The Best Steak of Your Life
Growing up with fresh meat from hunting or cattle from our land, I’m quite picky about steak. I’ve never liked it cooked any other way except on a grill. I like the grill taste, the medium rare of the middle, and the smell that everyone in a 5 mile radius can smell. That is until I received this recipe from my mom. You do it inside, so it’s easy to do during any weather or season. It can be used with any cut of steak, but if I were you I’d get a good one. It’s also nice because you can do the prep work and letting it marinade beforehand. When it’s time for dinner, just throw it in the skillet/oven and you’re done.
First, measure out your peppercorns (1/2 cup). I like the multi colored ones because they’re pretty, but you can use any whole peppercorns you like. Place them on a cutting board and smash them with the outside of a cast iron skillet. You should feel them crack under your hands, but it won’t look like they’re cracked. Trust me. They are.
Once your peppercorns are cracked, place the skillet on the stove. Add the 5 Tbs oil and heat. Place the peppercorns in with the oil and let it cook until it gets bubbly. See the smoke rolling off? That’s normal. You’re going to want to make sure you have a door or window open to vent or all your smoke alarms will go off. It’s worth it though!
Remove from heat and let cool completely, then stir in the salt. Pack the mixture on both sides of the steak and wrap with plastic wrap. Let sit for 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 450 with a cookie sheet inside. Heat the remaining 2 tsp oil in the iron skillet. Place the steaks down and let cook for 3-5 minutes. Don’t move them! That’s important. They need to completely seer. Flip and cook an additional 3 minutes.
Remove from the iron skillet and transfer the steaks to the cookie sheet. Bake for an additional 3-5 minutes for rare and 5-7 minutes for medium. Take out of the oven and foil tent them for 5 minutes.
I like to serve mine with hollandaise sauce or a mushroom garlic sauce, but it’s perfect just like this as well. Here’s how they should look.
Cast Iron Skillet Steak
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cracked peppercorns crush with iron skillet
- 5 Tbs olive oil
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 Tbs Kosher flake salt
- 4 steak fillets
Instructions
- Crack the peppercorn with the bottom of an iron skillet. Add peppercorn and 5 Tbs oil into skillet and heat until bubbles appear and it’s fragrant – about 7-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool.
- At room temperature, add salt and stir.
- Rub steaks with pepper, oil, and salt mixture from skillet. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter for 1 hour.
- Place the oven rack in the middle position. Heat to 450 with baking sheet inside.
- Heat remaining oil in iron skillet until it begins to smoke. Add meat and cook without moving for 3-4 minutes until a dark brown crust appears.
- Using tongs, flip steaks and cook about 3 minutes more (this depends how rare you want your steak).
- Remove pan from heat and put steak on cookie sheet. Roast for 3-5 minutes for rare or 5-7 for medium (3 for thin steaks).
- Transfer to a cooking rack under a foil tent for 5 minutes. Eat!
