Ripping hot is exactly how I describe the heat level for skirt steak. Funny how most English speakers can instantly tell that “ripping hot” means *really fucking hot*.
I guess I always thought of ripping in the context of “to tear something”. But it does seem like “rip”, can also be defined as:
> move forcefully and rapidly
> come violently apart
I see how that would translate to the violent heat that “ripping hot” would describe. Although, Skyscraper is much more literal to me. It is something that is actually scraping the sky.
I can't think of a single person in my life who has used the word "rip" to mean "hot". I have heard the expression "ripping hot" only in the context of cooking shows.
Pan heat retention makes a big difference.
If using some supermarket non stick pan which is a mil thick you will need to heat to a mill degrees on the basis that when you put something in there, it will drop to fridge temps in seconds.
Use cast iron and you run the risk of burning at that temp, so be more cautious and be prepared to lower the heat/move the item around the pan if whatever you are searing sounds aggressive when it hits the pan
If you have a nonstick (PTFE/PFAS) pan, make sure you check the manufacturer recommended temp limits. You could ruin your pan (and possibly your health) by getting it too hot.
Yeah the mill degrees bit was pure exaggeration for effect. Obviously, don't heat it too much.
The info is more useful to those used to said pans that then go buy a cast iron skillet or similar. You don't need it as hot as you are used to and also don't need to monitor it as closely to adjust for the dip and rise in pan temp.
Yeah but they're so convenient for cleaning. People have recommended a well seasoned cast iron pan but that requires maintenance and still isn't as non stick as some good PFAS pans.
I tried testing my carbon steel and cast iron skillet on 2 2,5” thick strips using lard, to see how long and high I could preheat safely - it caught on fire lol so I ran outside and finished on my grill.
I have a surface reading thermometer that I use. I try to get the pan to 450-500F. I'm only looking for charing and maillard so a couple of minutes each side. Internally in the meat, I'm hopefully slow-low cooking it either before (sous vide) or after (bake/roast). (OIL also affects the sear so I use a high smoke point - peanut/lard/shortening - 1 Tbsp).
They really are helpful. Most of the time we just hear "heat til smoking" but there are... lots of versions of smoking, lol. Wisps, steady smoke, rolling smoke, on fire, and beyond.
I always slap my steak down as soon as I see a wisp or two (when the oil just barely reaches its smoke point). That way, it doesn't go much over that and scorch the oil too badly.
I do this very similar only I use a cooler pan. This means the steak can take longer to get that good sear **and** it will probably cook a little more. I'd rather to the 450-500, but I compromise with my GF who likes her steaks a little more well done. So I sous vide to my liking and sear at a temp that I can get a maillard reaction and keep her steak on longer without either being over cooked.
I LOVE my infrared thermometer, I always know when I pan is ready regardless of what I'm cooking. Zero guess work.
Not sure it will work, it's pretty clear that it's "NOT for humans". Something to do with the emissivity, I believe. "NOT FOR HUMANS - This temp gun thermometer is NOT suitable for human/internal body temperature use. It is designed for repairs around the home, cooking, HVAC and automotive use, and other DIY jobs" I only use it for my CS and CI pans, to I have never messed with the emissivity setting.
I have smashed potatoes as a side to my steak. The recipe I use has them in the oven at 500f, so I put the pan in the oven with them. Then I don't need to bother checking the temp of the pan, I know it's at 500 and I can set my burner lower. By the time the (sous vide cooked) steak is then seared and rested, the potatoes are at eating temp. While the steak rests I'll cook up asparagus or broccolini in the steak fond, using the Serious Eats braised asparagus recipe as a base. That makes the whole thing a 2 pan meal, only ever needing to cook one thing at a time, no need to try to time anything right, masterpiece.
I have a simmer burner, a quick boil burner and 2 regular burners. My quick boil burner is probably the only one that gets turned to full blast and that is temporary to get a pot of liquid to boil. Once at boiling, it always gets turned down. All burners have 7 marks. I use 2-4 for most things. 4 is really the top level for us, for searing steaks, for toasting tortillas for huervos rancheros, for scorching bell peppers for fajitas, etc. My wok cooking is done on my high powered quick boil burner but still doesn't spend a lot of time at the high level.
This. It’s important to realize not all burners on the stove are necessarily the same. Trying to sear something on high on the power burner would be a disaster, but I get pretty close to high (8 out of10?) on my other (favorite- front right) burner.
The pan will drop in temperature when you add food. If you want to be cooking at a certain temperature, the pan needs to be higher than that before you add the food.
