How to Cook Steak

There are lots of different pieces of meat with the name “steak” attached to them. The word steak most likely comes from the Old Norse word steik, which means “roast meat.” With the exception of buffalo steaks, lamb steaks, fish steaks and chicken steaks, most of those “steaks” are beef steaks. Especially in America, where we love beef almost as much as we love chicken.

In order to learn how to cook a steak, you must understand that the cooking is simply the application of heat. And with steaks, all too frequently people try to take this simple concept and complicate it. There are three basic techniques to cook a steak: on the grill, in a pan, or under the broiler. (We will leave deep-fried steak out of this for now.) I have spent countless hours cooking steaks using all three of these methods, the result being several articles that use simple instructions to teach you the method—and I throw a few suggestions for seasoning in. The main point is to keep it simple. Below I have summarized the articles and included links to them. I recommend reading the full articles. They are much more detailed and wonderfully written.

Steps to Cooking a Steak

1. The first step to cook a steak is to select a steak that you want to cook. There are many, many different cuts of steak. Some of the most popular are filet mignon (tenderloin), rib eye, New York strip, T-bone, porterhouse, sirloin, chuck, round, flank, hanger, skirt and tri-tip. Talk to your butcher about the ups and downs of each cut of steak.
2. Next you will have to decide which method of cooking you want to use to cook your steak. There are three basic methods to cook a steak: broil, pan-fry or grill. The only other method I can think of would be deep-fried. But that is a rarity, although I have heard it's good. Below are more details about broiling, pan-frying and grilling. There are also links to the more in-depth articles about cooking a steak in each of the three methods.
3. Grilling a steak is perhaps the preferred preparation of steak. The grill might just be my favorite method of cooking. It is compact, portable, versatile, and partially self-cleaning. I have not yet met a food that cannot be cooked on a grill. This fact allows the cook a chance to step out of the kitchen and enjoy the outdoors for a change. In my article “How to Grill Strip Steak” I describe the necessary steps it takes to cook a steak on the grill.
4. The pan-fried steak is most definitely an under-appreciated method of cooking steak. Pan-frying is one of those things that is hard to do right in a regular kitchen. Most people get nervous when their kitchen starts smoking, but smoke is a natural part of cooking. Unfortunately, when people see smoke, they immediately turn down the heat and never turn it that high again, which is too bad because high-heat cooking produces great food. I have actually written three articles on pan-frying steak: “How to Cook Bacon-Wrapped Filet Mignon,” “How to Pan-Fry Kobe Beef” and “How to Pan-Fry Beef Ribeye Steaks.”
5. And perhaps the most underutilized tool in the kitchen, the broiler, is a great way to cook steak. If you have an oven, there is a pretty good chance that you also have a broiler. In America, broilers are essentially inverted grills. A couple of things are a little different, but it is nearly the same. I have also written a couple articles on broiling steak. The first, “How to Broil Steak,” is one the very first articles that I wrote for How to Cook Meat. The second, “How to Broil Buffalo Steak,” remains, to this day, one of my most memorable meals.

Corn-Fed Steak vs. Grass-Fed Steak.

The domestic cow, or bovine, is a ruminant. A ruminant is a beast that grazes on perennial grasses. It has a specially designed digestive system to soften, break down and, finally, digest grass. We humans do not have the ability to digest grass. Cows, as nature intended them, are designed to eat grass in a pasture. They are not intended to eat corn. Besides the deplorable conditions corn-fed cows spend most of their lives in before being hastily slaughtered, irradiated and shipped to your supermarket, corn-fed beef is also not as good for you as grass-fed beef. Grass-fed beef is higher in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to life.

I am not saying that across the board every single corn-fed cow has the same experience. But for the most part, yes, I guess I am. If you desire to eat better meat, then you are going to have to find it. There are a great number of small farms in operation around the United States. Find them, tour them, ask them questions, and either buy their product or keep searching. The most important thing to the sustainability of your local economy is to keep your money in it. So buy local.