[0 - 1] - I'm Frank Proto, professional chef
[1 - 3] and culinary instructor, and today I'm gonna show you
[3 - 6] the best way to make steak, Frank style.
[6 - 9] We're talking how to go from a sad, gray,
[9 - 11] flabby piece of meat,
[11 - 14] to a perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked,
[14 - 15] happy piece of steak.
[15 - 17] This is Steak 101.
[19 - 23] My perfect steak is a really nice marbled piece of meat
[23 - 24] with some fat in it.
[24 - 26] It's seasoned and crusty on the outside
[26 - 28] and it's soft and juicy in the middle.
[28 - 31] There's two secrets to getting your steak right,
[31 - 32] seasoning it properly,
[32 - 34] and then cooking it to the proper temperature.
[34 - 38] Well, I want you to take a second, relax, be patient,
[38 - 40] season your meat right
[40 - 41] and you're gonna get it right.
[41 - 44] [gentle instrumental music]
[44 - 45] In front of me,
[45 - 47] I have a beautifully marbled New York strip steak
[47 - 49] that's cut to about an inch and a half.
[49 - 51] This cut and this size
[51 - 54] is where you're gonna get the maximum amount of juicy inside
[54 - 55] and crunchy outside.
[55 - 58] You're not gonna find that in the shrink wrap
[58 - 59] in the shelf or in the cooler.
[59 - 60] You have to go to the butcher
[60 - 62] and ask them to cut it this size.
[62 - 64] Most butchers will not charge you extra
[64 - 66] to custom cut it for you.
[66 - 68] Before we cook this, we want to season it,
[68 - 70] and I'm gonna show you what I feel is proper seasoning.
[70 - 73] I like to start out with salt and pepper.
[73 - 74] I go light on the pepper.
[74 - 76] You'll notice that I'm seasoning high up.
[76 - 78] When I season higher,
[78 - 80] I get a better dispersion of the pepper.
[80 - 83] Don't forget the top and the sides of your steak please.
[84 - 85] I like to go light on the pepper
[85 - 87] 'cause it tends to burn, so I'm not gonna put too much on,
[87 - 89] I just want a little bit of that flavor there.
[89 - 90] And then I have kosher salt here.
[90 - 92] People will say, "I use table salt."
[92 - 93] I think that that's horrible.
[93 - 96] I think that table salt is too salty, believe it or not.
[96 - 100] So I get a nice handful of salt, go up high
[100 - 102] and I want to get a beautiful kind of like...
[102 - 105] It looks like a lightly snow covered field.
[105 - 107] Make sure that we get all the sides.
[107 - 109] I'm gonna season the outside generously,
[109 - 112] but none of that salt gets inside the steak.
[112 - 115] So I'm gonna get a nice salty crust on the outside,
[115 - 116] the inside is basically unseasoned,
[116 - 119] so when I take that bite of the crusty outside
[119 - 122] and the juicy inside and it mixes in my mouth,
[122 - 123] the seasoning turns out perfect,
[123 - 125] it's not gonna be salty.
[125 - 126] I tend to be a minimalist
[126 - 128] when it comes to seasoning my steak.
[128 - 130] I don't really do any rubs or marinades with my steak.
[130 - 132] For me, I spent the money on the steak,
[132 - 133] I want to taste the meat.
[133 - 136] Steak is seasoned, it's time to cook.
[136 - 138] [gentle instrumental music]
[138 - 141] I have a cast iron pan here and I have it on medium heat.
[141 - 144] I am making sure I have everything I need
[144 - 145] within arm's reach.
[145 - 147] There's a lot of differing opinions
[147 - 149] about what temperature the steak should be
[149 - 149] when you put it in the pan.
[149 - 152] I feel like if I let my steak sit out for 15, 20 minutes
[152 - 155] before I cook it, that's the perfect amount of time.
[155 - 158] Once we start cooking the steak, everything happens quickly.
[158 - 161] I have a little vegetable oil in my pan,
[161 - 163] I'm letting it heat up in medium high heat,
[163 - 165] and then I'm gonna wait until I start to see
[165 - 167] a little wisp of smoke,
[167 - 168] and then I can put my steak in the pan.
[168 - 171] You can use cast iron, you can use stainless steel,
[171 - 172] it's all up to you.
[172 - 174] The only thing that's gonna change is the amount of heat
[174 - 175] that you have on the pan.