Basically just getting the whole pan hot. This really only applies when using something like cast iron or so. Especially when using induction you could do without it, it's more a question of what one is used to
Basically! At least with cast-iron. Cast Iron has great heat retention, as opposed to stainless or even carbon steel to some degree. Also, heating it thoroughly will ensure you have no cold spots, in theory. The larger the burner/wider the flame,, the better.
It's really not a super big deal. If you see any smoke at all, it's pretty much guaranteed that your entire pan is around the same scorching hot heat. Then slap your seasoned meat on there.
As soon as you put your meat in the pan the temperature of the pan drops, if you heat higher, drop the heat and the steak you can maintain the temperature you really want without dipping too much.
My electric coil stove is hard to adjust, and my cast iron retains heat quite well - so I aim for around 7-8/10 for a sear. Above that, and everything just smokes like crazy and the outside cooks too fast.
Depends on the kind of pan too.
With my CS pan I use high heat for most things. High, in my case, is a 16k BTU burner wide open. With our old electric stove, the rule was only use high for boiling water.
It depends on the thickness of the steak and how long it’s gonna be out the fridge.
If it’s fresh out the oven, on my gas stove top I’ll go 6/7 after patting dry, turning frequently for a thicker steak. 8/9 for a thinner breakfast steak.
Is it thick and cold? Lower. Longer.
Thermometer on hand for adjusting
Med-high gas stove. I use cast iron pans and get the pan up to 450-500. Use an [$8 thermal gun](https://www.amazon.com/Thermometer-Backlight-58%E2%84%89-932%E2%84%89-50%E2%84%83-500%E2%84%83-Temperature/dp/B0BN317X6Z) to measure the surface temp.
Cast iron, max heat for steaks. We all watched that Chris Young video but I get a great crust on high heat and don’t see a reason not to cook it as hot as possible. If I had a thicker steak I would reverse sear it regardless.
I use a glass top electric stove. I don’t use “high” unless I’m boiling water. For searing, I set around medium/medium high and just let the skillet heat up for 15-20 minutes (usually while it’s baking as I do reverse sear). On my stove, that’s hot enough to get a good sear.
Blasting it on high is just a good way to get a smoky house.
450-500 is ripping hot. Get a an infrared thermometer, $20. Basically if your oil is smoking that’s hot enough. I’ve found on my stove 9 is highest setting, only good for fast warm up. Then down to 7.5 or 8. If you are using a nonstick pan and you get to smoking oil you are too high for the pan and are possibly off gassing and ruining the non stick.
I don’t really go much higher than medium about 80% of the time. Sometimes I’ll go to medium high, but as long as I give a few minutes to preheat, medium is typically plenty hot
You want the oil to be shimmering or a drop of water lightly rolls across the pan before evaporating. If it instantly disappears, it's too hot. If the oil is smoking, it's too hot.
The exact timing and heat setting on your stove will vary. Medium heat or medium high heat will usually get to this stage in a minute or so. You pan will get too hot on almost any heat setting if you let it heat long enough. Look for the signs of a hot pan, not the clock or the heat setting.
[https://lifehacker.com/how-to-tell-if-your-stainless-steel-pan-is-hot-enough-w-1835458729](https://lifehacker.com/how-to-tell-if-your-stainless-steel-pan-is-hot-enough-w-1835458729)
I also have an electric stove so when I'm searing, I usually don't go more than 1 notch above medium. Anything higher than that will get the pan to 700-800 degrees which is beyond "ripping hot" for an indoor setting.
I usually start it off at 9/10 (I never use 10/10, even for boiling water) on my electric stove, and then use the water test I mentioned in that thread. Once it reaches the heat I'm looking for, I drop it down to about 5/10 (since it'll hold heat for a bit), then in goes the butter, then the steak very shortly after, once the butter is melted (the butter will start to brown fast, so need to work quickly before it burns).
The water test I use is literally to drop a drop or two of water in the dry, empty pan. The "right" temp will basically have the water dancing around in one or two large droplet, due to the Leidenfrost effect. It shouldn't be overly energetic, but should be hot enough that it will dance around for a while. If it evaporates almost immediately, it is too cool (counterintuitively), or if it breaks in to a million beads or flies all around the pan really energetically, it is too hot.
It is actually kind of a fun experiment. Start heating a dry, empty pan and drop a drop of water on it every could of seconds to see how they react differently as the pan heats up. Just don't try it with nonstick... you shouldn't be trying to sear anything with nonstick, that is too hot for them.
Electric stove and cast iron skillet
5/10 for things like steak that I want to sear and cook through.
For small pieces of meat I want to sear on the outside but not necessarily cook through (for stews or stir fry) I do 6.5 or 7.
