Foolproof Steak Recipe: 20-Minute Rib-Eyes With Lemon-Herb Butter
Chef Erin French has labored long and hard to perfect her steak technique. She shares it here in a recipe for rib-eyes with an irresistible lemon-herb butter, on the table in 20 minutes
BURN NOTICE For a good, flavorful sear, the pan must be smoking hot before you lay in the steaks. Photo: Bryan Gardner for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Heather Meldrom, Prop Styling by Vanessa Vazquez
By
Kitty Greenwald
Oct. 19, 2017 11:44 a.m. ET
The Chef: Erin French
Illustration: MICHAEL HOEWELER
Her Restaurant: The Lost Kitchen, in Freedom, Maine
What She’s Known For: Making her tiny town a dining destination. Forthright New England cooking punctuated with fresh surprises.
ONE NIGHT, exhausted after a long shift at her previous restaurant, Erin French made the questionable choice of logging on to TripAdvisor to check her reviews. Sure enough, she found a blistering critique of a steak she’d served. But she did not become dejected. “I became obsessed,” she said. “I needed to know where I’d gone wrong. I researched and cooked steak after steak until I understood the rules.”
Six years later and at the helm of the Lost Kitchen in Freedom, Maine, Ms. French has mastered the steak. For her third Slow Food Fast recipe, she shares her go-to rib-eye, seasoned with nothing more than salt and pepper, finished with a scrumptious lemon-herb compound butter.
Ms. French advised that the pan should be ripping hot before you lay in the steaks. “Let the meat sear and smoke up your kitchen,” she said. (Those with sensitive smoke alarms will want to turn on a fan.) A couple minutes before cooking is complete, baste the steaks with plain butter. Let the meat rest at least five minutes before serving, to allow the juices to redistribute. Then dot the juicy rib-eyes with the lemon-herb butter.
Ms. French’s steaks now draw rave reviews from her guests. “This recipe taught me patience and timing,” she said. “I pushed to do better.”
TOTAL TIME: 20 minutes SERVES: 4
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 (14-ounce) rib-eye steaks
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1. Season steaks generously with salt and pepper. Set meat aside at room temperature.
2. Meanwhile, make lemon-herb butter: Use an electric mixer to whip 6 tablespoons butter until pale and fluffy, 2 minutes. Whip in ½ teaspoon salt, marjoram, dill, thyme and lemon zest until combined. Refrigerate until firm.
3. Set a large, heavy pan over medium-high heat. Pour in oil and sprinkle meat lightly with more salt and pepper. Once oil is very hot and beginning to smoke, lay in steaks, making sure not to overcrowd. (Cook in batches if necessary.) Once one side is nicely browned, after 3-4 minutes, flip steaks and sear reverse side. Continue to cook steaks to medium-rare or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat reads 135 degrees, 7-8 minutes. A couple of minutes before cooking is complete, add remaining plain butter to pan. Once butter has melted, spoon it over meat to baste. Transfer steaks to a cutting board and let rest at least 5 minutes before serving.
4. Dot meat generously with lemon-herb butter and serve immediately.