People on here will tell you it’s overcooked with a bad sear. Was it good to you? Did you like it? Was it tender enough for your liking?
Notorious_Aura
Unsure of the utensils you have available
But what I use is a
Stainless steel pan, let it get ripping hot
Then put a steak on it, put a burger smasher on top (adds pressure to force more surface sear)
Then flip repeat & sear off the fat cap at the end
I salt after I finish cooking
Then I let it rest 5 mins 2 min cook time each side + rest
Then you’re done.
Boingo_Zoingo
Overcooked. Bad sear.
Incredibly uniform pink center. Very little grey band. Overall very uniformly cooked.
You are on the path to greatness. Very good for your second try. Try working on the sear next without cooking the inside any more.
left-for-dead-9980
Flip often. Build up the sear evenly on both sides. Use a meat thermometer. Take the steak out when it is 15°F below your target temperature. Rest the meat on a plate with foil cover. If you wait 10 minutes, the carryover cooking will increase the temperature to your target.
Meanwhile, make a pan sauce with the fond stuck on the pan. Add butter, shallots, and herbs. Then deglaze with wine or water. The pan sauce has a ton of flavor.
If you want, make a compound butter and smear on the steak after resting. Cut against the grain for tenderness.
IllFatedTaco
Looks like a good uniform doneness. Only suggestion I could offer is to trim the fat and render it. Pan sear in that rendered fat. It adds a good bit of flavor and improves mouth feel.
Ismellpu
Third times a charm.
jackson_robinson24
Nice job. Higher heat, butter and less time gets a better crust.
Emergency_Cellist754
If you rest it it won’t leak juice all over the plate like that
EstablishmentNo9866
Keep trying
sideshow--
Need a better crust.
brokensharts
Pat it dry with a papertowel before putting it in a hot pan to get a better crust.
Buy a meat thermometer
Intrepid_Cap1242
getting there. Just needs either higher heat for the sear or needs to be patted dry first.
I’d eat it though. I need to ban this subreddit because I stopped buying steak.
Shedding
Higher heat homie. Perhaps also a better cut 🙂
itsnotthehours
That’s honestly not bad at all for a second attempt at steak in a pan. It took me a while to figure out how to get it the way I liked it when I lost access to a grill. I tried all kinds of pans and tips/tricks I read online.
I found that letting the steak get a little closer to room temp and then patting it dry and salting it immediately before I put it in were the simplest and highest yield tips for a better sear. Even just wrapping it in paper towel on a plate for 30 min while I got the rest of dinner ready to cook made a difference imo.
I like my steak between medium rare and medium so yours is just a minute or 2 past but I’d still be happy with it in terms of doneness. You gotta remember to make a steak _you_ like using a process that is simple and enjoyable enough to be repeated.
Candid-Narwhal-3215
Have you considered trying reverse sear?
EuphoricDimension628
How did you prepare and cook it? Looks like a decent medium plus-med well if that’s the temperature you were aiming at. Like others have said, looks like too low of heat that you get that greyish color instead of a caramelized brown, and I’m not seeing any juices on the plate. Getting that sear will help “trap” those. Still did a good job and I’d eat it up. I overcook my steaks at time so you avoided that. 👍🏻
Think-Feynman
The best way to prepare a steak, IMO, is to temper a steak in an oven or over a low grill. If you are a beginner, the oven is safer. I learned this technique from an article by chef José Andrés. It’s super easy to do, and foolproof.
You will need a thermometer that you can insert into the steak and monitor while you are tempering like a ThermoPro. You can use an instant read, but you will have to check it a lot during the process.
Get a thick steak like a quality, well marbled ribeye. About 5 hours before you cook it, season it with salt and pepper, or a rub like Montreal steak seasoning, and put it on a wire rack, uncovered in the refrigerator. Don’t over season! Just a light dusting. You can always add salt later.
Take it out of the oven and put it on the counter an hour before the next step to bring it up to room temperature.
Set your oven to 275 degrees and insert the thermometer and put the steaks in the oven on the same wire rack over a baking sheet. It will take about a half hour or so to get to the right temperature. For me, I take it out at 120 for a ribeye and 105 for a filet. But learn what level of doneness you like and hit that temperature.
At this point the steaks are cooked. They just need a good sear.
While you are tempering your steaks, get your grill started. Charcoal is superior! Get it very hot which will take 20-30 minutes for my grill. I have a small kamado and use lump charcoal.
When you hit your target temperature, take the steaks out and brush a little olive oil on them. I actually now use melted butter, which everyone says is a bad idea because it burns, but I tried it once and it is actually fantastic.
Put the steaks on the hot grill and grill them for just a few minutes per side. Rotate them to get a crosshatch pattern on the meat. You are just searing the surface and not trying to cook the meat anymore. The whole searing process takes me maybe 4 minutes.
Alternately, you can use a hot cast iron pan for the sear, but it creates a lot of smoke. And I like the charcoal and smoking chips flavor you get on a grill.
And, because the steaks were already cooked during the tempering process, you don’t need to check the temperature. They will rise a few degrees, but not much.
Take them off and put them on a cutting board for 10 minutes to rest. Slice and serve. A little steak butter can be great.
The beauty of this technique is that you cannot screw it up! You can even cook a 3″ filet or a massive cowboy ribeye perfectly every time.
Melodic-Creme
Looks good
nomadschomad
This is a totally acceptable/edible steak
It’s a bit over for my taste, call this medium+. I prefer medium rare.