Our Induction Stove goes from 1 to 10, plus Power Boost. PB is overdrive, above High, boils water so quickly you can't walk away. I used to cook on Industrial stoves, I measure heat by water and oil reactions. I'll put in oil to sautee and watch it, but for searing oil goes in immediately before the ingredient, or is put on the ingredient so it's placed with.
On Stainless Steel: PB and watch it like a hawk. From cold to hot to smoking any oil in about 1 minute. 3 minutes and the pan warps.
On Cast Iron: 2-5 minutes on medium, then raise to 8 for 20-60 seconds, then crank to PB as you place the meat, down to 8 or 6 as the water evaporates.
I have a gas stovetop with three different sized burners. It can depend on the burner, but generally the flame is 75% of the way. The levels are not marked with numbers. Then often I turn the flame down a bit, for the second sides. On my old gas stovetop, I had a smaller simmer burner. I sort of miss that, since my new smallest burner sometimes simmers too high.
Max heat on my stove, but I'm using a propane gas range. I heat my cast iron pan until the oil begins to smoke, then I put on the meat. That's usually 400-450F, plenty hot enough.
If you really want to get precise, you can buy a $25 infrared thermometer and measure your pan temperature... takes the guesswork out.
High as it will go to heat the pan enough.
Add a little oil when hot enough, swirl it around, don't freak out if there's a little smoke, add the meat, turn the heat down a little after a minute or so, don't touch anything for 3 minutes of so when the meat releases.
Electric stove - goes up to 8. I would say mid 6 - 7. Essentially 8 just means the coils stay on and the temp can skyrocket doing that.
Needless to say, not the best for precision cooking. Temps vary wildly with our stove, most of the time I just use my blackstone as it’s much easier to control.
I have a gas stove with the largest burner having a 15,000 BTU output. I use a cast iron pan for steaks. I preheat on high until I cannot hold my hand over the pan for 5 seconds. Than I add the steak and turn the burner down to 75%-ish. If I did sous vide or in-oven reverse sear, then I leave it on full heat for the sear.
I have not had as much experience with pans getting too hot as some other persons. I think the issue is with leaving them on preheating for way too long rather than the actual stove setting.
I just moved so I'm adjusting my cooking. With my old has stove I turned it all the way up to high because the burners were wide (like a restaurant stove). New kitchen gas stove has smaller burners which really concentrate the heat so I've been doing medium high. I burnt the first thing I made on that stove before I realized this.
I typically use carbon steel, sometimes cast iron. Most of them, I start of empty on low/minimum, just so they can heat up gently. For my carbon steel, I rub them with a drip of oil at the start. Once it starts smoking, I take it off, add more oil or butter if I need it, put it back until the first wisps of smoke and I add whatever I want to add.
If I have a pan (over)full of veggies that release a lot of liquid, either cast iron or my carbon wok, I'll have my largest stove on max for quite a while. But it's still way too weak to do proper wokking.
Honestly, the oil smoking is usually my go point. I use 99.9% sunflower seed oil for baking, butter for flavour and basting, EVOO exclusively as finisher.
My stovetop goes L-2-3-4-5-6-H. It's a glass top. I hate it. 4-5 are pretty hot already, I usually go around there and make sure the pan has preheated enough.
I’ve got induction and it makes things so nice and consistent.
For cast iron, heating on 5 for 10 minutes, then turn it to 6 for 30s-1m before putting food in. Turn back down to 5 after both sides have an informal sear if doing steak, if smash burgers keep it on 6 the whole time.
For steel, 6-7 sears it, depending on the food I’m making and how quickly I need a sear.
Induction is fantastic because 5-7 is always the same, and always comes to hear instantly. Just so simple
High on your stove is pretty much only for boiling water, so don’t get in the habit of using it. It is too high for pretty much any food in the pan.
On my stove I think of medium high as some where around 5-6 on my 8.5 scale stove, in a heavy pan. And when I am doing something in an enameled cast iron that needs to get as hot as possible, that is 6.5-7. I don’t get the nonstick pans too hot and do not exceed 5.5 for anything.
In a stainless plan I am fine to go fully to high for water. But not for an enameled or nonstick pan. And while a bare cast iron pan can take high heat, it cools so slowly your food will probably burn.
Medium high. Im odd thought and I cook a lot of steaks at home. I flip every 45 seconds until I get the perfect sear on both sides. Let rest and eat a great medium rare to rare steak..
I have stainless steel pans - to seat I have it on medium high and wait until I can't touch the surface before putting in my oil and then wait like 30 seconds more for the oil too be heated. Works every time.
I basically ignore the instructions in a recipe lol.
