Great Steaks Without a Grill

By Erica

I love steak. Aged, marbled and perfectly cooked are my requirements. I prefer a filet, but when I don't have $200 to spend on a piece of meat a ribeye will do quite nicely, thank you. 

Historically, my husband has always been in charge of grilling our steaks. With it being winter and not exactly grill-friendly, I had the choice of giving up steak until more seasonable weather, or learning to it cook it indoors. I'm not about to go three months without my steak, yo.

After much experimentation, I've learned (what I think is) the perfect way to cook steak using your broiler. You will need: steak, a broiler pan, seasonings and real butter. 

A broiler pan, in case you have no idea what I'm talking about:

I've found that working with a room temperature steak is best. Try to set it out at least an hour before you're going to cook it. Once you're ready, liberally season both sides of the steak with your choice of seasoning. I prefer Cavender's and some wonderful smoked sea salt that fellow Food Lush writer Julie sent me. Once the steak is ready to go under the broiler, add a pat or two of real butter to the top.

Position your oven rack on the second-to-the-top position and broil away. The time it takes will depend on the thickness of your steaks and how you like them cooked. For an inch thick ribeye cooked to medium well, I go six minutes on the first side. Then flip it over, add another pat or two of butter and continue cooking for four to five more minutes. To test your steak for doneness, DO NOT CUT INTO IT, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Meat really does need to rest before you cut it so that the juices redistribute throughout the steak and not out onto the pan. The trick is to poke the steak with your finger. Quickly, of course, so you don't burn yourself. You want to see how firm it feels and then compare that to your hand by using these guidelines:

The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat

METHOD

Open the palm of your hand. Relax the hand. Take the index finger of your other hand and push on the fleshy area between the thumb and the base of the palm. Make sure your hand is relaxed. This is what raw meat feels like. (Check this out the next time you have a raw steak to cook.)

Now gently press the tip of your pinky and your thumb together. Again feel the fleshy area below the thumb. It should feel quite firm. This is what well done meat feels like when you press on it. (Check this out the next time you overcook a piece of meat.)

Press the tip of your ring finger and your thumb together. The flesh beneath the thumb should give a little more. This is what meat cooked to a medium doneness feels like.

Gently press the tip of your middle finger to the tip of your thumb. This is medium rare.

Press the tip of your index finger to the tip of your thumb. The fleshy area below the thumb should give quite a bit. This is what meat cooked to rare feels like. Open up your palm again and compare raw to rare.

{Credit: simplyrecipes.com}

Let your steak rest for at least five minutes and then serve. Steak cooked under the broiler tastes just as good as steak cooked on a grill. The only drawback is that it does make your kitchen a little smokey, since butter has a pretty low smoke point. I just crack a kitchen window and turn on the ceiling fan before I start cooking it. 

Tell me, Food Lush readers, what's your favorite cut of steak and what do you like along side it?

Comments

[Heather]

OOOHHHHHH!!!! The tips for checking the doneness for meat are going to change my life!

[Jen L.]

Those are the neatest tricks--thanks for sharing them! My husband audibly squealed when I showed him.

My favorite is a good ol' New York Strip, cooked medium, served with a baked potato and some buttered asparagus.

[Serror]

Yum! Having steak tonight. It is raining but 45 isn't too cold to drag out the gas grill, right? We have been enjoying tri-tip cooked medium rare/rare recently. Roasted brocolli and sauteed mushrooms as sides. The early Spring asparagus is starting to look pretty good at the store though...