Failed to even take photos after slicing because I was so disappointed. Came out medium well. Was shooting for med rare.
I have a habit of overcooking steak so I followed cooking instructions I found online. But I still botched it. What am I doing wrong? I love steak but and always buy it as a treat, but it ends up feeling like an expensive mistake.
1.4 lb porterhouse. I seared each side for 3 mins in a hot skillet, finished it in the oven at 350 fr 5 mins. 10 min rest.
by nesche14
31 Comments
You need a thermometer. Oven (or smoker if you have one and I don’t think we ever go as high as 350) first until you’re like 25ish degrees from desired finished temp. Then sear on as hot of a surface as you can get.
Sous vide is the answer to your problem. No guessing, yet steaks at your preferred temp from now on.
Thermometer or sous vide is the way. And if you use the former stop when you are like 3-5 degrees from your target temp stop cooking it further and let it rest. The residual heat will bring it up to your ideal doneness.
get a thermometer
MEATER thermometer is your friend. You will never overcook. It is wireless and you can follow along the app.
Steak looks thinly cut IMHO. Thicker steak is easier to sear / cust up the outside without going all the way through. Thinner steak means you need more intense heat for less time.
Beer timer.
Put steak on and open BOTTLE of beer
When beer is half empty turn steak
When beer is empty remove steak and let rest 5 min.
The thin ones are tricky on high heat especially bone in. Hard to believe you’re to flip and remove that quickly, but indeed, you are.
A thermometer or sous vide would be great options going forward. I got a sous vide this Christmas and I’ve been very impressed with it.
Also tangential but that’s a cut that tends to be more challenging to cook properly. The loin tends to overcook if you cook the strip to ideal, or the strip tends to undercook of you cook the loin to ideal. I’ve personally never cooked one for that reason; I’m not good enough at the basics to be willing to chance an expensive cut like that lol. Maybe start with a simpler cut?
You need thicker cuts. Thin cuts are hard to get the right doneness while also having the outside cooked correctly.
But you can do a few things to help.
1) Keep your steaks chilled in the fridge until right before you cook them. There’s no need or benefit to having them at room temperature before you cook. Having them chilled will give you more time to get the outside where you want it, without over cooking the inside.
2) Preheat your cooking surface to a very hot temp. You want to get a good, but quick, sear on the outside. After that, you want to move it to a lower, more atmospheric temperature. If using a stovetop, you’ll want to transfer to a preheated oven after searing. If grilling, I keep one side of my grill off so the steaks don’t continue to cook in the outside.
Cause you’re worried about it being raw; seems like everyone’s fear😄
Use a thermometer, pull 20 deg from desired temp. carry over cooking will take it to doness you desire. another tip resy on a grid cooling rack, when you rest on a flat plate you trap the heat between the plate and meat, can cause over shooting of temp
If I don’t have a thermometer and I’m unsure, I like to use this trick.
https://preview.redd.it/p50lylwtvkce1.jpeg?width=1155&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c949d5f48270a34363793557f7b7660c3e2c973b
Advice from someone who has cooked a lot of steaks in high-end diners:
This one looks thin, so you can sear for a little less time. Also, if they are really thin, then don’t bother putting them in the oven. Just finish in the pan. Especially considering the steak will rise about 10 to 15 degrees while resting.
So think about undercooking the steak a bit, so you can accommodate for the rise in temp while the steak rests. Also, invest in a thermometer so that you can be exact. A lot of times, when people would order medium rare steaks, if they were thin enough, I was usually able to finish in the pan. The ones that were thicker only needed to be in the oven for a few mins tops. But also depends on the cut of steak as well.
Thicker steaks usually came out of the cast iron temping about 80 degrees after a good sear. Then like I said, some didn’t need to go in the oven for a minute or 2 depending on cut. Hope this helps.
Sous vide if you can afford it, if not get a thermometer. But I’d say reverse sear is probably better. 250F until internal is like 120F. Rest for a bit and then sear. For thin cuts, I would much rather have a medium rare with a bad crust than a medium well with a good crust.
