I got my recipe from a 19th century mountain man.
1 Ribeye
1 tsp Koshering Salt (I use Sur La Table Kosher Salt. It has a nice consistency)
1 tsp Pepper (Black cracked peppercorn. Do yourself a favor and get a pepper grinder)
oil (anything with a high smoke point. enough to coat each side)
Cast iron (I use a Lodge 12" skillet)
Cooling rack (I use a stainless steal as opposed to chrome because stainless steal can go in the oven where chrome cannot)
Ribeye. This is one of my favorite cuts of beef. Ribeye is muscle of the rib section that spans ribs 6 through 12. It is mostly comprised of the Longissimus dorsi muscle. It has excellent marbling, which adds outstanding flavor and tenderness to each bite. Seriously. Try it.
Koshering Salt consist of sodium chloride with no additives. It is referred to as Kosher salt, but that is a misnomer. Where you have some salts that are certified kosher, this is an additive free salt used for koshering meats under kashrut. Koshering salt is not recommended for some baking due to its large grain size, however, it is my salt of choice in the kitchen.
Pepper is, surprisingly enough, dried fruit of the Piper nigrum, a flowering vine found in South East Asia. The different colors are indicative of the ripeness of the fruit when picked and the drying process. The most common pepper used is black. Black pepper is made by a process of harvesting the fruit when still green then boiling, which breaks down the cell walls and turns the pepper black. It is then dried for several days and makes your ribeye taste more delicious. There is a lot of history and use of pepper throughout antiquity, however, the most important thing to note is that it has been utilized by nearly every culture who has come into contact with it due to its very unique taste.
Oil. In this case, it is best to use an oil that has a relatively high smoke point. DO NOT USE OLIVE OIL which has a smoke point of around 350 F. I like grape seed oil which has a smoke point of about 420-450 F. Also peanut oil and canola oil which have respective smoke points of around 480 F work well to. For a nice twist, use avocado oil. Smoke point is around 500 F for this oil.
Ovens are hot.
Cast Iron. My cast iron of choice is lodge logic. It is cheap and well built. An average skillet runs about $30 and if well taken care of can last generations. Cast iron does have a relatively low melting point, but I would be very impressed if you could get cast iron to melt in your home oven. However, cast iron is able to be heated and maintain higher temperatures then other cookware. This makes cast iron the best choice for searing and frying. If you are anemic, this is also the cookware of choice as it leaches iron into your food. Cast iron is fairly easy to maintain. As long as you keep it seasoned, it will maintain nonstick properties and you can just rinse it out or wipe it clean with a paper towel. DO NOT leave any moisture on it as it will pit and rust. Also, it is more than appropriate to wipe the inside with a heat resistant oil such as canola. Additionally, it is important to note that cast iron, along with other non-Teflon coated cookware, that it has a certain amount of porosity to it. What this means in the kitchen, is that if you are to place protein into a cold pan, it will leach into those pores and as the pan heats up, the proteins will stick to the pan. However, if you heat up the pan prior to cooking, as demonstrated below, it will provide a smooth, even cooking surface.
On to cooking the meat.
Thaw your ribeyes the night before cooking in the refrigerating unit of your domicile. Remove the steaks approximately 30-40 minutes prior to cooking and wrap them in cellophane to prevent moisture loss. This would be a good time to preheat your oven. Place a cast iron skillet in the oven on the center rack and set the oven temperature for 500 F. It's cast iron, it can't get too hot. The oven will take a while to get hot, so you have plenty of time to get all of your sides together (what ever you want. I will recommend great sides to pair with this upon request) and prepare the steaks. When the steak no longer feels "chilled" to the touch coat with oil and allow the excess to drain off. The purpose of doing this is to fill in the surface of the stake to give it an even cooking surface. This next step will need to be done to your individual taste, but I do 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of fresh ground black pepper. Add salt and pepper to both sides covering the steak. This allows a crust to form on the surface of the meat allowing it to retain more moisture thus becoming melt in your mouth tender. Take the cast iron out of oven and please use oven mitts with a high temperature resistance. I cannot stress this enough. Turn the burner up to high on your stove and set the cast iron on there so the the skillet does not lose heat. If you are in your home, prepare yourself for smoke alarms. They will go off.
Sear both sides (30 second on each side for a 1 inch thick ribeye. Decrease or increase for each 1/2 inch taken away or added). Once seared, there should be a nice crust. Stick the skillet back in the oven for approximately 1-3 minutes on each side depending on how well done you like your steak. 1 minute will yield a rare steak. 2 minutes will be medium and 3 minutes will be well well done. Remember, steak does not stop cooking once you remove it from the heat source (the interior temperature of the meat will on average increase 5-10 F after being removed from the heat source). I suggest a maximum of 2 minutes on each side in the oven. Medium rare (130-140 F) to medium (140-150 F) is really the best for this cut of steak. Remove the steak from your oven, place it on a wire rack and cover with foil. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to allow temperatures to come down and the steak to rest. This will keep your steak tender. I suggest putting a plate under the cooling rack. Trust me. Enjoy being able to cut your steak with a fork!
Sorry, not much history on ribeye...
