How to cook steak like a PRO!

cooking steak perfectly can seem overwhelming , and there are a few areas where it can go wrong .

But if you follow these key steps that I'm gonna show you , you'll be cooking steak like a pro .

Hi , I'm Nicky .

Welcome back to our kitchen , where we show you how to make delicious family friendly recipes .

Cooking steak is a bit of an occasion for Chris and I , and we really love it as a special meal , so it's gotta be perfect .

So let's start by talking about the cut of steak .

Now when I'm cooking steak at home , I really like to use rib eye or sirloin steak , and you'll find that on rib eye steak .

You normally have quite a big chunk of fat in the middle and some veins of fat running throughout , and they'll render down during cooking to ensure that your steak is lovely and juicy .

A sirloin is also a really good cut of steak as well .

Just make sure that you've got some of those veins of fat and look out for gristle .

You really don't want too much gristle in there .

Now I tend to go for steaks that are about 2.5 centimetres thick and about 8 to 10 ounces in weight .

And normally I would go to the butcher to ask for these to be sliced special for me , because when you go to the supermarket and you get the ready packed steak , well , they tend to be a little bit on the stingy side .

The first crucial and I really mean crucial .

Do not pass .

Go .

Do not collect £200 .

This is a really important step .

Is taking your steaks out of the fridge before cooking and allowing them to come up to a room temperature ?

Cooking steaks straight from the fridge is a big no no , and it will result in steaks that are tough and cold in the middle .

So you really want to take those steaks out of the fridge about an hour or two before cooking so they can come up to room temperature .

So now we've got the steaks up to room temperature .

We need something to cook them in .

We need to use a heavy based pan or griddle .

I love to use my cast iron skillet .

A well seasoned cast iron pan is gonna heat up evenly , and it's gonna really retain that heat , which will give the steak the opportunity to get a really lovely crust on it .

Now we want to heat the pan over a high heat .

We want that pan to be lovely and hot before the steak touches it .

And now we want to start on the next step , which is seasoning the steak , and we're gonna start off by coating the steak in oil .

We want to coat the steak and not the pan , and that ensures the steak has got a lovely , even coating .

We want to use a flavourless oil with a high smoke point such as sunflower oil as well as the oil .

We want to season the steak generously with salt and freshly ground pepper .

Massage the oil , salt and pepper into both sides of the steaks .

Some people say that seasoning your steak with pepper before cooking can cause the pepper to become bitter , but I've never found that to be the case .

The key is to use freshly ground pepper that's just a little bit coarse .

You don't want to use powdered pepper because that will burn .

And don't worry about using plenty of pepper because the taste of the pepper does mellow as the steak's cooking , and it really compliments the steak .

Well , we want to ensure the steaks are cooked nice and evenly , so we're gonna turn the steaks every minute , and this will ensure nice , even cooking and a good crust on both sides .

I know that some people say that you should put the steak in the pan and leave it to cook and then just turn it once .

But trust me , this is the best way for the most even cooking for a steak this size , we're talking about four minutes of cooking altogether for a steak that's medium to medium rare .

So let's get cooking .

It's gonna be sizzling and rather smoky , so I'm gonna have my extractor go in and the window open .

Time for some a SMR steak cooking For the last minute of cooking , we're gonna add a large knob of butter , a few lightly squashed cloves of garlic and a few sprigs of time .

We want to turn the heat off and then face the steaks with the butter and the juices in the pan .

This bit's optional , but I like the slight hint of thyme and garlic that it adds to the steak .

Once done , remove from the pan and place on a warm plate or a board to rest .

The level of doneness is complete personal preference , and there's a little trick you can do with your hand to check for the level of doneness .

This is rare medium rare medium , medium well and well .

So I'd say that is about medium .

I'll leave some example cooking times in the description below for a 2.5 centimetre rib eye or sirloin .

You want to rest the steak for the same amount of time that you cooked it .

The steak will continue to cook a little bit further whilst it's on the board , but it will also relax and become unbelievably juicy and tender .

This step is just as crucial as bringing your steak up to room temperature like we did at the start .

You really have to rest your steak .

Once it's rested , it's ready to serve .

Let's take a look .

Look at that .

That looks amazing .

Mm .

So tender and juicy , Perfectly cooked , Perfectly seasoned .

Mm .

So good .

And those juices that are left on your board , why not add them to your sauce , you'd be making one .

I'm gonna have some more .

No .

This served with peppercorn sauce and crispy saute potatoes .

Oh , my gosh .

It's one of my favourite posh treat meals of all time .

Next week I'm gonna share a roundup of all of my favourite sauces to serve with steak .

And most of them can be whipped up whilst your steaks resting .

So make sure you're subscribed and let me know in the comments below What's your favourite posh meal ?

See you next time .