Comment by illumin8 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by illumin8 | Hacker News Reader

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A great way to cook a steak if you have good ventilation is to use a cast iron skillet and heat the skillet in an oven to 500 degrees. Brush the steak with olive oil ahead of time, and make sure it is room temperature (not fridge temperature). Pull the skillet out of the oven, put it on the stove. Turn the burner up on the stove, and cook the steak for 30 seconds on each side, then put the entire skillet back in the oven for 2 minutes on each side.

The steak will be tender and juicy, since searing it at such a hot temperature locks in most of the juices, similar to the way a wound is cauterized.

I only recommend you do this if you have a VERY well ventilated kitchen, as the amount of smoke generated will surely set off any smoke alarms in your house otherwise.

Sidenote: Why is it that a lot of modern kitchens don't have properly ventilated hoods that actually vent outside? It seems ridiculous that most of the hoods over stoves nowadays just recirculate the air back inside. When I want to cook, I want to cook, damn it!

Your instructions provide a perfectly reasonable way to cook a steak, but the theory on searing locking in juices has been proven false (see Good Eats or America's Test Kitchen). The purpose of searing steak is to invoke the Maillard Reaction which dramatically increases flavor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

The step he's missing is resting the protein after it's cooked; over 15 minutes, the juices redistribute themselves throughout the meat.

Here's a fun article on cooking beef: Bob del Grosso, from the Culinary Institute, losing his shit over how Mark Bittman writes up his technique for the NYTimes:

http://ahungerartist.bobdelgrosso.com/2010/01/minimalist-of-...

Interesting, I did not know that. I assumed it was similar to cauterizing a wound.

I also sear, then finish off in the oven, especially in the winter when I don't want to brave the snow to get to the grill.

Tip: Most olive oils have relatively lower smoke points, especially if you're using virgin. So, if you want to prevent most of the smoke, try canola oil. The OO isn't doing much for flavor, especially if it's burning. Also, a pat of butter at the end is essential.

Cooks Illustrated just did a piece where they cook the steak in the oven to 120f and finish on in a skillet; I've used it a couple times, and it works really well.

That is Alton Brown's recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pan-seared-ri...).

i make a mean peppersteak using a similar technique that I picked up from a local restaurant.

The diff:

1. crack peppercorns spread across a baking sheet. Lay steak upon them. Compress. I use a heavy (cold) skillet. Flip steak. Repeat.

2. Heat oil just beneath the smoke point in pan, otherwise cook steak as described.

3. Serve with any citrus-based steaksauce. (A1 if you have to, but I prefer to make my own OJ based sauce)

The peppercorn crust is quite good.

Take the steak out, drain most of the fat out, toss in a minced shallot, turn the heat off, cook the shallot for about a minute, take the pan off heat and throw in any liquor (brandy, cognac, and cheap bourbon all work great), heat to boil, scrape the bottom of the pan, clean, add mustard, mix, add cream to fill the bottom of the pan, mix, reduce. Steak au poivre!

Beautiful with the peppered crust.

For anyone trying this at home, please note the "take the pan off heat" part of the instructions...

Being able to make a good pan-sauce is a skill that provides one of the best returns on the time investment for a home cook (second only to making your own stocks and glaces.)

Another tip: WRAP THE PAN HANDLE IN SOMETHING HEAT PROOF

In the frenzy of mixing things and moving ingredients around you tend to forget the pan is still at ~500F.

This tip has been brought to you by the scar on my left palm.

It is the eternal bane of the hasty cook that, alas, hot metal looks exactly like room-temperature metal.

This makes sense now, was thinking 500c seemed a bit hot!!!

I blew a bottle up that way once. It was pretty awesome: there were little splotches everywhere in my kitchen. There are still little splotches in the corners on the ceiling.

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