Ina Garten's Secret Method For Fully Infusing A Steak With Flavor

Cooked properly, a good piece of beef doesn't need much to make it shine. Some purists might even argue that steak is best served simply, perhaps seasoned with just salt and pepper. But when you take a bite of a seared New York strip that has been really infused with seasonings — not just sprinkled with a little dry rub — well, that's a magical moment. As for how to make that magic in your home kitchen, the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten, has the trick for us. 

You will find no shortage of cooking tips from Ina Garten's Instagram. But her technique for getting deep flavor into steak is one of her best — and it's simple to boot. In her recipe for grilled New York strip steaks, which she shared in on the Barefoot Contessa website, Garten revealed her secret for fully infusing a steak with a flavor: a bit of oil, a good spice rub, and a couple of hours in the refrigerator.

Garten coats the steaks with olive oil and then covers them on all sides with a homemade rub consisting of salt and pepper, light brown sugar, ground coffee, granulated garlic, chile powder, and red pepper flakes. For many, the next step would be to slap those steaks onto a hot grill — but Garten's hack of letting it rest in the fridge first not only allows the seasoning to permeate through the meat, but also dries the steak slightly, ensuring a beautifully crisp sear. 

The steak rub that Ina Garten uses for her New York strips was taught to her by a fifth-generation New York City butcher, so you can trust that it is legit. But there are likely as many steak rub recipes out there as there are backyard grill masters, and you have a lot of options for which flavors you want to feature with your filets. For starters, you can simply shop around for the best store-bought steak rubs. There are a lot of really delicious options on the market, and picking up a jar of something that's ready to go will save you a fair amount of time and effort. But there's nothing like a homemade rub to give your steak a signature sizzle.

When developing your own steak seasoning blend, start with an easy three-ingredient dry rub recipe. Salt, hot smoked paprika, and brown sugar cover a huge swath of the flavor spectrum. From that jumping-off point, there are many simple ingredients that can elevate your steak rub. You can add an herbal nuance with additions like rosemary or thyme, a bit of brightness with citrus zest, or even spike the umami with ingredients like mushroom powder or nutritional yeast. The options are nearly endless, and ripe for experimentation. But don't forget, once that steak is seasoned to perfection, a couple of hours in the fridge will add a lot of flavor.