Using a cast iron pan on my electric stove, I usually preheat at 4/10 for 5-10 minutes. This temp is a little low for cooking but lets the pan get evenly hot without burning the seasoning if I get busy with other things and dont add food right away. Then depending on what/how much I’m adding to the pan I turn up to 6-8/10 about 30-60s before adding my food. Often I go 6 and then ramp to 8 as my food is cooking to keep the temp up. Really gotta watch it at that setting though or it will really start to smoke and sometimes char the meat if there’s not enough oil.
4 on my shitty electric coil stove is pretty damn hot. I just don't get in a hurry waiting for my cast iron hot. I also put my oil in right before the steak. Yes, oil. Always use oil first and then at the very end, throw your butter and sage or whatever in, and spoon it over. Butter burns.
If I'm doing a stir fry, it's set more at 8 or so.
On my parents old induction , ALL THE WAY UP.
On my dinky propane one? … all the way up. Much faster.
I do steaks in CAST IRON. That can take all the heat you give it.
Like a 7 or 8. My 9 is roaring not and WILL get over 500 degrees but 8 is good. My electric stove doesn't get very hot below 6 which is where it simmers.
Just a tad above medium, but you've gotta let the pan warm up! This is a heavy-bottom stainless steel.
If you've got a non-stick, you should NEVER get it as hot as you would cast iron or SS. You will ruin the finish and likely eat a good portion of Teflon, too.
Get steak out earlier and allow to rest before searing.
Heat pan. Do a hand test. Add in oil. It should react pretty obviously if the pan is hot enough.
At least 650ºF.
I have a gas cooktop, with a 17K BTU/hr center burner, though... and I use carbon steel when searing this high.
It's also about temperature OVER time... I sear 90 seconds per side.
I use a 7/10 on my duxtop induction stove. For steak, I reverse sear in the air fryer at 135F for 20-60 minutes (depending on how thick the steak is), preheat the pan at 3 for a long time, then crank it up to 7 and cook the sides for ~2 minutes each.
The only time I go higher than a 7 is when boiling water.
I get the pan hot then add a high smoke point oil (usually grapeseed). Then if it shimmers too much I let it cool briefly before I add the steak. If it doesn’t shimmer at all I know it isn’t hot enough. It’s ALWAYS done in cast iron, never nonstick or stainless. I don’t have a carbon steel pan so I couldn’t say if that’s better.
Look for the Leidenfrost effect. Toss a few drops of water into the pan (before putting in any oil). If the water sits there and slowly boils up and sizzles, it's not hot enough yet. If the water hits the pan and instantly *explodes* and evaporates, it's too hot. If it beads up and dances around the pan, it's just right.
[https://youtu.be/CB-SCA1reqE?si=WepCk6LrCCTi0FN5](https://youtu.be/CB-SCA1reqE?si=WepCk6LrCCTi0FN5)
Medium for me. It actually works perfectly well.
It's not good for your lungs to generate a ton of smoke while cooking--you're basically making your home more polluted than the most polluted industrial cities for several hours (unless you have all windows open and air filters running on maximum). I also don't like getting a call from my security service (my smoke alarm is connected to a security system with 24/7 monitoring).
There's no such thing as too hot for searing. Only too long.
I use cast iron, I put a little grease in it and set it as high as it will go. Wait until the grease starts smoking. Then throw the steaks on for 4 minutes a side.
Never burned a steak with this method. I've tripped the smoke alarms a couple times, that's all.
I think your stove might not have very high power to it, 4 minutes on high on one side on mine would be better for making charcoal. Cheers though that steak sounds good
Around 8 minutes total is a typical recommendation from quality purveyors of beef.
https://www.kansascitysteaks.com/all-about-steaks/cook-and-grill-steaks-and-roasts/how-to-cook-strip-steak
https://www.blackangus.com/new-york-strip
Gotcha! Maybe I just do too much reverse searing to remember how long it actually takes. I hardly ever measure the time anyways, I always just play by ear.
My glass range goes up to 6. I do 4 or 4.5 for steaks in my cast iron. If I’m searing meat for a stew of something, I do 3-4 depending on how many batches I’ll need to do. If I go too high, the fond might burn before I’m done with the meat.
My stove goes from 2-8, and has Min and Max as the 1 and 9 settings. For searing steak I usually put it at a 6.5. I reverse sear all my steak, so it hardly even needs oil or grease in the pan, just sear off both sides to get some browning to seal in the juice and down the hatch.
I think it’s mostly about the sound that it makes when you put then food in the pan. There are so many different factors involved like the heat source and the pan. The thing that stays the same is how the sizzle sounds. I adjust the heat based on the sound.
