steak: cast iron skillet

Sorry if this seems like the painfully obvious question. I still grapple sometimes with the simplest of preparations, fretting that somehow it didn't come out "right". Can someone please share their technique for cooking a nice, thick-cut steak in a cast iron skillet? I've heard of searing on both sides, then placing it in the broiler? I've heard heating the oven to 500, searing it in the skillet, then placing the skillet in the oven? I suppose I could just fry the thing, but if it is a decently thick, say, strip, won't it char (and i mean, really char) on the outside and still be cold and rare in the center? I prefer medium rare, maybe even on the rarer side of medium rare, but not cold and red.

Any advice? For methods, tips, or techniques?

I do exactly what you've heard: sear in cast iron, then finish by putting the pan in as hot an oven as I can create. I forget where I got that approach -- some venerable source like Craig Claiborne, or maybe a round-up type article in the paper where various chefs were quizzed. In any case, it works for me and I've stayed with it.

I'd do as you described, sear the steak, then put it in the oven to finish, but I would use a much slower oven; approx 350 is what I use.

It depends on the steak.

For a ribeye, say, 1" thick or less, I do it all on the stovetop. Get your burner as hot as possible and cook it for a couple minutes on each side. I like to use clarified butter, and I'll baste with the butter while it cooks.

For anything larger I use Stevez's approach and finish in a 300-350 degree oven.

This steak (a dry-aged prime ribeye from Market Foods, RIP) was cooked all on the stovetop in clarified butter. You can see there's a little too much grey around the edge, but, believe me, it was otherwise fantastic. Top 3 steaks of my life, for sure:

I do the same method at 500 degrees. I put the cast iron pan in the oven, and preheat, when it reaches temperature I move the pan to the stovetop over high heat. The room temperature, seasoned steak gets seared (30-45 seconds per side) and the whole thing goes back into the oven for a couple minutes a side.

Tent and let rest for 5 minutes or so.

Alton brown covered this method once (his show helped me perfect it) on an 1.5 inch thick boneless ribeye.

This method has been foolproof for me for quite some time.

Best,
Michael

I sear on both sides & then in an oven that's 350-400. The temp usually depends on what's in the oven roasting. I've never tried the super-high oven technique. I like the idea of the lower oven - a little more margin for error.

I still like to use a probe thermometer if I can and pull & rest at about 120 degrees.

I don't have an super-powerful hood over my range, just one of those microwave vents, so I've tried ways to keep the smoke to a minimum. So I use the smallest amount of grapeseed oil to coat the steaks before they're seasoned with S&P and sear in a dry skillet. That results in a nice crust with minimal smoke.

Oh, and let the meat come up to room temp before searing.

I'm thinking maybe a (tall and thick) NY strip. How long to finish in the oven? Medium rare? Do you baste these as well?

Thanks for the input!

Hard to say how long. Depends on thickness, temperature of the steak before searing and after, how hot the surface of your pan is, how hot your oven is, etc.

Get a probe thermometer and set it to 120/122 or so, pull it when it goes off, and let it rest until it comes to temp.

then while your perfectly cooked (rare-medrare) steak is resting, deglaze the black iron with a little stock and red wine, reduce over med-high heat for a minute or two, and finish with butter. stir in a roux if you like, but it won't really need one.. yum.

gleam wrote:Get a probe thermometer and set it to 120/122 or so, pull it when it goes off, and let it rest until it comes to temp.

This is great advice. After doing a couple different steaks of varying thickness, you won't need the probe anymore. Keep in mind that the same thickness of a steak with and without a bone will vary the cooking time.

And I'd also agree with gleam on the under 1" rule. If it's thin enough for me to eat as a sandwich, I do it all on the stovetop.

Best,
Michael

Speaking of which: where can one now buy dry-aged steak retail?

Paulina, in the freezer case.

Thank you (all) for the great advice! I'll think I'll give this a try tonight.

I believe I've seen aged steak (maybe wet) at the Whole Foods on Ashland. Probably where I'll go.

Thanks again.

mrbarolo wrote:Speaking of which: where can one now buy dry-aged steak retail?

Fox & Obel

I've seen dry-aged at the Whole Foods in Lakeview, but it's usually USDA CHoice not Prime. Although I have seen Prime there but that's been the exception.
Fox & Obel usually has dry-aged Prime.

I often use the hot skillet sear/hot oven roast method for stovetop steaks.

They are always delicious -- unfortunately, I also have to take elaborate measures to make sure that my automatic and unremovable (I live in a downtown apartment) fire alarm doesn't go off -- or else the fire department gets to make a false alarm visit to our condo.

The whole procedure involves opening the window, the front door (for a cross breeze), and then standing on a chair to cover the smoke detector with plastic wrap.

Always entertaining to do when you have guests over.

So -- with that for a preamble, here's my question: how much oil do the rest of you stove top steak cookers use when you do the high-heat method? And do you run into the smoke problem I do?

thanks

Doug

DougMose wrote:So -- with that for a preamble, here's my question: how much oil do the rest of you stove top steak cookers use when you do the high-heat method? And do you run into the smoke problem I do?

thanks

Doug

I use very little oil. I like to just coat the steaks before I put them in the pan. And no additional oil for the pan. Also, I use grapeseed oil. It's higher smokepoint helps to reduce the amount of smoke. I find that there's also additional fat that renders off the steak that I'll sometimes baste the meat with.

DougMose wrote:So -- with that for a preamble, here's my question: how much oil do the rest of you stove top steak cookers use when you do the high-heat method? And do you run into the smoke problem I do?

