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Today I'm gonna share with you my journey to cooking a perfect delicious
and impressive cast iron steak that will make your mouth water. And the best part
it is easy. Knowing the do's and the don'ts is the key to success. I'll be
cooking for different types of steaks to give you options so you can cook it
using anything you have at home. Including a ceramic stove, a powerful gas
stove, the wood pallet smoker and obviously to finish it off a charcoal
grill. This is mastering the cast iron steak. So let's do it!
And these are the star of the show. They are four bone in New York Strip. If you
like your steaks medium-rare the perfect thickness is one and a half inches thick.
And if smaller you can run the risk of overcooking it. And as you can see the
marbling in these steaks is impressive. That's these little white speckticles you
see throughout the meat. Always look for a well marbled steak. Instead of adding oil
to the pan I'll be spreading it throughout the steak. This avoids extra
unnecessary oil into the pan. Which normally you would have to strain it
anyway before butter basting it or making your sauce. Once fully coated I
season it well with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.
I do recommend freshly cracked pepper as I can guarantee you tastes a lot better.
Make sure you season it well an unseasoned steak is like a burger
without bread, or a pizza without cheese or rice without beans. I think you got
the point. And these are all the ingredients I'm gonna be using to cook
along with these amazing steak. Remember exact amount and ingredients always in
the description down below. This right here is beef stock. I made it
myself using a few ingredients like beef shank, carrots, celery and onions. But to
make this easy for you to make it at home you can buy the pre-made one. The
next ingredient is whipping cream. Adding this to the sauce will give a nice
smooth flavor and most important it will make it creamy. If you enjoy a thick
sauce a thickener is a great thing to use. There are several types of
thickeners here's an easy one for you to get started mix water with cornstarch.
this creates a slurry which you can add to the sauce and bring it to a small
boil, and it will thicken your sauce nicely. Just remember don't add too much
because it can make it real thick. Since I'm using my home stove the first thing I
need to do is preheat my cast-iron skillet. Set your stove on high
preheated for about five minutes. Once that's done add your steak. Remember that
we already added the oil to the steak so there's no need for additional oil in
the pan. Make sure you have all windows open in a well-ventilated kitchen
because there will be smoke like there's no tomorrow.
Whenever you browning meat or fat that this will happen you can't avoid the
smoke so long as you are aware of it you're good to go.
After exactly one minute you want to flip it to the other side. At this stage
the first side is not ready yet but we will flip it once again to finish it up
for an additional minute. In essence your goal is to sear both sides for an
exactly two minutes each, this should give you a nice crust. Do not forget to
sear the fat raw fat does not taste good. But a well caramelized fat is like
sweet candy and one of the best part of the steak. Once the steak has been seared
lower temperature down to medium low heat and throw in your butter crushed
garlic and rosemary. The goal is to let your butter brown that is the flavor you
crave on a perfect steak. Never let your butter turn black. If your heat is too
high that will happen and you will ruin your steak. You want to baste it for
about one minute per side this will give you our one and a half inches thick
steak a perfect medium-rare doneness. If you like it medium just baste it for one
additional minute per side. Once the steak is done quickly remove it from the
cast iron and throw it into a plate. Add the wonderful butter and the herbs. You
must let your steak rest anywhere from 2 minutes to 6 minutes. This will allow it
to continue cooking and redistribute the juices. The time all depends on your room
temperature if you are in a very cold environment
don't let it rest for too long. I usually do four minutes and it's always perfect.
now there's left to do is to slice it and enjoy this amazing steak. As you can
see it was perfectly cooked. It's juicy and he has a good crust but it can be
improved and I'll show you how to do that on my next steak. But first let me
show you how easy it is to make this amazing sauce. And here's how to do it
Using the same pan under medium heat add your beef stock and deglaze it. This
means to remove all the funk that is stuck into the pan when you were searing
it. Make sure you leave nothing behind. Then throw in shallots and garlic you
don't want to cook them for too long or get any color. If your beef stock starts
to evaporate just add a little more to make sure we have plenty for our sauce.
Then throw in heavy cream and mix everything well. Now you want to reduce
your heat to medium-low heat and taste it for salt. Since my steak
had a good amount of salt there was no need to add any more. The same goes with
black pepper. There's no need to add as I got it from the steak. To thicken it up
I threw in my slurry and bring it to a light boil. Keep stirring it and your
sauce will go from something liquidy to a perfect sauce. And now all there's
left to do is to taste it. Before we move to the next steak we're gonna actually
try this one while it's still hot huh. What do you think about that? I'm not
opposed. I'm definitely not opposed. Let's do it then. I guess some of that juice from the bottom.
