Gordon's mix & match steak
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Gordon's mix & match steak

Gordon Ramsey selects his favourite cuts of beef and explains how to prepare and cook for the perfect steak dinner

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 1

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Ready in about 15 mins

Method

  1. Choosing your steak
    Rib-eye: The chef's favourite. Allow 200-250g per head to allow for trimming. This cut used to be quite cheap, but is now creeping up in price. It has an open-fibre texture and a marbling of creamy fat. Cook with the surrounding fat still attached, then remove after cooking, if you prefer. The fat adds flavour as well as basting the meat during cooking.
    Fillet: The most expensive cut. Allow 100-125g per head. It is very lean and, because it has short fibres, very tender. Ask for a piece cut from the middle of the fillet, not the end. Also, ensure that the butcher removes the sinewy chain that runs down the side. I like to cook my steaks split in half lengthways, not the usual round medallion shape.
    T-bone: Generally 350-400g each, including bone. It has a good marbling of fat with a layer of creamy fat on one side - this should be left on for cooking, then removed if you like. You get about 200-250g of meat, with a sirloin on one side of the bone and a fillet on the other. You also get some marrow in the bone which can be spread on the cooked meat.
  2. To cook your steaks, heat a frying pan - to a moderate heat for fillet, hot for T-bone or very hot for rib-eye. Add a swirl of oil, with a whole garlic clove and a herb sprig. Season the steaks with salt and pepper and cook for 1½-2½ mins on each side. For fillet steak, cook the rounded edges too, turning to seal them well.
  3. If you're cooking fillet or rib-eye steaks, add a knob of butter to the pan, allow to foam a little and baste the steaks. T-bone steak has plenty of fat, so simply spoon it over the meat as it renders down. Remove steaks to a plate and allow to rest for at least 5 mins. Trim off any unwanted fat.
  4. Slice fillet or rib-eye steak along the grain, then arrange on a plate with your chosen sauce and side dish. My personal preferences are for rib-eye with mushrooms and the shallot & red wine sauce; fillet steak with oven chips and bois boudrin; and T-bone with wilted spinach and mushroom sauce.
Try

Seasoning

Don't season a steak until just before cooking, as salt draws out moisture from meat. Gordon sprinkles sea salt and freshly ground black pepper onto a dinner plate and presses the steaks into the seasoning just before cooking them.

The pan

Choose a heavy-duty frying pan with a thick base and, ideally, a non-stick coating. Don't overcrowd the pan - cook the steaks one or two at a time, then heat them through in the sauce later.

Tongs

Gordon uses lobster-style tongs for easy turning. Don't turn the steak in the pan until it has had at least a minute of cooking each side. That way it develops a delicious caramelised flavour.

Oils to use

Use groundnut oil for cooking steaks as it can withstand high-temperature cooking without burning and spoiling the flavour. Finish with a little butter at the end of cooking, if you like.

Resting

The cooked steak needs to rest for at least 5 mins and will retain its heat in a warm place for about 10 mins.

Checking for 'doneness'

Use your fingers to prod the meat. When rare, it will feel soft; medium-rare should be only lightly bouncy; well done will feel much firmer.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2005.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-35

  • Binder photo Hispaniar

    20 October 2010

    Hispaniar commented on this recipe

    hi, maybe i need improve my english before start write about cooking but that's my opinion. Never Never add salt from the begining. you gonna dry out the meat. that's is basic :S so you can add any herb or balck pepper etc but not salt. when you steak it's done and warm add soft white flaky crystals of salt, i like maldon but you can try any brand.

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  • Binder photo aaron

    10 January 2011

    aaron commented on this recipe

    when i make steak, the first side has a nice brown colour, but when i flip it the other side doesnt get as brown. How can i stop this happening? is it the heat of the pan and the amount of liquid?

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  • Binder photo maz

    15 February 2011

    maz rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Never having cooked steak ever, I followed Gordons guide and was pleasantly surprised - unfortunately i am still not keen on steak but the bloke loved it!

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  • Binder photo justlovesfood:)

    12 March 2011

    justlovesfood:) commented on this recipe

    best steak even converted my bf to medium rare mmm

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  • Binder photo Supernova

    12 April 2011

    Supernova rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    best home cooked steak ever. I would recommend it with Gordon's chunky chips

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  • Binder photo Mr Ed

    19 May 2011

    Mr Ed commented on this recipe

    Gordon's way to cook steaks made the job so easy for a beginner...Thanks Gordon.

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  • Binder photo Mr Ed

    19 May 2011

    Mr Ed rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Nick Langman

    07 June 2011

    Nick Langman rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Superb again. We used Marsala (for mushrooms) rather than Sherry (we didn't have any Sherry) superb. We could have used Vermouth as well.

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  • Binder photo cmf-foodfile

    22 September 2011

    cmf-foodfile commented on this recipe

    Shazza, parsley is a good all-rounder, and has less of a "scent" than some of the other herbs.

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  • Binder photo Volaticus

    27 November 2011

    Volaticus rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Followed to the word and my Fillet Steak turned out beautifully! Have the confidence to take the steak out of the pan when it looks like it might need more to the beginner.

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  • Binder photo Bigwizzard

    08 January 2012

    Bigwizzard commented on this recipe

    How can a recipe give timings "1½-2½ mins on each side" to cook a steak with no mention of the thickness of the steak??? And also no mention of whether that time is for rare, med rare or done??? And what does "add a swirl of oil" mean? What type of oil??

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  • Binder photo Samantha

    15 January 2012

    Samantha commented on this recipe

    Hi, HELP...I am going to try to cook this steak tonight. I am no foodie or even a good cook for that matter but I care about feeding my family well. I have either rosemary or thyme for the sprig, which one should I use? I am going to use avacado oil and would like to eliminate the butter, how big of a difference will there be in flavor? Also, I am sure I heard that a steak should always be finished in the oven, can some one explain? Samantha

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  • Binder photo Holly James

    16 April 2013

    Holly James commented on this recipe

    I made this recipe last night and couldn't believe how delicious it was! A couple years I tried a steak in Beverly Hills and it was the best thing I had ever tasted, I've been trying to duplicate it since then and this is the first thing to even come close. Brilliant! http://thestinkingrose.com/thesteak-la.htm

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  • Binder photo Jonathan Jackson

    21 April 2013

    Jonathan Jackson rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo cookingj

    25 May 2013

    cookingj commented on this recipe

    This is the absolute best recipe!! Expect nothing less from Gordon Ramsey, but had to share... AMAZING!!! Signed up for this site to submit this comment alone!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 1

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Ready in about 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 steak
  • oil
  • 1 whole garlic clove
  • herb sprig
  • butter , for fillet or rib-eye steaks
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