Alton Brown's Pan-Seared Rib-Eye Steak

Oh Wow! We had this amazing dinner on Sunday...way better than even steaks on the grill, if you can believe it. I need to return this cookbook to the library so I wanted to be sure and post these instructions so I don't forget and you can have a great steak adventure. No pictures cuz it was too amazing a dish to photograph, plus we were in heaven, savoring every morsel

NOTE: There's gonna be smoke. Turn on your hood if you have one and open a window. AB even removes the battery out of the smoke detector. I didn't find it quite as bad as this, however.

HARDWARE
cast iron skillet

SOFTWARE

2 1-1/2" boneless rib-eye steaks
1 t. canola oil, to coat
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. black pepper, freshly ground

1. Allow steaks to come to room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Position rack in center of oven. Crank to 500 degrees F and slide in a 12" caste iron skillet.
3. When oven hits temperature, carefully move skillet to cook top over high heat for 5 minutes.
4. Lightly coat steaks with canola oil then liberally sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Place carefully in pan, and don't touch for 30 seconds (you should use a kitchen timer).
5. Flip thesteaks with tongs and cook for another 30 seconds.
6. Move skillet back to the oven for 2 minutes/ Flip the steaks and cook for another 2 minutes.
7. Remove skillet to a heat-safe surface. For med-rare, the temp of the steaks should be between 130-140 degrees. Our steaks were much thicker so I cooked them longer in the oven...4 minutes per side and that worked out well.

When you temp the temp of the steaks do not insert the instant read thermometer from the top down, rather, insert it from the side, parallel to the base.

8. Allow steak to rest 5 minutes before serving.

You can place the steaks in a resting rig (meaning allow the juices to drain into a pan) and use the drippings from this as well as what's left in the pan to make a lovely sauce.

I added butter to the pan, some sliced onions and stirred around (called deglazing". I poured this over the steaks and then added some mozzarella cheese, grated. Yummy!

OR you could place the steaks over a slice of toast, preferable sourdough, which will absorb any escaping juices and make for a nice side bite in themselves