Steak

A Perfectly Cooked Rib Eye Is the Cadillac of Steak Dinners

Table for One columnist, Eric Kim, on why you can—and should—cook this fancy cut of meat for just yourself.

by:
September 25, 2020
Photo by Julia Gartland. Food stylist: Drew Aichele. Prop stylist: Sophie Strangio.

Table for One is a column by Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and only himself—and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.


For the solo home cook, few cuts of meat are as luxurious as a rib-eye steak.

All that marbling means prime juiciness, first of all. Especially when it’s thick—at least an inch and a half thick—with a nice caveman bone running down the side like a boomerang. As with most meats, the bone serves as insulation for the beef and means there’s less chance of overcooking it (not to mention it’s fun to gnaw on the gristle at the end of the meal). And as much as I love a perfectly rare filet mignon or a flash-fried New York strip, rib eyes have an undeniably meatier flavor. (For this carnivore, that’s ideal.)

A bone-in rib eye is the Cadillac of steaks (though I imagine this figure of speech is out of date since Cadillac sales have gone down in recent years). But the spirit remains: It’s a mighty fancy thing to cook for just yourself.

Join The Conversation

Top Comment:
“I researched for days and tested my final method of choice on a cheaper rib eye before I went in for the expensive steak. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Salt and pepper the steak and let come to room temperature (approx 30 minutes). Allow cast iron skillet to come to temp on stove. About 1-2 TBSP neutral oil in the skillet. Sear side 1 for 3 minutes, side 2 for 1 1/2 minutes. Quick sear the sides, if you want. In the oven for 5-6 minutes. Finish with some butter/garlic/rosemary on the stovetop, if you want. Perfection. Absolute perfection. I have cooked several different cuts of steak since then and I refuse to use a different method, unless it's a cheaper cut or a super thin cut. I adjust the oven time as necessary. It's been perfect every time.”
— Talicia S.
Comment

The price tag for a single rib eye can be steep compared to cheaper cuts like flank and chuck. Which is why cooking one at home might seem like a daunting task. Why risk messing up such a lavish bounty when you could order it at a restaurant, made by a professional?

For one, dining in at restaurants is still tenuous right now. And though we should be supporting local businesses the best we can, Seamlessing a medium-rare steak isn’t exactly the most cogent option. Aside from all that, it’s much cheaper to just cook the beast yourself at home. Not to mention the skill set you’ll gain, i.e. learning to cook a nice piece of meat perfectly, is priceless—and will last you a lifetime of sumptuous solo dinners.

There’s immense satisfaction in knowing the exact formula for achieving such a feat down to a T. Which is my main point: Though bovine cookery has some elements of instinct and sensory cues (the loudness of that first hard sear; the distinctive scent of Maillard, the browning and reduction of sugars in food; the glorious sight of the crust like fire-lined tectonic plates, or dragon scales), there are a couple of basic, measurable tricks any home cook can learn to ensure a beautifully cooked rib eye.

One great insurance against overcooked meat is salt. As Samin Nosrat writes in my favorite passage of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat:

Think of a protein strand as a loose coil with water molecules bound to its outside surface. When an unseasoned protein is heated, it denatures: the coil unravels, releasing water molecules out of the protein matrix, leaving the meat dry and tough if overcooked. By disrupting the protein structure, salt prevents the coil from densely coagulating, or clumping, when heated, so more of the water molecules remain bound. The piece of meat remains moister, and you have a greater margin of error for overcooking.

To achieve this “moistness” (sorry), I usually just sprinkle my rib eye generously with kosher salt, then let it sit in the fridge, uncovered, for a few hours to dry-brine and concentrate in flavor.

On nights when I’m feeling a little fancier, I like to slather the steak in a salty-sweet umami bomb of a marinade. Inspired by my Aunt Julia’s recipe for jalapeño chicken wings (which she recreated from the many chimichurri-sauced meals she ate while living in Uruguay in the 1980s), this month’s column relies on a virescent emulsion of juicy jalapeños, lots of garlic, cilantro stems (the tender leaves reserved for garnish), and a good smattering of salt and sugar to, as Nosrat writes, “disrupt the protein structure” of the meat.

As for cooking the thing, I like to do the deed entirely on the stovetop. No grill, no oven—just me and my cast-iron skillet.

For an even medium-rare (that is, pink, juicy, and warmed all throughout), the chile and herb–napped rib eye needs a good six to eight minutes on its first side and just four to six minutes on its second side. This is where an instant-read digital thermometer is especially useful. 130°F is the internal temperature I like to hit before removing the steak from the pan and, before slicing into it, letting it rest for a full 10 minutes (to let the juices redistribute).

