- A cast iron pan, ribeye steaks, whiskey, and fire.
I tell ya, if I were stranded on a deserted island,
these are my top four wishlist items.
Today in the Test Kitchen, we're putting 'em all together
for the best dang steak you've ever eaten.
(upbeat rock music)
Do you love to cook with cast iron?
Do you crave that all-over sear you get
from a well-marbled steak?
So do we.
Follow these key steps
as we show you how to perfectly cook a ribeye
in the cast iron,
along with onion, jalapeno, bacon, and whiskey.
Let's get it started.
Let's not waste any time.
With our ingredients ready,
we'll start with a sneak peek of my favorite steaks,
but more on those beauties in minute.
I'll cut up an onion and a jalapeno
so I'm ready to rock the cast iron.
Grab an onion, cut the top off, and slice it in 1/2.
This is a great chance to use a sweeter onion,
like Vidalias.
We'll peel off the outer skin and slice into thin strips.
Put that aside and grab a jalapeno pepper.
Cut off the top, slice it in 1/2, and remove the seeds.
This is where most of the heat is.
Hey, if jalapenos are too much heat for you,
grab a poblano pepper here.
If you like more heat, keep the seeds.
Slice into thin strips lengthwise,
and add to the sliced onions.
All right, it's cast iron time.
Preheat a cast iron over medium heat,
and toss in a 1/4 pound of chopped bacon.
Move that around the pan to get it browned.
I'm looking to crisp it up
and render some of that bacon fat.
Kill the heat for a minute
and pull the crispy bacon out of the pan,
keeping the bacon fat in the pan.
Okay, now to the star of the show,
my absolute favorite steak.
A Certified Angus Beef brand ribeye.
There's that marbling we know and love.
It's pretty simple, my friends,
if it's not Certified, it's not the best.
We'll get these seasoned up before we get to cooking.
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper are great
for every day.
I'm using our special Himalayan Flake Salt
and custom five pepper blend from our brand store.
Put a generous amount of salt and pepper
on both sides of these steaks.
With our steaks ready to go,
get the cast iron up to medium high,
and put the ribeyes in to develop a great seared crust.
Have some patience.
The cast iron is great for holding heat,
but these are some big steaks.
They need about five minutes of searing
to develop a good, uniform, mahogany sear.
This is what you're looking for.
Flip and sear the other side.
With thick steaks like these,
you'll wanna sear the edges too.
Just carefully hold with your tongs in that rendered fat.
Pull the steaks and put them on a sheet tray
with a rack insert.
With thick steaks like this,
I'll finish them in a 325 degree F oven
until they meet my target.
I'll come back to that in a sec.
Back to the pan
Take advantage of all the flavor
in the pan that that rendered bacon and ribeye fat provides
by searing your onions and peppers.
High heat for nice and crispy edges.
Once we're browned on the edges, and don't miss this,
pull the pan away from the heat
and pour in a 1/4 cup of whiskey.
Enjoy a bit of flame while the alcohol cooks off.
Toss in that bacon you have set aside,
and stir things around.
And our whiskey, onion, pepper, bacon combo is ready to go.
Turn off the heat to the cast iron,
and get back to these beautiful rib eyes.
I pulled them from the oven
when they reached an internal temperature
of 115 to 120 degrees F,
knowing they would still climb in temperature.
Let's see where they are.
Perfect. About 125 degrees F.
I'll set them on the onion mix to rest for a couple minutes.
Let's put it all together.
A bed of onion, jalapeno, bacon
with a big, old, beautiful steak.
The smell is incredible.
Where are you taking your first bite from?
For me, it's right to the cap of this beauty.
Bacon, pepper, jalapeno all in one bite.
I love a steak cooked in cast iron.
There's just nothing like that flavor.
That bacon fat that we used to cook that ribeye.
Good move.
No doubt here that beef is the star of the show.
That is one heck of a steak.
Make sure to like and subscribe.
We'll see you next time in the Test Kitchen.