Rib eye steak

Dinner tonight, after the most lush day off ever was rib eye steaks from Northumbrian Quality Meat, they have been my butcher for years and their meat is outstanding, ive previously recommended them, they are on my likes section of my website check them out.  If they are a little to far check out Donald Russell too, equally superb!

So there realy isnt  much to cooking a steak, I had to do one in the pressure test of MasterChef and this is the method i used. 

First you take your steaks (this applies to any meat for that matter) out of the fridge a good 30 minutes before you want to use it, this relaxes the meat and brings it to room temperature. think of it like this, if you've just got in from the freezing your usually all huddled up like this baffoon below - your muscles are all tense until you get back to normal - well its the same principle for your meat.  It needs time to get back to the temperature its comfortable at and that way you'll get the best flavour and texture from your meat.

So, next you want to get your pan as hot as humanly possible, season the meat liberally with salt and pepper and a little oil then whack it in the pan, set  your timer for 2.5 minutes and LEAVE it alone. Step away, leave the pan on high, open a window for the smoke and leave it.

After 2.5 minutes flip the steak, and again leave it for another 2.5 minutes.

Nearly there, hang on in, so 2.5 minutes have passed, turn the heat off, whack about 50g of butter into the pan and as it melts spoon the juices over the steak, this is called arabouche in France and basically means to baste in butter. Do this for around 30 seconds and then remove the steaks from the pan and allow to rest somewhere for around 5 minutes to relax the meat, this is the most important step in the whole process, and like before it relaxes the muscle to create a tastier more tender piece of meat.

Home stretch - serve the steak with a sauce that you have made in the pan you took the steaks out of, something simple like the peppercorn sauce in my accompaniments section, or a red wine jus or something.  Nice and quick.

the finished article, black and blue steak,