Brooklyn Sizzling Porterhouse
Chapter 2: The Steaks
Drive the USDA Prime porterhouse into a smoking cast-iron skillet, letting hot metal do the violent work of triggering alarms and rendering beef fat. If you have ever sat at a scarred table in Williamsburg, ordered the steak for two, and watched a gruff waiter spoon a river of clarified butter over a dry-aged porterhouse, you know why you spring for the USDA Prime beef—the intense marbling is required to survive the searing cast-iron without drying out—and baste until the butter foams. A deep mahogany crust shattering under the knife.
Before you start
Dry-brine the steak 24 to 48 hours before dinner.
Pat the porterhouse completely dry with paper towels, season aggressively on all sides with the kosher salt, and place on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Leave it in the refrigerator completely uncovered to dehydrate the exterior for an elite crust.
Bring the steak to room temperature before cooking.
Remove the steak from the refrigerator 45 to 60 minutes before hitting the cast-iron to ensure even heat penetration, and season it with the freshly ground black pepper.
Ingredients
- USDA Prime dry-aged porterhouse steak36 oz
- coarse kosher salt1 1/2 tbsp
- black pepper1 tsp
- beef tallow1 tbsp
- clarified butter4 tbsp
Method
- 01
Position your oven rack about 4 to 5 inches below the broiler element and preheat the broiler to its maximum setting.
Place a heavy cast-iron fajita skillet, or a thick, heat-proof ceramic serving platter, into the oven to get ripping hot.
- 02
Heat a large cast-iron skillet on your stovetop over maximum heat until it is smoking.
Add the beef tallow, then sear the room-temperature porterhouse for exactly 2 to 3 minutes per side just until a deep, dark mahogany crust forms. Do not worry about the internal temperature; the center should still be completely raw. Remove the steak to a cutting board.
- 03
Carve the filet and the strip completely off the T-bone using a sharp knife.
Slice both pieces of meat perpendicular to the bone into 1-inch thick strips, cutting against the grain to ensure a tender chew.
- 04
Carefully remove your blistering-hot cast-iron platter from the broiler and place the T-bone in the center.
Reassemble the sliced filet and strip tightly around the bone in their original shape, pushing the slices closely together so no raw interior meat is exposed to the direct heat.
- 05
Pour the melted clarified butter over the entire reassembled steak.
It will immediately begin to pop and hiss violently on the hot cast-iron.
- 06
Place the sizzling platter back under the broiler and watch it like a hawk.
For medium-rare, broil for 1.5 to 2 minutes and pull the steak when a meat thermometer registers exactly 125°F in the thickest part of the strip, knowing it will carry over to 130°F on the hot plate. For rare, pull at 120°F.
- 07
Bring the sizzling cast-iron plate directly to the table.
Tilt the plate slightly by resting one edge on a heat-proof coaster, allowing the butter and beef juices to pool at the bottom. Use a spoon to continuously baste the slices as you serve, ensuring the first bite confirms exactly what Williamsburg tastes like.
Notes
Understanding the USDA grading system.
This recipe requires the intense marbling of a Prime, dry-aged Porterhouse to withstand the 800-degree heat without drying out. A highly marbled USDA Choice cut will suffice for a standard weeknight, but leave the lean Select cuts at the supermarket.
The necessity of clarified butter.
You must use clarified butter or ghee. Whole butter contains milk solids that will immediately burn and turn bitter under the extreme radiant heat of the broiler.