Someone Finally Made a Steak That’s Good Enough for Gordon Ramsay — Here’s How to Do It Yourself

It’s no secret that Gordon Ramsay is hard to please. Known for his network of Michelin-starred restaurants, he has also made a name for himself on television, dishing out tough love to contestants and struggling restaurants on hit shows like MasterChef and Kitchen Nightmares.

Ramsay’s signature style extends to social media. The British chef has built up a massive following on social media — with 18.5 million followers on Instagram and 40.9 million on TikTok — through a similar approach: reacting to users’ cooking videos with sharp humor and scathing reviews of their skills and dishes. But it seems Gordon Ramsay has finally found a home cook whose skills he actually approves of. The chef recently responded with overwhelmingly positive feedback to content creator Jay’s (@recipeswithjay) post about how to make a perfect steak.

For anyone aspiring to make a Gordon Ramsay-approved steak, Jay’s technique is worth studying. Here are the essential tips he used to create a perfectly seared, medium-rare steak that even the famously critical chef couldn’t resist praising.

Let the meat come to room temperature

The first step to getting a great crust on a steak is ensuring that it’s not cold when you place it in the pan. Let the meat sit out at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before cooking. This will also help the steak cook more evenly.

Pat the steak dry

When searing a steak — or any piece of meat — moisture is not your friend. After the steak has come to room temperature, and just before cooking, use a paper towel to thoroughly dry the meat on all sides.

Season liberally

You only need salt and pepper to season a good quality steak, but as Jay and Gordon Ramsay point out, you can be generous with both. Ramsay also emphasizes the importance of “wasting nothing at all,” so if there is salt and pepper that spills onto the surface around the steaks, press the meat into the seasoning to make use of it.

Related: 34 Steak Dinner Recipes From Filet Mignon to Rib-Eye

Ensure your skillet is smoking hot

Cast iron pans are a classic choice for cooking steak, and this is what Jay opts for as well. But to leverage the high heat capacity of these skillets, and ensure that they’re heated evenly, you have to give them plenty of time to preheat. Place the skillet over medium heat, and let it warm up until, as Gordon Ramsay says, it’s “a smoking hot pan.”

Once you see the first whisps of smoke coming off of the cast iron, add in your cooking oil. (Oils with a higher smoke point are better for searing steak, which is likely why Jay uses light olive oil instead of extra virgin olive oil. I would recommend using avocado oil for preparing steak, because it has an even higher smoking point.) Move the pan to help the oil coat the whole surface, then add in the steaks.

Sear the sides too

The exact amount of time that you cook the steak will depend on its size and thickness. (Temperature is the most accurate way to tell if it’s ready to be removed from heat.) But if your steak is fairly thick or has a fat cap on it, like a ribeye, make sure you sear the sides of the meat briefly too, after you’ve developed a golden crust on the two largest surfaces of the meat.

Baste with butter

I guarantee you your steak will be better if you baste the meat with butter. Jay employs this technique by removing the steak from the pan after it’s been seared, then adding in butter, half a head of garlic, and thyme. Once the butter has melted and started to foam, he puts the steak back in the pan. From there, it’s all about basting the steak with the butter as quickly as you can.

Related: This Costco Hack Will Help You Buy Beef for Less

Let it rest

Failing to let your steak rest after it’s done cooking could ruin all of your hard work. This key step helps keep moisture in the meat — juices concentrate in the center of a steak as it heats up, and they need time to flow back throughout the muscle after cooking. If you cut the meat too soon, you’ll notice a lot of liquid seeping out. To prevent this, Jay says to allow the steak to rest for at least five minutes.

From there, you’re ready to slice and enjoy a perfectly seared, seasoned, and juicy dish that even Gordon Ramsay would approve of.

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