Trying to get a decent crust without overcooking can be difficult without high heat in my experience.
Just sear it. Stop “finishing it” in the oven. It’s already done!
https://preview.redd.it/ddnm09xoykce1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6fbc1ec44ac342c38c54e0da9236d122f8de7869
Mighty good
That steak is 3/4 inch at best
A steak that thin I wouldn’t finish in the oven. 3min each side without the 5min oven finish might actually be fine for it. Perhaps a tad less than 3min each side to be safe.
It sounds like you’re just overthinking it.
IMO best tool for doneness is the way it feels.
Even professional chefs who do nothing but cook steak all day fuck up the doneness on steaks. The only really perfectly consistent way to do it is reverse-searing via sous vide, but man life’s too goddamn short. If you overshoot on a halfway decent steak it’ll still be great.
Buy minimum 1 1/4” thickness, I like them more in the 1 1/2” range myself.
Right out of the fridge, cook how you like (grill, pan), roughly 90 seconds then 90 degree turn to get the “diamond shaped grill marks” if grilling. Then flip to get the same pattern.
Turn down the grill a bit to roast to desired temperature. Use an instant read thermometer 🌡️
Heat is too low and you’re cooking it too long.
Raise the heat in your pan
I prefer to under cook most my steaks and then cook more if desired..(I like mine closer to rare/medium rare) I know it sounds silly but after a while you’ll get the hang of how long to cook depending on the thickness and cooking method you prefer.
I threw away, or ate too much disappointing meat. I finally bought a thermapen from Thermoworks. It changed my life. Everything I cook is dead nuts perfect now.
Still looks delicious mate. Don’t be so hard on yourself
Idk man, pic 2 looks perfect
Steak looks good to me. Great crust. Medium well is fine; I would guess it’s medium by the bone. Just add some steak sauce!
Not sure what method you use to cook, but I suggest that going forward, sear it in your broiler for about 5-7 minutes on each side. Make sure the steak is at room temperature for about two hours prior. If you want a good crust, you can finish it on the skillet with some butter.
It feels weird at first searing a steak for only 4-5 min but with experience you will trust your mental timer.
OP, just a few simple changes.
1. Cook it right out the fridge. The internal being cold gives you much more wiggle room.
2. Your steak is thin, so you will need to cook it hot and fast to keep the internal temp from rising too high. Medium heat will probably overcook at a thin steak. Preheat your pan. Cast iron is great, a thin pan not so much because it doesn’t hold heat, meaning your sear will take longer. Oven is completely unnecessary for thin steaks and will probably guarantee an overcook. I cook 1 inch steaks and sear it completely in about 5 minutes, check temp, then baste until it’s around 115 degrees.
3. Thermometer is necessary if you’re unfamiliar (or even if you aren’t). When I pull mine out the pan, the internal temp will rise by another 10 degrees if I let it sit. That’s on a 1 inch steak, not sure how a thinner or thicker cut will behave. For a nice pink medium rare you’re going to aim for around 125 or 127 when you cut into it.
tldr: Your sear looks great – just get a thermometer, cook it while it’s cold, and sear it fast. Probably should invest in a 10″ cast iron or one of those steel pans if you haven’t already. You’ll be pulling medium rares out your ass in no time. 1″+ steaks will be more forgiving if you can find em. Edit: oh and stop doing the oven if your steak is 1″ or less. You will overcook it almost guaranteed.
I once cooked a filet mignon well done by accident and stopped buying steaks for a long time after the disappointment because at the time it was one of those “once every couple months” luxuries. I switched to $3/lb pork chops until I was able to cook them perfectly because I felt a lot better learning on cheap meats. Taking away the pressure of ruining a great cut of meat helped me not be so hard on myself.
That said, it sounds like you could have just reduced the oven time on this one, maybe even completely with the thickness of the steaks.
My personal favorite method is to sear off a steak and then use butter+rosemary+garlic to baste it to completion. It’s more effort but comes out delicious.