The Best Way To Cook Steak? | Techniquely with Lan Lam

Summary

The video script explores different methods of cooking the perfect steak, comparing traditional high-heat searing with sous vide and reverse-sear techniques. The presenter introduces 'cold-searing' as a quick, easy, and mess-free alternative that achieves a great sear and even cooking without special equipment. The method involves patting the steak dry, seasoning, and searing in a non-stick skillet with minimal oil, emphasizing the importance of temperature control and resting the steak for optimal juiciness and flavor.

Takeaways

• 🥩 The script discusses two methods of cooking steak: traditional high-heat searing and cold-searing.
• 🔥 Traditional high-heat searing can result in a great crust but may overcook the edges, creating a gray band of meat.
• 💧 Cold-searing involves starting with a cold pan and no oil, using the steak's own fat to cook and develop a crust.
• 🕒 Cold-searing is a quick method, as fast as the traditional method, and doesn't require special equipment.
• 🍽️ The script emphasizes the importance of a good sear for flavor and a uniformly cooked center for the desired doneness.
• 🧂 Salting the steak is recommended after the searing process to avoid drawing out moisture that could impact the sear.
• 🍽️ Sous vide cooking is mentioned as an alternative method that ensures even cooking but requires special equipment and takes longer.
• 🔧 The reverse-sear method, a hack of sous vide, involves cooking the steak in the oven first and then searing, but still requires additional equipment and oven use.
• 👨‍🍳 The script is educational, providing detailed steps and rationale behind each cooking technique discussed.
• 📈 The presenter shares personal preferences for doneness and seasonings, suggesting medium-rare with a coarse salt for texture.
• 🍴 The cold-seared steak is described as juicy, tender, and flavorful, with the method being the presenter's go-to for steak cooking.

Q & A

What is the main goal when cooking a steak according to the script?

The main goal is to achieve a great sear on the outside with a good crust and even cooking from edge to edge, aiming for a medium-rare temperature of 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

Why is it not advisable to judge a steak solely by its crust?

Because the crust doesn't necessarily reflect the internal doneness of the steak; a steak can have a great crust but be overcooked or dry on the inside.

What is the traditional method of cooking a steak as described in the script?

The traditional method involves heating a skillet with oil until it starts smoking, searing the steak without moving it, flipping it once, and then finishing it in the oven to reach the desired internal temperature.

What are the drawbacks of the traditional method of cooking a steak?

The drawbacks include messiness, the potential for overcooking the edges due to the long cooking time, and the need for extensive cleaning of the skillet.

What is sous vide cooking, and how does it work?

Sous vide cooking is a method where food is vacuum-sealed in a bag and cooked in a water bath at a precise temperature, ensuring even cooking throughout the food.

What are some of the disadvantages of sous vide cooking mentioned in the script?

Disadvantages include the need for a potentially expensive sous vide circulator, the use of multiple plastic bags, and the time investment of 1.5 to 3 hours for cooking.

What is the reverse-sear method developed by Kenji Lopez-Alt, and how does it differ from sous vide?

The reverse-sear method involves cooking the steak in the oven first to reach the desired internal temperature and then searing it in a skillet to create a crust, which is faster and does not require special equipment like sous vide.

What is the cold-searing method, and how does it compare to other methods?

Cold-searing is a method where a steak is seared in a non-stick skillet without preheating the pan or using oil, focusing on even cooking and avoiding overcooking the edges. It is faster, cleaner, and does not require special equipment.

Why is it recommended not to salt the steak right before cooking in the cold-searing method?

Salting right before cooking can draw out moisture from the steak, which can impact the sear and lead to uneven cooking.

How does the script suggest checking the internal temperature of the steak during the cold-searing method?

It suggests using a thermometer and checking the temperature from the side of the steak, avoiding going straight down to prevent overshooting the center.

What is the purpose of resting the steak after cooking, and how long is recommended in the script?

Resting the steak allows the juices to redistribute and the meat to relax, preventing them from flowing out when cut. The script recommends a five-minute rest.

How does the script describe the final result of a perfectly cooked steak using the cold-searing method?

The final result should be juicy, tender, with a great flavor and a beautiful crust, achieving the desired internal temperature without overcooking.

