The Art of Cooking a Perfect Steak

As we begin our culinary journey, we must first address the importance of preparation. Thickening the cream before cooking is crucial, and I think we might just need to do that. Let's grab the spoon and find it somewhere under the station, maybe in that equipment bin. Ah, yes, that's where we'll find it. The consistency we're looking for is like a blank spot on the spoon that doesn't quite fill in. I think it needs salt, and then I'm going to turn mine off.

We must set the steak on fire, but only when we're ready. Are you ready? Okay, there you have a little clicky burner that uses this to light my barbecue. Yes, okay, I got mine lit whoo amazing! A little too much heat is not an issue here as we add just two tablespoons of cognac. Oh no, I think the fire may be my cognac burned off. Maybe it could have happened if I were a little more careful with that last couple of tablespoons. Bring the whole bottle and light your flame leaning away from the pan. Let it burn until you feel like the cognac is burned off.

The state will then be infused with garlic and rosemary and the cognac as soon as we take the steak out back onto that metal plate. We need to clear up space, so let's get any dirty utensils off to the side because I'm not a pain in the ass. Sorry, Carl, could you hear me? I thought that was just in my head, but no, I'm sorry all right. Are we happy now without our sauce taste? Oh, hold on, let me check with Chika's mine got a little bit of a skin on it. I want to bring it back to life before we serve this.

We don't want the steak to simmer, and I don't want cold cream sauce. Who wants that? Ugh, no! But how long have you and April been together? Oh, rusty is holding you back, I'm not kidding. Rusty can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but I love him, and there we are in the hallway sometimes. Do you just ignore him when you see him in the hallway? Yeah, it's just me.

We're going to bring our plate nearby, so let's get started. When we slice the steak out, I want you to find the grain and then go against it. What do you have for sauce? I think a peppery sauce would be great right now. We can add more seasoning if needed because this is almost there.

Now that we've seasoned our steak, let's take a step back and admire its beauty on our dinner plate. I like to get some of the sauce right onto the steak without covering all of it so you can still see what a beautiful job you did. Then, just drizzle the rest of the sauce onto the plate, ready to rock.

Time for the big reveal! Let's turn around and show off our dish. To have a great time cooking, we must be willing to experiment and try new things. And that's exactly what we've done here with this beautiful steak, infused with garlic, rosemary, and cognac. I'm ready to try it now; which one of us gets the little rare in the middle?

As we sit down to enjoy our meal, I must say that the presentation on the plate is stunning. The rosemary adds a nice touch, and the sauce brings everything together beautifully. And speaking of sauces, did you know that they brought me butter not literally? What happened? Well, despite the minor mishap, this dish was absolutely delightful.

