You could combine the flip once cross hatch method with the multi flip method by the following sequence.
Start at 10:00; flip to 10:00; flip to 2:00; flip to 10:00; done. It also provides a built in 4 minute timer:).

Ufff, this lesson it's just awesome

Premium steak are usually LARGE steaks. Does cutting a steak in half (vert or horiz) affect the flavor along the cut? What I mean is that the new cut surface hasn't been exposed to air as long as the rest of the surface of the steak. Is there anything I should do special for the new cut surface?

Good question. I like the detail of it. But once the surface of a steak hits very hot heat of a pan or grill, it doesn't make a difference whether the cut was fresh or aged dry. Simply make sure it is dry.

I cook all my filet's using the flip often method in my restaurant. Customers love the doneness and juiciness of the steak. Even those that sin and order a filet well. We also pan grill our ribeye in a cast-iron grill pan and I had a customer last night ask me how I prepared it and they were astonished as they felt it was one of the best prepared ribeyes they have ever had. I told him we keep it simple and just season with salt and pepper and grill. They were shocked by that. I am a firm believer in the KISS method (Keep it Simple Stupid). Happy Grilling!

Hey guys, thanks for all the great information!

I was going to comment on this when it came up in the video, and just saw that Diarmuid beat me to it. When I learned to make the cross-hatch pattern on the grill years ago, we flipped it 3 times. There's the initial cooking position, then after it's a quarter done you flip the steak over and cook the other side. Now both sides have one half the pattern. After a little cooking, flip again to the original side, rotating the steak 90 degrees, thereby completing the pattern on one side. On the last flip you complete the pattern on the other side.

This comes with the bonus that you don't seem to lose as much juice into the grill as you do with the flip-once method.

Of course now I mostly pan-fry, and flip every minute. :)

I noticed that when deglaze, it is taught to use cold butter before it's done. First, why we need to add butter, second, why cold butter?

Thanks

Good question, but rather than just tell you why, go ahead and watch topic 6 of How to Make a Pan Sauce and all of your questions should be clearly answered, even with video. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Cheers - Happy Cooking!

I cook most of my food on a Big Green Egg (a ceramic grill/smoker/oven). It's hard to beat a steak cooked on a cast iron great over natural hardwood coals. But I really love a pan sauce.

If you hand slice & trim your own steaks from ribeye roasts or tenderloins, SAVE YOUR SCRAPS. While the steaks are grilling, cook the scraps in a pan, remove and use that pan as the base for your pan sauce for grilled steaks!

(If the scraps are decent enough like the chain of bull cut from a tenderloin it's "chef's treat". If it's more fatty, you'll make your dog very happy:) )

I hope will have a solo topic on the science of these two cooking methods.

Very briefly, it about the length of cooking time and the heat. However, this is something we will get into down the road, after we have covered a bit more of the basic cooking school curriculum.

In the meantime, here is a bit more info. You can also do a search on the internet for "what is the difference between grilling and barbecuing" - this is a rather hot topic. Cheers!

I just want to say that since I have seen the Rouxbe video on cooking steaks, my steaks come out perfect every single time. I use a well seasoned cast iron skillet and I brush both sides of the steak with olive oil and then season well with salt and pepper. I preheat the skillet on high heat for about 15 min and sear the steaks 2 min per side and then I flip every min until done, which I do by touch. Then transfer to a drying rack and cover with foil about 5 min. They come out perfect every time and dinner guests rave and cannot believe it was cooked in a skillet. Thank you Rouxbe!

Great news Bruce. Thanks so much for sharing with us. Keep up the good work! Cheers.

I tried the delicious video recipe of the tenderloin steak with the red wine reduction, but I substituted a prime dry-aged New York strip steak that the butcher cut a little thicker than I anticipated. It was probably about an inch and a half thick. I properly tempered and seasoned it exactly according to the instructions in the lesson.

I cooked it in the pan using the "flip often" method. After a while, I found that it was at the right level of internal doneness by touch and by temperature, but the side edge of the steak was still raw. The top and bottom were beautifully colored, but the side was still blood-red. I solved it by holding the steak on its side and searing it, and the steak turned out delicious. Is that the proper solution? Should the side of the steak have even failed to cook, or did I do something wrong? With a steak that thick, should I sear all sides before allowing to cook through with the flip often method?

I also found that the steak was a bit drier and tougher than I would've expected for its quality. I did let it rest a bit too long because it took longer than I expected to make the reduction -- could that have done it? Or perhaps did I let too much of the juice run out when I thermometer checked it? I'm comfortable with the touch method from prior experience, but the raw side of the steak made me doubt my judgment.

You can very quickly sear the sides of the steak at the end of cooking to take away the red color, if desired. We show the same thing in the Pan Frying Fish Lesson (Topic 4).

