I preheat my pan 5-10 mins on low before sear. I dry the steak with a kitchen towel and let it hang out while pan is preheating. While searing I press on the steak with the towel for even sear and to wick off any excess moisture, flipping every 15-20 secs. By the time I get the crust color that I want my steak is overcooked. Middle parts are fine, edges were almost fully gray.
Idk what I'm doing wrong. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes I it doesn't. I sear on med-high, blasting burner in full makes too much smoke. Is the only way to get consistency to chill the steak in fridge/freezer?
This is fancy australian wagyu ribeye cooked @137f for two hours from frozen. We'll done parts were good, but if it was a cheaper piece of meat it would've been ruined.
by BanInvader69
22 Comments
High heat. Sear that thing on high heat. High smoke point oil and you’ll crust up real quick. You’re doing everything right about patting dry, etc…but you need high heat to get a good sear/crust.
It’s still edible. Throw a piece at my meat hole please
Leaving the steak in the fridge uncovered for about 10-15 min after patting dry and prior to searing helped me a lot. Also, making sure the pan is at a high enough heat and that your oil is something that can take that heat (avocado oil or beef tallow or ghee). (Looks like you got that covered with your pre-heating the skillet on low, but maybe try a higher max temp?)
For what it’s worth, it looks great. I’d eat that in a heartbeat.
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Don’t flip more than once. flipping lots is good for cooking. you’re searing. ripping hot. 30-60 seconds, flip, another 45-60 seconds, done.
pre heating on low is good but right before you sear you should turn it up to high
Chilling it before searing prevents the meat from cooking any further. Pan needs to be at least 350F on the surface.
What oil are you using? Most will still smoke on high heat, but a higher smoke point oil like avocado, coconut won’t smoke your house out like butter or neutral oils. Refined avocado oil will go up to 520F. Also, rendered fat or tallow are options though you can’t just buy that at a grocery store.
I think to get the results you’re looking for, you’re gonna have to just learn to deal with the smoke of a really hot sear. I feel chilling the steak before searing on lower heat will still cause you to end up where you are.
Sear straight from the fridge before you sous vide it. After cooking, pat dry and sear for 30sec to crisp back up
Looks perfect for me
It fits the pan so perfectly.
How’s the broiler in your oven? That can get you pretty good results on a SV steak if you can get that thing ripping.
If you have the ability to purchase like a small propane burner and a metal table you can have near your apartment and crank the heat to get a good sear. Otherwise you will just have to live with it in an apartment or get something like the sear pro or sous vide gun and use a small propane tank and just flame thrower the steak. Downsides of not having a real exhaust in the kitchen
And not sure if this is your technique but after the sous vide throw it in the fridge for like 15-30 min to cool it down then you can really hammer it in the pan without over cooking.
If your really chasing the crust, put some BBQ coals in a BBQ chimney and get it ripping hot . Slap a cast iron on top and let it sit for a bit. Let your steak rip on the cast iron for literal seconds and your done!
Pre-heat like you are, then crank it up right before searing. I learned most recently, and I posted it here just the other day, but chill your steak in an ice bath for about 10-15 minutes before patting it dry and searing. This will lower the IT from what it was cooked to, so when you sear it, it doesn’t heat up and passed the desired IT.
I sous vide mine at 137F, chilled it down to maybe 80F, then seared it up to about 125-130F so it was hot at serving while not over-cooking, and I had an excellent crust on it.
If you’re not setting off the smoke detector in your house, you’re not searing hot enough…
I have found a torch such as the Su-Vee Gun makes a nice sear without overlooking.
But otherwise, using a pan can be touchy.
You can also not search right away from the water bath, seems to help.
I get that not everyone has this option – but I throw a cast iron on my gas grill outside, let it get screaming hot, and don’t have to worry about the smoke.
Pat Dry, high heat, don’t flip. I sous vide to the temp I want, then let cool and dry in frig, then sear.
Can you cook on your balcony? I would get a portable stove, use a cast iron pan, and use tallow oil. Avocado oil tends to be mix so you get a lower smoke point, but tallow adds amazing flavor. Also get yourself a press. I use a press and only need to sear for 45sec per side.
Ice bath for 30 seconds before removing the meat from the bag. This will drop the outer temp and allow it cook to perfect done-ness with the sear.
Ice bath. Not the fridge. Not the freezer. Ice bath
Watch Alton brown sear a steak. You can’t go wrong
Every time you flip, you stop heating the outside and you let the little heat that the outside got disperse deeper into the meat. You want the opposite: the veeery outside to get as hot as possible as quickly as possible without an opportunity to cool by dispersing its heat to the interior.
Think of searing as the exact opposite as sous vide itself: with sous vide, you use a very low temperature so that the outside doesn’t get meaningfully hotter than the inside; with searing, you want as little heat as possible to get beyond the surface.