From Goodfellas · 1990 · Reconstructed
Johnny Dio's Prison Steak
Serve when
Order it the way Henry does — medium rare — right after the gravy course, while Paulie's razor-thin garlic is still perfuming the cell block.
In the movie
Theatrical
- 01:21:09 Henry's prison narration continues past the pasta course — 'we had a pasta course, and then we had a meat or a fish' — with Johnny Dio pan-searing steaks in the cell with no broiler, cooking Henry's to a requested medium rare
Henry's prison narration doesn't stop at the pasta: "we had a pasta course, and then we had a meat or a fish." Johnny Dio does the meat with no broiler in the cell block, cooking everything in pans until the smell fills the joint and the guards can't stand it — and still turning out, by Henry's own account, a great steak. Ordering it medium rare, and getting it, is one more small proof of exactly how well-run this stretch of "prison" really was. This is a reconstruction of the plainest possible version of what Henry describes — the film narrates the method rather than publishing a recipe.
Ingredients
Method
- Salt the steaks generously and let them sit at room temperature for 20–30 minutes.
- Get a heavy pan smoking hot with the olive oil — no broiler needed, exactly as the joint was run.
- Sear the steaks 2–3 minutes a side for medium rare — about 130–135°F on an instant-read thermometer — adjusting for thickness.
- In the last minute, drop in the butter and garlic and baste.
- Rest 5 minutes before serving. No sides needed beyond the pasta course that came before.
Beyond the recipe
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