How Hot + How Long
How to Cook a Freaking Steak, Okay?
700 degrees, six minutes
Forget everything you’ve heard about cooking a perfect steak being hard. It’s a simple—albeit precise—formula of salt, pepper, time and heat.
Below is the formula for using a grill (outside) or a cast iron pan (inside). The steps for both a grill and a cast iron pan are the same: prep, sear, rest, eat. Only the “sear” step is different.
This recipe is for a ~12–14 oz steak(s) with fat on them — strip, ribeye, T-bone, tomahawk, cowboy cut — that are 11/2–2" thick. Anything thinner, thicker, smaller or leaner—like a flank, hanger or fillet — is not gonna work here.
You will need: a digital timer, long handle tongs, kosher salt, black pepper, plastic wrap and aluminum foil, enough to wrap the finished steak(s) like a burrito. Don’t skimp on the wrap or the foil.
Prep
About 6–8 hours before dinner, take the steak(s) out of the fridge. You need to cook them at room temperature. Gently pat both sides dry with a paper towel and salt each side liberally with kosher salt. This pulls moisture out of the steak and seasons it at the same time. Don’t worry about using too much salt. Saying there is too much salt on beef is like saying there is too much butter on a lobster.
Place the steak(s) on a flat surface on the counter and cover loosely with plastic wrap. You want a little air circulating, but you don’t want dust or anything to settle onto the steak(s).
Walk away and don’t touch the steak(s) for 6–8 hours.
Steak on the Grill
It doesn’t matter if you use a gas or charcoal grill. The important part is the consistent temperature, 700° F, no less. High heat is key.
- Fire up your grill. Get it wicked hot, 700° F or more.
- Pick up the steak(s) and shake it gently to release any salt that has not been absorbed into the meat. Shake some pepper on both sides.
- Set the timer for 3:00 minutes.
- Flop the steak(s) onto the hot grill and leave it there.
- At the 1:30 mark, gently try to lift the steak off the grill with your tongs. If it doesn’t release, give it another 20 seconds. Don’t force it. When it releases easily, rotate it about 90° to create hatched grill marks.
- At 3:00 minutes, turn each steak over quickly and immediately set the timer for another 3:00 minutes.
- Repeat the 90° rotation at the 1:30 mark.
- When the timer goes off, remove the steak(s) from the grill and wrap tightly in the aluminum foil. Move quickly; time is everything.
Cooking steak in a cast iron or stainless steel pan
Things are going to get extremely smoky, so you should have a quality ventilation hood above your stove, strong enough to suck the flesh off your bones. Unlike a grill, cooking a steak in a pan will give you an all-over even crust instead of grill marks.
- Place the cast iron or steel pan on a primary burner (usually the front left is the hottest on any residential stove) Turn the burner on full and let the pan heat up to at least 700° F. This usually takes five minutes, and you’ll know it’s hot enough when a sprinkle of water pips and evaporates quickly on the surface of the pan. Hood on high. Again, hood on high.
- Pick up the steak(s) and shake it gently to release any salt that has not been absorbed into the meat. Shake some pepper on both sides.
- Set the timer for 3:00 minutes.
- Flop the steak(s) onto the hot pan and leave it! There will be a lot of smoke and hissing, but do not touch the steak(s).
- At 3:00 minutes, turn each steak over quickly with the tongs and immediately set the timer for another 3:00 minutes.
- When the timer goes off, remove the steak(s) from the pan and wrap tightly in the aluminum foil. Move quickly; time is everything.
Resting your steak
Let your steak(s) rest wrapped in the foil for exactly 2:00 minutes. Don’t check on it. Just walk away.
Eating your steak
Remove the steak(s) from the foil. Ignore the juices in the foil. Eat with your favorite side, like fries, a baked potato, or… nothing. Except ketchup, do not put ketchup on your steak. Seriously, don’t.
