Earl Cooks Bone-In New York Strip Steak

Bone-In New York Strip Steak with Applewood Smoked
Bacon Mashed Potatoes with Cheddar Cheese

One of the great benefits of the holiday season is all of the food! Turkeys, Hams, Holiday Roasts, Cheeses, Nuts and many others cover the pages of the grocery store ads at prices that seam almost reasonable. But it's the holiday and what kind of holiday would it be if we didn't overspend a little on those we love...foods that is. In pursuit of this goal, I asked my wife a.k.a. "Turkey" if she would prefer a holiday roast or steaks. Without hesitation, she said "steaks!" Our butcher (the meat department at the chain grocery store) was offering a good deal on New York Strip Steaks so I bought too many!

In my effort to never do anything the same way twice and make cooking more challenging I thought I would try a new approach to cooking these bone-in New York strips.
—I began by preheating my cast iron skillet in my oven set to 450℉
—I then seasoned my steaks using just ONE type of seasoning, McCormick's®  Grill Mates® Montreal Steak Seasoning on both sides. I should mention here that I allowed them to come to almost room temperature out of the fridge.
— When my pan was hot I removed it from the oven and turned the oven setting DOWN to 250℉. I placed my seasoned steaks into the hot pan and returned the pan to the oven. The steaks seared just a bit, but I was not searing this right now. That comes later.
—After 30 minutes have passed, turn the steaks over and reduce the heat to 225℉,
—After the hour has passed, remove the pan from the oven and remove the steaks from the pan for just a moment.
—Crank the heat up under your cast iron skillet as high as you dare. Drizzle some olive oil in and return the steaks to the skillet.
—Sear the steaks on both sides to establish a nice crust. Turn as needed with tongs. Yes, you can turn them more than once, but you may not need to. The searing takes about 5 minutes or 2½ minutes per side. I might mention here that "Turkey" like her meat WELL done. Most of you may not, but take that into consideration.

I prepared some mashed potatoes to accompany our steaks and topped both with a generous pat of butter and fresh cracked pepper. These steaks were just shy of  1 pound and I ate the whole thing, plus my potatoes. Turkey had her leftovers for lunch the next day. All told, it was a success and our butcher did a fine job with the meat😁.