Expert: Keith Patton - 4/10/2008

Question
I have an electrick  skillet and am wondering  how to cook a steak medium well.  Any suggestions as to how high or how long?  Thanks for any help

Curtis

Answer
Curtis:

First, pan fried steak to my palate are not the tastiest steaks but this is how I'd do it.

I would use the highest setting.
Place a bit of suet (the white fat you can trim from the steak) in the skillet and grease the skillet with it, or use olive oil.

Make sure your steak is at room temperature.
Pat your steak dry with a paper towel.  
Throw it in and brown one side.
Turn it before you start to see pink gelatinous puddles of myoglobin forming on the top side.
Turn and brown the other.
Doneness can be judged by closing your hand into a fist.
Push your finger into the pouch of muscle between thumb and forefinger.  The relaxed state is medium.
Tense your muscles.
That is well done.
Do the same to the steak to judge the doneness. Medium well will be in between hard and spongy.  A thermometer works too.  140-145 is rare, 170+ is well done.  150-155 would probably be what you want.
As meat cooks it contracts and the protein coagulates turning the red soft raw steak into a gray dense lump. Liquid is also squeezed out.

Remember that the meat continues to cook a bit after taking it off due to retained heat, so take it off just before it reachs the desired doneness.

Keith