With a meat-loving husband and kids, there was no question that the choice of meat for our Christmas Day dinner this year had to be beef! A couple of months ago, we discovered the bone-in rib eye steak at the butchery section in the supermarket and this has since become our steak of choice to cook at home.

Also known as OP rib, cowboy steak, it is a single rib cut from the centre of a full rib of beef. The beauty of this cut is that it is thick and chunky, it makes cooking it (to perfection) much easier for a homecook.  For two, we usually get an OP rib which is about 650g but for Christmas Day we cooked a 1.1kg rib for a family of four.

Prep Time

    •    Prep time: 2 minutes
    •    Cook time: 15 minutes (for 650gm)
    •    Yield: Serves 2-3

Ingredients

    •   650g bone-in rib eye steak (OP Rib / Côte de bœuf), about 1.5 inch thick
    •   Salt and freshly ground pepper
    •   Canola oil

You need:

    •   Meat thermometer
    •   Grill pan

Serve with:

    •   Roast potatoes / mash potatoes / fries
    •   Vegetables
    •   Dijon mustard
    •   Fleur de sel / Good-quality sea salt
    •   Gravy or sauce of your choice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (roast mode).
2. Heat grill pan over medium high heat for 4 minutes, until it is very hot.
3. Rub oil all over the steak, then season one side with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Place meat (seasoned side) and grill for 3 minutes.
4. Season the top side and flip over, and grill for further 3 minutes. You can test the temperature before putting the steak into the oven, just to gauge roughly how long is needed in the oven. To test, insert the meat thermometer in the centre of the steak.

A few tips for cooking the perfect bone-in rib eye steak:

1. Make sure the meat is at room temperature before you start cooking. For such a huge slab of meat, remove from fridge at least two hours before to allow sufficient time to get to room temperature.
2. After cleaning, pat it VERY dry with a kitchen towel.
3. Rub the steak with some oil and season with generous amounts of salt and pepper - this is to get a nice crust on the steak.
4. Before you start cooking, make sure you preheat the oven to 180°C (roast mode). Make sure your pan is lightly oiled and very hot before the steak hits the pan.
5. The best way to test the doneness of such a thick cut is to use a meat thermometer. For medium rare, you should aim for 120°F to 125°F after the steak has been in the oven (test in the centre, thickest part). If it has reached this temperature, cover loosely with a foil to rest - you will find that after resting, the residual heat will further "cook" the meat and bring the temperature of the meat up to 130°F to 135°F, a perfect medium rare. Please refer to the below chart for perfect beef doneness.Remove from grill pan and place on a baking tray into the preheated oven until it has reached your desired doneness. For a 650g steak to be cooked to medium rare doneness, it usually requires about 7-8 minutes. Test doneness with a meat thermometer, between 120°F and 125°F is the temp you should aim for medium rare.
6. Once it has reached your desired doneness, remove from oven and cover the steak loosely with foil to rest for 5 minutes. Do not cover too tightly or the meat will sweat. After resting, the meat temperature should be around 130°F to 135°F.
7. Slice the steak tableside and serve with Dijon grain mustard or gravy, and some fleur de sel.

NOTE: We usually get an OP rib which is around 1.5" thick, but it could get up to 2-2.5" thick, so adjust the cooking time accordingly until it reaches your preferred doneness / temperature.

This great family recipe is thanks to GoodyFoodies.blogspot at http://goodyfoodies.blogspot.com/2014/01/recipe-how-to-cook-perfect-bone-in-rib.html