First Time Cooking Steak. HELP?!

When shopping for steaks it's important to look for good marbling. The fat is where the flavor comes from. Ribye is an easy cook and is easy to find good cuts.

When it comes to seasoning a steak keep it simple. When you bring it home first things first. Salt the steak with kosher salt (diamond kosher crystal is a prefered) wrap it back up and put it in the fridge. When your ready to cook just shake a little pepper on there.

When it comes to cooking you can do it a few ways. You can seer both sides I'd the steak and put it in the oven to finish cooking or you can just cook it over the stove. Depending on the thickness of the meat and your preferred cook those times will very.

From here you can decide if you want to do a pan sauce using the flavors on the pan. Don't worry, pan sauces are quick and easy. I can give you a recipe.

Make sure you have adequate ventilation or your smoke detectors may put a damper on an otherwise romantic evening.

The Epicurious mobile app has a helpful smart timer for things like steak, chicken, eggs (soft boiled, hard boiled) and so forth. I use it for making poached eggs and they always come out perfect. Get the app and go to the clock face icon on the bottom.

Congratulations on cooking something really special for your girlfriend! Get thee over to the Serious Eats website and brush up on some of the best ways to cook a steak. https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/03/how-to-reverse-sear-best-way-to-cook-steak.html and other articles and recipes. They have done their research on everything from choosing a steak to seasoning, aging and cooking and explain the hows and whys. Personally, I pat dry, salt both sides, refrigerate overnight on a rack to dry further and then do the reverse sear, cooking low until the inside is done to your liking, and finally a quick sear in your cast iron pan to get a nice exterior. One other tip -- get yourself an instant read thermometer if you don't already have one. Mine is from Thermoworks, but there are several brands on the market.