Regarding the quality, sometimes it's just the meat. Talk to your butcher and let him know. There have been times that we have bought quality steaks and they just weren't as good as the others; but our butcher appreciated the feedback.

By testing a steak with a thermometer, this won't let all the juices run out. If you are comfortable with the touch method, keep on using it. Cheers!

Thank you very much for your quick response! I'm glad to know what I did was acceptable. I must say, my cooking skills have improved at least tenfold in just the few days I've been a member. As many others have said, Rouxbe is truly a wonderful thing!

I didn't make the salad along with the steak, but here's how the steak in question turned out: http://drp.ly/1nfcfQ Please excuse the presentation; I'm just learning. :)

As for the meat, I got it at a higher-end grocery meat counter since it's the only place in the area that I can get dry-aged beef. It wouldn't be the first time that I've been less than impressed with their meat. It's incredibly hard to find a good butcher shop these days. The only local butcher I know doesn't sell graded beef, and I haven't seen the equivalent of USDA Prime quality in the shop. Still, their steaks are usually better than last night's was, so maybe I'll go back to the local place.

Nice work Rob - that steak looks like a delicious restaurant quality steak. In fact it looks better than some of the steaks I have been served in some higher end restaurants. Keep up the good work - cheers!

All the lessons so far covering steaks have been fantastic. Considering I had never cooked a steak 2 months ago and now getting considerable praise from customers has kept me coming back to rouxbe day after day to continue improving.

Following your methodology to first let the steak dry out a little in the fridge (especially for those vacuum packed tenderloins), then temper the steak, then cook to order using either the flip-once or continually has produced fantastic results. My concern is that in a commercial environment, what are the hazards of tempering a number of steaks and needing to refrigerate those that were not sold. I really want to offer my customers steaks cooked exceptionally well, but it seems a little more daunting to follow this procedure outside of my own home.

Great point. Having worked in many professional kitchens, happy to share a few tips.

1. At a minimum, make sure that all your steaks are out of cryovac packaging. At least do enough for a couple of days service. Letting them air dry in the fridge is completely food safe.

2. Tempering steaks is a bit trickier. Take a couple of steaks out before service and place on a rack. As soon as you sell one, take another one out and place it on the rack. If service starts to slow, only leave one out at a time. If you know you're going to sell a lot, you may need to do a few more. And remember, you can temper a steak quite quickly in most professional kitchens as there are a lot of nice warm spots to put them (e.g. you can pop it into a warm oven, beside the broiler, etc.). So if you don't want to take the risk if you have a lower volume restaurant, you can still temper in a few minutes before pan frying.

You are right... a steak left out at room temperature should not be refrigerated again. Cook it and eat it :-).

what is the best way to marinade for grilling and what is the process... Meats like tri tip, and chickens

Stay tuned. There is a lesson that will be released very soon on How to Marinate Foods. In the mean time, the most important thing to do before grilling marinated meat is to pat it dry very well to prevent flareups.

Just a note to anyone reading this. Because this question was asked in the Premium Steaks thread, we wanted to mention that we generally don't marinate premium steaks as they are already so flavorful themselves. Often just a bit of salt, pepper and oil is more than enough. Cheers!

Thank you for the lesson re: the "frequently flipping" method. I've used it often to great results. I recently saw a video on Pan-Seared Thick-Cut Strip Steaks and the instructions presented a very different approach: start the room temperature steaks on a rack in a 275* oven until an internal temp of 90-95* is reached, then transfer the steaks to a pre-heated pan for approximately 2 minutes per side. The steaks are thus seared with a nice crust. This method eliminates the gray band that typically forms just under the crust.

Any thoughts about this latter method? I tried it and found it exceptionally good.

Many thanks for your fabulous videos,
Carol

Have not tried this particular method for cooking steaks so I cannot really comment but if it works for you and you are happy with the end result that is what counts. That is the great thing about cooking there is rarely just one way to get the job done so it is never boring. Cheers!

Just wanted to drop a line to the staff to say thanks for all this awesome content, and also give my testimonial for the "flip often" method. I've stuck with the "flip once" method my whole life, but was never really satisfied with the way they came out. Tried the "flip often" method (along with tempering prior to cooking), and got the best steak I have ever cooked.

The story is here: http://bit.ly/cTMGXH

Realized after the meal that I probably should have picked a better looking end of the steak for the picture, but it still tasted good...

When I was a kid we would go to Mr Mikes for charbroiled steaks and they were great. That was the only place I knew where we could get a steak that had that unique charbroiled flavor. How can I recreate this at home. I have tried everything from steak spice to using wood chips but nothing recreates that amazing charbroiled flavor I remember as a child. Is all lost? Do I have to purchase a Mr.Mikes? Please help!