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Cooking in cast iron


cjsadler

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Inspired by the steakhouse thread elsewhere on egullet and lacking a grill in my current apartment, I thought I'd finally give searing a steak a try. After heating up my cast iron pan (one of those pre-seasoned Lodge Logic ones) on med heat (gas range) for awhile, I turned it up a bit past med-high (about 80%), at which point the empty pan soon began smoking quite a bit. I didn't think this was good, so I turned the heat down slightly. Everything I've read says 'turn the heat as high as it will go'. But here's the following, from the Le Creuset website, regarding their cast-iron grill pan:

"Because of the heat retaining properties of cast iron, Le Creuset products do not require high heats at any time-- use medium to low heat settings to maintain ideal cooking temperatures. High heats and subsequent overheating will permanently damage the surface."

So I'm wondering:

a.) How hot should I be getting the pan? As hot as possible and forget the smoking? (Is the Le Crueset warning too cautious?)

b.) Will broiling achieve better results? See the following from Eval Lobel (which is a combination of searing and broiling if I read it correctly):

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...&f=111&t=27814&

Oh, and the steak ended up ok after finishing it in the oven to cook it to medium, but the crust wasn't as good as I'd like to achieve. I patted it dry, put salt and pepper on it, and misted a bit of canola on it before searing.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

Chris Sadler

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First of all, Le Cruset is not cast iron, it's enameled cast iron and you definitely don't want to turn the heat up as high as it will go. Real cast iron is the Lodge type like you have, it's basically just cast iron metal that if you treat it right, will last for a century and is far superior to any non-stick.

However, for steaks, I find that throwing the cast iron pan into the oven at 500 degrees (and waiting for it to come to temp) is far better than pan frying on the range. For a 3/4" steak, about 4 minutes a side will give you medium rare. Heating is much more uniform in the oven than on the range, plus the oven does a better job at cooking the sides of the steak. Plus, when you cook on the range, the steak is more likely to curl than in the oven.

Season the steak with just salt before throwing it on the pan for at least 15 minutes (no real real reason, that's just what I do and everyone I respect does), pepper if you'd like afterward. I'd also throw oil in the pan rather than on the steak, but that's just me. When the steak's done, throw on a pat of butter while it rests.

Not no Margerine, not no Parkay, strickly butter baby, strictly butter.
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If you'll check back to the questions and answers thread; "Evan Lobel", gave a excellent recommendation of how he personally prepares his steaks at home using a well seasoned Cast Iron pan, in his oven. Included was steak size, seasonings, and smoke alarm recommendations. I tried it and it's the real deal. Different then my personal method, but an excellent generalization. Irwin

I don't say that I do. But don't let it get around that I don't.

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I use a method that sounds very much like Col Klinks.

1) Heat cast iron pan (Lodge, not Le Creuset) in the oven for about 15 minutes at 500

2) Throw steak on hot pan, season with whatever

3) Put cast iron and steak in oven for about 4-7 minutes depending on size of thickness of steak

4) Carefully turn steak and cook 4-7 minutes more

This method has not failed me once with cast iron.

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You definitely do not want to be heating up an enameled cast iron pan to maximum temperature. What you want is regular, cheap "raw" cast iron.

As I think I mentioned in my cookware article, if you heat a seasoned cast iron too hot, the seasoning will start to burn. This is not good, as it can screw up the seasoning for other, non-steak uses.

On the other hand, you do want the cast iron pan to be screaming hot. Or, more to the point, you want the pan to be so hot the steak screams when you throw it in the pan. For super high heat cooking applications like this, it makes sense to acquire the largest cast iron pan you can get and simply keep it unseasoned. This means that you wash and scour the pan out completely after every use and then wipe it down with a thin coat of oil to keep it from rusting until the next time you use it. With an unseasoned cast iron pan, you don't have to worry about burning the seasoning and creating more smoke than necessary. Cast iron is incredibly cheap, so it's not a big deal to have a dedicated meat-searing pan.

