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Oven to the Rescue
But I realized there was a change that could provide a solution: heating the pan in the oven. It would take a little longer, but because the oven’s heat is not concentrated on a single part of the pan but rather comes at the pan more or less evenly from all directions, it guaranteed an evenly heated pan. An added advantage was that the oven could be set to a specific temperature, no matter what the heat source, whereas when using the stovetop I had found it difficult to accurately specify a single burner setting that worked across all types of heat sources.

But what was the best oven temperature? My goal was to get the skillet hot enough so that vegetable oil, which has a smoke point of between 400 and 450 degrees, would start to smoke as soon as I added it to the skillet. I put the skillet in the cold oven, as there was no sense in waiting for the oven to heat before adding the skillet, and set the oven temperature to 400 degrees. However, when I added the oil after heating the skillet, it took some time to start smoking. I continued to test temperatures at 25-degree intervals, pulling the skillet out and searing steaks, and eventually worked my way up to 500 degrees, which I found to be the ideal setting.

Now for the steak itself. I chose thick boneless strip steaks because they have big, beefy flavor and are easy to find. Salting the steaks and letting them sit while my pan heated in the oven would not only season the meat throughout but also help keep it moist and juicy. Patting them dry before searing helped them brown even more.

My next question was how much oil to use—and it turned out that I needed more than I thought I would. As meat cooks, it contracts; any ridges or divots get bigger, and without oil, they don’t touch a heat source, resulting in a spotty brown steak rather than a gorgeously browned one. I settled on 2 tablespoons of oil, a hefty but necessary amount.

Flipping Out

Two problems remained: I was still getting a rather large gray band, the area between the crust and interior that dries out and turns chalky. And my beautifully preheated pan was so hot that the crust it produced was actually too good—it was too thick and almost unpleasantly crunchy. To eliminate the gray band, one of my coworkers suggested that I try flipping the steak more often (I had been flipping it only once). The idea made sense, since each time a steak is flipped, the side not touching the skillet cooks with residual heat, which penetrates the meat more slowly, resulting in a smaller gray band. I wondered if flipping might also help prevent an overly thick crust. I found that flipping once every 2 minutes was just the right amount to ensure a perfectly rosy interior, but the crust was still thicker than I liked.

Then I did something I never thought I would do when searing: I turned down the heat. Because the cast iron retained the heat so well once it got up to the proper temperature, turning down the heat actually maintained the temperature I wanted, whereas keeping the heat high increased the skillet’s temperature as time went on. So I got a great initial sear over medium-high heat and then reduced the heat until I found a sweet spot: about 8 minutes over medium-low heat. Combined with flipping every 2 minutes, this produced a perfect, gorgeously browned crust and a rosy interior from edge to edge.

The steak was now fantastic on its own, but a simple accompaniment would make it that much more special. Mixing up a compound butter to melt over the resting steaks was easier than making a pan sauce and was just as flavorful.

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Originally posted by tatortodd:

Unlike the link from MrBill, I reverse sear my steaks. I put them on indirect heat at 225 on my BGE w/ oak lump charcoal and a few chunks of hickory. Once the steak hits 115-120, then I bring it inside to sear on the preheated skillet over a medium high flame. I flip every 30 to 60 seconds until I hit the desired 131 for medium rare. The reverse sear produces the desired malliard reaction (carmelizing the surface) and only produces a thin layer of grey well done meat (i.e. I get more medium rare meat this way).