Helpful Cooking Tip #10 - Heat Explained

Helpful Cooking Tip #10 - Make sure there is a liquid or fat in your pan

Most cooks have sort of a vague notion about how heat transfers to the food they cook. Electric stoves are all the rage, and they typically use heat settings distributed in a uniform way- either from 1 to 10 or low, med, and high (with some settings in between). What those numbers or settings correspond to is the amount of time that the coil which your pan sits on is activated. When active, electricity is sent through the coil, heating it up to temperatures much hotter than anything your food will end up being. When you sit a pan on the coil, the heat from the coil transfers over to and across the area of the pan. Sticking something into the pan allows the heat to in turn transfer from the pan to your food. That is why setting most consumer pans on a coil set to high with nothing in them will ruin the pan because the metal gets too hot and starts melting/warping/tempering, but by placing water or any other substance to absorb and radiate the excess heat in the form of steam, the pot will be fine. Cast iron pans are especially great because they can disperse heat across the pan very well, reducing specific "hot spot" points where the pan might be dramatically hotter or cooler than corresponding. They are also tend to be more heavily constructed than other pans, making them more durable and resistant to especially high heat. Plus, they can go straight from the range to under a broiler/in a hot oven with ease.

Perfectly Cooked Steak:
- Requires high heat/oven safe pan (cast iron is great)
- Steak
- Fat w/ high smoke point (corn or canola oil is most common - has a higher smoke point than olive oil)
- Cooking thermometer (digital is typically better because they give a more accurate/faster reading)

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Add a little vegetable oil/fat with a high smoke point
- Turn the burners on high
- Wait until the oil gets hot- almost smoking (will start to shimmer)
- Add your steak and make sure to drag it around the pan a big to coat the bottom layer in oil so it doesn't stick/burn
- Once the bottom side has enough color for you, flip the steak, and spread it around the pan to coat the new side initially just as you did with the other side.
- Once both sides of the steak look pleasingly caramelized, stick the pan into the oven until the internal center temperature of the steak reaches the desired doneness you'd like- I'd start probing every 5-10 minutes until your steak is close (but remember, each time you open the oven door the oven's internal temperature drops) :

140-145F Rare
145-150F Medium Rare/Medium
150-155F Medium/Medium-well
160F+ Well done

Make sure an let the steak rest for a couple of minutes after cooking so that the juices that have dispersed from the outer "well done" areas of the steak settle back evenly through the meat. Enjoy.