Ah, smoke. I live in an old rental apartment, with a gas stove and no hood above. I always forget to disarm the alarm and get to watch my cats flee when it (inevitably) goes off. Then it's me up on a chair, taking the thing down. I used to try the wave a magazine frantically in front of it method, but that is a losing battle. I applaud your heroic efforts. While the smoke is there for steaks, it's really bad for Zuni roast chicken. I hide anything I don't want to smell like burned grease for days. (I suppose it would help if I cleaned my oven, but that seems like such a drastic measure.)

We do the sear and bake in cast iron for steaks (rib eyes are my favorite, dry aged from F&O), with the oven at about 475. I use just a tiny bit of ghee, dry, room temperature steak, salted early, bit more salt and pepper just before throwing it in the pan. 2-3 minutes on one side, flip, then after about a minute, put it in the oven for about 6 minutes. I usually pull it at 118 and let it sit for ten minutes.

(And we most often eat steak with my husband's mashed potatoes--yukon golds, boiled with skin on, tad of butter and lots of plain, lowfat kefir, salt and pepper. Tangy, light and really really addictive.)

I don't use any oil at all. The salt on the steak brings out a little bit of moisture that prevents any sticking (as well as having a well seasoned pan). There's still alot of smoke, though.

Since mastering this technique, I don't even bother to light the grill for steaks unless I'm cooking other things that can benefit from charcoal flavor. It's not worth it.

-ramon

mrbarolo wrote:Speaking of which: where can one now buy dry-aged steak retail?

Fox & Obel, Pulina, Gepperth's (maybe).

kl5,

There are supposed to be fire alarms whose sensitivity is adjusted for kitchen environments. Early on my family very enthusiastically put a fire alarm in the kitchen, which didn't last long.

I now have the alarms at each stairwell and in the furnace room (along with a CO monitor). Now they chirp because someone needs to change the batteries.

Regards,

DougMose wrote:how much oil do the rest of you stove top steak cookers use when you do the high-heat method? And do you run into the smoke problem I do?

Thanks for the reminder, I forgot this step.

I will either use zero oil or very lightly coat the meat in oil. I never put oil directly into the rocket-hot pan. Even still, I get a good amount of smoke in my kitchen.

Best,
Michael

I have used the cast iron skillet method and the results have been good,but despite the high heat, the steak has a tendency to "stew in its own juice" I now use a heavy two-burner rectangular ridged cast aluminum grill pan (somewhat lighter but still maintains heat ) with a drizzle of olive oil (on the steak ) with a generous coating of Lawry's salt. I will usually sear a two inch ribeye for about 3 minutes per side , turning it 90 degrees after a minute and a half (for crosshatch marks)----After the six minutes,it goes into a 375 oven with a temp probe inserted ( on an oven safe plate ) till it reaches 125 degrees. Pull it out of the oven and let it rest for 5-10 minutes and it will perfect medium-rare.

FYI, If you're into it, Lodge makes cast-iron square and circular grill pans.

They're significantly harder to clean, in my experience, than the cast aluminum ones which don't have high sides.

Lodge may make low-sided grill pans, but I've never seen 'em in person.

A couple of recent Alton Brown tips from "Tender is the Loin 1"
1) Grill pan is a lot easier to clean with some kosher salt sprinkled liberally in the grooves
2) For a chateaubriand at least, about a 3.5" diameter, he used a 250 (or was it 200) oven, on the philosophy that he didn't want a well/medium/raw spectrum in the cross section, but just a sear and perfect pink-red throughout. The slow oven means that the outside will never get overcooked by the time the center is right. For a thinner steak, though, a short high heat sounds right.

Note: I've never had the chance to try this, I'm waiting for the new range hood.

There was a piece in the July 6 NYT last year reporting on the steak experiments of Traci Des Jardins, a San Francisco chef.

Her key finding: Steaks from cows fed on grass don't do as well under high heat as do steaks from cows fed on grain.

Apparently the chemical composition of the fat from cows fed on all grass is different. One difference is a lower melting point, which means it cooks faster. She recommends not cooking such a steak on highest heat, and to cook it for 30 percent less time than a corn-fed steak. Also, she claims the delicate flavors of grass-fed beef are lost when pan seared; she recommends the grill.

That said, anyone ever seen grass-fed steaks in Chicago? How about El Mercado, the meat counter attached to Tango Sur (Argentina being one of the great sources of grass-fed cattle)?

Fillay

Actually, you can get frozen, grass-fed Australian steaks at Trader Joe's. At least sometimes.

gleam wrote:FYI, If you're into it, Lodge makes cast-iron square and circular grill pans.

They're significantly harder to clean, in my experience, than the cast aluminum ones which don't have high sides.

Lodge may make low-sided grill pans, but I've never seen 'em in person.

Cooks Illustrated recently did tests on grill pans. The results are here.

I have been buying quite a bit of beef from El Mercado lately. They have a grass fed sirloin from Ecuador that they sell for about $9 a pound that has terrific flavor and sears well.

Using my cast iron, I lay down a thin bed of Kosher Salt as the pan heats. Then, lay the steak across the searing hot salted pan. I don't turn it until the steak's own fat and juice release it from the sear. Once seared on both sides, I finish it on the stove top by simoply lowering the heat and testing the meat with the palm of the hand test.

This method creates a really nice sealed sear.

Mike G wrote:Actually, you can get frozen, grass-fed Australian steaks at Trader Joe's. At least sometimes.

Have you tried any of the frozen steaks at Trader Joe's? I've always been curious.