[175 - 177] My steak has been sitting over here.
[177 - 179] If there's any moisture there,
[179 - 181] I like to get it off of the steak.
[181 - 183] Moisture is the enemy of browning.
[183 - 186] I'm gonna drop it in the pan away from me
[186 - 190] so I don't get splattered with oil. [steak sizzling]
[190 - 192] I see smoke here and that's okay,
[192 - 194] I just don't want to see billowing smoke.
[194 - 196] If I start to see the smoke like really getting
[196 - 199] and overtaking the room, I have to control my temperature,
[199 - 201] lower my heat, and all I really want to do
[201 - 204] is start to get this caramelized on the one side.
[204 - 206] Most novice cooks start to get nervous,
[206 - 208] they start moving things around.
[208 - 209] Take your time.
[209 - 212] It's gonna take at least three or four minutes on one side.
[212 - 215] After a few minutes, if you want to check on your progress,
[215 - 217] you can always just lift it lightly
[217 - 218] and see where you're going.
[218 - 220] We really don't have any color yet,
[220 - 223] so I let it go and get some color on it.
[223 - 226] The only thing I might do is move is it around in the fat
[226 - 229] so that the fat is touching the bottom of the steak,
[229 - 232] so that we get nice browning on that side.
[232 - 234] It's good three or four minutes on this side.
[234 - 238] One thing that most people neglect is this nice fatty side,
[238 - 240] and that fat cap has a lot of flavor,
[240 - 242] but you don't want to eat fat that is not cooked enough,
[242 - 245] you want the fat to kind of get crispy,
[245 - 246] 'cause fat that's just warm
[246 - 248] is like chewing a fatty beef bubblegum
[248 - 249] and you don't want that.
[249 - 251] I'm just gonna hold it on the fat cap side
[252 - 254] before I put it down on the opposite side.
[254 - 255] If you look at this side of the steak,
[255 - 257] it has a nice brown crust, it's not burned,
[257 - 259] and that salty crust
[259 - 261] is what's gonna make our steak delicious.
[261 - 263] And at this point, while the steak is cooking,
[263 - 265] I can get my aromatics ready.
[265 - 268] I just get maybe two or three cloves of garlic,
[268 - 270] and this is what you see chefs do in the restaurants.
[270 - 272] I just want to break the garlic
[272 - 274] so that we get some of that garlic scent.
[274 - 277] It adds flavor, but it doesn't overpower it.
[277 - 278] I have some sprigs of thyme.
[278 - 280] The butter goes in the pan now,
[280 - 283] the reason we don't add the butter at the beginning
[283 - 285] is because it'll totally burn
[285 - 287] and it'll be black butter, not brown butter.
[287 - 290] Brown butter has really nice flavor.
[290 - 292] I'm gonna lower it to a medium heat,
[292 - 296] start taking my butter and start basting my steak.
[296 - 298] Sometimes you'll see there's bald spots
[298 - 300] or light spots on your steak,
[300 - 302] baste in that spot.
[302 - 305] That's what this is for, not only for flavor,
[305 - 308] but it's gonna aid in browning on those bald spots.
[308 - 311] It smells delicious, my butter is nice and foamy.
[311 - 313] You'll see that I'm tilting my pan,
[313 - 315] my steak is not sitting in the butter,
[315 - 318] the butter is down at the bottom and I just baste as I go.
[320 - 323] You can see that my steak is nice and golden brown,
[323 - 324] and that's what I want.
[325 - 327] I'm gonna temp my steak now.
[327 - 329] A lot of people will complain,
[329 - 331] "You should never stick meat with anything sharp,
[331 - 332] all the juices are gonna flow out."
[332 - 333] As a great man once said,
[333 - 335] "It's a steak, not a balloon."
[335 - 337] A couple of pokes with a thermometer
[337 - 339] is not gonna ruin our steak.
[339 - 340] Right now at the center point,
[340 - 343] we're at about a hundred degrees
[343 - 345] and you'll notice that when I take a temp,
[345 - 347] I'm not taking it on the ends,
[347 - 349] I'm taking it right in the center of the steak.
[349 - 351] I'm not sticking into the fatty parts,
[351 - 354] fat gets hotter faster than the meat does.
[354 - 356] For a finished medium steak,
[356 - 360] I want it to be about a 140 degrees.