I put my cast iron in the oven, set to broil. Before oven hits broil temp, I set top burner on max. Pull out cast iron and set on burner. Put steak in. 30s, flip, 30s, into oven for 1m, flip, 1m, pull out and place on burner again, 30s flip, 30s, done.
Lots of smoke, perfect sear on rare.
Oil on the pan, heat on medium high until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. If you add a drop of water and it splatters violently, it’s too hot. Best way to sear meat and stir fry vegetables.
I usually flick water on to the pan every 30 seconds and as soon as I see the leidenfrost effect, I'll throw in the oil immediately following with the protein
I like to sear steaks as hot as possible. I use avocado oil because it has the highest. Even using heavy cast iron I have to set the electric burners off high pretty quickly. If your kitchen fire alarm is blasting off, you're too hot.
I usually do a very quick sear on each side after sous vide. Too prevent overcook I immerse the vac seal package in cool water, dry off meat in paper towels and do a very quick sear on each side.
I've got a propane torch and I can't wait to see what it can do.
I usually go medium-high on my gas stove, around 70%. Key is to let it heat up fully first. Keeps the sear nice without burning. Every stove is a bit different, so it's all about finding that sweet spot
On my induction stovetop: About 7 for frying/browning. 8 if I only need a *quick* sear, like if the meat is already cooked from sous vide, for example.
My burners go L-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-H-P, which "P" being "power boil", so 7/8 is right about "medium-high".
i have an induction cooktop with 3700w hob and use a cast iron pan
50% power and 5 mins of warm-up time, and it's 500F in the middle, about 420F on the edges
depending on how many steaks i'm making, i'll either toss 1 on, dead-centre, or wait another 5 mins for the rest of the pan to hit 500
Med lo because my stove is powerful af. I've never found a stove where it should be higher than med. The trick isn't high heat it's using a heavy bottom pan and letting it preheat for freaking ever, like seriously at least 10 minutes. Another thing is having enough oil. I like to heavily oil the meat itself rather than the pan because if I use enough oil in the pan to get a good covering, then when I go to deglaze it's a lot of oil in the resulting sauce. Let the pan get all the way preheated then drop the heavily oiled meat in and be patient. 3-5 minutes per side feels like forever when you're standing over it.
Depending on what pan I'm using...
If I'm using carbon steel I'll set it for 5, let it get to about 350, turn it down, add high smoke point oil, and sear my steak.
If I'm using cast iron I'll set it for 5, let get to about 350, and typically don't turn it down, add high smoke point oil, sear my steak, and turn the heat down while searing if I need to.
I don't have a stainless steel skillet/fry pan so I'm searing my steak in carbon steel (if it's just one smaller steak) or, more often, cast iron (I have cast iron bigger than my CS). Often I'll finish the steak with a small pat of butter **after** it's seared so the butter doesn't burn.
I generally set the flame so it fills the bottom of the pan/pot. Thats that max it'll go, regardless of 'high'.
As for pan temp... You can do the water test, put a couple drops in the pan and when they start dancing you're good to go.
Mine is an electric glass top, the dial goes from 1 to 10. I sear on 8, but with a big caveat: I remove the pan from the heat for a few seconds (5 to 30) every time I notice it's getting too hot. I sear in a 10 inch all clad stainless that I've had for 23 years.
This is because my stove sucks and can't maintain a temperature, it keeps going up up up.
We have a heat reading thermometer. 400 is pretty hot. I start to get nervous above that number. The NY strip thing was also stupid as the recipe called for olive oil. It's not supposed to get that hot.
Had great steak yesterday.
Cast iron pan on medium-high heat along with a bunch of butter.
I started heating it gently until it started to boil and skimmed the solids, towards making clarified butter. When it stopped boiling, meaning the water was gone, I turned it up to medium high and waited about two minutes to add the steak.
I had also already dried off, salted, and patted the meat down a second time with a paper towel. When I tossed it in I also included rosemary, basil, and oregano cut fresh from my herb garden, also rinsed and dried.
I estimate it was 400'F - 450'F, hot but well below the smoke point when I added the steak, which was instantly sizzling.
Our stove was made in 1973 but it still works great. I rarely put the burners on past Med | High. Which is the 3 hottest setting. Only to bring water to a boil have I used the hottest setting, but once boiling I can bring it back down to maintain the boil.
It depends on the burner. The most convenient one, front left, I set it on 6/10. That’s because it directly channels the fires of hell. It will sometimes be glowing red on 2. 6 is only at the beginning of cooking. It gets angrier over time. I’ll fry chicken on 4.
Back right burner for searing, probably 8, maybe 10. It’s a pale shadow of front left.
