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How to pan fry a 8 oz. new York strip steak?

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I like to salt them well at least 1 hour before cooking. generously coat both sides with kosher salt, rub it in, and let it sit out at RT. You will see juices start to pool around the meat throughout the process, which is a good thing

This will help the cells to expand and traps a lot of the juice during cooking...or something like that. Makes for a juicier, more evenly-cooked steak. Also need to let that puppy sit a few minutes after the searing, before you slice into it. All of those water molecules are dancing about all furious in there, and if you cut it too soon, all that moisture just explodes out onto the plate, leaving you with nothing but red meat, scorn, and pity.
 
Remobz said:
Hey guys,

I don't want to screw this up. I have steak seasoning and an 8 oz. New York strip. My steak will be at room temperature and I will season it 5 minutes before cooking.


Please be detailed as possible.
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if you've never cook a steak before and want a fool proof steak, do this:

(1) get a cooler, doesn't have to be big
(2) mix the water to around 135 degree F in the cooler. Use a thermometer to check this.
(3) put a steak in a zip lock bag, get all the air out and seal it well.
(4) put the zip lock bag in the cooler. Close it
(5) check the cooler temperate every 10 mins or so. You may need to add some more hot water but for only 1 steak, most likely you don't need to do anything
(6) after about 45 mins, take the steak out. Pat it dry
(7) heat oil up in a pan - very hot -. Just about any oil is fine but not olive.
(8) put the steak in, about 1 min each side.
(9) let it "rest" (sitting on the counter) for about 10 mins or so before serve.

What you are doing is a poor-man sousvide method for a medium rare steak. You'll get a good steak w/o as much smoke.
 
NikolaeVarius said:
Touch test is really really dumb. Every cut of meat and everyone's hands are different and is an extremely subjective test.

Thermometer gives you a objective measure of when a steak is done.

130 for medium rare
140 for medium
150 medium well

My preference would be to sous vide it.
Pre-Cooking
Salt the steak as far in advance as possible and hold it inside fridge.

1. Get a insulated container.
2. Pour in water that is measured out to be 135 degrees.
3. Put steak in air/water tight bag with air squeezed out.
4. Put steak into water and keep inside for about an hour, making sure every once in a while the water stays above 130 degrees.
5. After an hour, sear on both sides on a the hottest cast iron pan you can get for 30-60 seconds each with a pat of butter
6. Rest for 5 minutes and serve.

Perfection every single time. Anyone who gives you cooking times without knowing the thickness of the steak is doing it wrong. The above method is pretty much foolproof unless you're using a unnaturally very thin or very thick steak.
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Not everyone has or wants to sous vide, but I agree that it is generally the best. Of course, you don't need a thermometer for that, so I'm not really sure why you discount the touch test if you are doing sous vide.

Besides, the touch test is pretty standard and recommended by most professional chefs. It takes practice, but it works. In the end, it develops with experience just as you learn your own equipment and your own protocols. Precise timing and pan and oven temperatures can be refined to close enough proximation to give one very good consistency, with enough practice.
 
zinfamous said:
Besides, the touch test is pretty standard and recommended by most professional chefs. It takes practice, but it works. In the end, it develops with experience just as you learn your own equipment and your own protocols. Precise timing and pan and oven temperatures can be refined to close enough proximation to give one very good consistency, with enough practice.
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or you can stick a thermometer into a piece of meat and figure it out day 1.

TOOLS HOW DO YOU WORK!??!?!
 
zinfamous said:
Not everyone has or wants to sous vide, but I agree that it is generally the best. Of course, you don't need a thermometer for that, so I'm not really sure why you discount the touch test if you are doing sous vide.

Besides, the touch test is pretty standard and recommended by most professional chefs. It takes practice, but it works. In the end, it develops with experience just as you learn your own equipment and your own protocols. Precise timing and pan and oven temperatures can be refined to close enough proximation to give one very good consistency, with enough practice.
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Of course you need a thermometer. How else are you going to figure out what temperature the water is? Sous vide simply takes away the burden of taking the temperature of the meat and instead transfers it to the water.

The touch test is standard for professional chefs who are familiar with the cuts of meat they routinely cook every single day for years. Most people do not cook meat every single day for years or have a consistent menu to follow every single time and know exactly what cuts of meat they use at what exact thickness.

For everyone else, you can do better than professional chefs and their touch test by buying a 30 dollar thermometer that will tell you the exact doneness of a steak in under 4 seconds with no wiggle room.
 
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Ns1 said:
or you can stick a thermometer into a piece of meat and figure it out day 1.

TOOLS HOW DO YOU WORK!??!?!
Click to expand...

