You’re making things too complicated it seems. If oil/butter burns during the sear and you want to deglaze, just throw away the burnt fats, and put in fresh butter. You’ll still have the fond, but now you can make a clean sauce again, without burnt bits. This is what I usually do even if the oil didn’t burn.
Also, typically once a steak is well under way of being cooked, the temperature in the pan will have dropped compared to when you started. Even then, just less than a minute of the gas and the pan is ready to go for the sauce. This is exactly the balance I was talking about in my previous post, where IME copper and carbon steel excel at.
If this thread shows anything it is that people have different approaches, and I assume we all like our own cooked steaks. Glad that you have your own approach that works for you.
Okay… So you are searing a steak on low heat then? That’s the only alternative. Not necessarily bad, but depends a bit on what you’re cooking, eg Raymond Blanc uses this approach for pork chops. What works for me for steaks, is just throwing away the oil. The fond won’t get burned. Trust me, done it hundreds of times.
Heat retentive pans: it’s a too general statement for me to comment on. I remember using the Paderno for a steak and liked it, but then the Paderno is more on the responsive side for a thick alu db pan. Also, searing a steak is different than eg frying chicken pieces. If one can continue replenishing high heat, then most pans will be able to retain heat for the purpose of searing a steak. Including 2.3mm copper and carbon steel.
No, not in my opinion. But we were talking about “screaming hot”.
Let’s go at it from the opposite direction, then. Do you think there’s an upper steak searing pan temperature, past which useable fond formation and deglazing isn’t advisable? I’m not asking for X degrees, but what “screaming hot” means to you would be helpful.
If one leaves a pan preheating on a stove for say over 10 minutes on high heat, and then you put in a steak - yes there will be a point when fond gets burned.
But that will be the least of your problems because now you will have burned your steak.
IME if one can keep a steak from burning while searing, the fond will be perfectly fine. Keep the flame as high as possible but not too high. Is that still ‘screaming hot’?
Well… You’re hopefully not going to drag this whole thread into a semantic lawyer-like dissection of what constitutes ‘screaming hot’…
OK, I now know more than i ever need to know about the pans…how bout the deglazing part?
I’m a simple cook, and truth be told I always cook my steaks on the grill. But I did give this method a whirl the other day having read this post. (the pan and steak worked great).
I kept it simple and easy (didn’t feel like cutting up garlic or onions) so here’s what I deglazed the pan with
a bit of water
a bit of white wine
a glug of fish sauce
a glug of soy
I didn’t cook it down so it was viscous and kept a thinner kind of sauce (but did get the “fond” incorporated) to pour over the sliced steak with some nice california japanese style rice. It was steak so it was pretty delicious. I like to serve steak with sliced raw jalapenos and sometimes some wasabi, which is what i did here too. I take it yours are probably more delicious. What are some other ez things to do with the pan post steak? Is this a good time and place to brown up some onions?
I have a single filet in the fridge for some dad time later tonite (or later this week) after the vegetarians et al are fed. I also have a few NY strips but would prob do those on the bbq.
I can keep the steak from burning in extremely hot pans, but it’s not in the pan very long. And what’s left to burn in the the pan afterward isn’t desirable, IMO.
But you’re not answering what “screaming hot” means to you when it comes to searing.
I usually deglaze in either butter and add a splash of water for a butter pan sauce or I deglaze in wine with a touch of honey or syrup.
If I’m really in the mood, I’ll add some chopped shallots and let them caramelise with a bit of balsamic vinegar and honey/syrup then deglaze in wine, wait a few minutes for the wine to reduce to half, then add some veal/chicken/beef stock and let it reduce a bit and salt & pepper to taste.
Anything that isn’t desirable, you just throw away. So, the oils in the pan. I have a separate jar under the sink for these purposes. Now, what will remain in the pan is the fond: the bits that have stuck to the bottom. This is where the flavour is and a perfect base for a clean sauce.
Then, add a splash of wine and loosen the bits of fond. As the wine is room temperature, the temperature in the pan will drop. If you notice the pan being too hot before pouring the wine, just wait a bit.
Now you’ll have a runny consistency of wine (evaporated by half) and the fond in the pan. This is when you’ll want to add cubes of cold butter. Now the sauce will bind and the consistency will become sauce-like. Taste for seasoning, and you’re done!
For steaks I’ll do this approach, or no deglazing at all. For pork chops I like to use dry Marsala with some fresh sage or rosemary gently fried in the butter.
I remember Julia Child’s book going into these and other deglazing approaches in more detail.
Screaming hot: I use my second largest burner. Heat at 85% until Leidenfrost (just), put in the steak, if needed I will up the temp to max.
What pan are you using for steaks, the Proline? Ever tried other pans?
If you’re only heating to the Leidenfrost Point before the flop, that means <400F (usually only about 350F). At that point, only butter, EVOO and a few unrefined oils will smoke. To me, “screaming hot” is above that, probably closer to the flash point, typically 125F higher than he fat’s smoke point.
No, I rotate pans for searing. To stay OT, for searing that I’m also going to do a pan sauce, I mostly use copper and SS constructions. With no sauce, or for a high sear (like sous vide), I rotate between those and bare CI. I’ll even occasionally sear in an ECI braiser if I know I want the fond to end up in the braise.
Water & butter is a staple in my quick butter pan sauces and I use it frequently and have been doing so for years.
I started this thread because pan reduction sauces with wine was my issue, when dealing with carbon steel pans.
Suggesting using water instead of wine in a reduction sauce to me is the same as suggesting to make saltimbocca with chicken instead of veal, because veal is harder to find.
It’s another taste and not quite the same dish with chicken, although also delicious.
Suggesting a butter water sauce instead of a wine reduction sauce sort of defeats the purpose, if you know what I mean.
I do butter water sauces all the time, so when I want a wine reduction sauce and ask what people use for pans for that, I’m not expecting a suggestion going the way Damiano also did - to suggest a completely different type sauce.
But thanks for your suggestion. And I have the upmost respect for Mr. Raymond Blanc, a true master chef.
But as said I’ve used butter water pan sauces since I was a teenager and that’s 30+ years ago now.
Pork chops were on sale this week and I paid $3 a piece for these beauties - seared pork chops to me is on par with a seared ribeye steak, a different taste but ohhh so good with that juicy meat and the seared crust - but very few people know this so keep the secret a secret…….
My Darto N25 pan seared these pork chops quite well yesterday (if you ask me they were perfectly seared)
I actually deglazed the pan in a bit of red wine afterwards and the pan sauce was actually ok. But it did take a bit of the seasoning off from the pan.
I don’t have the heart to sell my carbon steel pans, when they can sear pork chops this well
Gives a lovely sheen to the sauce. I’ve been deglazing with unsalted stock w/ bacon fat as my “sheening” agent. I’ll finish steak in the toaster oven and throw some stock, bacon fat and mushrooms in, S&P, scrape the fond, let reduce and serve.