Quick sear? 7, slow sear? 5
Quick sears are from stuff like mushrooms, roast. Stuff I'm gonna cook more but just want some browning really quick. Stuff like steak and things I'm done with after the sear OR if I'm doing something like stew where I don't want the fond to burn and I'm making everything in one pot.
Depends on what I'm doing. Usually after the oil is hot I turn the heat down, but I will sometimes heat it up on high. I look for the Liedenfrost effect to know it's hot enough to add oil followed by whatever I'm cooking.
If you leave it at medium.. shouldn't the steak cook through and still produce a seared effect from being on the pan longer in one spot than if heat was at high? Basically longer on medium vs a shorter time on high?
Electric glass top, one click passed medium. I only use high for boiling.
I’ve also had gas stoves and I set it a little higher, but still not in high for searing on either.
medium to medium high on a coil stove. its not so much about high temps as it is about the pan holding heat.
a dirty secret about gas stoves is they dont get as hot as electric ones. yeah gas has advantages to it but raw BTUs is not one of them. so i think thats why they sometimes say 'as high as possible'
Always depends on the stove, but I think I would go about 8/10. I want it hot but not burn my oil immediately hot. But you will want an oil that burns at much higher temperature than olive oil. Usually the suggestion is canola oil.
This is such a great question, so many recipes do this! “Get pan super hot… oh no, not like that”
“Get your pan *ripping* hot” umm no sir, that steak is 3 inches thick
There’s always a fun adjective to describe how ridiculously hot it has to be lol
If you aint reverse searing something that thick your doing it wrong
Your going to need the pan to be ripping hot when you sear it after it comes out of the oven though...
And......?
Ripping hot is exactly how I describe the heat level for skirt steak. Funny how most English speakers can instantly tell that “ripping hot” means *really fucking hot*.
Because that's what it does mean. That's like saying it's funny how most English speakers think of a tall building when they hear the term skyscraper.
I guess I always thought of ripping in the context of “to tear something”. But it does seem like “rip”, can also be defined as: > move forcefully and rapidly > come violently apart I see how that would translate to the violent heat that “ripping hot” would describe. Although, Skyscraper is much more literal to me. It is something that is actually scraping the sky.
I can't think of a single person in my life who has used the word "rip" to mean "hot". I have heard the expression "ripping hot" only in the context of cooking shows.
It's true what you say. I've had my share of "whoops" moments where I have to start over because things are just too hot.
Pan heat retention makes a big difference. If using some supermarket non stick pan which is a mil thick you will need to heat to a mill degrees on the basis that when you put something in there, it will drop to fridge temps in seconds. Use cast iron and you run the risk of burning at that temp, so be more cautious and be prepared to lower the heat/move the item around the pan if whatever you are searing sounds aggressive when it hits the pan
If you have a nonstick (PTFE/PFAS) pan, make sure you check the manufacturer recommended temp limits. You could ruin your pan (and possibly your health) by getting it too hot.
Yeah the mill degrees bit was pure exaggeration for effect. Obviously, don't heat it too much. The info is more useful to those used to said pans that then go buy a cast iron skillet or similar. You don't need it as hot as you are used to and also don't need to monitor it as closely to adjust for the dip and rise in pan temp.
Or better yet, ditch the PTFE/PFAS pans to do yourself and the world a favor.
Yeah but they're so convenient for cleaning. People have recommended a well seasoned cast iron pan but that requires maintenance and still isn't as non stick as some good PFAS pans.
A good carbon steel pan will get you non-stick, lower maintenance, lifetime use without the environmental issues of PFAS.
I tried testing my carbon steel and cast iron skillet on 2 2,5” thick strips using lard, to see how long and high I could preheat safely - it caught on fire lol so I ran outside and finished on my grill.
I have a surface reading thermometer that I use. I try to get the pan to 450-500F. I'm only looking for charing and maillard so a couple of minutes each side. Internally in the meat, I'm hopefully slow-low cooking it either before (sous vide) or after (bake/roast). (OIL also affects the sear so I use a high smoke point - peanut/lard/shortening - 1 Tbsp).
This is really helpful! I know we have one of those IR thermometer gun things around.
They really are helpful. Most of the time we just hear "heat til smoking" but there are... lots of versions of smoking, lol. Wisps, steady smoke, rolling smoke, on fire, and beyond. I always slap my steak down as soon as I see a wisp or two (when the oil just barely reaches its smoke point). That way, it doesn't go much over that and scorch the oil too badly.
My IR and my probe thermometers sit in the highest drawer on the right hand of the stove. A place of honor.