Outlines

00:00

🍽️ Traditional Steak Cooking Methods

The paragraph discusses traditional steak cooking methods used in restaurants, involving high heat and a single flip of the steak to develop a crust. It mentions the downsides, such as messiness and the risk of overcooking the edges, leading to a gray ring around the steak. The narrator also introduces sous vide cooking as an alternative, explaining its process and benefits, such as even cooking and minimal mess, but notes the drawbacks like the need for special equipment and longer cooking times.

05:02

🔥 Introducing Cold-Searing Technique

This section introduces the cold-searing method as a quick and easy alternative to traditional and sous vide cooking. The narrator outlines the process of cold-searing, emphasizing the use of a non-stick skillet, the importance of drying the steak, seasoning with pepper, and not using salt immediately before cooking to avoid moisture. The paragraph details the step-by-step cooking process, including the initial high heat to render fat and the subsequent medium heat to build a crust without overcooking, resulting in a juicy and evenly cooked steak.

10:02

🥩 Perfecting the Cold-Seared Steak

The final paragraph focuses on the final stages of the cold-searing method, including checking the steak's doneness with a thermometer and allowing it to rest to retain juices. The narrator describes the satisfaction of achieving a great sear without the mess and the ability to adjust cooking times for different steak sizes. The method's versatility is highlighted with its application to other dishes like pork chops and salmon. The paragraph concludes with the narrator's personal preference for this method and an invitation for viewers to share their steak cooking techniques.

Keywords

💡Steak

Steak refers to a piece of meat cut from the flesh of a cow, typically the most tender and desired cuts. In the video, the focus is on cooking steaks to achieve a perfect balance of sear and doneness, with the goal of a medium-rare center. The script describes the visual and olfactory appeal of the steaks, emphasizing the crust and the importance of not overcooking.

💡Crust

Crust in this context is the outer layer of the steak that develops a browned, flavorful surface through the cooking process. The script discusses the desire for a 'great sear' and 'good crust,' which is achieved through various cooking techniques and is crucial for the steak's flavor profile.

💡Maillard Reaction

The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor. The script mentions this reaction when describing the development of a 'great crust' on the steak, which is a desirable outcome of high-heat cooking methods.

💡Sous Vide

Sous vide is a cooking technique where food is vacuum-sealed in a bag and cooked in a water bath at a precise temperature. The script discusses sous vide as an alternative method for cooking steaks evenly and the time and equipment investment it requires, contrasting it with the proposed 'cold-seared' method.

💡Reverse Sear

Reverse sear is a method where the steak is first cooked in an oven to a desired internal temperature and then seared in a hot pan to create a crust. The script describes this method as a 'hack' of sous vide, achieving similar results with less equipment and time.

💡Cold-Seared

Cold-seared is a cooking method introduced in the script where the steak is seared in a non-stick skillet without oil, starting from room temperature. This method is highlighted for its speed, ease, and the even cooking it provides from edge to edge, without the need for special equipment.

💡Medium Rare

Medium rare is a term used to describe the doneness of meat, specifically steak, which is cooked to an internal temperature of approximately 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in a mostly pink center. The script mentions aiming for 125 degrees as a personal preference for medium-rare steak.

💡Pepper

In the context of the script, pepper refers to the seasoning applied to the steak before cooking. The use of pepper is emphasized as a key seasoning, applied generously to enhance the steak's flavor, with the script mentioning about 1/2 teaspoon as a guide.

💡Salt

Salt is a seasoning that enhances the natural flavors of food. The script advises against salting the steak right before cooking, as it can draw out moisture and affect the sear. Instead, it suggests salting in advance or after the searing process.

💡Thermometer

A thermometer is a device used to measure temperature. In the script, a thermometer is recommended for checking the internal temperature of the steak to ensure it reaches the desired doneness, avoiding overcooking.

💡Resting

Resting is the process of allowing cooked meat to sit for a short period before cutting into it. The script mentions resting the steak for five minutes after cooking to allow the juices to redistribute, ensuring a juicier and more tender result when sliced.

Highlights

Two strip steaks are compared, one overcooked with a gray ring and the other perfectly cooked with a rosy center.

A new method called 'cold-seared' is introduced as an alternative to traditional searing and sous vide.

The goal is to achieve a great sear and even cooking from edge to edge without special equipment.

