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Need Guide on Pan Searing Steaks


d_animality

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On 4/25/2020 at 2:02 PM, weinoo said:

Well, that's one way to do it.

 

But what the fuck type of pan is he using, and why so much oil?

 

More oil means more contact - a rib-eye like his can warp a bit, taking parts away from the metal. More oil keeps it in contact with the meat.

 

I'd always prefer saturated animal fat for searing meat of any kind - it's a lot more stable at high temperatures than oil, and gives better browning.

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39 minutes ago, jmacnaughtan said:

 

More oil means more contact - a rib-eye like his can warp a bit, taking parts away from the metal. More oil keeps it in contact with the meat.

 

Boy, this is a stretch.

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Why not just tell us what salts you can get, then perhaps someone can advise?

 

Okay just for the sake of curiosity, i bought the expensive Kosher salt to experience myself with "generous season"

 

I dont understand, i experienced on 2 steaks:

 

1) I salted generously on the first steak and leave it for 40 mins;

 

2) I salted generously right before cooking...

 

To my surprise.. both are salty steaks... its less salty than using table salt but still salty.. i mean is that normal? i saw youtube how they salt their steak generously and i exactly follow that and yes they are salty... whats the point :S  

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1 hour ago, jmacnaughtan said:

 

More oil means more contact - a rib-eye like his can warp a bit, taking parts away from the metal. More oil keeps it in contact with the meat.

 

I'd always prefer saturated animal fat for searing meat of any kind - it's a lot more stable at high temperatures than oil, and gives better browning.

 

so basically u just cut the fat and put it on top of the pan as oil?

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2 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

Boy, this is a stretch.

 

Not really - you've never seen a piece of meat retract in the pan? Seems more unlikely that you'd get a perfect contact across the meat. In my experience, you're less likely to have any scorching when you've got a lot of liquid fat.

 

Maybe try it out.

 

1 hour ago, d_animality said:

 

so basically u just cut the fat and put it on top of the pan as oil?

 

No, I use rendered animal fat. If you don't have any lying around, you could probably buy beef suet or duck fat.

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5 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

 

More oil means more contact - a rib-eye like his can warp a bit, taking parts away from the metal. More oil keeps it in contact with the meat.

 

2 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

 

Not really - you've never seen a piece of meat retract in the pan? Seems more unlikely that you'd get a perfect contact across the meat. In my experience, you're less likely to have any scorching when you've got a lot of liquid fat.

 

Maybe try it out.

 

+1. More oil leads to a more even sear, as the entire surface of the meat is in contact with the heat. This is especially advantageous when searing protein that's been cooked sous vide and won't lay as flat in the pan as raw proteins tend to do.

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That stuff is expensive, my suggestion is use less. 'Real Salt'  seems to me to have more of a crunchy texture compared to say Diamond Crystal or even Morton's which are the more 'everyday' kosher salts here in the USA

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On 4/27/2020 at 3:29 PM, btbyrd said:

 

 

+1. More oil leads to a more even sear, as the entire surface of the meat is in contact with the heat. This is especially advantageous when searing protein that's been cooked sous vide and won't lay as flat in the pan as raw proteins tend to do.

 

I didn't take a picture, but a scant tablespoon of grapeseed oil worked fine for my NY Strip last night. Steak was nice and crusty, 2 minutes first side, then turned every 45 seconds or so till done. Admittedly, I started with a raw steak.

Edited by weinoo (log)

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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14 hours ago, AAQuesada said:

That stuff is expensive, my suggestion is use less. 'Real Salt'  seems to me to have more of a crunchy texture compared to say Diamond Crystal or even Morton's which are the more 'everyday' kosher salts here in the USA

 

Ah okay that make sense, so that stuff is normally expensive even in your place?

 

6 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

I didn't take a picture, but a scant tablespoon of grapeseed oil worked fine for my NY Strip last night. Steak was nice and crusty, 2 minutes first side, then turned every 45 seconds or so till done. Admittedly, I started with a raw steak.

 

 

How thick was yours? and how long does it take to be well done? thanks for sharing btw

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3 minutes ago, d_animality said:

How thick was yours? and how long does it take to be well done? thanks for sharing btw

 

Not real thick - about an 1" I'd say.  

 

Not to be  evasive, but it takes as long as it's going to take, with your best measure being:

 

1. An instant-read thermometer

 

2. The poke test.

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

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46 minutes ago, d_animality said:

and how long does it take to be well done? thanks for sharing btw

 

If well done is the goal, you don't need to be as compulsive about frequent flips as we've been talking about.

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1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

Not real thick - about an 1" I'd say.  

 

Not to be  evasive, but it takes as long as it's going to take, with your best measure being:

 

1. An instant-read thermometer

 

2. The poke test.


Ok im experimenting poke test at the moment, only slightly getting the hang of it but i saw some poke test includes medium well, some not, which one is right?

