I have it preheat in the oven as the oven gets to 500. Then I have it sitting on the stove on high heat for about 5 minutes before throwing the steak on. There generally is a lot of smoke and I usually set off the detector.

I haven't been putting oil in the pan, but have tried using no oil or a little oil directly on the steak before throwing it in.

I will try to leave the steak out longer beforehand. I was usually letting it sit for ~30 minutes so that could be my problem.

You're not using a nonstick pan, are you?

if you have a vent fan and still need to do this you are burning your oil and bittering and increasing carcinogenicity of your meat.

the oil should come close to its smoking point. thats it. past that the oil will be rancid after smoking for a bit.

i prefer putting oil on the steak too, if i dont use the beefs own fat to cook in, but the idea that putting oil in the pan causes the steak to boil isnt true. the steak boils because of excess moisture, and it boils for too long if there is too much moisture or the pan isnt hot enough to evaporate it away quickly. the oil being on or off the steak at the point of cooking doesn't change this. if the oil is in the pan though, you may need to maneuver the oil under the steak, and this maneuvering could cool down the pan causing the steak to not crust properly, however.

if you're really concerned about boiling, and drying the meat off/hot enough pan is not enough, then you can sprinkle a little flour evenly over the steaks. this can help thicken a pan sauce too for afterwards.

i really dont get this. i often leave my steak in the fridge if it isnt a thick cut because its much less forgiving in terms of overcooking if you cant get the perfect sear in time. particularly if im presearing steaks its better they come out of the fridge so i dont damage the inside meat which i plan on cooking later. in the steak house i worked in, the meat was always in the fridge before cooking, or at least not left out for long.

one of the biggest things if you leave your steak out for 30ish minutes is to take a paper towel right before you are going to put it in the pan to pat dry the steak. All of the extra moisture that collects on the surface from salting will steam the steak instead of getting a good sear.

Came to post exactly this ^^^

Good god, it should never get to that point...



Meh, gotta disagree here as well.. the whole point with the room temp steak is being able to cook it at a super high heat for a small amount of time, hence creating a strong sear, while still having a low temp inside.

I just broil mine in the oven and smother it with bbq sause..comes out fine.

i rarely use flour on meat but a little, if used with good experience, is not damaging at all and can help certain things dramatically. i learned this from reading eric ripert.

you only want to cook the outside of the steak with a sear. a nice thin crust is ideal, because thick crusts require the meat to be well-done to too large a depth into the meat, and is likely to create more "grey", boiled, and overcooked meat. protecting the inside meat is a good thing, if you want to control better how you bring it up to temperature. cooking the inside via a non-oven based method can be very unforgiving and less than ideal on thicker cuts if you want the meat perfectly done throughout.

No, cast iron.


From what I gather, things I need to do are:
1) pat dry before throwing on
2) try letting it sit out for ~hour beforehand

Regarding salting/drying, let me make sure I'm doing it correctly.

I let the steak sit out in advance, with a ton of kosher salt all over. Just before throwing it on, I wipe off most of the salt while patting it dry. Then I add a little canola oil to the steak and put more salt and pepper (a decent amount). My cast-iron pan has been in the preheated 500 degree oven and now on the stove top on high heat for 5 minutes, so it should be very hot. Sear each side of the steak for 30 secs each. I generally try to push the steak down into the pan to make sure it's searing everywhere. There's a lot of smoke so the alarm is probably going off. Throw it in the oven for about 2 minutes per side and let sit while covered on an upside down bowl.

Am I making any glaring errors here that would cause a poor sear? Perhaps we can ignore minor preferential differences in cooking methods and focus on any major issues.

Thanks for all the help so far!

You need to completely rinse off the kosher salt and don't add any more salt after patting dry because it will already be quite salty.

Sounds fine, but you might benefit from letting the cast iron heat up for longer than 5 minutes to ensure that it's optimally heated. Also, try searing the steaks for ~90 seconds per side and minimize oven time (depending on the thickness, the oven part may be unnecessary). Lastly, you might want to use some butter when searing.

I went on a date with a girl and we went to a steakhouse. We eventually decided on what we wanted, I ordered first. When it came to her she requested the filet mignon, well done, with A1. I just wanted to share this because I'm sure everyone in OOT would have died had such a thing occured right in front of their eyes.

So put it under a faucet and wipe it all off? Then I assume pat it dry and just add some pepper? I like the sound of this because I thought it tasted too salty.

These sound like good ideas that I will play around with once I have figure out the Brown way.

I hope it was the first and last date.

I had fillet of Kobe the other week, cost me £55. It was really soft and tender but really not much better than the regular £20 fillet my gf had.. meh least I can say I've tried it lol.

Yep

Another take on the butter basted pan cooked steak:

http://momofukufor2.com/2010/04/pan-...-aged-rib-eye/

I'd recommend not doing this bizarre oversalt for a short time, rinse off, and cook thing. If you're going to pre-salt, do it at least 6 hours ahead and don't rinse off. If you don't have that kind of time, just salt it right before cooking like you normally would. I linked it before, but see this for an explanation of the method.

To get a good sear, coat the steak with grape seed oil or canola oil (canola oil is usually a mixture of grape seed and olive oil) and throw it on a hot pan. If you're using a cast iron skillet, you need to warm it up for about 5 minutes before you put the steak on, and don't use a high temperature, use a medium flame. That's all you need. If you keep the steak on the skillet for at least two minutes, you will get a good sear.

There's way too much debate about the seasoning part here. You don't need a bizzarre oversalting method to get the right flavor. I combine coarse sea salt and coarse black pepper. It's about a 50/50 mixture. I take this, I gently massage it onto the one side of the steak. If you put a bump of this on a steak (think cocaine spoon) and smear it with your thumb, you'll coat about an inch of the steak with this. I do this on one side. I do nothing to the other. This way you get a varied flavor.

we're talking steak, not horse meat

What is it about steaks that so many ppl are incredibly opinionated and inflexible? It's like listening to 6 year olds argue about how to eat oreo cookies.

Blasphemy! Dump that girl. Easy game.

http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/.../208104274/p/1

This Finnish seemed to like his horse steak. Supposedly Canada processes a lot of horse meat and ships it to Europe and Asia, where it is considered a delicacy.

Because a steak is a sacred thing. Every time I have one I feel like I'm eating an endangered species for no reason.

I don't think I've ever seen one of your infinitely moronic posts that wasn't incredibly opinionated and inflexible. The difference is that the people in this thread have at least a tenuous grasp on an intelligent thought process and are trying to contribute.

I had cured horse meat in rural Switzerland some years ago, and it was fantastic. I would eat it every day if I lived there. The horses are raised to be eaten.