How to cook a steak: Forget the grill – crank up the stove top

I found myself in the rare position this week of being home alone for dinner.
One of my favorite solo meals is built around pan-fried steak. Yes, I said pan-fried. Forget that fancy stainless-steel gas grill in the backyard. It’s too wimpy to put out the kind of heat needed for a steak.
The best way to properly cook a steak is with the windows open and the stove on high. Sure, you can do a great steak over coals from hardwood fire. But, that’s a lot of work for one steak.
The other problem with cooking over the coals is the inevitable flare-up that happens when the fat melts and seasons that $15 steak with sooty black smoke. Pan-frying is more reliable and certainly more controllable, even if it’s not exactly healthier. My feeling is that nothing you eat only once a month is bad for you.
What is the best cut for pan-frying? If I’m going to eat steak, my first choice is rib eye. Second choice is New York strip. An inch-and-a-half is the right thickness, which should be 10 to 12 ounces.
Grass-fed or grain-fed? Grass-fed is what all our beef used to be before somebody came up with the idea of keeping the cattle stationary and bringing surplus corn to them.
Cows are pasture animals and the argument could be made that they should be roaming around eating grass, not getting their meals delivered from a truck. Personally, I like them both. Grass-fed meat has a little cleaner beef flavor, yet the well-marbled grain-fed steak has a less chewy texture and extra-rich flavor. Grass-fed is less marbled and will cook a little faster. Dry-aged beef is a step up in price as well as intensity of flavor. The meat is hung in a refrigeration-controlled case and allowed to “dry age,” which does make for a more tender steak. Regardless of what steak you choose, make sure it is natural, hormone- and antibiotic-free, wrapped in butcher paper and not from a plastic-wrapped tray.
When you get home from the store, unwrap the steak and leave it right on the paper. Season both sides liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Let the steak sit there on the counter while preparing the rest of the meal. In the old days, I would bake a potato and make a green salad. But in these South Beach diet times, it’s now just vegetables and salad. I only had to look outside to decide on tomato salad and the new darling of every menu, ratatouille.
Everything should be prepared, the table set and the wine poured before starting to cook the steak. The heat source doesn’t matter as much as the pan. Seasoned steel or cast iron is the best. All-clad or other heavy pans work well too. Just no nonstick or aluminum.
Open the windows and doors, turn on the exhaust fan and put on an apron. Heat the pan over a high heat. Add one teaspoon of canola or peanut oil and one-half teaspoon of butter to the pan, which will darken immediately and help with the browning. Place steak in pan and immediately turn down to medium-high. There will be some smoke and sizzle but no flames. Let cook three to four minutes. Using a pair of long-handled tongs, carefully flip over and cook another three to four minutes. The steak will be caramelized, medium-rare, and your stove will be a mess. But, it will be worth it when you take the first bite.
To reproduce my famous black-pepper lavender steak from Café La Haye, use a piece of filet mignon and press onto the steak a teaspoon of dried lavender when you season the meat. I like to let the meat rest a few minutes before serving. To make a pan sauce, remove the steak and pour all of the extra oil out of the pan. Add one tablespoon of minced shallots and stir around pan for 30 seconds, add one-half cup red wine and cook over high heat until reduced by two thirds. Stir in one teaspoon of butter. Pour over the steak.