Bon Appetit magazine would be proud of our culinary skills, and we're thrilled to have had the opportunity to cook for each other. Who knows what's next in the kitchen? Perhaps when you come back, I'll make sure to introduce you to all the new ingredients and techniques we've learned along the way.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI need cognac just bring the whole bottle damn it add your cognac and light your flame hey guys it's Carl I'm here in the bone Appetit test kitchen today with Al Roker from the Today Show thanks for coming well thanks for having me so today we've got 20 minutes to make stick applause whoa shake a paw and we're gonna see if Al can follow along with me through verbal instructions only but you're a cook this order but I have so this probably feels it feels frightening okay so on the count of three we're gonna start cooking right right okay three two one cook cook what you've got in front of you first things first is at stake yes and right next to it is a cooktop with a cast-iron skillet I just want to get that skillet preheated get that all the way up to 425 okay there's a large container of kosher salt and I just want to get this pretty nicely seasoned on both sides this is a grass-fed steak I heard that you were keto I I am cute from what we gather grass-fed is kedo kosher yes cool it's the big KKK kosher keen okay sir you're close you're close fun to say that's comedy okay there's a measuring cup that has about four tablespoons of ghee okay half of that it's gonna go into your cast-iron well that's getting really hot we can start finely chopping the shallot that's gonna be for the cream sauce okay do you do the shower where you go long cuts top to bottom that your shallot technique I don't have a shallot technique great that makes no sense they're not these are just big hunky chunks but you should have a little equipment bucket over there yes I do Evans for the memories right into the pan with the steak and we should get it really good special right from the beginning okay and then what we're gonna do is we're gonna turn the steak back and forth a few times we got your second little induction we got to get that guy on because that's for our shallot and then let's turn our steak over already you're gonna have light brown now in front of the second burner there's a little cup that has three tablespoons it's a mixture of ghee and olive oil go ahead and add that to our warm pan all of it all of it the whole go for it oh hello my sugar shallots are gonna go into that warm pan okay into the warm pan give those a little stir with your wooden spoon back in the equipment and these we're going for softened and golden brown but I don't like myself oh you can give them a little bit of salt we're gonna Saul all right again find your olive green peppercorns yes carefully get those on the cutting board they want to escape quite quite and doing those a little bit like chopping marbles tapping these you're chopping these and then those can go back into the little bowl we're gonna add those to the sauce towards the end now what's the difference between green peppercorns and like black peppercorn I think the black peppercorns get dried and the green peppercorns also get pickled in a little brine I'll tell me how your steak is doing my snake I just flipped it you did showing it it's a little browner now and how are your shallots are of this getting stirred are they lightly brown and they're starting to brown fantastic okay so then you've got a few cloves of garlic uh-huh I want you to take the the broad side of your knife yes I want to give them a good whack so place it yep I hear that that's perfect and then you can just toss those on to the sizzle plate with the rosemary if you give your steak just pressing onto the surface house which she does that feel that that's squishy not that squishy starting to firm up mine too I feel like this is going quite quickly come back over to salad land little measuring cup of cognac whoo definitely cognac add the Kodiak to the shallot mixture it's gonna sizzle but it's not it's not gonna ignite it's not going to ignite not yet okay there will be fire but not there will be fire well there will be blood all right I feel that my steak is firm oh so firm so firm right so let's get it out of the pan okay you can set it onto the plate just with your garlic and a rosemary and then we're gonna drain this steak fat into the Pyrex I'm gonna use a bald paper towel uh-huh carefully because that oil is really hot right to just kind of get the rest of salt and the fat out of the pan got it I feel like it's coming along well although I feel a certain amount of pressure all right we got to get back to shallot lands back to shallot went back to shallot lands all right so the cognac should be about half way to reduce yes and it's everything's very brown I want you to have that cup of cream which amazingly is also on the keto diet yes it is and this in fact one of my desserts is to just have a bowl of whipped cream fantastic what we're gonna look for here is we want this slightly thickened uh-huh and so we got to get our peppercorns in there the ones we chopped suck those in put those in no but cool it's going in peppercorns and then grab this black pepper mill okay cracked about a teaspoon of fresh pepper right into the sauce that's to POIs part of the pasta that it's like a to plop plop that's correct all of the Pops all right sure that it's bubbling it's bubbling and we want it sturdy we want it reducing but but not burning not burning and not going down so far that it's like super thick oh you don't want slugs you know we don't want sludge all right so now we can come back to steak okay we're gonna add the rest of that ghee so is this this is like a two cooking stage thingy correct Wow add the rosemary okay add the garlic my cream sauce is bubbling great does mine I said bad now put your steak back in that patch back in the pen on top of it or on the supper next to the I like the smell of the rosemary and the garlic smells really good yes so you can just turn the stage over a couple times need to put the rose on top there's a bone in no we took the bones out could you do a bow - totally okay that's the bonus okay let's stir the cream before we make fire okay all right - thickening yes - - I think we might just than that let's do that really sexy tasting spoon and I somewhere under station maybe in that equipment bin yes and let's just you know that where's your here again rusty I'll do it fine rusty all right rusty how do you know the term now pay no I don't run short now pay so it that's the consistency we're looking for the cream sauce where it coats the spoon kind of if you drag your finger through it it'll leave a blank spot that doesn't quite fill in and I think it needs salt and then I'm gonna turn mine off all right we gotta set the steak on fire are you ready okay okay there you have a little clicky