How do you prepare a good fillet of steak at home (assume no grill out back and no broiler)?

I've kind of developed my own method, but before I get too wedded to it, would like to get some recipes.

1. brush the steaks with olive oil and a lot of pepper first (but no salt - it sucks out the juices)
2. melt some butter in the frying pan at a low heat
3. add steaks to the pan and cook about five minutes on low temp - the idea is to cook into the meat a bit
4. as the juices start to come out, put in a little red wine and allow it to start to bubble
5. pour out that wine-juice mixture for later and turn the burner on high
6. add a little more butter and then really sizzle the outside of the meat
7. when the outside is brown and has that slightly hard texture that seals in juices, put steak on plates
8. make a sauce using the wine-juice mixture; basically, turn the heat down and stir it into pan with a tiny bit of flour to thicken. Because of all the pepper I put on the steak, the sauce will be quite peppery as well.

Viola, steak. I like it rare, but if you want it medium just do steps 3 and 4 longer.

cbmac -

That sounds tasty. I've never cooked steak that way, on low at first. I might try that sometime. But I've got a huge, gleaming, stainless steel grill out back that hits 1,600 degrees in about 3 minutes. Rain, snow, doesn't matter, that's where the steaks get cooked. Super high heat really seals in the juices and melts the marbling.

Also, I always use a salt mixture on my steaks and never had a problem with the salt pulling the juices out.

cb, maybe that method is OK for tougher cuts of meat, but you won't catch me "poaching" or braising steaks. I use a cast iron seasoned skillet with just a tiny bit of peanut oil. Under high heat, when it smokes, I sear the meat, then remove to a warming oven, deglaze the pan, and prepare the sauce.

I don't want to start sounding like Alton Brown, but if you introduce liquid into the cooking process too early, you are limiting the cooking temperature to 212 F/100 C. As long as there is liquid in the pan, the liquid will be at or below the boiling point. Once it exceeds the boiling point, it evaporates as steam. So during the period when your steak is in the pan with liquid, it will be cooking at or below 212/100. Bad idea for a good steak.

Use kosher salt and sear it as high as you can get it. This will form a nice crust from the get go. And salt will NOT dry out the meat, unless you keep it salted for a week.

Apply salt 5-10 minutes before cooking, as the meat is brought up to room temp. Apply additional salt immediately before hitting the pan. The first dose of salt will dissolve and penetrate the meat for flavor. The second dose of salt will form a crust.

Add pepper at the end. It burns easily.

Deglaze with wine/cognac/brandy or whatever, and swirl in butter after removing the meat to rest. Don't let the meat sit in the liquid.

Those are my thoughts.

One of my wife's favorites are pepper steaks made with filet mignon.

in a nutshell, rub in a fair amount of cracked pepper on each side of the meat. pan fry in oil (i just use olive) on medium heat to desired done. Set aside and use beef stock to deglaze the pan, reduce to 1/3, add a little condenses milk, cognac, dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste, and thicken if desired (I use beurre manie).

Voila!

smaug: Try peanut or grapeseed oil. You'll notice a difference.

what difference, jimmyv?

I assume the difference is both in flavor and burning point. Olive oil smokes at a lower temp. I have grapeseed oil, but it is walnut infused.. Wonder how that would taste?

Much higher smoke points than olive oil. At the high cooking temp for a steak, you are breaking down the olive oil almost instantly, which decreases the efficiency of its heat transfer to the meat. Peanut and grapeseed oil maintain their viscosity at much higher temps, and thus are better at providing the even transfer of heat you desire. Also, less chance for a "burned" flavor. Burned olive oil is really quite bitter.

I have only used walnut oil in uncooked dishes as a garnish, or dressing. I have no idea how it cooks.

I used olive oil, too. I salt and pepper well, both sides, pan sear one side for x minutes (4? 5? i forget exactly) and then finish it in a hot oven for x more minutes (5? 7? again, I forget exactly). Always in a well-used and seasoned cast iron pan. Works like a charm.

That is the classic preparation, IMHO. Heat your oven well, and as high as it will go. I find that cooking the steak entirely on the stovetop causes marital difficulty due to the excessive smoke in the house. I really need to get a ventilation hood.

I have one of those microwave/hood fans. It would probably be more effective for me to keep take gulps of air and run outside with them.

