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Thought high heat was how you get a good sear, a $9 thermometer and one ruined ribeye set me straight
For about 6 years I was one of those cooks who cranked the burner to max and swore that was the only way to get a proper crust on a steak. Then a cook I respect at a spot in Portland watched me and just said 'your pan's way past the smoke point before the meat even hits it.' He handed me his $9 instant read thermometer and had me check the oil surface temp, and I was sitting around 520F when I should've been closer to 425F. That whole time the outside was burning black before the inside got anywhere near where I wanted it, and I was blaming the meat instead of my heat. I started pulling the pan off the flame for 30 seconds, letting it settle, then putting the steak in, and the crust got darker and more even with way less smoke in the kitchen. It sounds like a small thing but it changed how I cook every protein now, not just beef. Curious if anyone else here figured out their heat control was the real problem and not their seasoning or their pan, what tipped you off?
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thomas_butler1d ago
That oil temp trick is huge too, checking the oil instead of just guessing by the pan really does change everything once you actually see the number. Once you start watching temps you also notice how fast a pan cools when cold meat hits it, so giving it that little recovery time makes way more sense than just blasting it the whole way.
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