Perfectly seared ribeye basted in rosemary garlic butter — restaurant quality from your own pan.
The ribeye is considered the king of steaks — and for good reason. Cut from the rib section of the cow, it carries a rich marbling of fat that melts during cooking, basting the meat from the inside out and creating an incredibly juicy, flavourful bite. Unlike leaner cuts, ribeye doesn't need to be marinated — all the flavour is already built in.
This recipe uses the classic French steakhouse technique of beurre arrosé — continuously spooning foaming garlic butter over the steak as it finishes in the pan. The result is a golden, crackling crust on the outside with a buttery, tender, perfectly pink interior. Once you cook steak this way, you'll never do it any other way.
Take your ribeye out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking — 45 minutes is even better. A cold steak hitting a hot pan will cook unevenly, leaving a grey band of overcooked meat around the outside while the centre stays raw. Room temperature ensures even cooking from edge to edge. While it rests, pat the surface completely dry with kitchen paper. Moisture = steam = no crust. This step alone is the difference between a steakhouse steak and a home steak.
Season both sides and the edges with coarse salt and freshly cracked black pepper. You need to be generous here — steakhouses use far more salt than feels comfortable. The salt draws out a tiny amount of moisture, dissolves, and is then reabsorbed back into the meat — this is what creates deep, seasoned flavour throughout, not just on the surface. Press the seasoning firmly into the meat with your palm so it sticks. Leave the seasoned steak to sit uncovered for 10 minutes while your pan heats up.
Place your cast iron skillet over high heat and leave it for a full 3–5 minutes until it is absolutely smoking hot. This is non-negotiable. A pan that isn't hot enough will cause the steak to steam instead of sear, resulting in a grey, sad exterior with no crust. You want the Maillard reaction — the chemical browning reaction that creates hundreds of flavour compounds and that beautiful golden crust. Once the pan is smoking, add your high smoke-point oil and swirl to coat.
Carefully lay the steaks away from you into the hot pan. Immediately you'll hear an aggressive sizzle — that's the Maillard reaction starting. Now here is the most important rule: do not touch or move the steak for 3 full minutes. Moving it breaks the crust as it forms. After 3 minutes, use tongs to check the underside — it should be a deep, even mahogany brown. If it needs more time, give it 30 more seconds. Flip and sear the other side for another 3 minutes. Then hold the steak on its fatty edge using tongs for 1 minute to render and crisp the fat cap.
Reduce heat to medium. Add butter, smashed garlic cloves, rosemary and thyme to the pan. As the butter melts and begins to foam, tilt the pan slightly and use your spoon to continuously scoop the foaming butter and pour it over the top surface of the steak. Do this rapidly and repeatedly for 90 seconds to 2 minutes without stopping. The hot aromatic butter carries the garlic and herb flavour into the crust, adds an incredible richness to the exterior, and gently finishes cooking the steak from the top. You will see the colour deepen and the crust glisten. This step is what separates this recipe from every other steak recipe.
Insert your instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the steak, making sure the probe is in the centre and not touching bone or fat. For medium-rare, pull it at 54°C — it will carry-over cook to 57°C while resting. Remove the steaks from the pan and place them on a cutting board or warm plate.
Rest the steak uncovered for exactly 5 minutes. During cooking, the muscle fibres contract and push all the juices to the centre of the meat. Resting allows the fibres to relax and the juices to redistribute throughout the steak. If you cut into it immediately, those juices pour out onto your board and you're left with dry meat. A properly rested steak keeps its juices inside. Spoon any remaining garlic butter from the pan over the resting steak.
Always slice steak against the grain — look at the direction the muscle fibres run and cut perpendicular to them. Cutting with the grain means cutting along long tough fibres, giving you a chewy bite. Cutting against the grain shortens those fibres, giving you a tender, melt-in-mouth slice. Finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt over the slices and serve immediately on a warm plate.