burner I use this to light my barbecue yeah okay I got mine list whoo amazing yep okay add this last couple tablespoons of cognac oh okay little cup pour that right in the pan and then leaning away from the pan we lost a little bit of my shirt fine I'm not on fire you think the fire may be my cognac burned off maybe it could have happened Marc cognac I need cognac just bring the whole bottle damn it add your cognac and light your flame lean away from it as you touch the flame to the pan on fire so I just let it burn yeah just let it burn out and then the state will be infused with the garlic and the rosemary and the cognac as soon as you feel like the cognac is burned off take the steak out back onto that metal plate and then we're just gonna get ready to plate this thing so let's just clear up space let your is your steak in that metal pancake use in the pan okay great so then just get any like dirty utensils off to the side because Carl is not a pain in the ass I'm sorry you could hear me I thought that was I was that was in my head I'm sorry all right are you happy out without your sauce taste oh hold on let me phone with other chicas mine got a little bit of a skin on it I want to just bring it bring it back to life before we it's got a skin on it well it's at a little bit yeah I want to put it back I don't want it to simmer no but I don't want cold cream sauce so who wants cold cream sauce nobody wants that uh-uh I mean a bowl of whipped cream yeah that would be good that's something else yeah how long have you and April rusty Oh rusty but I'm just gonna say this he's holding you back I'm not kidding I love rusty here and there I see him in the hallway sometimes do many things we have to do it when you see him in the hallway do you avert your eyes I do I know do you have a restraining order against it not yet okay but I think I don't have enough information okay yeah all right cream sauce okay creamy yes peppery yes solution mm-hmm okay let's bring it over let's get our plate nearby okay when you slice the steak out I want to speak first okay slice the steak and put it on this plate so you want to find the grain and then go against it oh I have a nice rare steak what's happening for you I have a I think a medium medium medium rare yeah mate I'm a little bit this is very French but possibly slightly black and blue over here oh now as I get into it it's a little black and blue cool which is nice kind of fan those slices out on your dinner plate it's a little Fanning never hurt anybody how do you feel like the steak itself means any additional seasoning because now it'd be the top okay great so then just take your sauce spoon uh-huh and we're just gonna drizzle that on top really however you want to do it I like to get some of the sauce right onto the steak without covering all of it so you can still see what a beautiful job you did and then some of the sauce right onto the plate ready to rock sure time for the big reveal so just like at the beginning we're gonna turn around okay and to have a key with you rusty all right ready yep three two one oh wow beautiful I love the presentation on the rosemary thank you ready to try it oh okay I get to have yours - a little rare in the middle that's okay Wow they gave us butter knives seriously this is freaking bone Appetit magazine we're cooking steak and they brought me butter not literally what happened anyway I did manage to get about it yes yes Cheers that's good beautifully done didn't even need a real knife I'd love to invite you back and and maybe when you come back I'll make sure that all you know and guess what else there are no napkins Bon AppetitI need cognac just bring the whole bottle damn it add your cognac and light your flame hey guys it's Carl I'm here in the bone Appetit test kitchen today with Al Roker from the Today Show thanks for coming well thanks for having me so today we've got 20 minutes to make stick applause whoa shake a paw and we're gonna see if Al can follow along with me through verbal instructions only but you're a cook this order but I have so this probably feels it feels frightening okay so on the count of three we're gonna start cooking right right okay three two one cook cook what you've got in front of you first things first is at stake yes and right next to it is a cooktop with a cast-iron skillet I just want to get that skillet preheated get that all the way up to 425 okay there's a large container of kosher salt and I just want to get this pretty nicely seasoned on both sides this is a grass-fed steak I heard that you were keto I I am cute from what we gather grass-fed is kedo kosher yes cool it's the big KKK kosher keen okay sir you're close you're close fun to say that's comedy okay there's a measuring cup that has about four tablespoons of ghee okay half of that it's gonna go into your cast-iron well that's getting really hot we can start finely chopping the shallot that's gonna be for the cream sauce okay do you do the shower where you go long cuts top to bottom that your shallot technique I don't have a shallot technique great that makes no sense they're not these are just big hunky chunks but you should have a little equipment bucket over there yes I do Evans for the memories right into the pan with the steak and we should get it really good special right from the beginning okay and then what we're gonna do is we're gonna turn the steak back and forth a few times we got your second little induction we got to get that guy on because that's for our shallot and then let's turn our steak over already you're gonna have light brown now in front of the second burner there's a little cup that has three tablespoons it's a mixture of ghee and olive oil go ahead and add that to our warm pan all of it all of it the whole go for it oh hello my sugar shallots are gonna go into that warm pan okay into the warm pan give those a little stir with your wooden spoon back in the equipment and these we're going for softened and golden brown but I don't like myself oh you can give them a little bit of salt we're gonna Saul all right again find your olive green peppercorns yes carefully get those on the cutting board they want to escape quite quite and doing those a little bit like chopping marbles tapping these you're chopping these and then those can go back into the little bowl we're gonna add those to the sauce towards the end now what's the difference between green peppercorns and like black peppercorn I think the black peppercorns get dried and the green peppercorns also get pickled in a little brine I'll tell me how your steak is doing my snake I just flipped it you did showing it it's a little browner now and how are your shallots are of this getting stirred are they lightly brown and they're starting to brown fantastic okay so then you've got a few cloves of garlic uh-huh I want you to take the the broad side of your knife yes I want to give them a good whack so place it yep I