Yes, but you don't really learn much, to be honest. Still, it's basic stuff and I think everyone should start this way. And stick to it if you feel that cooking is pure protocol with zero soul.

NikolaeVarius said:
Of course you need a thermometer. How else are you going to figure out what temperature the water is? Sous vide simply takes away the burden of taking the temperature of the meat and instead transfers it to the water.

The touch test is standard for professional chefs who are familiar with the cuts of meat they routinely cook every single day for years. Most people do not cook meat every single day for years or have a consistent menu to follow every single time and know exactly what cuts of meat they use at what exact thickness.

For everyone else, you can do better than professional chefs and their touch test by buying a 30 dollar thermometer that will tell you the exact doneness of a steak in under 4 seconds with no wiggle room.
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Yes, that's fair. Of course the sous vide handles the temperature--I was simply referring to the fact that you don't need to confirm the meat's temperature after or during cooking (Searing, in this case) if you are recommending sous vide, to support the notion, accurate or not, that it is best not to pierce it with a thermometer.

I think piercing the surface in one spot is certainly fine; it's cutting the meat too early which causes problems.

I spend my day in a wet lab following protocols of precise temperature and time--cooking in tubes, essentially--which tolerates very little fluctuation. I find these habits useful, and certainly essential to cooking.

However, I also find rote protocol completely soulless and boring. Protocol gets you only so far until, as in my case, you are just doing the same shit you do all day. If you aren't really learning what you are doing with food--touch is no less important than sound and odor--then you aren't learning.

It's the rule-driven zealots that frighten a lot of people away from wanting to learn about cooking. These people also must eat with forks and proper knives--specific utensils for the specific dish. These are more often than not people that have probably never eaten food with their fingers, which, if they consider themselves accomplished cooks, is a shameful act. 😉
 
zinfamous said:
Yes, but you don't really learn much, to be honest. Still, it's basic stuff and I think everyone should start this way. And stick to it if you feel that cooking is pure protocol with zero soul.
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Do you eyeball measurements while baking too?

D:
 
zinfamous said:
Yes, but you don't really learn much, to be honest. Still, it's basic stuff and I think everyone should start this way. And stick to it if you feel that cooking is pure protocol with zero soul.



Yes, that's fair. Of course the sous vide handles the temperature--I was simply referring to the fact that you don't need to confirm the meat's temperature after or during cooking (Searing, in this case) if you are recommending sous vide, to support the notion, accurate or not, that it is best not to pierce it with a thermometer.

I think piercing the surface in one spot is certainly fine; it's cutting the meat too early which causes problems.

I spend my day in a wet lab following protocols of precise temperature and time--cooking in tubes, essentially--which tolerates very little fluctuation. I find these habits useful, and certainly essential to cooking.

However, I also find rote protocol completely soulless and boring. Protocol gets you only so far until, as in my case, you are just doing the same shit you do all day. If you aren't really learning what you are doing with food--touch is no less important than sound and odor--then you aren't learning.

It's the rule-driven zealots that frighten a lot of people away from wanting to learn about cooking. These people also must eat with forks and proper knives--specific utensils for the specific dish. These are more often than not people that have probably never eaten food with their fingers, which, if they consider themselves accomplished cooks, is a shameful act. 😉
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But that's a poor argument.

Do you consider a carpenter who measures the dimensions of the wood he uses and pre-plans his cuts someone who is soulless and boring?

Claiming that sous vide is soul less is exactly the same as considering cooking a steak only on a cast iron pan soul less. The only difference is that the cast iron pan has "tradition" behind it versus sous vide, which is more focused on the science.

From what I've seen, tradition is usually wrong, or at the very least, misguided. Sous vide is superior to straight cast iron cooking for steaks in every single way, from the pro to the amateur. It eliminates variances in size and thickness and you get a perfect cook every single time.

Sous vide exists BECAUSE we know what is happening with food. We know that searing isn't doing anything special to keep in juices, we know how meat heats up, we know the mechanisms of the malliard reaction. It's because we understand how cooking works from a scientific perspective that we can use modern cooking methods in the way that we do and aren't limited to cast iron cooking like some 1700s civil war soldier.
 
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From what I've seen, tradition is usually wrong, or at the very least, misguided. Sous vide is superior to straight cast iron cooking for steaks in every single way, from the pro to the amateur. It eliminates variances in size and thickness and you get a perfect cook every single time.
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except you really need to finish on a grill or pan or something cuz the sous vide texture sucks IMO
 
NikolaeVarius said:
But that's a poor argument.

