Great Seared Ribeye, New York or Filet Mignon Steaks in the Dead of Winter

This time of year, the opportunities to grill out in the backyard are few and far-between.  But you can still crave a great steak.  One where the exterior is seared just right so that small amount of crust is formed.  Yet the interior is still perfectly medium rare.  Something like the ones you would pay at least $30 for in a high-level steakhouse.  The problem is that right after Christmas, very few of us have the available funds for an expensive meal.  So how can we get the same great steak at home for a quarter of the price?

Well, you can shop some of the ads for a great deal on steaks.  You can find New York or ribeye cuts for around $5.99 a pound at all sorts of places.  And if you don't mind doing a little cutting, you can get three or four pounds worth of tenderloin, which is where you get filet mignon, for $6.00 a pound at WinCo.  All of these cuts are nice and tender, as they come from along the back of the cow, the most tender area.  Do not gnaw on the back of a live cow to test this, the consequences are dire, trust me.

The rule of tenderness is that the meat is softer the further away you get from the ground.  The more the muscle has to work, the stronger it is and the tougher it gets.  That's why the flank and strip steaks, taken from the belly of the cow, is extremely tough and usually needs to be cooked long and slow,  possibly even marinated for a period of time.

And since these prime steaks are on the opposite side of the cow, it would make sense that we'd need to cook them completely differently.  You want to apply high heat for a short period of time.  In the steak houses, they do a really quick sear over extremely high heat to create that exterior crust.  And during the summer, you could possibly create that level of hellfire over your barbecue grill.  Problem is that when there's a few feet of snow outside and it's below 20 degrees outside, it's a little difficult to do.

So to create that crust, we're going to do a couple of things.  First, we're going to salt and pepper the meat and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  The salt on the surface of the meat will pull a little bit of the moisture to the surface of the meat, which will in turn bring some of the animal proteins as well, and that it what will crust over when we cook it hot and fast.  I'd recommend not spicing it more than just the salt and pepper.  Reason being is that most other spices will burn to embers under the extreme temperature we're going to use.  You don't have to worry about salt and pepper because pepper is extremely hardy and salt, well, is a rock and rocks don't burn.

Second, we're going to drop them in a hot pan over high heat with a little bit of oil in it.  The direct contact to the pan and hot oil will heat the surface of the meat quickly and get that delicious crusty feel.  Now this will cook the outside, but it leaves the interior almost uncooked.

To complete the cooking process, we're going to toss them a low heat oven.  This will help maintain the heat on the outside, but the radiant heat from the oven will push just enough heat from the searing into the meat slowly, finishing it off to a perfect medium rare.

And the best part is that while you're waiting for them to finish, you have a little extra time to prep your sides, set the table, light the candles, etc.

Seared New York, Ribeye, or Filet Mignon Steaks

As many steaks as you have guests
Salt (freshly ground sea salt is best, but any will do)
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons of canola oil

Thirty minutes before cooking the steaks, remove them from the fridge.  Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the steaks and allow them to rest on the counter so they come up to room temperature

Place a large skillet over high heat.  Preheat your oven to 275 degrees.  Once the pan is heated, add the oil to the pan and whirl it around.  Within 10-30 seconds, the oil will be fully heated (if you start seeing smoke, immediately move onto the next step). Lay the steaks in the pan, watching out for bubbling oil.  Allow them to sear for about 3-4 minutes.  Flip them once and sear for another 3-4 minutes.

Once the sear is over, transfer the steaks to an oven safe pan and place them into the oven for 8-10 minutes.        Then remove from the oven and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

So try making one of these steaks instead of spending $100 at a steakhouse. It'll be just a good, and you'll have enough money leftover to eat for the rest of the week.