All very good advice, thanks. I'll definitely try a hotter-cooking oil and try to avoid the 212F liquid problem. Unfortunately I have a crappy electric stove right now, so it is a bit hard to control the temp (that's not directly related, but is a problem I have).

I think Board-O sussed me out...my method works well on ordinary, slightly tougher cuts of sirloin, but has wrecked any top pieces I tried. When I got good cuts, I started just putting them on the grill outside.

cb, I'm not exactly sure what "sussed" means, but no offense was intended. Gas is far better for stovetop cooking, but electric is almost as good when you need the heat turned up all the way. Here's my recipe for steak aux poivres with instructions to modify for magret:

ingredients:

Thick, top-quality filet mignons. I use 8 ounce filet
mignons. If you're not serving a number of other courses, you might opt
for larger ones.

Green peppercorns. If you get them dried, soak them in
Cognac for a day or longer to reconstitute them.

Peanut oil

Butter 2 tablespoons

Cognac (brandy can be used)

Dry or sweet Sherry (A little Amontillado sweetness adds a
nice touch to this sauce.)

Shallots 2 cloves, chopped (garlic can be used instead, 4
cloves, minced)

Heavy cream

Dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons

Cooking instructions:

Press plenty of green peppercorns into both sides of each
filet mignon, but don't flatten the filets.

Preheat oven to 140 degrees.

Add a very small amount of peanut oil to a heavy cast iron
skillet, preferably one with a top to minimize splatter. I use a cast
iron
chicken cooker that came with a glass top. You want just enough oil so
that when you heat it, it will just spread out and cover the pan. You
aren't frying the meat; you're pan broiling it. Heat the skillet on high
heat til the oil begins to smoke. Using tongs, add the filets to the pan
and sear on each side for about three minutes.
Remove the filets to a platter, cover with aluminum foil, and place in
the oven.

Add 2 tablespoons butter to the pan. It will melt quickly.
Stir and scrape the particles off the bottom of the pan. Add the
shallots and cook briefly til they become translucent. Keep stirring and

scraping.
Then add about 3-4 tablespoons of Cognac and either flame
to burn off the alcohol, or just cook for a minute and the alcohol will
evaporate. Add about 4-5 tablespoons of Sherry and continue scraping and
stirring. After it reduces a little, add about
3-4 ounces of heavy cream, stirring and scraping all the while.

As it begins to thicken, pour in the juices that have
accumulated on the meat platter
from the oven. When the sauce begins to thicken, remove it from the
burner or it will separate. Add 2 teaspons of Dijon mustard and stir
well. Pour the sauce over the filets and serve.

Wild rice or garlic mashed potatoes goes well with that
sauce.

You can vary the amounts of the ingredients to taste. It
can be made with black peppercorns, but that can be kind of spicy and
it could overwhelm a good red wine. I also use this recipe for breast of
duck. If you do, cut through the skin and fat, but not into the meat,
and palce rows of green peppercorns in the slits. You will also need to
pour off the fat after pan searing the breasts.

Preheat oven to 450

Season your steak, both sides, heavily

Heat a good skillet you can use to toss into the oven. Get that hot over the stove w/ a little oil. Get the oil to smoking but not burnt.

Gently lay your meat into the pan and let it sear. When it gets to a nice crispy color, flip it over and toss into the oven and pull it out whenever it's at the temp you want it

When it's done. Remove from the pan and put it on a resting area, strain off any excess oil that maybe there, put the hot pan back on the stove and deglaze to make your sauce.

Board-O, no offence taken whatsoever. "sussed" = detected, figured out. Once I read your post a lightbulb went off in my head...I realized I tended to use my strange pre-cook process with lesser cuts of meat.

By the way, your recipe looks fabulous. I am a complete novice as a cook...until this year, I never cooked anything but sunday breakfast at home. But I am learning. I don't think I am ready to invite people over just yet, unless it's for takeout pizza.

JimmyV. Instead of Kosher salt try upgrading to fleur de sel. It makes a huge difference. People are just realizing that the myriad salts available are a great opportunity for changing/improving many preparations.

I use it at the table. I've never used it before cooking. I'll give it a try. I'm a nut when it comes to salts. I've got about 6 different ones (maybe more) in my pantry right now. The coase grind Hawaiian Black Lava is great for rubbing into beef or pork before cooking. And the Smoked Danish Sea Salt with scallops is a match made in heaven.