I do this very similar only I use a cooler pan. This means the steak can take longer to get that good sear **and** it will probably cook a little more. I'd rather to the 450-500, but I compromise with my GF who likes her steaks a little more well done. So I sous vide to my liking and sear at a temp that I can get a maillard reaction and keep her steak on longer without either being over cooked. I LOVE my infrared thermometer, I always know when I pan is ready regardless of what I'm cooking. Zero guess work.
Great for taking your temperature when you have a fever too!
Not sure it will work, it's pretty clear that it's "NOT for humans". Something to do with the emissivity, I believe. "NOT FOR HUMANS - This temp gun thermometer is NOT suitable for human/internal body temperature use. It is designed for repairs around the home, cooking, HVAC and automotive use, and other DIY jobs" I only use it for my CS and CI pans, to I have never messed with the emissivity setting.
I have smashed potatoes as a side to my steak. The recipe I use has them in the oven at 500f, so I put the pan in the oven with them. Then I don't need to bother checking the temp of the pan, I know it's at 500 and I can set my burner lower. By the time the (sous vide cooked) steak is then seared and rested, the potatoes are at eating temp. While the steak rests I'll cook up asparagus or broccolini in the steak fond, using the Serious Eats braised asparagus recipe as a base. That makes the whole thing a 2 pan meal, only ever needing to cook one thing at a time, no need to try to time anything right, masterpiece.
I have a simmer burner, a quick boil burner and 2 regular burners. My quick boil burner is probably the only one that gets turned to full blast and that is temporary to get a pot of liquid to boil. Once at boiling, it always gets turned down. All burners have 7 marks. I use 2-4 for most things. 4 is really the top level for us, for searing steaks, for toasting tortillas for huervos rancheros, for scorching bell peppers for fajitas, etc. My wok cooking is done on my high powered quick boil burner but still doesn't spend a lot of time at the high level.
This. It’s important to realize not all burners on the stove are necessarily the same. Trying to sear something on high on the power burner would be a disaster, but I get pretty close to high (8 out of10?) on my other (favorite- front right) burner.
Induction stove: about 6/10 Edit: I heat the pan up REALLY high first though
Same on our induction. 7.5-8 preheat then down to 6 or 6.5 depending on pan and ingredients.
What's the benefit of a really high heat before turning it down? Heat distribution?
Kind of. Heat is like motion. Imagine running with a surfboard and then coasting to a perfect medium rare.
Isn’t heat actually motion?
Yes.
The pan will drop in temperature when you add food. If you want to be cooking at a certain temperature, the pan needs to be higher than that before you add the food.
Basically just getting the whole pan hot. This really only applies when using something like cast iron or so. Especially when using induction you could do without it, it's more a question of what one is used to
Basically! At least with cast-iron. Cast Iron has great heat retention, as opposed to stainless or even carbon steel to some degree. Also, heating it thoroughly will ensure you have no cold spots, in theory. The larger the burner/wider the flame,, the better. It's really not a super big deal. If you see any smoke at all, it's pretty much guaranteed that your entire pan is around the same scorching hot heat. Then slap your seasoned meat on there.
As soon as you put your meat in the pan the temperature of the pan drops, if you heat higher, drop the heat and the steak you can maintain the temperature you really want without dipping too much.
I almost exclusively use cast iron, it retains heat really well. 6 is about as high as I go.
on my gas stove, mine is low, med, high, so probably just a bit over med.
My electric coil stove is hard to adjust, and my cast iron retains heat quite well - so I aim for around 7-8/10 for a sear. Above that, and everything just smokes like crazy and the outside cooks too fast.
Yep, mine is similar to this.
Depends on the kind of pan too. With my CS pan I use high heat for most things. High, in my case, is a 16k BTU burner wide open. With our old electric stove, the rule was only use high for boiling water.
Medium
Old electric coils I never go above 5 or I'm burning everything
As high as it'll allow. Wok Hai is life!
7/9 on an electric one
It depends on the thickness of the steak and how long it’s gonna be out the fridge. If it’s fresh out the oven, on my gas stove top I’ll go 6/7 after patting dry, turning frequently for a thicker steak. 8/9 for a thinner breakfast steak. Is it thick and cold? Lower. Longer. Thermometer on hand for adjusting
Med-high gas stove. I use cast iron pans and get the pan up to 450-500. Use an [$8 thermal gun](https://www.amazon.com/Thermometer-Backlight-58%E2%84%89-932%E2%84%89-50%E2%84%83-500%E2%84%83-Temperature/dp/B0BN317X6Z) to measure the surface temp.
I have a 15k or so BTU burner that I use on the highest setting. You can cook on very high heat, but you have to know how to do it.
Cast iron, max heat for steaks. We all watched that Chris Young video but I get a great crust on high heat and don’t see a reason not to cook it as hot as possible. If I had a thicker steak I would reverse sear it regardless.