Traditional steak cooking involves high heat and results in a gray overcooked ring around the steak.

Sous vide cooking is discussed, which uses water baths to cook steaks evenly but requires special equipment and longer times.

The reverse-sear method is explained, which cooks steaks in the oven before searing, mimicking sous vide results.

Cold-searing is presented as a faster and easier method that doesn't require special equipment or mess.

A non-stick skillet is the only equipment needed for cold-searing, and the steak should be 1 1/2 inches thick.

The steak is patted dry and peppered but not salted before cooking to prevent moisture from impacting the sear.

The cold pan is heated without oil, and the steak is cooked to render out its own fat for even cooking.

The steak is cooked at high heat for the first four minutes to drive off water and start the browning process.

After the initial high heat, the steak is cooked at medium heat, flipped every two minutes to build layers of crust.

The medium heat allows the heat to penetrate the steak without overcooking the edges, avoiding the gray band.

The steak is cooked until it reaches the desired internal temperature, checked with a thermometer.

A five-minute rest is crucial after cooking to allow juices to redistribute within the steak.

Coarse salt is added after cooking for texture and enhanced flavor.

The cold-seared steak is praised for its juiciness, tenderness, and even cooking without the need for special equipment or a mess.

The cold-searing method is versatile and can be adapted for cooking other proteins like pork chops and salmon.

Transcripts

- In front of me, I have two great-looking steaks.

They've got these beautiful crust.

You can't smell 'em but I can, and they smell great.

We all know you can't judge a steak by its crust

so let's have a peek inside.

So both of these strip steaks looked great

on the outside, but cut 'em open,

and what you see is this one doesn't look so great.

It's got that ring of gray meat

that's overcooked, dry.

It's just not what you want.

This one, however, looks fantastic.

It's nice and rosy from edge to edge.

You're thinking, this is "Cook's Illustrated,"

you reverse seared it, right?

We love our reverse sear,

but I didn't use that this time around.

I didn't bother with a sous vide circulator either.

I used a method that was faster and it was easier.

This steak was cold-seared.

(upbeat music)

Before we get into cooking steaks,

let's talk about our goals here.

What we want is a really great sear on the outside,

great browning, a good crust,

that's where a lot of the flavor is.

We also want the center to be cooked from edge to edge.

I shoot for 125, 'cause I like my steaks at medium rare.

You like your steaks cook a little more,

take 'em a little higher.

There's also the bonus points.

I want a method that is quick.

I want a method that doesn't make a mess.

And I don't wanna use any special equipment.

(upbeat music)

So I came up working in restaurants

and I learned how to cook a steak

with a very traditional method.

My chefs would have me put a skillet on the stove,

put a good amount of oil in there,

crank the heat, and wait for it to start smoking.

So when the pan is hot enough, screaming hot,

lots of smoke, the steak goes in.

And the thing they all tell you is do not touch that steak.

You get to flip it once, just once.

Let's be honest, everyone peeks

to make sure it's time to flip.

What's happening, it's developing a really great crust.

You're getting a lot of Maillard browning.

Once you get great browning on the first side,

you flip it over.

Again, you wait and wait and wait some more.

By then, the steak is mostly cooked.

It's pretty close.

You slip it in the oven, let it finish there.

And you're just waiting for the center

to hit 125 or 130, whatever you're serving temp is.

It's fast.

You don't need special equipment.

The crust it puts on a steak is fantastic.

They look gorgeous.

So the cons for this method, it's kind of messy.

It's kind of actually really messy,

and you're gonna trash your skillet.

And it's gonna take a lot of scrubbing to clean it up again.

And you might wanna have a lot of windows open, fan on,

pull the batteries out of your smoke detector.

It's not great.

But even worse, if you cut into the steak,

what you're gonna see is a big ring of gray

around a rosy center.

As you're cooking the meat,

you're pumping a ton of heat into the surface

and that heat will slowly work its way towards the center,

cooking the steak, which is what we want,

but because it takes so long to do that,

you end up overcooking the edges

and that's why you get that gray band.

Even professionals have a hard time with this method.

So enter sous vide.

(upbeat music)

Now, short digression.

I was a chemistry major before I started cooking.

And it was really weird to be in the restaurant

and see lab equipment floating around.