The biggest opportunity for improvement is probably the sear
When you have a big fat cap like this, it tends to shrink more than the steak and cause the steak to curl/cup, so that only the edges are touching the pan. My guess is that’s why you have one really dark edge and not a lot of sea/crust on the main part of the steak. The easiest way to deal with it is to just put a small slice through that fat cap every inch or so.
19 Comments
People on here will tell you it’s overcooked with a bad sear. Was it good to you? Did you like it? Was it tender enough for your liking?
Unsure of the utensils you have available
But what I use is a
Stainless steel pan, let it get ripping hot
Then put a steak on it, put a burger smasher on top (adds pressure to force more surface sear)
Then flip repeat & sear off the fat cap at the end
I salt after I finish cooking
Then I let it rest 5 mins
2 min cook time each side + rest
Then you’re done.
Overcooked. Bad sear.
Incredibly uniform pink center. Very little grey band. Overall very uniformly cooked.
You are on the path to greatness. Very good for your second try. Try working on the sear next without cooking the inside any more.
Flip often. Build up the sear evenly on both sides. Use a meat thermometer. Take the steak out when it is 15°F below your target temperature. Rest the meat on a plate with foil cover. If you wait 10 minutes, the carryover cooking will increase the temperature to your target.
Meanwhile, make a pan sauce with the fond stuck on the pan. Add butter, shallots, and herbs. Then deglaze with wine or water. The pan sauce has a ton of flavor.
If you want, make a compound butter and smear on the steak after resting. Cut against the grain for tenderness.
Looks like a good uniform doneness. Only suggestion I could offer is to trim the fat and render it. Pan sear in that rendered fat. It adds a good bit of flavor and improves mouth feel.
Third times a charm.
Nice job. Higher heat, butter and less time gets a better crust.
If you rest it it won’t leak juice all over the plate like that
Keep trying
Need a better crust.
Pat it dry with a papertowel before putting it in a hot pan to get a better crust.
Buy a meat thermometer
getting there. Just needs either higher heat for the sear or needs to be patted dry first.
I’d eat it though. I need to ban this subreddit because I stopped buying steak.
Higher heat homie. Perhaps also a better cut 🙂
That’s honestly not bad at all for a second attempt at steak in a pan. It took me a while to figure out how to get it the way I liked it when I lost access to a grill. I tried all kinds of pans and tips/tricks I read online.
I found that letting the steak get a little closer to room temp and then patting it dry and salting it immediately before I put it in were the simplest and highest yield tips for a better sear. Even just wrapping it in paper towel on a plate for 30 min while I got the rest of dinner ready to cook made a difference imo.
I like my steak between medium rare and medium so yours is just a minute or 2 past but I’d still be happy with it in terms of doneness. You gotta remember to make a steak _you_ like using a process that is simple and enjoyable enough to be repeated.
Have you considered trying reverse sear?
How did you prepare and cook it? Looks like a decent medium plus-med well if that’s the temperature you were aiming at. Like others have said, looks like too low of heat that you get that greyish color instead of a caramelized brown, and I’m not seeing any juices on the plate. Getting that sear will help “trap” those. Still did a good job and I’d eat it up. I overcook my steaks at time so you avoided that. 👍🏻
The best way to prepare a steak, IMO, is to temper a steak in an oven or over a low grill. If you are a beginner, the oven is safer. I learned this technique from an article by chef José Andrés. It’s super easy to do, and foolproof.
You will need a thermometer that you can insert into the steak and monitor while you are tempering like a ThermoPro. You can use an instant read, but you will have to check it a lot during the process.
Get a thick steak like a quality, well marbled ribeye. About 5 hours before you cook it, season it with salt and pepper, or a rub like Montreal steak seasoning, and put it on a wire rack, uncovered in the refrigerator. Don’t over season! Just a light dusting. You can always add salt later.
Take it out of the oven and put it on the counter an hour before the next step to bring it up to room temperature.
Set your oven to 275 degrees and insert the thermometer and put the steaks in the oven on the same wire rack over a baking sheet. It will take about a half hour or so to get to the right temperature. For me, I take it out at 120 for a ribeye and 105 for a filet. But learn what level of doneness you like and hit that temperature.
At this point the steaks are cooked. They just need a good sear.
While you are tempering your steaks, get your grill started. Charcoal is superior! Get it very hot which will take 20-30 minutes for my grill. I have a small kamado and use lump charcoal.
When you hit your target temperature, take the steaks out and brush a little olive oil on them. I actually now use melted butter, which everyone says is a bad idea because it burns, but I tried it once and it is actually fantastic.
Put the steaks on the hot grill and grill them for just a few minutes per side. Rotate them to get a crosshatch pattern on the meat.
You are just searing the surface and not trying to cook the meat anymore. The whole searing process takes me maybe 4 minutes.
Alternately, you can use a hot cast iron pan for the sear, but it creates a lot of smoke. And I like the charcoal and smoking chips flavor you get on a grill.
And, because the steaks were already cooked during the tempering process, you don’t need to check the temperature. They will rise a few degrees, but not much.
Take them off and put them on a cutting board for 10 minutes to rest. Slice and serve. A little steak butter can be great.
The beauty of this technique is that you cannot screw it up! You can even cook a 3″ filet or a massive cowboy ribeye perfectly every time.
Looks good
This is a totally acceptable/edible steak
It’s a bit over for my taste, call this medium+. I prefer medium rare.
The biggest opportunity for improvement is probably the sear
When you have a big fat cap like this, it tends to shrink more than the steak and cause the steak to curl/cup, so that only the edges are touching the pan. My guess is that’s why you have one really dark edge and not a lot of sea/crust on the main part of the steak. The easiest way to deal with it is to just put a small slice through that fat cap every inch or so.