I do not think I have ever used full blast except to boil water. In some recent thread I commented that I really do not even think about cook times for things like steaks. This notion that it is ready after X minutes on each side is just crazy to me. I get it pretty hot, salt the pan, toss in the steak, butter the cold top, flip it after a bit, and continue flipping in a pan not so hot as to destroy the butter. The heat goes up, not to the top, after each flip but comes back down after a few seconds of recovery. Toss a bit of rosemary in sometimes. Add butter as needed but only if needed. The steak is done when the IR or the finger test indicates the desired doneness. The crust will be browned as I like. I have no idea how many minutes this takes, and depending on the meat, I imagine it’s a pretty wide range. I am virtually certain that the cumulative cook time exceeds the recommended time by a good bit, but it yields a perfect MR for a ribeye or a perfect R for hanger, skirt, bottom round, sirloin, etc. Yes, time is your friend, and, as you often sing, attentiveness. Pay attention to the pan, not the clock! Of course the front of the house knows damn well that 1 1/2" thick ribeye is going to take more than twelve minutes! Back on topic, I find it easier to do this in most any pan other than CI.
Same here, at home, though I do tend to use clarified butter so I can go up a little higher on the early heat.
not exactly sure how getting heat off/out of a pot or pan relates to searing . . .
but whatever . . .
would it help to point out that the coefficient thermal capacity for aluminum is higher than cast iron? pound for pound, aluminum “holds” heat better . . .
it’s just that one seldom encounters an aluminum pot/pan as heavy as a similar cast iron one.
I have a bunch of cast iron and carbon steel. My favorite CI are a Griswold 8 and a Wagner chicken fryer. I have a few de Buyer and BK CS, and a few nitrated Brandani CS. My favorites are the de Buyer country pan (doubles a flat bottom wok) and the 9” Brandani.
In any case, they all do different things better than the others or for specific uses. For general use I like the Brandani, the large 12” does pork chops nicely on the stove top, sears a steak nice and even. The 9” I use for general use and tortilla espanola. The small BK is the dedicated egg pan because it’s super thin and left to that won’t get messed up.
However for hardcore searing, 500f - 600f + over gas, the Wagner chicken fryer works best to my liking. Went camping with a sous vide tri-tip un-seared. I wanted to take a portable Weber to finish but too much gear…so I seared the hell out of it in the Wagner over a butane stove at full blast for like 15-20 minutes flipping it, etc. (The tri-tip was cold and it was cold outside.) The weight and tiny handle were kind of a hassle but the high walls helped contain the mess and heat, and I could lean the tri-tip on its side. A CS would have worked but not as well in this case but a tri-tip was kind oa specialized use.
The sear was as good or better as finishing in a weber but of course no smoke. However for a NY strip on the stove top, any of the CI or CS would have worked minus the BK, and difference negligible…because it’s not the pan but the cook. What temp, duration and what kind of fat, that’s the cook not the pan. YMMV.
No offense but nerding out on this reminds me of “bench racing” car specs vs. actual racing and use. I want Mario Andretti or Jacques Pipin with a shitty pan or car, vs Joe Average in a good car o $500 pan. Joe Average can get close but bet on Andretti or Pepin.
Exactly what I do with my De Buyer CS pans(got them for real cheap, on sale) I’ve never has CI pans in the house, but have used them in “pro” kitchens.
I do not think that point was directed at searing. It is just a truth of the kitchen that getting a dish in a pan too hot is almost always bad and sometimes disastrous. If the pan is highly responsive and can, therefore, cool quickly when the heat is cut, it can sometimes make the difference between feeding the dog or the family.
true.
but in the question of “fast” - neither cast iron or steel enters the equation.
the winner in fast/slow heat gain/loss is copper - tinned, stainless lined, not matter any of that - copper is the best at heat fast gain/loss.
btw, and of no OMG status, the thread does not focus on fast/slow - only “better to sear”
This works:
Nice collectable
I know. But sometime I use the least fast cookware like… clay. Just for heck of it.
Which way which? The dog get the better foods?
I agree 100%. My pans are tinned copper or CS, and CS is used primarily for eggs because it is so darned nonstick or for searing steaks.
In our house, the dog gets the good stuff, but in most houses, if you burned the paillards in tarragon cream, the dog is getting it and dinner gets refired for the humans (unless that was the last of the chicken, in which case it’s cacio e pepe time!).