There were these immersion circulators,

which are these machines that can hold water

at very specific temperatures.

And they were being used in the kitchen.

What they were being used for was sous vide cooking.

Now, sous vide means under vacuum.

And what's happening is you're taking your steak,

sticking it in a bag, sucking all the air out,

and then you drop that bag into your water bath.

And then you wait, you wait some more,

maybe a couple more hours, depends on what you're cooking.

But over time, the water is gently cooking the meat

so that it is at the perfect temperature inside.

After it gets there, you take it out of the bath,

out of the bag, pop it in a pan,

and give it a quick sear on each side.

You build up a great crust in almost no time

so you're not making much of a mess.

It's pretty great.

But, you know, there are some drawbacks as well.

You have to invest in a sous vide circulator,

and they can be pricey.

You're going through a bunch of plastic bags

to cook your meat.

Takes up some space on your counter

and it's gonna take up that space for anywhere

between 1 1/2 to three hours.

You compare that to a traditional method,

that takes 10 minutes.

It's a big time investment.

Sous vide cooking is great

but it wasn't always accessible to everyone.

Restaurant chefs could afford to spend thousands of dollars

on chemistry lab equipment,

but you weren't doing that at home.

Back in 2007, Kenji Lopez-Alt developed a recipe

for "Cook's Illustrated"

based on this hack of sous vide cooking.

And he dubbed it the reverse-sear.

Here's how it works.

(upbeat music)

Take the steaks, pop them on a cooling rack,

put that rack on a rimmed baking sheet,

and stick the whole setup in a 275 degree oven.

You wait for 20, 25 minutes.

And what you're looking for is the center

of that steak to hit 90 to 95 degrees.

After that, you take them out,

put them in a skillet and give them a hard sear.

And that sear doesn't just build the crust,

it's taking the steaks up to your serving temperature.

So you need to make sure you're temping the steaks

both while they're in the oven

and then again when you're searing

to make sure that they don't overcook.

So the reverse sear method will get you

what you can get with sous vide, and it'll do it faster.

You won't need to have special fancy equipment

for it, which we love.

But on the downside,

you do have to use a couple extra pieces of equipment

and you do need to heat your oven.

So with a reverse-sear,

we're getting closer to what we want.

How do we shave off even more time?

Enter cold-searing.

(upbeat music)

The only piece of cooking equipment we need

for cold-searing is this non-stick skillet.

I've got a strip steak here.

And you can use any steak you want.

Boneless steaks are ideal.

The key is to make sure your steak is 1 1/2 inches thick.

I'm gonna pat this steak dry.

I wanna get rid of all the moisture on the surface.

Next up, I'm going to pepper this steak,

looking for maybe about 1/2 teaspoon of pepper or so.

You can kind of do this to taste.

(pepper grinder whirring)

What I'm not doing is salting this.

I'll salt this later with one of my favorite salts.

If you want and you have the time and you remember,

you can salt this guy 45 minutes in advance

or up to a day in advance, but you don't have to.

The important bit is that you don't wanna salt

right before cooking.

Salting draws out moisture, and that will impact the sear.

So next up, we sear.

We've got my cold pan, no oil, it's perfect.

All right, let's get cooking for real.

I've got the heat set to high,

and I'm not worried about the fact

that I'm in a non-stick skillet at all.

The meat is gonna suck some of that heat up

and I'm gonna turn it down pretty soon.

We need to heat up that skillet.

And I wanna start driving off some of the water

that's on the surface of the steak

so that we can get good browning.

(meat sizzles)

So what I'm hearing is actually really good.

Some of the juices are starting to come out.

The fat is rendering out of here as well.

And that sizzling is the water,

starting to get driven off by the heat.

We're gonna cook the steak in its own fat.

There's plenty of fat in here.

It's more than enough.

It also limits the amount of fat that can splatter

out of the pan and keeps this really neat.

Now it's just a matter of waiting

for this side to fully heat up

for more of that fat to render out.

It's been two minutes.

Let's give it a flip and see what's happened.

Great, okay, don't worry.

There's no browning, and that's the way it's supposed to be.

We're not trying to get all of that color on the first go

because it's actually easier

to build up layers of color as we cook.

So I'm just gonna let this pan keep going at high heat

for another two minutes on this side.

