Ideal searing temperatures?

[JacobJ]

I just got an IR thermometer and I've been looking for a list of ideal searing temperature ranges. In other words, I'm looking for the ideal temperature range for the pan/grill to be when searing various hunks of meat.

 

I assume this varies by the type of meat (e.g., what would be great for a nice ribeye steak would immediately turn a wonderful piece of ahi tuna into charcoal).

 

Does such a list or reference exist out there? Do any books contain this information?

[Chris Hennes]

I typically sear at as close to the smoke point of my oil as I can get, regardless of what I'm searing: honestly, I'd never considered trying to use a lower temp. Can anyone speak to the advantages? I'm also very much looking forward to the Searzall I've got on order...

[paulraphael]

The ideal temperature is probably around 450°F. 

 

But!

 

Unless you have 10s of thousands of BTU/hr pouring into your pan from a commercial range, or a fantastically heavy and conductive can (like maybe a griddle you need help picking up) your pan is going to cool significantly when you drop a piece of food on it. 

 

In order to keep the pan up into the ideal range for searing, in most circustances you have to start higher. Chris's rule for using the smoke point of the oil might work for you. If you have a weaker range and a big slab of meat, you may have to go higher, which means pouring the oil in the pan and then dropping the food in before the oil gets too hot.

Edited May 24, 2014 by paulraphael (log)

[Plantes Vertes]

Maillard reaction happens from 284-329F and caramelisation from 230-356F; of course bearing in mind what Paul has said about the pan temperature dropping when you put the food in you have to get the pan hotter to start with to compensate.

 

Off the top of my head and perhaps counterintuitively I think it makes sense to cook delicate foods like tuna at at a very high heat, because that way you can achieve caramelisation on the surface in a few minutes, without overcooking the flesh inside. If you lower the temperature you have to leave the food in the pan longer to get the browning.

 

EDIT: to write right

Edited May 24, 2014 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[paulraphael]

Also keep in mind that those ideal temperature for the maillard reactions are the temperatures of the food surface, not the pan surface. The food is going to be rapidly cooling itself while searing even if the pan temperature itself doesn't drop. All that sizzling you hear is water rapidly evaporating from the surface and bubbling through the fat. 

 

And there's the conductivity of the pan surface, the conductivity/convection of the cooking medium (oil) and the conductivity of the food itself, each of which is less than 100% efficient.

[lordratner]

The higher the heat, the better if your only goal is searing. Blow torches work well because they are stupid-hot. Cast skillets are good because they can hold a ton of heat (to counter the cooling effect of adding the meat to it). A broiler is decent, but not ideal. I use it for large cuts like brisket and ribs because I am too lazy and impatient to blow torch an entire rack of ribs. You need to move the meat as close to the broiler elements as possible to maximize heat transfer.

In a cast skillet, the oil is primarily acting as a thermal conductor between the meat and pan. Unless you put in a lot of oil, it's the pan doing the work; a couple tablespoons of oil won't hold enough heat to sear a steak properly (you can test this by heating the oil and pouring in onto the steak. Not much happens)

The best method (IMO) is deep frying. The liquid oil provides for a (virtually perfect) even sear, and the large volume holds enough heat to keep above the desired surface temps. Heat the pot of oil to smoke point (I use 425F peanut oil), and drop the meat in for 15-45 seconds depending on the cut/type. You can take it out early, and if you want more, dump it back in. The more oil you use, the more meat you can finish without reheating the oil.

I don't do it often, since there's something a bit too decadent about deep frying my food for a simple Tuesday dinner, but it is far and beyond the easiest and most visually stunning method I know of. Steak, chicken, duck, turkey, hamburger patties, meatloaf, meatballs, bacon-wrapped dates, proccuitto... All have come out amazing, and the crust is generally better than the other methods.

[JacobJ]

Thanks for your input everyone. I can see that variations in pan material/thickness, oil coverage, range power, etc. might make a temperature chart essentially impossible to craft. Perhaps, someday, I'll be up to do doing some research for a standard cast iron skillet with grapeseed oil. 

 

I think the experiment would be to try 350, 400, 450, 500, and 550 degree variations for each of the types of meat (all brought to room temp and lightly covered in an oil with a high smoke point). 

 

The question arose when I last seared tuna. I've been doing a lot of sous vide steaks recently. When not using a blow torch, my technique has always been to get my pan as hot as I can get it before searing. That gives me a nice maillard reaction / crust. Then I tried tuna. Turns out, that was too hot for tuna - it didn't give a nice sear, it carbonized. I tried again with a lower pan heat with much better results. If I recall, Modernist Cuisine warns of similar carbonization problems when using a blow torch on meats other than beef. So, I've at least determined the real answer is more complex than "as hot as possible" - but finding ideal temperatures for my range / skillet could be challenging.

[Chris Hennes]

[...] A broiler is decent, but not ideal. I use it for large cuts like brisket and ribs because I am too lazy and impatient to blow torch an entire rack of ribs. You need to move the meat as close to the broiler elements as possible to maximize heat transfer.

