with foil. The heat in the cutting board helps keep the steak warm, as a solid surface that's cold will suck a lot of heat fast.

If I'm too lazy for this, I rest the steak on a plastic plate which is more of an insulator than a normal plate.

i also usually preheat the plates I serve food on so it doesn't get cold.

on an unrelated trolling subject, americas test kitchen (or was it cooks country?) was once again singing the praises of the $80 thermometer you guys laughed at. maybe someone here should tell them they're idiots.
/trolling

Diablo,

Can you elaborate on what specifically you do when you "Cook on fat strip for about a minute and render off some fat." Are you holding the steak sideways on the pan or something? I'm just having a hard time envisioning?

Also do you think there's a big difference in using a cast iron pan vs. regular frying pan vs. outdoor grill?

so you cooked a steak that big w/o ever putting it in an oven?

usually when i cook a steak indoors, ill heat a pan to med-high,then put the steak in for a minute or two. then i flip and put in the oven that was set on broil for 6-8 min depending on thickness. tends to give a more even cooking than a seared edge and rare center.

your steak looks rare for my taste, i do like med-rare and would rather have it on the rare side but that is so purple i dont think i could handle it.

I need help cooking a porterhouse. I can cook a NY strip and a Fillet perfectly but for some reason add a bone in the middle and I get garbage.

Two failures ago I went with a technique similar to my NY Strip technique, sear both sides and finish under broiler for a few minutes. Result, too well done.

Last Failure: Last night I decided to skip the broiler and just sear on both sides two times. Result. Well done at edges, medium near the bone.

I am looking for something more like medium all the way through. Is this just an unattainable goal with a porterhouse? Oh and I did all the usual tricks, room temp steak, and rested before serving.

BTW. Both times the steak may have been too thin. 3/4" was about 1.3lbs total. I am wondering if I need a thicker steak to make this work right but a 2lb steak seems excessive.

zero

PS. Fun Fact: American author Mark Twain, best known for penning "Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," was unimpressed with Europe's food while traveling abroad in 1878. He requested that a pan-fried porterhouse steak with mushrooms be ready for him upon his arrival back home.

i know this is a no no to everyone else here but you should try cook the steak from cold or even not long after being frozen. you have MUCH more room to work with the steak without overdoing it. you can get the sear you want without damaging the inside and then slowly bring it up to temperature.

zerosum, this is the main reason I typ don't get porterhouses (as tasty as they are).

But I just had a thought that might help, maybe let the steak sit out such that it gets room temp-ish but then put it back in the fridge for ~20 min (guessing here) before cooking it. This way the bone warms to room temp but when you put it back in the fridge the outer meat will get a chill to it while the inner bone will be insulated and hopefully stay near room temp.

Huge difference, because CI pans tend to be really massive and retain a lot of heat compared to regular frying pans that when the cool meat hits the pan it soaks up all the heat.

Think about putting a strip of aluminum foil and a cast iron pan in a 500 degree oven for an hour. Open the oven up and grab the foil with one hand and the pan with the other: the foil retains so little heat that you won't get burned but the pan will surely char your hand if you hold it long enough. This is also why steam cooks faster and harder then dry air, and why boiling/frying beat steaming and dry air.

Outdoor grills depend on BTU output (gas grills < charcoal) but even a modest gas grill can get good sear marks on a steak if it uses cast iron cooking grates due to heat retention. The thin stamped steel grates will put marks on a steak, but cast iron will get solid mailliard reaction on the meat or even char it depending on preheating and temp. I upgraded the cooking grates on my gas grill to CI and it made a huge difference.

Anyhow there's a lot of ways to enjoy a steak. Sear is nice, charbroil is nice, panfried with butter is nice...

you can also ask your butcher to separate the strip from the tenderloin and just cook them separately with some bone on each.

Please nobody try this experiment.