What if we told you there's an easy and nearly foolproof cooking technique for cooking the perfect steak, every time?
Yes, that's right, we're talking reverse-seared steak, or more specifically, homemade reverse-seared NY strip. It's an easy cooking method, in which a thick-cut steak is first cooked long and slow in the oven, for doneness, then seared off in a hot pan to create that sought-after beautiful brown crust and lock in all that flavour.
So, put away those steak mistakes and banish burnt or undercooked grey meat forever, and instead think deep dark exteriors and succulent pink interiors, every time.
While we're talking NY strip - the boneless steak cut from the beef short loin, otherwise known as shell steak, Kansas city steak, top loin steak, hotel cut steak and ambassador steak - this technique works equally well for any thick-cut steak, like strip steak, ribeye steak, porterhouse steak, tomahawk steak, T-bone steak, tri-tip and filet mignon.
How to Reverse-Sear NY Strip
Here's the simple way to make perfect reverse-seared NY strip at home:
1. Heavily salt, season or dry brine your NY strip steak at room temperature. Leave the steak uncovered overnight in the fridge for maximum effect. The salting process ensures that the steak retains more moisture during the cooking process.
2. Put the seasoned steak in a low oven and let it cook slowly until it reaches your desired internal temperature. Use a thermometer probe to check the internal temperature for doneness. This could take up to an hour.
Here's the ultimate steak doneness chart
3. Sear the steak in a cast iron, carbon steel, or heavy stainless steel pan when smoking hot. It probably needs no more than a minute on each side.
4. Baste the steak with butter until the steak has a crisp, dark exterior.
4. The steak is good to go. Usually you don't need to rest the steak thanks to the slow cooking.
Watch how it's done, as Babish demonstrates in characteristic style below:
There is more than one way to cook a steak. Take a look at All the Ways to Cook Steak, the Good and the Weird, from sous-vide to cooking from frozen.
Now you're perfected your steak game, that just leaves the perfect fries. Learn how to make Heston Blumenthal’s triple-cooked chips.