Blackening is a cooking method in which food (usually fish or meat) is coated with butter and seasoned with a variety of flavors before being cooked. This spicy method of preparation is often associated with Creole or Cajun cooking. If you want to prepare steaks that really "pop" with flavor, you can blacken them fairly quickly using simple ingredients and techniques. The blackening technique highlights the natural flavors of the beef.

Melt a half stick of butter in a shallow bowl. You may need more or less butter, depending on the number of steaks that you are preparing.

Combine the salt, black pepper, red pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and oregano in another shallow dish. Mix the ingredients together well.

Dip both sides of the steak in the melted butter.

Dip both sides of the steak in the seasoning mixture. Be sure to coat the steak thoroughly.

Drop the steak into an iron skillet that has been heating for five minutes on medium-high heat and is coated with a tablespoon of melted butter.

Cook the steak for about five minutes on each side for medium-done meat if the steak is about 1 inch thick. Adjust the cooking time accordingly for steaks of different thicknesses or for steaks cooked rare or well-done.