Some time ago, every time we bought steak home, I’d ask Shane to cook it because I thought it was too difficult to get it right, and I always cooked too long. Dry, chewy well-done steak was my speciality at the time. Then I slowly started to get the hang of it and could cook some beautiful medium-rare steaks. Now my new thing is – côte de boeuf! It’s a juicy, flavourful, fatty, and rather expensive cut of beef we discovered when we lived in France. Some people call it a bone-in ribeye, and given its size, it’s great for sharing.

Steak dinners are generally quite easy and quick to cook, but côte de boeuf looks great on the dinner table and is sure to impress your guests if you can cook it well.

Pan-fried then finish in the oven?

The first two times I finished steaks in the oven I thought, ‘oh wow, that’s cooking like a pro!’ But as you know each steak is different in size and thickness, it’s hard to tell how long to leave it in the oven for (at least it’s hard for me). I think the easiest way is to use a cast iron grill pan because you can watch the steak cook, whereas if you put it in the oven, there’s not much you can do when you find it overcooked after 8-10 minutes.

These are some good cast iron grill pans I found on Amazon.

If you’re new to cooking steak, I recommend a meat thermometer. It makes cooking the perfect steak much easier! When the meat reaches 55°C, it’s a perfect medium-rare. If you choose to finish the steak in the oven, it’s a bit tricky to keep checking the temperature without losing the heat when you open the oven.

Ingredients

About 600g côte de boeuf
A few sprigs of rosemary or thyme
A knob of unsalted butter
3 cloves of garlic

Method

At least 30 minutes before you cook, take the côte de boeuf out of the fridge and put it back to room temperature.

Melt a knob of butter, put it in a small bowl, add herbs and set aside.

Crush the garlic, season both sides of the côte de boeuf with salt and black pepper.

Heat the cast iron pan on high heat until it starts to smoke. Add a little oil.

When the cast iron is smoking hot, add the steak and put the garlic on it. Cook for two minutes. Turn and fry the other side for another two minutes, then turn every minute so that the steak is evenly heated on both sides. Baste a bit of herb butter on the steak every time you turn, and put the garlic back on top of the steak.

Depending on how you would like your steak cooked, 14 minutes for a 600-660g steak will be medium-rare. If you have a meat thermometer, it’ll be much easier to control the temperature. 50-55°C will be medium-rare.

Put the steak on a warm dish and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.

What’s your favourite cut of steak and how do you like to cook it? Share with me in the comments below!

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