 

(Emphasis mine.) Just to nitpick: this isn't quite true. There is an optimal distance from the broiler that will give you the most heat (it's dependent on the distance between your heating elements). Modernist Cuisine's got an equation for figuring it out for your oven.

[IndyRob]

The best sear I've ever gotten on a filet of beef was done at around 765 degrees F (as measured by an IR thermometer).  This was on a cast iron skillet (no oil) on a gas grill (this will murder the seasoning on your cast iron pan, so I don't necessarily recommend it).  Bring the filets to room temp, dry with a paper towel and season 5 minutes before cooking, while preheating the pan.  Sear on each side one minute, then transfer to an oven proof plate in a preheated 425 degree oven for 7 1/2 minutes.

 

The short, but extreme violence produces a perfect sear that limits itself to only the outer crust.  This is followed by the more gentle oven heat that gets the inside up to temp.  Of course, let the steak rest 5 minutes before serving.

 

I think some steak houses have even more extreme equipment - getting up to something like 1100 degrees.

[lordratner]

Deleted

Edited May 27, 2014 by lordratner (log)

[lordratner]

(Emphasis mine.) Just to nitpick: this isn't quite true. There is an optimal distance from the broiler that will give you the most heat (it's dependent on the distance between your heating elements). Modernist Cuisine's got an equation for figuring it out for your oven.

Yeah, I knew I should have elaborated more. I'm familiar with the MC technique, but its generally easier to tell someone to get the meat close to the broiler elements. Silly thing to do on a forum like this.

 

I also consider the broiler to be a last resort. Fault mine.

So, I've at least determined the real answer is more complex than "as hot as possible" - but finding ideal temperatures for my range / skillet could be challenging.

 

I went back and realized I read your post wrong. I didn't realize you were looking for information specifically regarding using a pan to sear. In that case, you are correct, as hot as possible isn't always the best answer.

 

The problem with using a skillet and minimal oil is that you have to balance poor surface contact with the high heat. If you could somehow get 100% contact between the meat (in this case tuna) and the pan, a million degrees would still work, so long as you removed the fish before carbonization. Sure, it would be a microsecond, but you would have a great sear with almost zero of the underlying meat being overcooked, thus the emphasis on higher temps being better.

 

But with a low oil pan, you get air pockets between the meat and pan, and those areas "sear" way, way, way slower than where the pan touches the meat. So you have to lower the temp to a point where the contacted areas don't scorch in the time it takes the pocketed areas to brown. The lower the temp, the longer it takes, and the more the underlying meat gets exposed to higher-than-desired temps. This balance is mostly why I avoid the technique in favor of torching or deep-frying.

 

IMO (and only my opinion), to use a pan well, you need to use just enough oil to fill any potential pockets between the meat and pan. Any less and the air pockets will create underdone-spots, any more and you have to deal with the oil losing temp and acting as an insulator (though one not nearly as bad as air) between the pan and meat. But it's more complicated than that...

 

You also have to contend with the smoke point of the oil. If the oil smokes at 425F, you can't just dump the oil into a skillet, heat it to 700F, then toss the meat on. Many of the techniques I've seen have you add the meat to the pan as soon as the oil smokes (or ripples, even worse), which means you're using a ~425F skillet instead of a 700F skillet that would transfer the heat better. Using a ton of oil (deep frying) is one work around, since the large quantity of oil will keep above the desired maillard temps when starting from smoke point.

 

Another is to put the oil on the meat, instead of in the pan. I've seen this technique mentioned, but rarely explained. Oil the meat generously, then drop it on the screaming hot skillet. The oil will still help minimize air pockets, and the high retained heat of the skillet will minimize sear time. You will still have to deal with smoking (and flaming, depending) oil where it isn't in contact with the meat, so be ready for a show, but you can get a very fast pan sear this way. 

 

It's too much of a dance for me, which is why I use the deep-frying method. You get about the same amount of added oil with both techniques, but the deep-fried proteins get a much more even (and IMO, pretty) sear. When I want zero added oil, I use the torch or the broiler.

 

 

I think some steak houses have even more extreme equipment - getting up to something like 1100 degrees.

IIRC, the salamanders in a Ruth's Chris get up to 1800F.

Edited May 27, 2014 by lordratner (log)

[paulraphael]

There's no really meaningful way to calculate the temperature of a broiler or grill. They cook almost entirely by radiant heat, so knowing the temperature (of what … the flames? The metal parts? the ceramic coals in the grill?) or even the BTU/hr rating doesn't say much.

Gas burns cleanly, with very little radiant heat. The flames may be burning at over 2500°F, but you can put your hand right next to them. Gas broilers and grills have to work by heating up something else, like metal or ceramic, that can radiate heat efficiently.

There may be a metric for radiant heat output, but it's nothing as simple as a temperature, and as far as I know none of the manufacturers use it.