Recipe
Flat Iron Steak, Cast-Iron Seared
Flat iron is the cut every chef knows about and most home cooks have never heard of — a long, even, beefy steak from the shoulder that costs half a ribeye and tastes nearly as good. On Piedmontese, it's a weeknight knockout. Ten minutes pan-to-plate.
Cook time
10 min
Yields
2–3 servings
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- •1 Spring Lake Cattle flat iron steak, 1–1.25 lb
- •2 tsp kosher salt
- •1 tsp coarse black pepper
- •1 tbsp beef tallow
- •2 tbsp unsalted butter
- •2 garlic cloves, smashed
- •2 sprigs fresh thyme
- •Flaky finishing salt
About the cut
Flat iron comes from the top blade of the chuck — second-most-tender cut on the entire animal after the tenderloin, when it's trimmed properly to remove the seam of connective tissue down the middle. On a Piedmontese animal it stays uniform-thick, so the whole steak cooks evenly. See all cuts for availability.
Method
- Salt early. Pat the steak fully dry. Salt both sides generously and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pepper just before it hits the pan — pepper burns at sear temps.
- Heat the pan hot. Set a heavy cast-iron skillet on high heat for 4 minutes. The pan is ready when a flick of water vaporizes immediately.
- Tallow, then steak. Add the tallow, swirl, then lay the steak down away from you. Don't move it. 2 minutes.
- Flip once. One clean flip. Add butter, smashed garlic, and thyme to the pan. The butter foams; the garlic perfumes.
- Baste 90 seconds. Tilt the pan and spoon the foaming butter over the steak repeatedly.
- Pull at 120°F. A leave-in thermometer pays for itself the first time. Lean Piedmontese carries 7–8 degrees on the rest, so 120°F gives you a perfect 128°F medium-rare.
- Rest, then slice. Move to a wire rack for 6 minutes. The grain runs the length of a flat iron — slice perpendicular to it at 1/4 inch.
- Finish. Drizzle the slices with a spoonful of the warm pan butter. Sprinkle flaky salt. Eat immediately.
Chef's notes
- •The seam of silver skin should already be removed by your butcher. If you see it, slice it out before cooking — it never breaks down.
- •Slicing thin is the entire point of flat iron. Thick slices are chewy; pencil-thin slices are tender.
- •Great over salad, in tacos, on grain bowls, or fanned over crusty bread with chimichurri.
- •Skip a marinade. Salt and high heat are the whole game on a cut this good.
- •Cook to medium and you've wasted the cut. 130°F is the absolute ceiling.
Add a flat iron to your next pickup
The best value steak in the entire animal.