1 Ribeye
1 tsp Koshering Salt (I use Sur La Table Kosher Salt. It has a nice consistency)
1 tsp Pepper (Black cracked peppercorn. Do yourself a favor and get a pepper grinder)
oil (anything with a high smoke point. enough to coat each side)
Cast iron (I use a Lodge 12" skillet)
Cooling rack (I use a stainless steal as opposed to chrome because stainless steal can go in the oven where chrome cannot)
Ribeye. This is one of my favorite cuts of beef. Ribeye is muscle of the rib section that spans ribs 6 through 12. It is mostly comprised of the Longissimus dorsi muscle. It has excellent marbling, which adds outstanding flavor and tenderness to each bite. Seriously. Try it.
Koshering Salt consist of sodium chloride with no additives. It is referred to as Kosher salt, but that is a misnomer. Where you have some salts that are certified kosher, this is an additive free salt used for koshering meats under kashrut. Koshering salt is not recommended for some baking due to its large grain size, however, it is my salt of choice in the kitchen.
Pepper is, surprisingly enough, dried fruit of the Piper nigrum, a flowering vine found in South East Asia. The different colors are indicative of the ripeness of the fruit when picked and the drying process. The most common pepper used is black. Black pepper is made by a process of harvesting the fruit when still green then boiling, which breaks down the cell walls and turns the pepper black. It is then dried for several days and makes your ribeye taste more delicious. There is a lot of history and use of pepper throughout antiquity, however, the most important thing to note is that it has been utilized by nearly every culture who has come into contact with it due to its very unique taste.
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| I do not own the rights to this image. |
Oil. In this case, it is best to use an oil that has a relatively high smoke point. DO NOT USE OLIVE OIL which has a smoke point of around 350 F. I like grape seed oil which has a smoke point of about 420-450 F. Also peanut oil and canola oil which have respective smoke points of around 480 F work well to. For a nice twist, use avocado oil. Smoke point is around 500 F for this oil.
Ovens are hot.
Cast Iron. My cast iron of choice is lodge logic. It is cheap and well built. An average skillet runs about $30 and if well taken care of can last generations. Cast iron does have a relatively low melting point, but I would be very impressed if you could get cast iron to melt in your home oven. However, cast iron is able to be heated and maintain higher temperatures then other cookware. This makes cast iron the best choice for searing and frying. If you are anemic, this is also the cookware of choice as it leaches iron into your food. Cast iron is fairly easy to maintain. As long as you keep it seasoned, it will maintain nonstick properties and you can just rinse it out or wipe it clean with a paper towel. DO NOT leave any moisture on it as it will pit and rust. Also, it is more than appropriate to wipe the inside with a heat resistant oil such as canola. Additionally, it is important to note that cast iron, along with other non-Teflon coated cookware, that it has a certain amount of porosity to it. What this means in the kitchen, is that if you are to place protein into a cold pan, it will leach into those pores and as the pan heats up, the proteins will stick to the pan. However, if you heat up the pan prior to cooking, as demonstrated below, it will provide a smooth, even cooking surface.
On to cooking the meat.
Thaw your ribeyes the night before cooking in the refrigerating unit of your domicile. Remove the steaks approximately 30-40 minutes prior to cooking and wrap them in cellophane to prevent moisture loss. This would be a good time to preheat your oven. Place a cast iron skillet in the oven on the center rack and set the oven temperature for 500 F. It's cast iron, it can't get too hot. The oven will take a while to get hot, so you have plenty of time to get all of your sides together (what ever you want. I will recommend great sides to pair with this upon request) and prepare the steaks. When the steak no longer feels "chilled" to the touch coat with oil and allow the excess to drain off. The purpose of doing this is to fill in the surface of the stake to give it an even cooking surface. This next step will need to be done to your individual taste, but I do 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of fresh ground black pepper. Add salt and pepper to both sides covering the steak. This allows a crust to form on the surface of the meat allowing it to retain more moisture thus becoming melt in your mouth tender. Take the cast iron out of oven and please use oven mitts with a high temperature resistance. I cannot stress this enough. Turn the burner up to high on your stove and set the cast iron on there so the the skillet does not lose heat. If you are in your home, prepare yourself for smoke alarms. They will go off.
 |
| In the spirit of cooking like a mountain man, I did this in a wood stove, which can yield temperatures in the excess of 1000 F. You can do this on any heat source (such as a grill) that can produce and sustain temperature of 500 F. |
Sear both sides (30 second on each side for a 1 inch thick ribeye. Decrease or increase for each 1/2 inch taken away or added). Once seared, there should be a nice crust. Stick the skillet back in the oven for approximately 1-3 minutes on each side depending on how well done you like your steak. 1 minute will yield a rare steak. 2 minutes will be medium and 3 minutes will be well well done. Remember, steak does not stop cooking once you remove it from the heat source (the interior temperature of the meat will on average increase 5-10 F after being removed from the heat source). I suggest a maximum of 2 minutes on each side in the oven. Medium rare (130-140 F) to medium (140-150 F) is really the best for this cut of steak. Remove the steak from your oven, place it on a wire rack and cover with foil. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to allow temperatures to come down and the steak to rest. This will keep your steak tender. I suggest putting a plate under the cooling rack. Trust me. Enjoy being able to cut your steak with a fork!
Sorry, not much history on ribeye...
I'm surprised you didn't talk about the difference between grass-fed and grain-fed beef. I'm pretty sure 19th century man wouldn't eat grain-fed beef.
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