Tap any timer to start it · They run in the bottom-right
01
Step One · Before the Pan
Salt it, dry it, heat the iron.
The Clock · Whole Cook
Preheat
Side 1
Side 2
Fat edge
Baste
Rest
9 min activethen 8 resting · temp beats time
A 1.6 lb T-bone runs about an inch and a quarter thick, which is enough meat that the pan has to be genuinely hot before anything touches it. Cast iron holds heat harder than a griddle, so five minutes gets you there, and you want it just barely smoking, not raging.
A · Salt and Dry
Salt both faces generously 40 minutes ahead if you have it, or right before it goes down if you don't. Nothing in between. Then pat it bone dry with paper towels, both faces and the edge. Surface moisture is the only thing standing between you and a crust.
B · Heat the Iron
Dry pan over medium-high, five minutes. Vent hood on high and a window cracked before you start, because this smokes. A drop of water should skitter and vanish. Add a thin film of avocado oil right before the steak, not at the start, or it burns off while you wait.
Two Steaks in One
A T-bone is a strip on the big side of the bone and a tenderloin on the small side, and the tenderloin cooks faster. Point the tenderloin side toward the cooler edge of the pan and keep the strip over the center. If your skillet has a hot spot, that's where the strip goes.
02
Step Two · The Sear
Down, still, one flip.
The Sear · Stage by Stage
Side 1
Side 2
Fat edge
Pull at 130°Fstrip side, off the bone
Six and a half minutes of contact, one flip, no fidgeting. The crust builds because the steak sits still on hot iron, and every lift resets it.
A · Sear Side One
Lay it away from you so the oil doesn't come back at you, and press it flat for five seconds so the whole face makes contact. Three and a half minutes, untouched. Lift a corner at the end: deep brown edge to edge, not gray, not blonde.
B · Sear Side Two
One flip with tongs, gripping the bone. Three minutes. Side two always runs a little shorter because the steak is already carrying heat.
C · Stand the Fat Edge
Hold the steak up on its fat edge with tongs, using the bone as a handle. One minute to render and crisp it. Skip this and the fat cap eats waxy.
03
Step Three · Butter and Rest
Baste, probe, walk away.
The Finish
Baste
Rest
130 → 135°Fcarryover does the last five
A · Butter Baste
Drop in 3 tbsp butter, 4 smashed garlic cloves, and a few sprigs of thyme. Kill the heat to medium so the butter browns instead of burning, tilt the pan, and spoon the foaming butter over the steak without stopping for about 90 seconds. Probe the strip side, away from the bone: pull at 130°F.
B · Rest It
Onto a board, garlic and thyme on top, eight full minutes. It climbs to about 135°F on its own and the juice settles back into the meat. Cutting at four minutes puts that juice on your board instead.
C · Carve Off the Bone
Run the knife along both sides of the bone to free the strip and the tenderloin, then slice each against the grain and lay the slices back against the bone to serve. Spoon the pan butter over the top.
The Only Number That Matters
Pull temperatures.
Times on this page assume an inch and a quarter of steak and a properly hot pan. Yours may run thicker or your burner cooler, so the thermometer is the referee. All of these are pull temps, five degrees below where the steak lands after resting.
Rare
120°F
Medium Rare
130°F
Medium
140°F
Medium Well
148°F
Probe the Strip, Not the Bone
Bone conducts heat and reads hot, so a thermometer touching it will tell you the steak is done several degrees before it is. Go into the thickest part of the strip side, horizontally, and stop short of the bone.
The tenderloin side will run a few degrees ahead of the strip no matter what you do. That's normal on a T-bone, and it's why the tenderloin points at the cooler edge of the pan.