hear that that's perfect and then you can just toss those on to the sizzle plate with the rosemary if you give your steak just pressing onto the surface house which she does that feel that that's squishy not that squishy starting to firm up mine too I feel like this is going quite quickly come back over to salad land little measuring cup of cognac whoo definitely cognac add the Kodiak to the shallot mixture it's gonna sizzle but it's not it's not gonna ignite it's not going to ignite not yet okay there will be fire but not there will be fire well there will be blood all right I feel that my steak is firm oh so firm so firm right so let's get it out of the pan okay you can set it onto the plate just with your garlic and a rosemary and then we're gonna drain this steak fat into the Pyrex I'm gonna use a bald paper towel uh-huh carefully because that oil is really hot right to just kind of get the rest of salt and the fat out of the pan got it I feel like it's coming along well although I feel a certain amount of pressure all right we got to get back to shallot lands back to shallot went back to shallot lands all right so the cognac should be about half way to reduce yes and it's everything's very brown I want you to have that cup of cream which amazingly is also on the keto diet yes it is and this in fact one of my desserts is to just have a bowl of whipped cream fantastic what we're gonna look for here is we want this slightly thickened uh-huh and so we got to get our peppercorns in there the ones we chopped suck those in put those in no but cool it's going in peppercorns and then grab this black pepper mill okay cracked about a teaspoon of fresh pepper right into the sauce that's to POIs part of the pasta that it's like a to plop plop that's correct all of the Pops all right sure that it's bubbling it's bubbling and we want it sturdy we want it reducing but but not burning not burning and not going down so far that it's like super thick oh you don't want slugs you know we don't want sludge all right so now we can come back to steak okay we're gonna add the rest of that ghee so is this this is like a two cooking stage thingy correct Wow add the rosemary okay add the garlic my cream sauce is bubbling great does mine I said bad now put your steak back in that patch back in the pen on top of it or on the supper next to the I like the smell of the rosemary and the garlic smells really good yes so you can just turn the stage over a couple times need to put the rose on top there's a bone in no we took the bones out could you do a bow - totally okay that's the bonus okay let's stir the cream before we make fire okay all right - thickening yes - - I think we might just than that let's do that really sexy tasting spoon and I somewhere under station maybe in that equipment bin yes and let's just you know that where's your here again rusty I'll do it fine rusty all right rusty how do you know the term now pay no I don't run short now pay so it that's the consistency we're looking for the cream sauce where it coats the spoon kind of if you drag your finger through it it'll leave a blank spot that doesn't quite fill in and I think it needs salt and then I'm gonna turn mine off all right we gotta set the steak on fire are you ready okay okay there you have a little clicky burner I use this to light my barbecue yeah okay I got mine list whoo amazing yep okay add this last couple tablespoons of cognac oh okay little cup pour that right in the pan and then leaning away from the pan we lost a little bit of my shirt fine I'm not on fire you think the fire may be my cognac burned off maybe it could have happened Marc cognac I need cognac just bring the whole bottle damn it add your cognac and light your flame lean away from it as you touch the flame to the pan on fire so I just let it burn yeah just let it burn out and then the state will be infused with the garlic and the rosemary and the cognac as soon as you feel like the cognac is burned off take the steak out back onto that metal plate and then we're just gonna get ready to plate this thing so let's just clear up space let your is your steak in that metal pancake use in the pan okay great so then just get any like dirty utensils off to the side because Carl is not a pain in the ass I'm sorry you could hear me I thought that was I was that was in my head I'm sorry all right are you happy out without your sauce taste oh hold on let me phone with other chicas mine got a little bit of a skin on it I want to just bring it bring it back to life before we it's got a skin on it well it's at a little bit yeah I want to put it back I don't want it to simmer no but I don't want cold cream sauce so who wants cold cream sauce nobody wants that uh-uh I mean a bowl of whipped cream yeah that would be good that's something else yeah how long have you and April rusty Oh rusty but I'm just gonna say this he's holding you back I'm not kidding I love rusty here and there I see him in the hallway sometimes do many things we have to do it when you see him in the hallway do you avert your eyes I do I know do you have a restraining order against it not yet okay but I think I don't have enough information okay yeah all right cream sauce okay creamy yes peppery yes solution mm-hmm okay let's bring it over let's get our plate nearby okay when you slice the steak out I want to speak first okay slice the steak and put it on this plate so you want to find the grain and then go against it oh I have a nice rare steak what's happening for you I have a I think a medium medium medium rare yeah mate I'm a little bit this is very French but possibly slightly black and blue over here oh now as I get into it it's a little black and blue cool which is nice kind of fan those slices out on your dinner plate it's a little Fanning never hurt anybody how do you feel like the steak itself means any additional seasoning because now it'd be the top okay great so then just take your sauce spoon uh-huh and we're just gonna drizzle that on top really however you want to do it I like to get some of the sauce right onto the steak without covering all of it so you can still see what a beautiful job you did and then some of the sauce right onto the plate ready to rock sure time for the big reveal so just like at the beginning we're gonna turn around okay and to have a key with you rusty all right ready yep three two one oh wow beautiful I love the presentation on the rosemary thank you ready to try it oh okay I get to have yours - a little rare in the middle that's okay Wow they gave us butter knives seriously this is freaking bone Appetit magazine we're cooking steak and they brought me butter not literally what happened anyway I did manage to get about it yes yes Cheers that's good beautifully done didn't even need a real knife I'd love to invite you back and and maybe when you come back I'll make sure that all you know and guess what else there are no napkins Bon Appetit\n"