Celebrating Heritage British Food & Cooking
Cooking a good ribeye steak has a lot in common with an average man of my age. It carries quite a bit of fat, needs time to get ready, can easily be overdone, and needs a good rest afterwards.
Buy the Best Quality Steak You Can Afford
Every chef I have ever spoken to and every restaurant I have been to has their own ideas on what makes the perfectly cooked steak. The preparation and seasoning of the meat, the style and length of cooking, how long to rest the steak after cooking and how to present it on the plate. Not to mention what you serve it with.
But one thing alone underpins all of this and that is the quality of the meat. If you start with poor quality meat then no matter what you do to it and how you cook it, the finished steak will always disappoint.
I have eaten steak in restaurants all over Europe, the US and Scandinavia and in recent years the Canary Islands. I have had it barbequed, griddled, flambéd and even raw as tartare or carpaccio.
But without a doubt, the best steak I have ever tasted came from Argentina. Oddly, it was in an Argentinian steak restaurant in Amsterdam but that’s a story for another time.
The moral of the story is to buy the best quality piece of meat you can afford.
Thick or Thin?
If you like your steak on the rare side, it’s much easier to achieve a good cook with a thick ribeye than a thin one. With a thin ribeye (1.5 inches or less) you’ll have a hard time getting the surface of the steak properly browned before the inside of the steak cooks too well done. A thick ribeye buys you time. You’re able to get that surface nice and browned before the interior of the steak gets too much heat.
If you prefer your steak well done, go with a thinner cut. If you choose a thick cut, the surface of the steak may burn before you’re able to get the interior cooked. Most experts prefer their steak cooked medium rare. For this reason, they typically choose a steak that’s about 2 inches thick.
You Need A Really Hot Griddle Pan
If you are going to cook your steak indoors then for best results you need a cast iron griddle pan and probably a kitchen hood or at least an extractor fan. I have an IKEA kitchen hood ( made by Hotpoint ) which is ducted outside.
The neighbours know when we are having steak for dinner by the amount of smoke being vented outside.
I swear by my Le Creuset griddle pan for searing my steaks and pork chops. There are many other alternative cast iron cookware ranges including some supermarkets’ own brands which are very good and cheaper than Le Creuset but they are not quite the same quality.
Maybe I am a cookware snob, but I like the traditional orange Le Creuset. It’s certainly robust, not long ago I accidentally dropped my casserole dish from a high cupboard onto the kitchen floor. The dish was unscathed, not even a chip. The floor however now has a large dent in it!
Needless to say, my better half was not impressed. Especially as the floor was only relaid 6 months beforehand, oops!
I have some golden must-do recipe tips for cooking your steaks.
👨🍳 Recipe Tips
- Firstly before cooking, let your steak come to room temperature for 60-90 minutes. Doing this makes for a much juicier steak and reduces cooking time.
- Season your steak with only a little salt just before cooking and pat dry to remove any excess moisture on the surface.
- If using a skillet or griddle pan, oil the meat not the pan and preheat the pan on high heat until slightly smoking.
- Secondly, after cooking rest your steak on a wire rack, not on a plate. The steak retains far more of its juices this way.
Cooking Times
| Thick cut (2″ thick) – Medium rare | 6 minutes (3 minutes on each side) |
| Thick cut (2″ thick) – Well done | 10 minutes (5 minutes on each side) |
| Thin cut (1.5″ thick or less) – Medium rare | 4 minutes (2 minutes on each side) |
| Thin cut (1.5″ thick or less) – Well done | 6 minutes (3 minutes on each side) |
Make sure you rest the steak after cooking for a minimum of 5 minutes to allow the meat to relax and the heat and moisture to even out.
Other Recipes You Maybe Interested in …..
Here’s the Recipe …
Rib Eye Steak Cooked Grandad’s Way
Equipment
- 1 Griddle Pan or Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 Ribeye steak thick cut
- 1 tsp Olive oil
- Sea salt
Conversions
Instructions
Before Cooking:
- Remove the steak from the fridge, cover and allow to come to room temperature for 60-90 minutes. This makes for a really juicy steak.
To Cook the Steak:
- Preheat the griddle pan on a high heat until gently smoking.
- Pat the steak dry, lightly oil on both sides and season with a little salt.
- Lay the steak into the griddle pan and cook for 6 minutes (medium rare) or 10 minutes (well done) turning over halfway through the cooking time.
- Remove from the pan and set on a wire rack above a plate. Cover loosely with foil and put a folded tea towel or similar on top to keep the heat in while it rests.
- Serve on a warmed plate.
You may also like one of my other favourite recipes …
