/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.6551474]

Do people really get a cast iron skillet "as hot as you can get it" to cook a steak in it?

I've dropped things in a cast iron skillet that was accidentally left on high for 10 minutes and it turned my kitchen into a smokehouse and left a very difficult to remove residue in my skillet.

[Anonymous No.6551478]

Yeah, you don't leave it on for that long on high. High setting is meant for searing.

[Anonymous No.6551496]

>>6551478
Just to be clear, I mean the clean skillet was left on the burner for 10 minutes to heat up before putting the food in it.

I tried to sear some venison this way once and it was a complete disaster.

[Anonymous No.6551504]

>>6551474
Not
>as hot as you can get it
but, yeah, I preheat it, add a little oil, then quick sear.

You don't want the oil to be smoking, as you've found out. Aside for making your house into Cheech and Chong's magical adventure #3769, it'll almost always taste terrible. You want it to be as close to that point as you dare, though if you are going for that tiny sear line with a good crust formation.

[Anonymous No.6551534]

preheat oven to 500 with cast iron inside

put burner on highest setting

transfer pan from oven to stove when preheat beeps

room temp steak with salt, pepper, oil into pan

one minute on each side

transfer pan to oven

two minutes each side

let steak rest five minutes, eat

keys to this: proper seasoning and care of cast iron. proper prep of meat. letting meat sear properly (meaning move it as little as possible, essentially two flips total, let it form a crust). no fear of some smoke (don't sear meat indoors if you don't want to deal with it).

the burner is only there to keep it close to 500 when faced with room temperature air and steak.

[Anonymous No.6551604]

>>6551534
good point on the smoke
I'm >>6551504
and I don't want to give the wrong impression. There WILL be smoke with a good sear, just that it shouldn't be the oil that's smoking. Once you put the meat on, juices and meat fats, sugars, and proteins will smoke, there's no avoiding that.
I don't have a hood system, just a shitty filter fan on a built in microwave unit, but I still sear when it's appropriate. I open my doors and windows, turn on fans until it's mostly cleared out, and deal with smell of charred meat goodness until morning.
That >>6551534
technique could kill my pans and seasoning, though, as I have high output burners. I give my pan about 10 minutes on a medium-lowish flame, then feel heat above pan. If it feels right, add oil, increase flame to med-high wait (no waiting needed if judged heat right initially) until just before oil hits smoke point, and add meat.

[Anonymous No.6551624]

I honestly keep my burner at about 80% when I'm searing a piece of meat. I figure an even heat is more important that a super-high heat, so I let the pan pre-heat for about 8 minutes at 80% and go ahead and throw that steak down.

>captcha "Select all images with steak."

[Anonymous No.6551646]

>>6551474
I used to follow this advice when I had just purchased my pan. I had a hard time getting good results and shit always seemed like a gamble. I never do this anymore.

I assume the people who do this only ever cook minute steak, because anything thicker will only ever come out cold in the middle by the tim the outside is a charred mess.

Now I put my stove on 4 (a little less than half-heat), let the pan heat with a little oil until it will sizzle (doesnt need to be smoking), then drop shit on and cook until it has a sexy crust built up. Last batch of thick sirloin turned out perfectly rare this way with a really crisp crust.

[syn !!5auGoPfbzhy No.6553634]

>>6551504
>don't want the oil to be smoking

for meat, a little smoke; for veggies, just a shimmer.

[Anonymous No.6553755]

>>6551474

>he can't into a grill

Cast irons are for breakfast foods m8

[Meat Minimalist !!QlEfxPKY65n No.6553760]

>>6551474
On a gas stove, 10 minutes isn't long. The smoke means it's working
If you have electric, just go to MacDonald's

[Anonymous No.6553950]

>>6551646
>using sexy to describe food
dont make me post the fucking chili vertical