We're gonna do the same thing

to the second side of the steak.

So this first four minutes of blasting the heat

and just letting the steak kind of go gray,

think of it as setting yourself up for success.

You're getting fat out of that steak,

it's gonna be really flavorful,

and you're searing your meat.

You're also pulling those juices out.

Those juices have the proteins and amino acids

you need to build a beautiful crust.

As those juices cook down and reduce in this pan,

they can't stick to the pan.

So they're gonna stick to the steak

and that's what helps us build

a beautiful, beautiful surface.

Two minutes has passed.

Give this another flip.

Now what I wanna do is reduce the heat.

What I'm looking for here is a nice medium

and I'm not just looking for it,

I'm listening for it as well.

What I wanna hear is this gentle sizzle.

I don't want like a really loud, aggressive sizzle.

I also don't wanna see any splatter.

I don't want to see any smoke coming up

'cause that means we're going a little too hard

and a little too fast.

The meat that's just below the surface

is picking up a ton of heat from that skillet.

We want to let some of that heat move towards the center

so that the steak is cooking,

but we want the rest of that heat to get out of there,

because if it hangs out there it's gonna overcook the meat,

and that's when the gray band develops.

Every two minutes, what I'm gonna do is flip it.

Look at that, we're starting to get some color.

This is great.

Still not a ton of drama.

We're slowly building up our layers of crust.

And the heat that got built up just below this surface

while this side was touching the pan,

some of it is dissipating into the air.

The rest of it is moving towards the center of the meat.

None of it is staying just below the surface

and turning the meat gray, and that's exactly what we want.

(meat sizzles)

Nice, I am four minutes into cooking at medium heat.

And sometimes, depending on what you think medium heat is

and how thick your steak is, could be done.

This does not feel done to me.

If you've got an especially large steak,

it could take up to another six minutes,

10 minutes total cooking at medium heat.

So keep an eye on it.

Check it with your thermometer as you go

and it'll take as long as it takes.

One of the things I like about this method

is I'm kind of fidgety.

I don't like looking at my food and not touching it.

And it's totally fine to move this one around.

If there're a little patches of fond,

you can kind of mop 'em up with the steak

so they stick to the meat instead of the pan.

(meat sizzles)

Yes.

(meat sizzles)

I love watching that crust kind of develop with every flip.

There's something so satisfying about it.

If I were searing a regular steak,

my hands could not be right here.

It would be way too hot and way too splattery.

This method is so neat.

Makes clean up a snap.

I'm about seven minutes in.

It is feeling firm, which is a good sign

that you should kind of start picking up

the thermometer and checking.

I don't like to go straight down.

It's really hard to figure out where the center is.

Instead, I come in from the side.

And to make sure I don't overshoot the center,

I'll kind of like mark off where the middle is

and then just stick the thermometer in

until my thumb hits the meat.

We are at 125.

Let's get this out of the pan and onto a board.

Like all seared steaks, this needs a five minute rest.

If you slice into them right away,

the juices are really active and they're flowing,

and they're gonna flow right out of there.

By resting it, they kind of slow down.

The steak cools a little bit.

So all those juices,

they're in the bite instead of on your board.

So this steak has rested for five minutes.

Time to slice it open.

Look at that cook.

I like to use a coarse salt for this

because it adds some crunch.

It's not gonna dissolve right away.

And that bit of texture is awesome.

This is so good.

It's juicy.

It's tender.

It's got great flavor.

Pops of salt are wonderful.

This is all I want in a steak.

You can see why this is my favorite method.

It's quick, just as quick as the traditional method.

You get that great sear and that edge to edge cook.

And you nail the temperature,

which is what sous vide and the reverse-sear do for us,

but no special equipment, no mess.

We've modified this method to produce recipes

for pork chops that are perfectly brown

and nicely cooked, super juicy.

You can can even use it

to make really great salmon fillets with crispy skin.

It's a great method.

It is my go-to.

Now just one more bite.

I kind of like my steak sliced super thin.

They're just extra tender that way.

Mm.

(upbeat music)

So how do you cook your steaks?

Are you a traditionalist?

Have I convinced you to give up sous vide for a cold-sear?

Let me know in the comments below, drop a like,

and be sure to head over to cooksillustrated.com

to check out some other techniques.