Perfectly medium-rare everybody cooked to perfection I hope he came
through the camera. There's a few disadvantages about cooking that inside
and also on the stove. You tell me, first thing. First of all if your wife was home
you would have gotten an earful cuz it looks like there was a fire in that
house. There is a lot of smoke. Smoke everywhere you're searing fat you making
that maillard reaction amazing. You know you want that crust and that crust makes
smoke, all right. Yeah and then on top of that that stove doesn't get hot enough
to get the crust nice and quickly so you gotta work for it. You got it. Right. But at
what cost. I know. You know what I'm saying. And the most important thing
to do is to try and let you know cheers
everybody. Mmm even my dog wants some mm-hmm that's
nice. I will say this if you have a high quality steak you really don't need to
make a sauce but it's a good practice it's already there you just gotta add a
few ingredients and rock and roll. So here you go Angel. I'll try it. Cheers everybody.
Oh that's a nice sauce man. With that being said we're gonna go ahead and move
on to the next one. And on that one I'm gonna cook some things that my nephew
Angel might not enjoy very much but we're gonna see how he likes it.
For my second steak I'll be adding some green stuff, as my nephew calls it, it's also
known as asparagus. It is easy to do and also healthy. To season the steak I use
salt, freshly ground black pepper and garlic powder. Since I won't be using
fresh garlic garlic powder works great. Unlike my previous steak which I used
time to tell the temp. This one I'll be using a wireless thermometer. This takes
out all the guesswork. I can flip it as many times as I need get my crust as
hard as I want and does not matter what I'll do it will ensure perfect doneness
when I'm done with it. For my asparagus I first like to blanch
it. This does two things; it improves the color making it bright
green, and it also cooks to perfection as I can stop the cooking process by using
an ice bath. To me the most flavorful part of the asparagus are the top.
Usually by bending it it will break at the perfect section leaving you the best
part behind. So to save time I usually break two, I tied the rest and cut it off
with a knife. This leaves me with the best part of the asparagus. To finish off
my steak I will also be basting with butter. That is a key ingredient to
turning a good steak into an amazing steak. And for this cook I'll be using a
way more powerful stove. This will give you a much better browning since its gas
it's much more powerful just like they use on their restaurants. I started by
adding a little bit of grapeseed oil. You don't want to use extra virgin olive oil.
Grapeseed oil has a high smoke point and it's neutral in flavor. Then I threw in
my steak. Since I'm relying on my thermometer
I kept flipping it as many times as needed to get the perfect crust. That's
the beauty of using technology to your advantage. Once that was done I lowered
my heat and throw in my butter to start basting. I want you to notice that my
butter is brown and not black. I can't emphasize enough how important that is.
Do not use black butter. To finish it off I caramelized my fat. My internal
temperature was a hundred and twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit or 52
degrees Celsius. once my wireless thermometer warned me I
took it off and let it rest. Do not forget that beautiful brown butter that
is like an amazing sauce for your steak. As I mentioned before when you're
letting it rest the steak temperature will rise and mine rose to 135 degrees
Fahrenheit or 57 Celsius. As that was happening I cooked up my asparagus by
throw it into boiling water to know it's fully cooked just take a paring knife
and stick it into you whew no resistance. If it feels like butter
it's ready. Then you want to throw it into an ice bath to stop the cooking
process. Season it flaky finishing salt, freshly ground black pepper and a good
olive oil and your asparagus is done. Now there's left to do is to slice my steak.
I first started by removing the bone then I cut it up into perfectly sliced
piece of steak heaven.
Hey looks good! One for me one for you.
Why are you laughing, that was not a joke. Why are you laughing? Before we go to the next steak
everybody we're gonna give it a try and my wonderful nephew here is also going
to try. The steak! Green stuff bro. Alright everybody enough talking we're
gonna give this a try. Cheers.
Mmm oh yeah. Boy that's soft too! If you had one thing in
this. Yeah. Then both of those steaks would have been perfect. What? But it's
missing. What? it's MIA and I'm not talking about Miami. What are you talking
about? Charcoal bro! That's right. You gotta have some charcoal bro. I agree with you.
You're gonna give it a try? No you won't try it
at all? No. Just smell it look how good it smells. Mmm that's so good try. I'm sorry
people, that's not my thing. Take his word for it you know he never lies to you guys
so you could just take his word all right if I try it on my lie be like mmm I love it, blah.
Yeap, no green stuff for my nephew Angel. With that being said my next steak I wanted to
push the limits and cook it on my smoker. I kept the seasoning the same with salt
freshly ground black pepper and garlic powder. I made sure to season all sides.
For my next attempt of my nephew Angel eating some green stuff
I will pan sear some zucchini. When you do this it becomes soft almost like a
pureed type. And hopefully he will give this one a try. I cut them into nice even
thin strips. This will ensure even cooking and browning on my pan. I won't be
seasoning it now but will once it's done cooking. Under medium-high heat I seared
it until we're had a nice golden brown color.
