Ronny's Bloody Steak

Serve when

Serve it rare, the way Ronny slides it across the table — 'You need it bloody, to feed your blood' — minutes after meeting the woman who'll wreck his life.

In the movie

Theatrical

00:32:53 In the apartment over the bakery, Ronny cooks Loretta a steak minutes after they meet, sliding it to her rare — the meal that starts everything the family will spend the movie untangling.

Nicolas Cage's Ronny is a one-handed baker full of opera and grievance, and his idea of hospitality is a nearly-raw steak and total emotional honesty. The scene is the film in one plate: appetite first, propriety later — "to feed your blood."

Ingredients

1 thick ribeye or strip steak
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and coarse black pepper
Good bread, because a baker is cooking

Method

Salt the steak and let it sit 30 minutes at room temperature.
Get a cast-iron pan smoking hot with the oil. Sear 2–3 minutes a side — a hard crust, a rare center (120–125°F on an instant-read). This steak is not shy.
Drop in the butter and garlic and baste for a final minute.
Rest 5 minutes, slice, and pour the pan butter over.
Serve with bread and no apologies, to someone you shouldn't be having dinner with.