A couple weeks ago someone posted on my Facebook wall about a porterhouse steak that takes 22 hours to cook. I saw the recipe on The Bitten Word and then traced their source back to Bon Appetite magazine. I have been very happy with a couple different recipes I have tried from both sources and when I saw this I knew I had to give it a try. As luck would have it I had a nice, thick porterhouse from Snake River Farms (disclosure: they sent me this steak for free) sitting in the freezer just waiting for something like this to come along. This was a beautiful steak with some good marbling and a huge piece of filet on it.
Theoretically some of this made sense. One problem with a porterhouse is you have two completely different cuts of steak in one: A NY Strip (on the right of the picture above) and the tenderloin or filet mignon (on the left). These two steaks have very different fat content, very different flavor and texture, and cook very differently. Cooking it very slow and frying it hard a couple times could help the two sides cook more evenly and uniform. Also with the giant bone in the middle of the meat sometimes the meat has trouble making good contact with the pan to get a good sear. Frying it in the oil would solve this problem.
There were a couple things about this recipe that worried me. First, this was an awesome looking steak and I was hesitant to risk it on something like this. Second, this recipe does some things with the steak that I would never think of doing (scoring the meat and seasoning with more than salt and pepper) but for the sake of testing I tried to stick as close to the recipe as I could.
So how could a steak take 22 hours to cook? Well, the cooking time isn’t really 22 hours. You really only cook it for 2 1/2 hours or so but there is a lot of time in the refrigerator and freezer before you start cooking.
To make it simple here is what you do: score the steak, season the steak, rest in the fridge for 12+ hours, freeze for 6 hours, fry the steak, roast (and baste), fry again, rest, and then eat. Technique-wise there is nothing really complicated here. Let me walk you through the process to cook this porterhouse steak.
1. Score the meat – Just cut some 1/4 inch deep lines in the steak on both sides about an inch apart. I probably scored it a bit too shallow but I really felt bad cutting into a nice looking steak like this.
2. Rub with some seasoning – The recipe calls for 1 TBSP brown sugar and 1 TBSP salt and 1/2 tsp cayenne. The brown sugar was a bit weird but I am guessing this was needed to get the caramelized crust on the steak. Rub this mixture into the meat.
3. Stand the steak on its end and rest it in the fridge for 12 hours – I just put it in at night before I went to bed. A porterhouse steak this size will be plenty thick enough to stand on a rack placed over a sheet pan.
4. Freeze the steak for 6 hours – After sitting overnight I moved the steak to the freezer in the morning. 6 hours should be plenty of time to get it mostly frozen. Mine wasn’t rock hard but it was pretty close.
5. Fry the steak – Yeah, I said fry, not sear. Heat some oil in a cast iron pan (I used a 12 inch skillet with about 3/4 inch of oil in it) to 350 degrees. You want the steak to come about half way up the steak. Fry it on each side for 3 minutes. This creates a nice crust before it goes in the oven.
6. Roast – Put the steak back on the rack over the sheet pan and put it in a 200 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes. After 30 minutes or so you should be able to get your probe thermometer into the NY Strip side of the porterhouse. While the steak is cooking that first 30 minutes brown 1/2 stick of butter (heat on medium for about 5-8 minutes. It will foam and then start to brown). Strain out the solids of the butter and then add any extra seasoning you want to add. The recipe calls for masala or vadouvan but I just used salt and pepper. Baste the steak with this.
7. Continue roasting – Set your probe thermometer to 120. It should take 60-90 minutes to come to temperature. Every 20-30 minutes flip the steak and baste with the butter and drippings that are in the pan.
8. Fry again – When the steak gets close to 120 (maybe 115 or so) heat your oil back to 350. When your steak hits 120 pull it out of the oven and fry it again for about 2 minutes per side. Frying the second time will put an awesome crust on the steak.
9. Rest the meat – Tent the meat and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes
10. Eat – You can just grab a knife and fork and go to town yourself but I was feeling charitable and shared it with my wife and kids. I am too nice a guy.
So now for the million dollar question: Was it worth it? Is a steak that takes 22 hours really that much better than just a reverse seared or seared steak? Simple answer: No, not really.
The steak cooked well and both sides were cooked evenly. It was a bit more done than I like but still nice and tender. Frying it put a nice crust on it and it is hard to go wrong when you baste a steak with butter. There were some bites that were wonderful but others that weren’t as good and I could taste a bit of the sweetness from the brown sugar on a few of the bites but overall I would be very hard pressed to say this was any better than something I could cook in much less time. The porterhouse steak from Snake River Farms was wonderful but it would have been great with plenty of other cooking methods as well.
If you have some time on your hand give this a shot. It won’t be a “waste” of a steak but in my opinion there isn’t much you get here that makes it worth all the extra time.