As for heating the pan in the oven as opposed to the stove top... I prefer to heat mine on the stove top. A 500 F oven can only heat the pan up to 500 F. When you slap a room temperature steak in there, the temperature will drop below 500 F as heat is transferred from the pan to the steak. What I like to do is put the empty pan on the stove for a long time until it is screaming hot (a lot hotter than 500 F), throw the steak in there and then toss the pan under the broiler for a few minutes per side (time depending on thickness).

--

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This thread, combined with the "who needs steak houses" thread, makes me want to drive over to the St. Paul Farmer's Market this weekend, buy a pile of grass-fed steaks, dig out my cast iron skillet and one of my older Bordeaux, and cook dinner for eight.

Maybe I'd have to borrow a second skillet from someone.

Bruce

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This thread, combined with the "who needs steak houses" thread, makes me want to drive over to the St. Paul Farmer's Market this weekend, buy a pile of grass-fed steaks, dig out my cast iron skillet and one of my older Bordeaux, and cook dinner for eight.

Maybe I'd have to borrow a second skillet from someone.

Bruce

Do it!!

Then write about it.

:salivate:

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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Good thing I'm in Tuscany at the moment, on the beach, end of summer, lovely.

A heft Fiorentina for dinner tonight for sure at the Enoteca Marcucci, which needs to be written about, and will be soon, seeing as no one on the Italian board seems to know anything about Forte Dei Marmi in Tuscany... :raz:

Ciao for now... :cool:

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

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This is my thoughts on searing a steak...

the pan should be MIGHTY HOT!

You don't want to use an oil that is going to be burning and turning rancid so you don't want to use butter and in a most cases not even olive oil....Grapeseed oil has an extremely high smoke point, so that is what I always use.... Lightly season with salt and sear it by holding it with tongs and swirling it around the pan in the oil. I do this because meat has a tendency to curl when seared and I like even browning, do all sides until they are nice and dark which if your pan is the right temp should only take about a minute on each side...then finish in a low oven (about 325) until it is done to your liking...

"Make me some mignardises, &*%$@!" -Mateo

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This thread, combined with the "who needs steak houses" thread, makes me want to drive over to the St. Paul Farmer's Market this weekend, buy a pile of grass-fed steaks, dig out my cast iron skillet and one of my older Bordeaux, and cook dinner for eight.

Maybe I'd have to borrow a second skillet from someone.

Bruce

Do it!!

Then write about it.

:salivate:

Don't forget the wine!

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So I'll try the slkinsey and Evan Lobel method:

Get the pan hot as hell (either via stovetop or broiler) and then slap the steak in the pan and toss the pan under the broiler to simultaneously sear and broil the steak, then flip. Right? Will report the results.

Chris Sadler

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So I'll try the slkinsey and Evan Lobel method: 

Get the pan hot as hell (either via stovetop or broiler) and then slap the steak in the pan and toss the pan under the broiler to simultaneously sear and broil the steak, then flip.  Right?  Will report the results.

If your pan is hot enough, you shouldn't need to use the broiler. The heat from the pan should deliver the sear. All you need to do is stick it in the hot oven

I guess you *could* use your broiler if you wanted to, but in my experience there's no need.

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If your pan is hot enough, you shouldn't need to use the broiler.  The heat from the pan should deliver the sear.  All you need to do is stick it in the hot oven

I guess you *could* use your broiler if you wanted to, but in my experience there's no need.

That makes sense. I guess it depends on if you want the top charred or not.

Bruce

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  • 2 months later...
Last night I cooked grass-fed tenderloin using this method:

Salt beef

Preheat oven and cast-iron frying pan to 500 degrees

Cook beef six minutes on a side

Pepper beef

Slice and serve

It was delicious.

Bruce

What kind of beef?

How thick was it cut?

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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I have to have a steak once a week. I get only the best prime, heavily

marbeled rib eye. I only use my cast iron with ridges for the sear lines.

But my secret is instead of SALT, use Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning, it

gives it that little boink. :unsure:

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