How to make Steaks at home better than a steak house

The scope of this video is to give you a fundamental food science understanding of cooking steaks at home and the three most important variables are really just choosing your steak, salting your steak, and applying heat to your steak.

📚 Sources mentioned:

🌡Thermometers used in this video:

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USEFUL KITCHEN GEAR

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0:00 What we are covering in this video
1:02 How to choose a 'good' steak
2:41 What cut should I choose?
4:06 RECAP - Choosing a steak
5:18 What does salt do to a steak?
6:22 When should steak be salted?
8:54 My ranking for salt methods
11:02 RECAP- Salting steak
11:30 How to cook a steak
11:57 Why do people like rare and medium-rare steak?
13:13 What's the best 'doneness'?
14:17 How to cook a steak to a certain doneness
15:28 What is carryover cooking?
16:13 Why do we want a seared steak?
16:56 How do we get a 'good' sear?
19:45 RECAP - Applying heat to steak
20:03 What do I do after cooking the steak?
23:05 Closing thoughts

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MISC. DETAILS
Music: Provided by Epidemic Sound
Filmed on: Sony a6600 & Sony A6400 w/ Sigma 16mm F1.4
Voice recorded on Zoom H4n with Behringer Mic
Edited in: Premiere Pro

Affiliate Disclosure:

[EthanChlebowski]

Thanks for all the kind words and reviews on this video y'all! It was definitely a lot more work than a typical video, but I dig how this one came out being a holistic video of the fundamentals.

[ospreyh]

The fact you give credit where credit is due and provide links to your sources is such a breath of fresh air. I with more content creators would do the same.

[Kale-Lopaka]

I was a meat cutter for 15 years, cutting from hanging beef. You have touched many good points and ideas. Seasoning before cooking, resting, and internal temperature, is the main thing for tasty steak. Now, one you overlooked I thought and was surprised, temperature before cooking. Most people pull a steak straight out of the fridge and season and start cooking, a good way to ruin a steak. Best is to pull the steaks out a few hours before cooking, dry, season and bring to room temperature before cooking. This way the searing takes less time, the internal temperature increases more evenly, and the seasoning has had time to incorporate. Generally I never have a steak on for 5 minutes unless it is a very thick steak. Preparing a steak is important to the best tasting steak, I also use butter to sear instead of oil, and cast iron is always the best choice. Lastly, as a meat cutter, my choice is always Ribeye, then Filet, then strip, though I prefer a T-Bone if I’m going to bother with a strip steak, since I may as well have the tenderloin attached if I’m eating the top half of a T-Bone. PS. Grass fed beef is generally not choice, and the meat tends to be flaccid and stringy. Best to buy choice, or if available, Certified Angus Beef, the original beef cattle. Thanks for the video, by the way, I never order steak in a restaurant, I make better at home.

[jeffreyxu]

Ethan's roomates: I'm tired of steak, can we get some takeo..
Ethan: NO WE'RE HAVING STEAK

[rileynicholson]

One thing you didn't mention when it comes to salting your steak is that an overnight brine leaves a pretty dry surface for searing. All the moisture has usually either absorbed back into the steak or evaporated after 18 hours, so it's easy to get a really good crust. A two hour salt will still season your steak, but you may need dry off the surface of the steak or cook for longer to get a good sear, which is can make a big difference on thinner cuts.

[MikeRao]

Hey Ethan!

As someone who took a stab at making a steak tutorial myself, I just wanted to say that I think your video is by far the best composite tutorial on steakcraft available on youtube. Great work, and hope the algorithm treats you super well!

[Callumseven]

Ethans no longer just a home cooking nerd. He’s evolving

[etherdog]

Ethan, the inclusion of well-vetted sources as well as your own single-variable experiments makes this a highly respectable video, which is a medium rare occurrence.

[IHATEPINKTF]

Well, I guess I'm cooking a steak tomorrow...

[nicholaspriegel]

As a relatively accomplished home cook who’s been at it for the better part of 20 years, I still find value in lots of your videos. Appreciate the content bro, keep it up!!

[Rnwhite]

I know this is an old video, but wanted to say I really enjoyed all the effort you put into making this. The recaps at the end of each section make it super easy to take notes or screen shots, and your index makes it easy to jump around within the video. Great information! Subscribed.

[rutgervanwoerkom]

I love how this free educational content is VASTLY more professional and useful than any of my university education atm.

[Watchinstory]

I like that you are using the scientific method. It makes your data reliable.

[BlackDouglas]

That worked perfectly. We tried it on a sirloin that had been on my mind, salted it 3 hours before cooking and it was great. I usually have trouble with steak and don't prepare it often but your hard work and straight forward approach has opened the door for me. I am familiar with brining because it is how we do turkey but I had always heard that salt before cooking beef makes it dry or tough. Once I saw what you were doing the lights went on and BOOM, no fear. Bring on the steaks!

[diverdave]

...mmm Weber bbq grill - charcoal - only put coals on one half of the grill - season both sides of the steaks with McCormick steak seasoning - put the stakes on the side without coals for 5 minutes - flip - 5 more minutes - flip 4 to 7 more minutes depending how well you want them = WINNER every time !

[sDeezyeazy]

The amount of quality and detail in your videos has grown exponentially in the past year and I learn something every video. Keep up the good work Ethan you're killing it!

[trailguy]

Chef since the 80s here. Great video. I knew most of this, not 100% and you did maybe the best job I’ve ever seen of explaining some details of fairly well known facts. It’s great to have the background to reinforce knowledge. Thanks!

[imover]

Usually this channel is full of great content, but this goes above and beyond. This is top tier quality, Ethan, thanks for sharing this with all of us.

[seantwomey]

Great video. My take-sways: dry the steak; salt 2 hours before at 1.5%; leave out to bring to room temperature; have a hot pan 450 degrees F; sear on the outside and Target 135 degrees F internal using a digital thermometer; rest the steak for 5 min after removal from heat. Eat and enjoy.

[jamesdbrown]

holy crap. That was VERY helpful. i just learned more about how to properly cook meat in the last 20 mins from your video than probably any other cooking video, documentary i've ever watched. Concise, break down of different phases and variables in simple terms, and without overexplaining. Thank you Ethan, you've got my sub, ill keep an eye out for more of your videos!