Chef Donny Taught Me How To Cook A Filet Today And It Turned Out Amazing And I Haven't Been This Happy In 3 Weeks

Yesterday when I was at the grocery store of death aka Fairway Market in Kips Bay, I picked up the above. Filet Mignon steaks. Maybe you are well versed in preparing steaks like our own Barstool Hubbs

But I on the other hand had never cooked a steak at home before. It always seemed so daunting to me. There's not much room for error when preparing a steak so I always left it to the professionals at the Olive Garden when I wanted a good steak.

We tried to do it Periscope but that didn't work at all, so we hopped on FaceTime and he walked me through it.

First he had me take my steaks out of the packaging. A big step, of course. Here they are, smothered in salt and pepper. Apparently any time you think you've put on enough, keep going. That's how you get your crust. 

You might notice that bottom steak fell apart. I didn't even buy the cheapest cut, $14.99/pound isn't terrible, but it's ok, I was able to get salt into all the nooks and crannies which ultimately kinda paid off.

While this was going, I had my oven preheated to 400 and a pan on the stove top on high heat causing my apartment to fill with smoke. Might have set off the smoke detector, who is to say? (It did). 

We then plopped those bad boys down on the hot pan (I don't have cast iron or anything, the normal ol' scrambled eggs pan was a warrior though and did just great).

Again, you can see that one piece was kinda all over the place, but the top one was excellent. 

We let those bad boys sizzle for about 3 minutes on each side (was more like 2:45 because I wanted it a little on the rare side) and then popped them into the oven for another 3 minutes.

While they were in the oven, I poured an expensive red wine onto the pan on medium heat

and since I don't have butter, mixed in some margarine (I can't believe it's NOT butter!) and garlic powder since I don't have fresh pressed garlic. And that's important to note- if you don't have something, improvise. So you stir the butter and wine and garlic together on medium heat until it turns into a sauce, you pull out your steak, pour the sauce on over it, and let it sit for 7 minutes.

And then, the great reveal....

STEAK BAYYYYBEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

It was a littttle on the rare side, which now I know for next time, could have used another minute or 2 in the oven. But my god was it good. No joke the first bite made me happier than I've been in 3 weeks. I can't believe how good it turned out.

And remember that other piece that was split 3 ways? It cooked more to medium and was delicious as well. 

And guess what folks? It's never too late to learn something new. We have nothing but time right now, and if anything good comes from this entire ordeal, I can now cook a steak. And like most things, now I'm going to get addicted to it. I can rub coffee on my steak you're saying? I can marinate it over night? Let's do all the steak things! I'm very excited moving forward. 

Thank you to Chef Donny for teaching me the ways. One of the most delightful people I've had the pleasure of meeting. Love that guy. 

So here's my challenge to you, the reader- learn something new this week. Maybe it's cooking something new, maybe it's doing yoga at home, maybe it's learning how to identify birds in the wild. We've spent 3 weeks eating candy and drinking beer, so now let's turn the corner and make good use of this time. While still also eating candy and drinking beer, obviously.

Gosh bless.