[360 - 361] Give it like another minute
[361 - 363] and then I'm gonna take it out and let it rest.
[363 - 365] Let's take our steak out.
[365 - 367] It's golden brown on all sides.
[367 - 370] It's nice and crispy, we have a nice crust on it.
[370 - 372] We're gonna take it and put it on our rack to rest.
[372 - 375] We don't want the steak to sit in the juices.
[375 - 377] If it sits in its own juices,
[377 - 378] it's gonna steam in its juices.
[378 - 381] When the steak rests, the juices can drip off,
[381 - 384] and we have to let it rest for about five to seven minutes.
[384 - 385] If you don't let it rest,
[385 - 387] your steak is gonna be bleeding everywhere,
[387 - 388] all the juices are gonna run out
[388 - 389] and you're gonna have a dry steak.
[389 - 391] The other concept I like to talk about
[391 - 393] is carry over cooking.
[393 - 394] Even though it's on a resting rack,
[394 - 396] it continues to cook right?
[396 - 398] And usually it cooks up about five more degrees,
[398 - 401] so if I want it to be about 145,
[401 - 403] I'm gonna take it out at 140 and let it rest.
[403 - 406] So we're gonna give this about five to seven minutes to rest
[406 - 409] and then we're gonna slice it and plate it up and eat it.
[409 - 411] [gentle instrumental music]
[411 - 413] My steak's been resting, but before I cut it,
[413 - 415] I wanna talk about a couple of tools that I have.
[415 - 417] This is just a standard plastic cutting board.
[417 - 419] It's got two separate sides you can work off of.
[419 - 421] This is a flat side
[421 - 423] and the flat side is mainly for chopping,
[423 - 424] but what most people don't know
[424 - 426] is that the other side has this groove,
[426 - 427] and this is called a juice groove,
[427 - 429] it's actually for slicing meat.
[429 - 432] If any juice flows off of your meat, it gets caught here
[432 - 434] and it doesn't go all over your table.
[434 - 435] And then I have a slicing knife.
[435 - 437] You can tell a slicing knife,
[437 - 439] because it has these little scallops on the side.
[439 - 441] A slicing knife has these scallops
[441 - 443] so that the meat won't stick to the knife.
[443 - 445] Without further ado, let's slice our steak.
[445 - 446] I got a nice plate.
[446 - 448] Now with certain cuts of steak,
[448 - 450] you have to be really mindful of how you slice it.
[450 - 453] With a cut like maybe a flank steak or a skirt steak,
[453 - 455] there is a very visible grain,
[455 - 457] a grain in which the muscle grows.
[457 - 459] And with those steaks, you want to cut across the muscle
[459 - 461] so the muscle fibers get really small.
[461 - 463] Whereas with a New York strip,
[463 - 465] it's kind of the top of the animal,
[465 - 466] it doesn't get used a lot,
[466 - 469] so it doesn't have a very defined grain,
[469 - 471] so you have to worry less about how you slice it.
[471 - 473] I'm just gonna slice it so that it looks good on the plate.
[473 - 475] So I'm gonna go at a nice steep angle.
[475 - 479] It's got some nice red juiciness going on, love it.
[479 - 482] I use my knife as my spatula
[482 - 484] and I'm just gonna kind of fan it out a little.
[484 - 486] We can see that it's still nice and juicy on the inside.
[486 - 487] Look at that.
[487 - 489] It's a little more on the medium rare side,
[489 - 490] but that's fine.
[490 - 492] Just a few thyme leaves around.
[492 - 494] And then I have a nice coarse sea salt.
[494 - 496] This is just to give it a little crunchiness.
[496 - 498] If you want, you can add a sauce now
[498 - 500] or have a sauce on the side,
[500 - 503] and this is how I cook the perfect steak at home.
[503 - 504] Time to taste.
[504 - 506] Let me get a nice slice off of the end over here,
[507 - 509] it cuts super easy.
[513 - 515] It's juicy on the inside,
[515 - 518] but it's got that really nice salty crust on the outside.
[518 - 519] Because I cooked it medium,
[519 - 521] it has a nice chew to it.
[521 - 523] It's not rubbery, it's not bouncy.
[523 - 524] I'm not sitting there for a half hour
[524 - 525] trying to get through it.
[525 - 527] Cooking steak can be intimidating,
[527 - 529] but with proper technique and practice,
[529 - 531] you can be just like a restaurant chef.