how do we feel about chilli on your steak?

I like to marinate my steak in olive oil, sea salt and a finely chopped red chilli before grilling

also, is the accepted method for really thick cuts to grill it then place it in the oven?

i don't know if it's universally accepted, but pretty much yeah. if you're pan-searing it, finish in the oven. if you're grilling, you can just move it off the direct heat and finish it on the grill.

Reverse sear thick cuts on the grill. For real.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/t...ct-steaks.html

Decent article on a few of the frequently discussed points in this thread.
re: salting - They recommend salting at least 40 minutes prior to cooking, as it draws juices out of the steak, turns it into a concentrated brine, then breaks down the muscle fiber and is reabsorbed. This is a pretty specific period of time in his tests, and less than this time leads to an inferior steak because of the lack of re-absorption and subsequent crappy sear from surface moisture (avoided with a pat-dry after a too-short salting period). His best steak was salted and rested in the fridge uncovered overnight.

I'll definitely plan on an hour for my next salting period and see how it affects surface moisture before cooking.

He also said oil is best to cook in (then butter at the very end), but I still think that nothing will beat rendered beef fat (which you could also supplement with butter at the end).

I read something similar before and have been either salting for at least an hour or just immediately prior to cooking, nothing in between.

why the hell can't I get such a uniform dark crust on my steaks like you guys?

Heres what I did:
1. take 1 pound rib eye out of fridge 30 minutes prior
2. make sure its dry
3. salt and pepper
4. have 12 inch cast iron pan preheated on high
5. small amount of canola oil and butter
6. drop steak in
7. set off smoke alarm
8. 3 minutes later flip
9. fail to see awesome crust and begin cursing
10. finish, remove, rest etc...

where am I going wrong?

letting it rest longer and salting prior will probably help

maybe you are using too much oil/butter also

are you basting after you flip?

how much is too much butter/oil? and i'll try again tonight but let it rest an hour before hand. I did salt and pepper right before it went in the pan.

I did not baste! Whats the exact procedure? just spoon butter over it continuously for a minute?

sounds like its an issue with heat imo.

make sure it gets real hot and then just let it sit and dont touch it.

I can get a decent sear on the outer edges but the middle part contacting the pan always seems to stay light brownish. Maybe I'll try to find my camera and take pics tonight with my success/failure cause thats what all the cool kids seem to be doing.

results typically turn out like post 2305 for reference

Don't use oil or butter. I couldn't get a sear for crap using either, at least at the start. Stopped using them and they sear pretty easy.

Don't use butter in the beginning at all. The milk proteins will burn before the steak is done and you'll have a burnt butter taste to it

Trim some of the fat off the steak before you salt/pepper it and render it in the cast iron on high heat before you cook the steak. Spread it around and get a nice even layer of beef fat on the pan then plop the steak on

i'm about to start cooking in 20 min, thanks for the replies. I always had put butter/oil in before the steak so i'll try it dry

It really can't be "dry." you need some oil

That is the weirdest sandwich I have ever seen, but upon reflection, is not that far off from the concept of a muffaletta--so I approve.

there you go, soldier. i'll see you this weekend.

mission steak crust complete

Ended up leaving it out for almost 2 hours and it was close to room temp but slightly cool to the touch. Cut off a little fat off the edges and used the ensuing liquid as the intial cooking grease. Was somewhat pleased with the results, definitely delicious and better than previous attempts but still nothing amazing. Will post pics tomorrow

When you put the steak on to the pan, it may kinda curl up on the edges so that the middle part of the steak don't get as much direct heat from the pan. Try pressing the steak very lightly when you add it to the pan so that it cooks uniformly. And let that pan get freaking hot. Little oil is good as suggested.

steak from last night. Ribeyes were on sale for $5.99/lb at shaws so I went through the pille and picked out several of the most marbled ones. They came in packs of 2 and were about 1 pound each.

First I let the steak sit out for a couple hours and it was about room temp.



As suggested I cut off a little fat from the edges and placed it in a hot cast iron pan. These pieces would later get crispy and delicious not unlike bacon.



Steak seasoned with salt and cracked pepper goes into nothing but the liquid beef fat.



first flip after 3 minutes. Meh. Added some butter and basted after a couple minutes but not sure it had any effect. Still a pale patch towards the middle WTF



baby portabella and onion.







As close as my camera would let me get. The colors a little off but yes they were slightly overcooked.



Overall juicy, delicious and awesome!

Looks good. The bone-in is always going to leav a little uncrusted area so don't sweat that.

You also need to throw some butter in before the steak. That's what browns and helps create the crust.

gah! i thought I was told NOT to before the steak hence the fat trimmings

butter after steak but before flip.

thats what I did but optimal butter timing advise seems contradictory here.

peat,

The bone-in was def your main problem.

If I use butter, I generally do it right at the end, but haven't been doing that lately.

Try rubbing a little bit of olive (or other) oil on the steak along with the salt and pepper to get a little darker and more uniform crust (I did that on most of the early steaks in this thread, recently I've only been using the rendered beef fat from the edges).