Steak Dinner for One With Fish Sauce & Lime Butter Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What is the best steak to cook at home? ›

My recommendation in most cases is to go for ribeye or sirloin steak. Look for a steak with thin veins of fat running through it. This fat will render down during cooking, resulting in a tender, juicy steak.

We recommend serving the steak whole, allowing the diner to make the first break through the crispy seared outside. However, if you'd like to double check it's cooked correctly, or find a fan-shaped presentation appealing, slice the steak on the diagonal and arrange on the plate.

When cooking something like steak, turkey or pork, where meat is the main dish of the meal and paired with a few side dishes, we recommend about 1/2 pound (eight ounces) per person, or up to 3/4 (12 ounces) pound for bigger appetites and those who love leftovers.

Once your skillet is nice and hot, add some oil and a 1/2-inch thick strip steak: 2 minutes on the first side, 1 minute on the second side (or even less, if you prefer a rarer steak like I do). Plate the steak.

These cuts—ribeye, New York strip loin, and filet mignon—can certainly be dubbed the best, and few will disagree. “Filet is the most tender cut, but has the least amount of flavor. Ribeye is the most flavorful, but the least tender of the three, and New York is in the middle.” Flannery explains.

A T-bone is a steak for a crowd, mostly because it is a very large cut, but also because it offers something for everyone. No need to choose between the tenderness of a fillet or the flavor of a strip here. A porterhouse steak is just a T-bone with a larger tenderloin.

The golden rule: Eight ounces (or half a pound) of meat per person.

When cooking steak for a group, Voltaggio says it's best to rely on large, thick-cut steaks instead of trying to juggle multiple individual cuts and cooking each to the exact preference of every guest. Opt for 36- to 42-ounce cuts, and aim to have about five to six ounces of meat per person.

What do 3 ounces of steak look like? ›

3 oz portion is similar in size to a deck of cards ▪ 1 oz of cooked meat is similar in size to 3 dice. A 1-inch meatball is about one ounce. 4 oz of raw, lean meat is about 3 ounces after cooking. 3 oz of grilled fish is the size of a checkbook.

A good rule of thumb is to never keep your steak, regardless of size, over high direct heat for more than 3 minutes or you will burn it. After the steaks are grilled, take some butter and let it sit on top of the finished steaks. Once the butter has melted the steaks are ready to serve.

You can certainly cook them slowly at lower temps to get where we want to go, but tenderness is only half the game! Cooking quickly allows us to give meats some delicious Maillard browning, making them far tastier. Maillard browning is a reaction that is similar to, but distinct from, caramelization.

Grilling Filet Mignon

Black Angus filet mignon is the most tender cut of beef used for steaks. It comes from the smaller end of the tenderloin and should be well-marbled. You can grill it or cook it in a skillet and is best served blue rare or rare.

The most tender of all cuts of beef, tenderloin steaks are lean and known for their delicate, butter-like texture and thick cut. These mouthwatering steaks are so tender they can be “cut with a butter knife.” Tenderloin steaks are commonly known as filets or filet mignon.