Have cooked plenty of steaks on a non stick, usually with butter. Can get an easy medium rare every time with varying success on the crust, usually pretty good.
First time using a stainless steel and having some trouble. Used avacado oil spray and set my dial to 9, one below “Hi”. Steak came straight out of the fridge, little wet, didn’t have time to let them warm up or dry off. Wtf am I doing wrong.
by EarlyNeighborhood942
42 Comments
Do stainless steel on medium heat and let it warm up slowly. (5ish minutes). I’d also avoid the spray and just use avocado oil.
When the steak goes in it might stick initially and that’s ok. When the steak naturally unsticks it is ready to flip
My best guess is 1)not enough oil, 2)you didn’t dry the steak.
Did you give the pan a few mins to heat up properly? Putting it directly on max is too much.
Your pan is way too hot, and your steak wasn’t dry.
Pull your steak out of the fridge at least 30 min before cooking. I like to salt it out of the fridge and let it sit for 30 min to 1 hour, that will pull moisture out of the meat and allow for a better sear. Very important to make sure the steak is DRY before searing. Also looks like your meat didn’t have the best contact on the pan, a protein press would help. I like to flip my steaks multiple times in 30 sec to 1 min intervals and every time you flip move it to a new section of the pan since that will be hotter.
People say cast iron is the best but stainless can get a fantastic sear if done right.
You’re better off with room temp and more oil in that pan. If you’re having trouble just reverse sear and plan ahead a bit.
Also let your steak get to room temperature before cooking.
I had same issue going to stainless steel. Use lower heat don’t go above putting stovetop to 5-6 out of 10.
For reference I use my stove at 9 AFTER I’ve cooked the steak in the oven for 30 minutes at 270. This is some Pittsburgh Black & Blue shit
r/NoSear
Op: “my steak burn, what wrong”
R/steak: “you need a hotter pan ”
In my personal opinion, its the pan
https://youtube.com/shorts/SAEkZ2qacVc?si=_2lKNXkPS_cGB0UV
Then add some sort of fat or oil , I warm my pan Med low for some time.
Straight out of the fridge and a little wet
Go with cast iron. Season with salt and pepper and let rest for 30- 1 hour before searing
Trying to take up cooking was a mistake. Order out
why would you want to use oil instead of butter? i feel like im missing something.
Why didn’t you have time to dry it off? It takes 5 seconds. If you’re that pressed for time or you have other things to do, you probably shouldn’t be cooking steak. Eat a bowl of cereal.
If you want to make beautiful food it should be effortless. It starts with getting everything out and having everything in its place before you start. You also need to know exactly what you’re about to do. If you’re making sides or doing other things, it’s too much. It’s okay to make some potatoes ahead of time and put them in the microwave while the steaks resting.
Your pan is too hot and it would appear you’re rushing through the process.
Next time do everything that you possibly can do before you even turn the pan on. Take the steak out of the fridge, Pat it dry, give it some compliments, and recite some poetry. Then turn the pan on and let it heat up for 5 minutes or so while you take a deep breath and hang out.
You should heat your oil until it starts smoking, just barely smoking. This is as hot as you can cook. Any hotter and you’re just going to be burning things and setting off fire alarms. Manage the temperature on your stove to keep your oil at just this temperature. When you put the steak in it’s going to cool the pan down so you have to turn the dial up. Once it starts smoking turn it back down again
Get a digital thermometer and poke at the steak every once in awhile. Let it get to about 122° then stop
Definitely keep it dry. Then Avo oil and a sear.
Pan to hot
That pan blue 😭
Wet steak and didn’t heat the pan properly. Also use avacado oil like 2 tbsp, not spray
Lower the heat and use more oil
Dry your steaks, cooking a wet steak your essentially steaming the meat
Cast iron with some nice avocado oil
You’re burning them! 🤷🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️😂
Honestly I would guess this is a pan issue. Go to TJ max or Ross or even goodwill and snag a cast iron skillet. Regardless of pan, here is what you do to cook steak.
While still cold, salt the steak, then preferably let it sit in the fridge for a couple hours. When ready to cook, let it sit on the counter for about 30 or so minutes to warm up. You’ll notice after this time that the steak will be covered in moisture. We don’t want this. Paper towel that bad boy until it’s as dry as you can get it. Then throw it in the over for 2-3 minutes on each side (400 degrees). After that, it goes into a pan. A VERY hot pan with plenty of olive oil. 1.5-2 minutes in each side.
Follow this method and you will see results. I’m not saying it will be perfect your first try, but the more you do it, the more you’ll learn to tweak things to get the result you’re looking for.
Show us the smoke in your house
If I had to guess I’d say the steak was too cold, since you put it directly after taking it out of the fridge, it should also be dried off before cooking, not doing That can cause these issues
Also looking at the pan it doesn’t seem like you used nearly enough oil and that pan is scorching hot, too hot I’d say, you basically dumped a wet steak into a scorching hot pan without oil, ofc it’ll burn, at the very least you’d need to render the fat off(assuming the cut has an edge like that) to give it some cooking place
Don’t cook with “spray”. Use a decent amount of avocado oil. Set the salted steaks out for 30-45min to get to room temp. Don’t use coarse salt or pepper, it can create a barrier between the steak and the pan. Let the pan get hot for like 6-8 minutes before you put the steaks (patted dry because setting them out will bring moisture to the surface.) Give them a little press when they are on the pan too to make sure all of the steak is making good contact with the pan. Finishing salt and pepper after you take it off or plating. Let it rest 8-10 min before cutting.
You should get a cast iron pan. Best results
Like others have said dry the steak and use more oils but one recent thing got me thinking this looked like minebefore I learned that all the peppercorns and seasoning burn and keep the steak off the pan giving you only slight contact. Use salt and nothing else until a bit later and then add your aromatics and seasonings to the oil once you reduce the temp and have already developed a sear.
I use to pepper pretty generously but all the corns lift the steak and it looks like yours (well I add a good amount of oils/fats so I get more of a sear).
need more oil and surface too hot.
See ChrisYoungCooks videos.
An hour ago, I cooked a filet, and while I reverse sear and use cast iron, when I was close to temp i looked for the oil and forgot that i had run out, so i cooked without the oil. It came out identical to what you have in the picture. Definitely need more oil.
I would reverse sear – a little olive oil, salt & pepper, pop it in the oven at 325-350° until the internal temp is 115-120°. USE A THERMOMETER. Then sear it on the hot pan in avocado oil until 130°, maybe 1-2 minutes each side flipping often, rest for 10 min. USE A THERMOMETER.
Your oil cant handle the heat so its scorching. I think. What are you using?
Use oil, not oil spray.
Welp, yer usin’ a pan, I reckons the startin’ issue.
Pan is way too hot, looks like your oil is all burned up. Use avacado oil.
Everything
1. Don’t use a spray, but if you do use more oil.
2. Are you heating the pan to 500 degrees and THEN adding oil? I have a feeling you are putting oil in the pan and then turning on the heat. Don’t do that.
Cast iron Skillet and butter is what I use.
Don’t use spray. Use regular avocado oil. Dry your steak. When you think it’s dry, keep patting more.