Peter’s Blog, Dec. 22nd, 2012

I’ll be back in a day or so with the steps for making that amazing 4-minute rib eye in a wood fired oven (as promised), but wanted to get this up asap to let you know that Craftsy just opened their final sale of the year on all courses, including mine on Artisan Bread, but it ends Monday night, so it’s just a two day affair.  The pizza course that I wrote about last week is almost ready but, as you already know, it will be a freebie (!!), so I’ll let you know when it launches in January.  But for bargain prices on all their other courses, follow this link: www.craftsy.com/ext/PeterReinhart_holiday

Now, back to final Christmas shopping, baking, and wrapping.  I’ll return in a day or so, right here on this same blog post, with the steak method. See you then.

Okay, I’m back and here’s the steak technique. I’m sure this can be done in a regular oven, but not sure yet how to get one as hot a WFO. I’m thinking of trying this with my new Baking Steel, on the top shelf in my oven, just under the broiler, but that will be for another day and another posting. Here’s how I do it in my Primavera 60 (sorry, no photos this round, but the next time I make these steaks I’ll shoot the sequence and post them):

Fire up the oven so that it is as hot as I can get it — at least 1,000 degrees everywhere.  I put a cast iron skillet in the oven at least  10 minutes before cooking the steaks, and let the pan get white hot — yes, white. Meanwhile, I season 2″-thick rib eye steaks (I usually can fit two medium size or three small steaks in the pan, but they cook so fast that’s it’s okay to cook them one at a time if you prefer using a large piece). Use a liberal amount of freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt, and sprinkle both sides. After the salt and pepper goes on, mist both sides of the steak with olive oil spray (or brush the steaks with olive oil), and leave them on a plate, covered, for about 30 minutes to take off the chill.

When the time comes to cook, be sure to have thick oven mitts or pads on hand, a metal table to land the pan on (you can also use the oven ledge), tongs, and a timer set to two minutes. Pull the pan out of the oven to the ledge and drop in the steaks so that they lay flat and do not overlap each other.  Slide the pan back into the oven and turn on the timer. After two minutes, pull out the pan to the ledge, turn the steaks over with the tongs (they will be sizzling and already caramelizing) and return the pan to the oven. Re-set the timer for another 2 minutes, and put the pan back into the oven.  After these 2 minutes the steaks will be a perfect medium rare in the center so, if you want them more done that add an extra 30 seconds on each side (2 1/2 minutes per side instead of 2). Remove the steaks from the pan and place on serving plates. Let them sit for 8 to 10 minutes before serving to allow the juices to redistribute. In the meantime, you can use the same pan, even with the steak fat from the previous round, to cook another round.

By the way, you can cook burgers in the same manner — but just one minute per side — yes, one minute!

The steaks and burgers I’ve cooked in this manner are, without question, the best I’ve ever made or had –like buddder.  I’d love to hear from you if you’ve ever tried this or, perhaps, have a method you prefer. It will take some convincing to move me off of this method but I’m sure some of you have a few magical techniques of your own. When the weather gets nicer here, I’ll fire up the Primavera and shoot some photos, but I have a feeling you can already visualize what these sizzling steaks will look like.