Question When I cook Filets I coat lightly in olive oil, season, them put them in an iron skillet heated to 400 for a minute on each side. Then put the skillet in a 400 oven and cook 3 minutes on each side. We enjoy rare - medium rare steaks. The steaks are cooked perfect each time with one exception....
I can never get the crisp sear that one gets in restaurants. How can I get a great sear on the meat and still keep it juicy with the cook temp inside?
Thank you,
Johnnie
Answer Johnnie:
The key is temperature, and alas, unless you have a grill that can reach in excess of 1000F you won't get there. Ruth's Chris for instance, claims to have a custom built grill/oven that gets hotter than that and is the source of the sizzle at the table. One thing you might try is making sure your steaks are dry on the outside before oiling, or forgoe the oiling at all. The reason being, that any moisture that is on or comes from the meat when it hits the hot metal, instantly turns to steam, trapped between the oil and the meat. This actually braises the meat, turning it gray. On a grill however, this does not occur, the steam escapes since there is nothing between the meat and flame to trap it. The browning reaction therefore can form.
I would suggest that you might try heating a cast iron skillet till it is white in the center, this of course will ruin the seasoning of the skillet. This is the same process used for blackening fish.
The extremely hot surface will give you a good browning reaction so long as you don't over do it.
Whatever you try, the key is high heat. Brills are best for this.
