Joanna Gaines Magnolia Table Vol. 2: An Honest Review of Ribeye Steak, Herb Butter & Rosemary Sweet Potatoes
Welcome to a special recipe review where we dive into three interconnected dishes from Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Table Cookbook Vol. 2. Often, a complete meal requires more than a single recipe, and Jo herself suggests these three components – Ribeye Steaks, Becki’s Herb Butter, and Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes – as a cohesive and balanced dinner experience. Today, we’ll explore each recipe individually and as a harmonious trio to see if they truly deliver on flavor and culinary satisfaction.
The Culinary Deep Dive: Reviewing Joanna Gaines’ Steak Dinner
Joanna Gaines’ suggestion to serve her Ribeye Steaks with Becki’s Herb Butter and Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes is a thoughtful inclusion in the cookbook. It removes the guesswork from meal planning, a welcome feature for many home cooks who appreciate guidance on pairing main courses with complementary sides. It’s refreshing when a cookbook helps you envision a complete dinner rather than leaving you to ponder accompaniments.
However, when it comes to the Ribeye Steak recipe itself, I find myself questioning its inclusion in a cookbook designed to inspire and educate home chefs. The instructions are remarkably brief, essentially advising the reader to place the steak in a hot skillet and finish it in the oven. While this method is a valid way to cook a steak, the recipe offers little in the way of technique, tips, or guidance on achieving different levels of doneness. For someone new to cooking steak, or those who lack confidence in their searing skills, this recipe provides minimal support. A cookbook, especially one from a beloved lifestyle guru like Joanna Gaines, often serves as a learning tool. Unfortunately, this particular steak recipe misses an opportunity to teach fundamental steak-cooking principles that could elevate a home cook’s skills.
In essence, the steak recipe feels less like a standalone culinary lesson and more like a vehicle to feature Becki’s Herb Butter. While the resulting steak was certainly edible, even good, my personal preference for a perfectly cooked steak led me to prepare it on the grill, a method I’m familiar with and which consistently yields the results I love. The recipe, as presented, simply didn’t inspire me to deviate from my tried-and-true techniques.
Moving on to Becki’s Herb Butter, a compound butter intended to enhance the steak. This recipe calls for a full pound of butter, which immediately raised an eyebrow. I decided to scale the recipe down significantly, opting for just a quarter of the suggested amount, and I’m genuinely glad I did. Unfortunately, the flavor profile of this herb butter, featuring sun-dried tomatoes and lemon, simply didn’t resonate with my palate when paired with steak. The combination felt somewhat disjointed and didn’t contribute to the rich, savory experience I typically seek in a steak topper. It highlighted for me how crucial the right compound butter can be, and how a mismatch can detract from the overall enjoyment of an otherwise premium cut of meat.
For those seeking an exceptional steak topping, one that truly elevates the flavor of your beef to restaurant-quality standards, I highly recommend exploring my own steak butter recipe. It’s designed to bring out the best in your steak, ensuring a memorable dining experience at home and potentially saving you a trip to an expensive steakhouse.
Finally, let’s discuss the Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes. These were… adequate. While certainly not bad, they didn’t stand out as particularly innovative or exceptionally flavorful. They fall into the category of “basic recipes you can’t really mess up,” which is fine, but not what I typically look for when experimenting with new cookbook entries. The rosemary provided a pleasant herbaceous note, which generally pairs well with steak. However, when combined with the lemony, sun-dried tomato notes from the herb butter, the overall harmony of flavors on the plate wasn’t quite there for me. While the potatoes did achieve a lovely crispness, the flavor combination ultimately failed to captivate my taste buds in the way I’d hoped.
Reflecting on the Culinary Experience: An Unbiased Perspective (Mostly)
It’s clear from my reviews that this particular recipe combination didn’t quite hit the mark for me. When investing in a beautiful, premium cut of meat like a ribeye, my expectation is a truly exceptional meal, and unfortunately, this trio didn’t deliver that “wow” factor. I acknowledge that my past experience working in a steakhouse early in my culinary career might introduce a certain bias or higher standard when it comes to steak preparation. I’ve learned what truly constitutes a great steak, and I approach steak recipes with a discerning eye, looking for techniques and flavor profiles that consistently yield superb results.