When I got my smoke I got with a side burner called sidekick which is
perfectly for searing a steak. I wanted to see if the actual smoker could cook
it. So I added directly on top of the wood fire heating element, threw in my
grapeseed oil and let my pan preheat. And to my surprise when I added a steak it
was sizzling I cooked my steak using the time method. Remember one minute per side
and flip. To see if there was gonna be any smoke flavor added to the steak
I didn't butter baste it. I just let it cook with the lid closed and gave it an
additional three minutes to finish it off. When he was done it looked like it
worked perfectly and hopefully it will give a nice wood flavor taste to my
steak. And to finish up the zucchini I seasoned it with flaky salt and freshly
ground black pepper and it was ready for my nephew to give it a try. Cutting up
the steak it was perfectly cooked to medium-rare. And saying that it was juicy it
was an understatement.
What do you think about this method Angel?
Ah it took a little longer. Yeah I agree. Maybe we get a little different flavor?
There's no butter basting on this one it's straight-up flavor yeah.
I don't taste that much wood flavor. No there's no word flavor at all. It tastes phenomenal but it doesn't
taste like smoke. It doesn't have the wood flavor. I wasn't expecting it to
have a little bit of a wood flavor so I was like it might be the best one.
That's why you gotta use it without, without the cast iron. Just put it on in
your smoker yeah. Now to the exciting part are you ready? Yeah! No. Would you try
it for me just for me? Just a little bit. If you don't like it you let them know
yeah. But that's so embarrassing. I can see I can see the eye convincing him for me come on
bro. Oh now just cuz of that no. For your uncle bro. I'll try a real small, small, chiquitin.
Cheers everybody!
Where are you going? Angel where are you going Angel, c'mon!
It's delicious how can you not like it?
Mmmmm. Yummy.
Felt like a banana.
Cooking is something you do with passion and knowing what your
family likes or dislike is key. So my final steak I'll be hitting all marks
and making it the best cast iron steak there is. I started by dry brining the
steak. This is my number one go-to method when seasoning beef. It sounds fancy but
it's pretty simple. All you have to do is to season it like you normally do with
salt. As always make sure you coat all sides. Transfer it to a cooling rack and
let it rest overnight in your refrigerator, this will allow the salt to
penetrate deeply into the meat. Yes it does dry out moisture but it goes right
back in. Salt is too big to pass through a cell membrane but water molecules can
fit. Since everything wants to reach equilibrium the only thing that can float
to create equal concentration is water. This is a real-world example of what's
called osmosis. The very next day you can clearly see that all salt is gone.
That's because it's all inside of the meat, making it perfectly seasoned.
Another benefit of this method is the outer layer will be drier which will
make an awesome crust. To go along with our steak I'm also making the perfect
side dish which is mashed potato. And here's the easiest mashed potato in the
world.I started by peeling them and cutting them into one inches cube. This
will ensure they cook evenly. Boil them until it's nice and tender.
To make sure all you got to do is get a paring knife and if he feels like butter
it's ready. Drain the water add butter, cream cheese and using smasher while
everything's still hot combine all the ingredients together. Finish with a
little bit of milk and salt. Mix everything well and your mashed potato
is done! Now going right back to our steak. I season with freshly ground black
pepper and garlic powder. Do not add any additional salt remember it was dry
brined overnight. To finish it off I'll be using thyme and butter and the time
method you already know how to do. But now I say it is enough talking and it is
time to cook the perfect cast iron steak. So let's do it!
All right everybody our last and final steak. What do you think Angel? See now
now we got two good things going. We got some charcoal in the steak and a
vegetable that I like. Mashed potatoes! Thats not. The most important thing when you are cooking a steak
everybody is to cook with love and cook the things that the person you are
cooking for likes. You ready for it? Cheers cheers everybody
Oh! That's what I'm talking about! I'll tell you one thing right now the perfect combination
is this one but with that being said here's all the do's and don'ts and
everything I have learned cooking with cast iron. Check it out! Do this, do this one!
Before I give you my final tips to a perfect cast iron steak I want to talk
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Here are my five tips for a perfect cast iron steak.
Number one; be aware you will
create a lot of smoke when searing your steak. So if
you're doing indoors make sure you open all windows and have a nice ventilated area.
Number two; get your pan hot. If not instead of browning your steak you will
steam it and there's nothing worse than a boiling steak. So get it hot.
Number three; when searing is done lower the temperature and baste your steak
with butter. Never let your butter turn black, if it
does throw it out and add a new one. Don't ruin your steak with black butter.
Number four; use some types of aromatics like thyme and rosemary. It doesn't
matter whichever one you like best. Put them on top of your steak and butter
baste it. Make sure you get every single edge that will give your steak an
amazing flavor.
Number five; and this one is the most important of them all. Cook
your steak the way you like it. Using a thermometer makes it easy.
My preferred doneness is medium rare, but if you like it medium cook at medium, Now if
you like it well-done we all know how I feel about that. But as long as you
having fun doing it your steak should come out perfect. Just practice. The good
ole saying of practice makes it perfect is true. And there's nothing wrong with
practicing and eating amazing steaks.
I hope you guys enjoyed this video
if you did enjoy it make sure you give it a thumbs up. If you're not a
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Remember if you're interested in anything I use everything is always in
the description down below. Thank you so much for watching. Which one is your
favorite? This one. And we'll see you guys on the next one. Take care everybody
bye-bye.