Here's how we do ours since Lala posted this:

From Lala @ KTT

DH was watching a cooking show and ever since we started doing steaks this way, our grill never gets used.... here's how ya do it:

Preheat oven to 350F
Get cast iron skillet good & hot, put seasoned steak(s) in... 2 minutes per side. Put whole skillet in oven, do steaks another 2 minutes per side... put them on a plate and cover. Allow to sit in juices 5-10 minutes before eating...... I am talking Y-U-M-M-Y!!!!!!!!!!!

Some like to sear then roast, other like to roast then sear.

To the extent I do these ''combo'' methods, I ''sear then roast''. The reason is, after the searing you can stick a thermometer in the steak and pull it from the oven at exactly the desired internal temp, allowing for carryover heat during resting. With ''roast then sear'', you have to judge what internal temperature the steak should have when pulled from the oven, to end up at the desired temp after the searing. How much will the internal temperature rise during searing - 20F? 30F? A steak-meister would know from experience, but I don't.

Most of the time, I like my steak very rare on the inside and browned to the point of charred on the outside, so I just sear (or broil) and skip the roasting.

How thick are those steaks? I seldom cook beef, since DB won't eat it, but I would like to make it for myself once in a while. I like the idea of cooking in a cast iron skillet, but could you use a cast iron grill pan instead?

Lars

I like sear, sit a half hour at room temp to even things out, then finish in a slow oven.

John - You'll go opposite if and when you try sous vide. You get the steak to the desired temperature evenly thoughout, then just sear the crap out of it right before serving. Sounds good in theory, right? I'll have to try again soon.

I have used the ATK method several times. I think, if memory serves me, that it was developed specifically for beef tenderloin steaks. Thick and rather compact. I thought it was a great technique but have no idea how it would work with rib eyes or New York strip steaks.

I finally found the ATK recipe, and it works like a charm. However, it will not make a tough steak tender. Buy a tough piece of meat, cook it perfectly, and it's still tough -- as I found out today with a "special" petite sirloin at $2.99 per pound off regular price at Safeway! (Lord, keep me from Safeway!) The toughest meat I have ever had. But it was beautifully cooked. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 New York strip steaks, at least 1-inch thick

Kosher salt

1 teaspoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon

Freshly ground black pepper

2 nice pats of butter

Special equipment:

1 half-size heavy-duty sheet pan

1 wire rack to fit the half-size, heavy-duty sheet pan

1 leave-in meat thermometer

How to prepare:

1. In order for this method to work, your steaks should be about room temperature before cooking. Be sure to take your steaks out of the fridge, or from wherever you are storing them, ahead of time.

2. Preheat the oven to 275�.

3. Using paper towels, thoroughly pat your room-temperature steaks dry. Season both sides liberally with kosher salt and rub the olive oil all over them.

4. Position the steaks on the wire rack that you have set in the sheet pan. Insert the meat thermometer probe into the center of one of the steaks. You will want the tip of the probe to be parallel to the steak, so the probe should go in the side of the steak instead of sticking straight up. Make sure not to position the probe tip too close to the wire rack or to the top of the steak. Set the timer to go off at 100�.

5. When the timer goes off, remove the steaks from the oven. Remove the probe. Heat the remaining olive oil over medium-high heat until the pan is nice and hot, and oil is not quite smoking. Sear the steaks on both sides. You should remove them from the pan when they reach an internal temperature of 125� for rare, or 130� for medium rare. While the steaks are resting, the internal temperature should continue to rise about 5 degrees.

6. Place a nice pat of butter and a good grind of black pepper on each steak before serving. Serve and smile.

RB

"I saw a way to cook steak on ATK where they warm up the steak in an oven to a certain internal temperature and then brown it quickly in a pan, or vice versa. Anyone see this and know how to do it? Object was to get a nicely browned steak without interior becoming gray and dried out. "

People can get very emotional about cooking steak. There are so many so-called "perfect way" to cook a steak. "My method is better than yours. "
If you look at the basic nature of beef, i.e. the cut of the beef, the moisture level of the meat (dry aged, fresh, wet aged) , the fat content, the thickness of the cut, the starting temperature, and the temperature of the heat source, ---- so many variables which all can impact the end result of the preparation.

At the very best the "perfect method" is still a compromise. If you like rare steak, you are going to get a piece of meat with part of it well done, part of it medium, part of it medium rare and part of it raw.
There is perhaps only one perfectly cooked steak, that is if you like your steak very well done. You can have a steak perfectly well done 100% of the time.

The ATK's method, as well as a few other similar methods, such as Heston Blumenthal's method, of cooking steak at lower temperature will give you much better results for most people because it works with the law of physics and the chemistry of the meat.

As FOAS said, perhaps there is one way that will give you close to perfectly cooked steaks; the one sure fire method of cooking steak is without a question the sous vide method. If you want your steak to be medium rare, (130 degrees F), it guarantees the entire pieces will be cooked at that temperature, not just part of it,( + - 0.25 degrees with my system), or any other degree of doneness. The result will be repeatable every time, and regardless how thick or how cold the meat is.

dcarch