However, beyond personal preference, there’s a more fundamental issue at play. A cookbook, especially one aimed at a broad audience, should ideally empower and educate the home cook. Joanna Gaines’ steak recipe, in my opinion, falls short by not adequately teaching proper steak-cooking techniques, nor does it offer guidance on how to achieve the most flavorful and perfectly cooked steak imaginable. Given the brevity and lack of instruction, it’s hard to imagine a beginner achieving stellar results. For these reasons, I respectfully suggest that these three recipes, as presented, could have potentially been omitted from the cookbook without a significant loss to its overall value, particularly if the aim is to offer truly inspiring and instructive culinary content.
Expert Tips for Cooking the Perfect Steak Every Time
Since the provided recipe left a desire for more comprehensive guidance, let’s delve into what truly makes a steak great. The journey begins with understanding your preferences. Do you prefer a cut with more marbling and rich, melt-in-your-mouth fat, or a leaner, incredibly tender option?
Choosing Your Perfect Cut
- Ribeye and New York Strip: These cuts are renowned for their generous marbling (interspersed fat). As this fat renders during cooking, it self-bastes the meat, resulting in an incredibly tender, juicy, and flavorful steak. Ribeyes are typically more marbled and have a characteristic “eye” of fat, while New York Strips offer a slightly firmer texture with a fat cap along one edge.
- Filet Mignon (Tenderloin) and Sirloin: These are leaner cuts. Filet Mignon is celebrated as the most tender cut of all, with a fine grain and buttery texture, making it highly prized despite its usually higher price point. Sirloin, while leaner than ribeye or strip, offers a good balance of flavor and tenderness at a more accessible price. These cuts don’t rely on marbling as much for tenderness but are naturally soft. My personal favorite remains the filet for its unparalleled tenderness, as I dislike any chewiness in my steak.
Once you’ve selected your ideal cut, here are the essential steps to achieving steakhouse-quality results, even with a cut like the ribeye Jo features:
Preparation is Key
- Bring to Room Temperature: This is a crucial, often overlooked step. Remove your ribeyes from the refrigerator at least 1 hour, and ideally up to 3 hours, before cooking. Allowing the steak to come closer to room temperature ensures more even cooking from edge to center, preventing a cold, undercooked middle or an overcooked exterior.
- Season Generously: Don’t be shy with your seasoning. I consistently use only coarse salt (like Kosher or sea salt) and freshly cracked black pepper. The secret is to use more than you think you need. The salt draws out moisture, then re-absorbs it, concentrating the flavor, and helps create that beautiful crust.
Mastering the Cook
- High Heat is Your Best Friend: Whether you’re using a cast-iron skillet or a grill, the surface needs to be HOT. For grilling, preheat your grill to its highest setting. For a skillet, get it smoking hot before adding any oil or the steak. This intense initial heat creates a magnificent crust, known as the Maillard reaction, locking in juices and developing deep, savory flavors.
- Grilling Ribeyes (with caution): If you choose the grill, be mindful of flair-ups. The abundant fat in a ribeye will drip onto the flames. To manage this, after achieving a beautiful sear on both sides over direct, high heat, move the steak to an area of the grill with indirect heat (or turn off a burner if using gas) to finish cooking to your desired doneness. This prevents burning the exterior while the interior cooks.
- Know Your Doneness: Use an instant-read thermometer for precision.
- Rare: 125-130°F (52-54°C) – Cool red center
- Medium-Rare: 130-135°F (54-57°C) – Warm red center (often considered ideal)
- Medium: 135-140°F (57-60°C) – Warm pink center
- Medium-Well: 140-145°F (60-63°C) – Slightly pink center
- Well-Done: 145°F+ (63°C+) – Little to no pink
Remember, the steak’s internal temperature will rise a few degrees after it’s removed from the heat.
- Rest Your Steak: This is arguably the most critical step. Once cooked, transfer your steak to a cutting board and let it rest for at least 5-10 minutes (longer for thicker cuts). This allows the juices, which have been forced to the center by the heat, to redistribute evenly throughout the meat, resulting in a much juicier and more tender steak. Cutting it too soon will cause all those precious juices to run out onto your board.
Because I have these techniques ingrained, I likely wouldn’t revisit this specific Joanna Gaines recipe for steak or its accompaniments. It simply doesn’t align with my preferred methods or flavor profiles. However, I understand that taste is subjective, and what doesn’t work for one person might be a delightful discovery for another. If you’ve tried these recipes, I would genuinely love to hear your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below. Your unique perspective is invaluable!
Until next time, Happy Cooking!
Kendell
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