Do you consider a carpenter who measures the dimensions of the wood he uses and pre-plans his cuts someone who is soulless and boring?

Claiming that sous vide is soul less is exactly the same as considering cooking a steak only on a cast iron pan soul less. The only difference is that the cast iron pan has "tradition" behind it versus sous vide, which is more focused on the science.

From what I've seen, tradition is usually wrong, or at the very least, misguided. Sous vide is superior to straight cast iron cooking for steaks in every single way, from the pro to the amateur. It eliminates variances in size and thickness and you get a perfect cook every single time.
Click to expand...

wait, why are we talking about a carpenter, whose job is to make sure that his work doesn't collapse and kill a family?

Or...are you ignoring that in the carpenters work, while it is important to follow a certain number of strict guidelines (safety and good practice), there is also room for expression--color, structural shape, novel use of space, etc.

so...you agree with me, then? :hmm:
 
Ns1 said:
except you really need to finish on a grill or pan or something cuz the sous vide texture sucks IMO
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Nobody ever said you don't finish it on a pan. Every single recipe that involves meat using the sous vide method involves searing it, because sous vide happens at too low temperatures to cause the malliard reaction.


However, at the same time, you don't need to finish it on a pan because the pan doesn't give any special properties to the meat. You could use a blowtorch (tuned lowly because going to hot will cause bad tasting molecules to form), or use a searszall (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1708738346/the-searzall) to cause the browning.

But meat is always browned after sous vide cooking. Sous vide simply makes the internal temperature of the meat spot on every single time.

zinfamous said:
wait, why are we talking about a carpenter, whose job is to make sure that his work doesn't collapse and kill a family?

Or...are you ignoring that in the carpenters work, while it is important to follow a certain number of strict guidelines (safety and good practice), there is also room for expression--color, structural shape, novel use of space, etc.

so...you agree with me, then? :hmm:
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What kid of argument is that? A cook doesn't have a duty to make his food safe, to have it reach the minimum temperatures required to kill off possible pathogens?

Also, your second argument is piss poor. A carpenter may be able to introduce expression into his works, but the fundamentals are always the same. Your argument is more geared toward the presentation of food. A cook can always fluff up his presentation with some greens to give some contrasting color, and a drizzle of a sauce or two. But the meat, much like the underlying architecture that a carpenter creates, is based upon scientific principals that can be optimized.
 
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Ns1 said:
except you really need to finish on a grill or pan or something cuz the sous vide texture sucks IMO
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or a blowtorch!

I think Nickolae ignores that I do prefer sous vide, as I said--but it pales in comparison to building your own fire outside, stringing up half an animal to smoke all day next to it, and spend the day with people--fishing, chatting, whatever.

I enjoy cooking for people, and for the company. I prefer to do it as best I can. The goal isn't simply to prepare the food perfectly. I don't get caught up if something is off. The important thing is that everyone has a good time.

Protocol is important to learn and follow, but that doesn't mean anything if you don't understand the why.
 
Last night on Master Chef Jr the way they had them cook the filet had 3 different steps. 9 seconds each side on a stove top grill just for grills marks. Then they had them cooking them in a cast iron skillet with some herbs and the were basting them with butter. After that, they put them in the oven. The steaks were very very thick cuts, they didn't mention too much about the cooking times other than the part with the grill marks.
 
zinfamous said:
or a blowtorch!

I think Nickolae ignores that I do prefer sous vide, as I said--but it pales in comparison to building your own fire outside, stringing up half an animal to smoke all day next to it, and spend the day with people--fishing, chatting, whatever.

I enjoy cooking for people, and for the company. I prefer to do it as best I can. The goal isn't simply to prepare the food perfectly. I don't get caught up if something is off. The important thing is that everyone has a good time.

Protocol is important to learn and follow, but that doesn't mean anything if you don't understand the why.
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Moving the goalposts again.

The purpose of the thread wasn't to establish what was the most fun way of making food. The purpose was to establish the best foolproof way of making a steak.

I enjoy cooking scientifically. It may be because I'm surrounded by nerds and engineers, but for me, when I cook using scientific principals, I enjoy explaining why I cook in a certain way and the science behind the process.
 
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WaTaGuMp said:
Last night on Master Chef Jr the way they had them cook the filet had 3 different steps. 9 seconds each side on a stove top grill just for grills marks. Then they had them cooking them in a cast iron skillet with some herbs and the were basting them with butter. After that, they put them in the oven. The steaks were very very thick cuts, they didn't mention too much about the cooking times other than the part with the grill marks.
Click to expand...

Adaiah didn't use any seasoning though while Sean's supposedly tasted great. I don't know how the red team won.
 
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