A side of white rice and you’re golden. But if you have an extra few minutes (hey, the steak has to rest, right?), you might as well make the jalapeño coleslaw to go with. At first glance, this side salad looks like a mere supporting character, but the herbal lightness of the celery seed, coupled with the spicy strands of fresh chile pepper laced throughout the finely shaven cabbage, seems somehow to help cut through the rib eye’s richness—and makes you want to keep eating it.

Although, it’s said that the capsaicin in chiles releases endorphins in the body, triggering a euphoric sensation. So maybe it’s that.

Do you like to make rib eye steak for yourself? Let us know in the comments.

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Jessica Jung
    Jessica Jung
  • Susanna
    Susanna
  • Harold Walker
    Harold Walker
  • Talicia Smith
    Talicia Smith
  • Stacey
    Stacey
Eric Kim was the Table for One columnist at Food52. He is currently working on his first cookbook, KOREAN AMERICAN, to be published by Clarkson Potter in 2022. His favorite writers are William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Ernest Hemingway, but his hero is Nigella Lawson. You can find his bylines at The New York Times, where he works now as a writer. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @ericjoonho.

11 Comments

Jessica J. September 28, 2020
One of my favorite loner meals! I dry brine for 24 hours before searing in a hot cast iron. Then a side of rice and chongak kimchi, and I’m in heaven! Glad to see so many others out there who share my love of a rib eye dinner for one.
 
Eric K. September 28, 2020
I like your style.
 
Susanna September 27, 2020
Thank you for this, Eric. I love your column! I’m someone who happily cooks for myself 95% of the time, and you provide consistent validation and inspiration.
 
Eric K. September 27, 2020
I'm so glad, Susanna. Thank you for reading!
 
Harold W. September 27, 2020
I'd love making steak I love eating steak my problem is the doctor say don't eat too much like I used to but today I'm going to have a ragu sirloin and see scallops made in a cream butter garlic sauce for my scallops and some sauteed spinach with crispy bacon bits and garlic made with olive oil so that's menu for today in a glass of wine I can't figure out if I want to go I got this one Chardonnay. That's butter bomb the name of it and then I do have my red Zinfandel sometime between which way I want to go with that most likely I'm going to go with the red but we'll see what happens.
 
Eric K. September 27, 2020
Hi, Harold. Both sound fab; happy eating.
 
Talicia S. September 25, 2020
I recently had the opportunity to cook a 2 inch thick, 45 day dry-aged rib eye. I researched for days and tested my final method of choice on a cheaper rib eye before I went in for the expensive steak. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Salt and pepper the steak and let come to room temperature (approx 30 minutes). Allow cast iron skillet to come to temp on stove. About 1-2 TBSP neutral oil in the skillet. Sear side 1 for 3 minutes, side 2 for 1 1/2 minutes. Quick sear the sides, if you want. In the oven for 5-6 minutes. Finish with some butter/garlic/rosemary on the stovetop, if you want. Perfection. Absolute perfection. I have cooked several different cuts of steak since then and I refuse to use a different method, unless it's a cheaper cut or a super thin cut. I adjust the oven time as necessary. It's been perfect every time.
 
Eric K. September 27, 2020
Sounds amazing. Thanks for the tip!
 
Talicia S. September 25, 2020
I recently had the opportunity to cook a 2 inch thick, 45 day dry-aged rib eye. I researched for day and tested my final method of choice on a cheaper rib eye before I went in for the expensive steak. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Salt and pepper the steak and let come to room temperature (approx 30 minutes). Allow cast iron skillet to come to temp on stove. About 1-2 TBSP neutral oil in the skillet. Sear side 1 for 3 minutes, side 2 for 1 1/2 minutes. Quick sear the sides, if you want. In the oven for 5-6 minutes. Finish with some butter/garlic/rosemary on the stovetop, if you want. Perfection. Absolute perfection. I have cooked several different cuts of steak since then and I refuse to use a different method, unless it's a cheaper cut or a super thin cut. I adjust the oven time as necessary. It's been perfect every time.
 
Stacey September 25, 2020
Steak 🥩 friday is the best day of the week! Ribeye is my go to also. I do salt & cornstarch time really get a nice crust on the grill. That reminds me, need to pull one out of the freezer...
 
Eric K. September 27, 2020
Never tried cornstarch on steak! Sounds yum!