Cooking For People Who Aren't Really Into Cooking: Mouthwatering Steak!

Steemians, this is my first food post!

Here's the scoop: eating healthy is very important to me! I've never considered myself a great chef or anything, but this past year I made it my mission to greatly improve my cooking. I wanted to get to the point where I would look forward to eating my own food more than going out for food. I think this is an important key to eating healthy: Make your own food taste as good (or better) than the restaurants/fast food joints around you. This will save you a lot of money, and I think it takes about the same amount of time to cook a great dinner compared to going out to a restaurant, sitting down, ordering, eating, chatting, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love good restaurants, but now I also love my home-cooked meals. That being said, if I could afford an amazing chef to cook for me every meal, I would never cook again haha. But I, like almost every person on the planet, have to cook my own food.

So here's what I've come up with: if you're like me, you don't want to spend all day cooking. You don't want to take cooking classes or watch hours of youtube videos. You just want your food to taste great and be healthy. The most important thing here is starting with great ingredients. If the ingredients are great, you don't really have to do too much. I shop at local butchers and fruit/vegetable stores. I always choose local produce when possible, and I go for what's in season. For the most part I keep things simple. Hopefully you'll find value here, and please share your thoughts/ideas in the comments!

Full disclosure: I used to find pictures of food intolerable (and for the most part I still do haha), BUT, since I've been cooking a lot the past year, I've decided to document some of my best cooking.

Here's a snap of strip steak I cooked a little while ago.

I think I cooked this baby to perfection. Medium-rare to medium is what I like best.

I find salting the steak an hour in advance works nicely. I just throw rock salt on both sides and leave it on the kitchen counter for an hour. I also add pepper sometimes. That's pretty much all the seasoning you need.

Get an inch-thick steak with nice marbling. Fat is the best part, learn to love the fat! Strips and ribeyes are my favourites. Tenderloin is also great (but pricey), and the Brazilian picanha (or sirloin cap) is great for sharing.

I use a charcoal bbq which I think tastes the absolute best. Pan-frying also works nicely. You don't need as thick a steak for pan-frying. Just make sure the grill or pan is super hot before you start cooking your meat. For the grill, 4 minutes per side usually works perfect. For the pan, you can flip more often. You might have to use your caveman instincts here. Just make sure you get a nice sear. And remember, it's better to undercook than overcook.

At the end, always let your meat rest for 5 to 10 minutes. This allows it to finish cooking and retain its juices.

For sides, add some potatoes and a green salad and you've got yourself a great dinner. I use small potatoes, or I cut the potatoes into slices, toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic, then bake in the oven at 400-425F for about 25 minutes, flipping once. And I just use olive oil and balsamic vinegar for my salad dressing.

And if you want dessert, eat some fruit!

That's it! My mouth is watering looking at this pic :) Comments/ideas/suggestions welcome.