My personal chef, who happens to be my son (haha!), cooks a perfect steak. However, he was busy with his school tests today which meant that I was forced to cook the “perfect” ribeye steak instead. Fortunately, I have assisted him in the past. As a mum, I’ve had more than 10,000 hours of cooking practice so I should be a good cook (according to the book, The Outliers.) This should not be much of a challenge but I was seriously panicking as I didn’t how these steaks will turn out.

Everyone has different opinions on what a perfect steak should be like. I have “researched” into two of my favourite celebrity chefs, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, as well as other recipes shared by different people. I came up with a few tips that will hopefully help first timers who are cooking steak to take a bold step forward. After all, your “perfect” steak is when you cook it with love and the people who eat it love it!! 😉

WHAT YOU NEED

EQUIPMENT:

1 stainless steel, non-stick or cast iron frying pan

A pair of tongs

INGREDIENTS (for each piece of steak):

Ribeye or Sirloin Steak (200g to 250g and approximately 2.5cm thick, good quality)

2 teaspoons of sea salt

2 teaspoons of ground black pepper

2 teaspoons of olive oil

2 small knobs of butter

1 sprig of thyme or rosemary (if you cannot find the fresh sprig of herbs use a small pinch of dry herbs)

3 cloves of garlic (lightly crushed)

PREPARATIONS:

1. Rinse the steak(s) and pat dry.

2. Rub the sea salt into the steak, then the pepper, and lastly the olive, on both sides of the steak.

3. Leave it for about an hour to soak in the flavour (or you can cook immediately).

COOKING:

1. Make sure that the seasoned steak(s) are at room temperature before cooking so that the steak is not cold in the middle.

2. Heat up the frying pan on moderate heat. Make sure the pan is nice and hot.

3. Put your steak into the pan and gently pat it down with your tongs so that the meat touches the pan.

4. Cook for 1 ½ minutes on each side.

5. Quickly sear all the sides of the steak to ensure that the fats are nicely caramelised.

6. Turn the steak, take the garlic and rub on the top of the hot steak then tap the rosemary and the butter to give the flavour to the steak.

7. Turn the steak to the other side and repeat.

8. Take your steak out from the pan and pour the juices from the pan onto the steak. Let it rest for about 3 to 4 minutes.

9. Plate your steak and pour the resting juices onto your steak. You may serve with sautéed vegetables.

TIP: Medium steak is cooked for a total of about 2 ½ minutes on each side. If you want to have it medium rare you can reduce the cooking time to about 2 minutes on each side.

Happy cooking and if you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, please leave a comment! 🙂