I need some advice, my last couple steaks which I bought from a small town grocery store have turned out grey and dry when they got done cooking. I’m at a loss as to why. I tried to sear it but I’m new to searing. The meat never got dark in the pan. It looked grey throughout. It’s possible I didn’t have the pan hot enough. I had it on a medium heat and flipped every two minutes. Maybe I need to increase the heat? Or maybe the meat was freezer burnt? It’s bin wrapped in tin foil in the freezer for two months.
by Special_Reputation21
21 Comments
Higher heat. Are you pre heating the pan and oil, fat?
Use cast iron or stainless steel, crank the heat up a ton, use oil and not butter to sear it.
Get a cast iron or stainless pan. Heat the pan on Medium High heat for a bit, until you can throw water into the pan and the water races around in little balls before it steams off.
Coat the steak itself in a light coating of high heat oil, like avocado oil then season, then drop it in the pan. You dont need much. It should be a pretty aggressive sear. You cooked the meat, but you didn’t sear it. Better pan, proper oil and a lot more heat is what’s needed.
To much moisture. Dry your steak, and salt at least 30 minutes before hand. Use butter as a baste after the sear, not during the sear.
You are essentially just boiling the steak.
The steak was not in the best shape and may have had freezer burn. Do not freeze meat wrapped in foil, use a gallon freezer plastic ziplock, gotta keep the air out. Also, I hate to be the one to say it, but you really need to just google “how to cook a steak on a stove (or pan)”, even the first AI summary hit has all the correct steps. Yes, preheat to high heat to sear, yes use olive oil to sear not butter. It might not have saved your steak, but it may have been a lot prettier. Edit for typo
Thank you all, I’ve made steaks in the past that have looked and tasted better. Using just olive oil and salt and pepper. They haven’t been grey like these when cooked. Could it be as simple as bad quality meat or maybe I didn’t wrap them properly in tin foil before freezing them?
Also when I was eating it, it didn’t taste right. It didn’t have much flavor. I don’t think it was rancid but it was definitely dry.
Pan definitely wasn’t hot enough
Use a cast iron skillet for grilling your steak!
Hey you’re starting out with the right ingredients and seasoning just a bit off on the execution. Throw a bit of neutral oil in the pan, heat it until it just starts to smoke a bit (and I mean like the faintest tiny baby whisper of smoke, barely visible amount) pop the steak in, cut the heat down, flip after 60ish seconds and repeat every minute or two until desired doneness. In the last 2 minutes add butter and garlic along with some herbs like rosemary or thyme. Baste the steak with the melted butter for those last few moments.
As opposed to what some comments are saying, do not heat a non stick pan to an oil’s smoking point, they’re not meant for high heat, especially on induction where it’s really high.
Get a cast iron skillet (lodge are great for this), there are alternatives, but they’re more expensive (although the Ikea vardagen carbon steel pans are great for this as well and are cheap), basically what you want is a thick pan without a non-stick coating. Thick pans have better heat retention, that helps get a much better sear on your steak, while as a bonus they’re also much less vulnerable to damage from induction cooktops (also fyi iron and steel cookware is almost always induction compatible).
When using cast iron on induction preheat it on medium/low heat first and then gradually go to high/medium, not max as that’s probably too much depending on your stovetop. Use a high smoke point oil such as canola, avocado or grapeseed, and put it in the pan right before your steak.
There are great videos on youtube explaining, and more importantly showing how to do it. It’s a bit of a learning curve, changing your habits from what works on non-stick to iron/steel, but before you know it it’ll become normal.
Feel free to ask for cookware recommendations, or (very recommended) check out the pinned post on r/cookware for more info and a list of recommended cookware, it’s a bit overwhelming but it’s a very good resource.
Don’t use a nonstick pan. Increase your heat.
this just ruined my day
Chef of many years here. Get your pan super hot and then add oil NOT butter. Butter will burn. Pat your steak SUPER DRY with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Any moisture on the surface of your protein will cause steam and prevent browning and splatter oil everywhere. If you want to baste with butter do it at the end when the pan is still hot but not scorching hot.
1) make your pan hotter
2) don’t use nonstick if you don’t have to. Cast iron or stainless steel will serve you better here.
3) get your steak super dry
4) use high temp cooking oil (peanut oil is a good choice)
5) I don’t know why you’re flipping every two minutes.
6) you should look into reverse searing
7) get a meat thermometer
Also, does that steak look like it’s got some steatosis going to anyone else?
Get a cast iron pan, bring it up to around smoking, then put your steak in. Leave for about 2m per side
You can get a pretty good sear on a nonstick pan, although it is easier in cast iron or stainless steel. The steak was too wet for sure, it steamed in the pan instead of searing. It’s also a little thin to get a really good sear if you like medium rare or rare. The best way to dry the steak is to salt it and leave it in the fridge uncovered for a day. Best is on a drying rack, but you can flip it over after 12 hours or so if it’s on a plate.
How to sear a steak on nonstick pans:
https://youtube.com/shorts/D1lNuNl4Hag?si=oElgYU3BBGBoHk2s
Freezer wasn’t the issue it looks like your process
That’s not freezer burnt that’s badly cooked
I use a nonstick pan (I know its sacrilege), and get a great crust. you NEED to dry brine your steak overnight in the fridge. reverse sear in the oven if you can, baste with neutral oil and fry on medium high or close to high as to not ruin the pan.
cast iron is best but I can get a good crust on my tough non stick if need be (laziness lol)
What I’m not understanding is over the past year I have made several steaks that have all looked better than this. They have been brown on the outside and it tasted a lot better. They may have been slightly over/undercooked but at least looks wise,they looked a lot more appealing. But for whatever reason these last couple steaks that I bought from this one grocery store have all turned out gray and dry just like this. So that’s why I’m wondering if it’s possibly a bad meat issue or freezer burn. Noted all the other steaks I’ve made have been cooked using the same pans on the same stove and pretty much with the same method. So I’m kind of at a loss for why these last couple steaks of all looked gray and dull. I’ll Post some pictures of my previous steaks to this comment
https://preview.redd.it/ma0edk0elalf1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31710d5b0702e95a27bdfcbace98f060a994f133