 

30 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

If well done is the goal, you don't need to be as compulsive about frequent flips as we've been talking about.

 

Oh no, well done quite easy for me, poking can easily tell, im just curious though because i usually flip every 30secs for 8mins (depending on the heat of the pan) to get welldone... when its hotter it can be atleast 7mins

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Well, you know, every steak is different, everyone's poke is different.

 

You'd do yourself a world of good to buy yourself an instant-read, and learn how the different doneness reacts to YOUR poke.

Edited by weinoo (log)
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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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On 4/25/2020 at 1:09 PM, patti said:

I just paid $12.42 for 1.36 kg of kosher salt from Amazon. Diamond Kosher Salt

Holy $%#@!     I just paid almost $5 for 3  lbs (1.36 kg)  Diamonn Crystal Kosher salt and thought I was being robbed.    How much of this was shipping?    Does no one  carry this in your neighborhood?

eGullet member #80.

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I have two suggestions... One, it appears that where you excel is in making steak sauce.. So, why not just try to sell your steak sauce.. Or, if you are into the selling the steaks with the steak sauce, hire a chef and have him worry about cooking the steaks.   This way you can concentrate on selling and making your sauce.  

 

Or, get a thermapen and get an induction burner so you can monitor the temp accurately and a thermapen so you can get an exact temp on your steak. 

 

I mean, you are going to need to cook a lot more than 30 steaks to get it down.. Buy 30 more steaks and write down everything you do. and keep tweaking until you have down the right times and set up.

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7 hours ago, weinoo said:

Well, you know, every steak is different, everyone's poke is different.

 

You'd do yourself a world of good to buy yourself an instant-read, and learn how the different doneness reacts to YOUR poke.

 


yea im plannin to get the thermopop but it is impossible during this pandemic season and no we dont have a reliable thermometer in my country.. so shud i stick with thermopop or thermapen?

 

7 hours ago, BKEats said:

I have two suggestions... One, it appears that where you excel is in making steak sauce.. So, why not just try to sell your steak sauce.. Or, if you are into the selling the steaks with the steak sauce, hire a chef and have him worry about cooking the steaks.   This way you can concentrate on selling and making your sauce.  

 

Or, get a thermapen and get an induction burner so you can monitor the temp accurately and a thermapen so you can get an exact temp on your steak. 

 

I mean, you are going to need to cook a lot more than 30 steaks to get it down.. Buy 30 more steaks and write down everything you do. and keep tweaking until you have down the right times and set up.

 


hiring a chef sounds easy but not in the pipeline as we just started, maybe once we established further then this can be the option, anyway, about the steaks, we are trying to limit atleast 10 per day so we can manage everything perfectly, so far so good but yea i really need that thermopen/pop now

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42 minutes ago, d_animality said:


yea im plannin to get the thermopop but it is impossible during this pandemic season and no we dont have a reliable thermometer in my country.. so shud i stick with thermopop or thermapen?

 


hiring a chef sounds easy but not in the pipeline as we just started, maybe once we established further then this can be the option, anyway, about the steaks, we are trying to limit atleast 10 per day so we can manage everything perfectly, so far so good but yea i really need that thermopen/pop now

 

Thermapen if you can get it.

 

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey all, i just purchased a new lodge 12inch cast iron skillet yesterday, i tried cooking my steak as i normally did before and i dont know how and why, using the new pan burned my steak... i think the heat dissipation on the pan quite different than the previous ... so how can i counter this issue, is it possible to use medium-low heat after the pan has been heated using medium-high heat?

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Any time you get a new piece of equipment, there is going to be a trial and error period, right?

 

Your next steak theoretically will be less burned, and then eventually it will be cooked properly.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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So i tried using the medium to low heat until the pan start smoking.. then i start searing the steak as i normally did

 

and i tried 3 different batches to prove my theory.. all around 6 mins and 30 secs and flipped every 30 secs

 

The result .. batch 1 is medium, batch 2 is medium-well and batch 3 medium well and almost well done

 

So my verdict is that the pan will get hotter every minute.. and using medium-low heat can also be used to sear steak as long as you heat the pan first until it is smokin hot.. am i on the right path with this method or it is always good to use max heat?

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We shared a 12 oz. steak (NY Strip from D'artagnan) for dinner Saturday night.

 

This is steak I'm in the middle of cooking to medium rare on a thermometer.  It's being cooked in a classic (i.e. made in the USA) All-Clad Master Chef stainless pan, over moderate heat, after heating the pan to moderate high. First side, well salted, was like 2 minutes, then flipped every 45 seconds or so. Made a pan sauce while the steak rested. Also added whatever juices the steak exuded while resting to finish the pan sauce.

 

1949870400_Steakcooking05-16.thumb.JPG.c57eb0bd67957a0cea78811714069eab.JPG

 

It has a nice (no, not perfect) crust. It was quite good, even though I failed to take a picture of it once plated!

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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