Today, I m gonna show you how to cook steaks indoors and level up your game
cooking like a pro. So, here's what I m gonna show you. Pans and equipment, choosing oil, seasoning,
dry brining, getting that great sear, tips for a big steak, butter basting,
and sauces. Mise en place means everything in its place. This cooking and searing process
is gonna go very quickly, so you want to make sure you have everything within arm's reach, so you're
setting yourself up for all the tools for success. So here is what I have: cast iron pan, it's great
for high-heat cooking and gives you that nice sear on the steak; secondly, range hood. It's gonna get
really smoky, so you need some place for all that smoke to go and what better place than up in the
hood; and lastly, a clean cooking surface. You cook clean, the food will taste great.
So keep your area clean, everything within arm s reach, and you too can make an amazing steak.
Now when cooking steak indoors, you want to be conscious of choosing the right oil. Make
sure to always pick a oil with a high smoke point. Smoke point is the temperature in which oil starts
smoking. So, you're obviously cooking indoors, so you want a oil with a high smoke point. Now
me personally, I enjoy using olive oil for that great flavor, but you must know, that olive oil is
not the best for high heat. So be very conscious of that when picking your oil. Two oils that are
really, really good for cooking inside is grape seed oil and duck fat. It's going to give you
that nice high temperature cooking, have great flavor, and also give you that high smoke point.
Now when it comes to seasoning your steak, sky's the limit, but let's first start with the basics,
salt and pepper. What I personally look for when I m choosing the salt is a nice salt with huge
flakes, so either a kosher salt or a maldon. I like to visualize and see the salt as I put it
on the steak, so you can see how much is going on there. The same goes for a coarse ground
black pepper. Now let's talk about seasonings and rubs. Seasonings uses more powdered ingredients,
while rub uses more bigger pieces of spices and herbs. We have our Omaha Steaks seasonings that
has onion, garlic, salt and pepper and citrus for contrasting and delicious complementary flavors.
The Omaha Steaks Private Reserve rub has big chunks of herbs and complex flavor with coriander,
dill, and caraway seed. One of my all-purpose go-to dry rubs, I use salt,
pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, the tiniest pinch of sugar, and thyme.
But be careful to use a rub or a seasoning with too much sugar because it could burn.
When cooking steak indoors, you want to do your best to maximize that flavor. That's why dry
brining is the best way to achieve that. What does dry brine mean? Essentially, you're salting and
seasoning your steak way before the cooking time. That can be in as little as 30 minutes, up to 24
hours. What that's gonna do, it s gonna allow the salt to penetrate deep down inside the surface
of the meat. It's gonna draw out that moisture and also intensify those natural beef flavors. Better
sear, deeper flavor. Let me show you how using the same amount of salt as you normally would,
then putting it in the fridge, is gonna give you a successful dry brine. A little bit of salt,
pepper kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, so I can actually see how much seasoning I m putting
onto the steak, and then you get it on both sides, and just really coat it all over. Then you take
this right here, we put it into the fridge, two hours to 24 hours. Dry brining is gonna really
intensify those flavors and give you that perfect sear when you put it in the cast iron later.
Why is searing important? Flavor. Locking in flavor, it's kind of a myth. But searing does
build amazing flavor. Now the key to getting that perfect sear on a steak is make sure that steak is
dry. You want to have a screaming hot pan, because that heat is gonna really build all that flavor
with that nice crusty sear. If you have a bigger steak, make sure to sear all sides sufficiently.
When you know the oil is ready, a couple things gonna be going on. Sound, you hear that sizzle,
you hear that pop, and also you see the oil start to shimmer and shine,
and that's when you know it'll be ready for the steak. When you're laying the steak in the pan,
always lay it away from you so oil does not splash up on you. And that sound right there,
music to my ears. That is exactly what you want to hear when you're searing the steak.
With the combination of the dried steak, the room temperature steak,
and that hot rip-roaring hot pan, it's gonna get that really nice hard sear on
the steak and seal in all that flavor and create texture and contrast with that nice crusty steak
sear. So if you want, feel free to go ahead and press the steak down,
to kind of jump start that searing process. Now if you look, as the steak starts to sear,
you'll see those nice little brown bits start to peek on the side, and that's a good sign.
Okay, I think we are about there, so you flip the steak like so and you see those nice brown
bits start to form on the steak, that's what we're looking for the perfect sear.
Now when cooking a big steak in a pan, it's imperative to get a nice
hard sear on all sides and then finish it off in the oven. Then let the steak do its thing.
Let it caramelize, let it sear, let those flavors start to develop.
We got a handle on here, so I m gonna go ahead and use that, and you see that nice hard
caramelization, that nice hard sear is starting to form right there, and you want to make sure to get
all sides of that ribeye, so you're locking and sealing in those flavors. Feel free to flip it
as many times as you need to get that nice hard sear on all sides of the tomahawk. Once you get
that nice hard sear on the top, bottom, left and right, we want to put it into the oven and finish
it off to our ideal cooking temperature. 250 low and slow, and check the temperature often,
for that perfect steak doneness. Okay, so we got the top, bottom, left,
right perfect sear all over the steak. Now we are ready for the oven, and there, right there
you have it. Tips and tricks for the bigger steak, one of my favorites, the tomahawk steak rib eye.
Now what's arroser? It's a fancy word for butter basting. It gives you a chance to add
even more flavor. So you add your butter, you add your aromatics garlic, thyme,
rosemary and you're basting that butter-herb mixture on top of the steak. What that's gonna
do is allow the milk solids in the butter to get that nuttier, deeper flavor and just really give a
nice Maillard reaction for that deeper, brown sear on the steak that is perfect every single time.
So you've cooked your steak. The last step is finishing your steak. What we have here are sauces
and compound butters. You're in your kitchen, you have all the tools, you have all the ingredients,
so you have lots of ways to finish it. What I have here is a compound butter.
Essentially what a compound butter is, a butter that's been infused with different flavorings,
different spices, different herbs. So I have harissa, which is a Tunisian chili paste, garlic,
shallots, and fresh herbs, little salt, little pepper and this is the perfect way to finish
any steak because once it hits that hot steak it's gonna melt and evaporate and meld and coat
the steak for that flavor bomb every time. Next to that, we have a chimichurri, a straight-forward
South American sauce, and what we have in here is parsley, we have garlic, we have Calabrian chili,
sherry vinegar and olive oil. It's gonna add nice contrast and texture and flavor, and that acidity
from the sherry vinegar is gonna cut through the fattiness of the steak for the perfect bite.
And last, but not least, we have a pan sauce. What do you do with all those delicious steak drippings
when you're done cooking it, you make a pan sauce. You reduce some beef stock,
some red wine, let those flavors get intensified and really, really come through. You want to
finish that with some butter and fresh herbs, and you'll have this nice napper consistency that'll
finish off and complete any steak you make. A pan sauce I would gladly welcome at my kitchen table.
So get creative, use your favorite flavors. Your steaks will look and taste amazing with
any of these butters and sauces, and feel free to grab all of these recipes at omahasteaks.com.