On the heels of last week’s news about the continued expected decline in beef prices it seemed timely to share a few Chief Food Officer’s tips on how to cook a better steak. Given how pricey good beef can be not shooting yourself in the foot when you cook it is a good idea. If you follow these simple tips you’ll get better results every time.

1.) Rest your steak.  Most of us know not to cut directly into a steak that is fresh out of the fire.  However, many do not know that going straight from the fridge to the fire makes the meat tougher.  To alleviate this let your steak come up to room temperature before cooking it.

2.) Pat down your steak.  Patting dry a steak prior to seasoning gets a lot of the excess moisture off the meat and helps the searing process.

3.) Season your steak. After the steak has been patted down season it aggressively with salt and pepper.  This will bring out the flavor and results in a better steak. Now let the steak rest and come up to room temp as mentioned in tip #1.

4.) Cook with the right amount of heat. Steaks that have a lot of connective tissue need low and slow like Brisket.  More traditional “steak” cuts like: Filet, NY Strip, Rib Eye, etc need high heat to sear.  That process locks in juices and flavor while forming a nice crust.  Know the right heat fro your meat! (google can help).

5.) Sear over high heat in a heavy pan, preferable cast iron or carbon steel.  This should have a lot of heft and hold a lot of heat.  That mass will mean the steak keeps searing rather than cooling the pan down and creating that grey dead edge.

6.) Test how done it is with a meat thermometer.  You are aiming for 5 or so degrees under your desired cook temp. DO NOT cut into a steak to see if it is done this will ruin all the hard work you have done to get to this point.

7.) Rest your steak.  It appears twice on this list, resting your steak is important.  When it comes off the heat put the steak on a plate and let it rest for 10 or so minutes. This will give time to whip up out sugar snap peas.  More importantly though it will allow the meat to redistribute juices, and you’ll be rewarded with a moist, mouthwatering steak.

So there you have it 7 steps to cooking better steak at a home.