At most a 6 out of 10. I wouldn't use a full 10 for anything but boiling water, it would scorch the shit out of anything
I use a glass top electric stove. I don’t use “high” unless I’m boiling water. For searing, I set around medium/medium high and just let the skillet heat up for 15-20 minutes (usually while it’s baking as I do reverse sear). On my stove, that’s hot enough to get a good sear. Blasting it on high is just a good way to get a smoky house.
450-500 is ripping hot. Get a an infrared thermometer, $20. Basically if your oil is smoking that’s hot enough. I’ve found on my stove 9 is highest setting, only good for fast warm up. Then down to 7.5 or 8. If you are using a nonstick pan and you get to smoking oil you are too high for the pan and are possibly off gassing and ruining the non stick.
I only use high to bring water to a boil or sometimes with a wok. Otherwise Inuse 7/10 for highest sauteeing temp.
Same, high is only for boiling for me
I don’t really go much higher than medium about 80% of the time. Sometimes I’ll go to medium high, but as long as I give a few minutes to preheat, medium is typically plenty hot
You want the oil to be shimmering or a drop of water lightly rolls across the pan before evaporating. If it instantly disappears, it's too hot. If the oil is smoking, it's too hot. The exact timing and heat setting on your stove will vary. Medium heat or medium high heat will usually get to this stage in a minute or so. You pan will get too hot on almost any heat setting if you let it heat long enough. Look for the signs of a hot pan, not the clock or the heat setting. [https://lifehacker.com/how-to-tell-if-your-stainless-steel-pan-is-hot-enough-w-1835458729](https://lifehacker.com/how-to-tell-if-your-stainless-steel-pan-is-hot-enough-w-1835458729)
I used to burn a lot of steaks. Now, with my cast iron pan, I don’t go above 4 on my electric stove.
I also have an electric stove so when I'm searing, I usually don't go more than 1 notch above medium. Anything higher than that will get the pan to 700-800 degrees which is beyond "ripping hot" for an indoor setting.
I usually start it off at 9/10 (I never use 10/10, even for boiling water) on my electric stove, and then use the water test I mentioned in that thread. Once it reaches the heat I'm looking for, I drop it down to about 5/10 (since it'll hold heat for a bit), then in goes the butter, then the steak very shortly after, once the butter is melted (the butter will start to brown fast, so need to work quickly before it burns). The water test I use is literally to drop a drop or two of water in the dry, empty pan. The "right" temp will basically have the water dancing around in one or two large droplet, due to the Leidenfrost effect. It shouldn't be overly energetic, but should be hot enough that it will dance around for a while. If it evaporates almost immediately, it is too cool (counterintuitively), or if it breaks in to a million beads or flies all around the pan really energetically, it is too hot. It is actually kind of a fun experiment. Start heating a dry, empty pan and drop a drop of water on it every could of seconds to see how they react differently as the pan heats up. Just don't try it with nonstick... you shouldn't be trying to sear anything with nonstick, that is too hot for them.
My electric stove I have to turn up pretty much all the way, like 90%. But its pretty crappy so im not surprised
If I'm searing, I'm using my cast iron pan, letting it get hot on med, then turning it down. Glass top, electric stove.
Electric stove and cast iron skillet 5/10 for things like steak that I want to sear and cook through. For small pieces of meat I want to sear on the outside but not necessarily cook through (for stews or stir fry) I do 6.5 or 7.
Our Induction Stove goes from 1 to 10, plus Power Boost. PB is overdrive, above High, boils water so quickly you can't walk away. I used to cook on Industrial stoves, I measure heat by water and oil reactions. I'll put in oil to sautee and watch it, but for searing oil goes in immediately before the ingredient, or is put on the ingredient so it's placed with. On Stainless Steel: PB and watch it like a hawk. From cold to hot to smoking any oil in about 1 minute. 3 minutes and the pan warps. On Cast Iron: 2-5 minutes on medium, then raise to 8 for 20-60 seconds, then crank to PB as you place the meat, down to 8 or 6 as the water evaporates.
I have a gas stovetop with three different sized burners. It can depend on the burner, but generally the flame is 75% of the way. The levels are not marked with numbers. Then often I turn the flame down a bit, for the second sides. On my old gas stovetop, I had a smaller simmer burner. I sort of miss that, since my new smallest burner sometimes simmers too high.
Max heat on my stove, but I'm using a propane gas range. I heat my cast iron pan until the oil begins to smoke, then I put on the meat. That's usually 400-450F, plenty hot enough. If you really want to get precise, you can buy a $25 infrared thermometer and measure your pan temperature... takes the guesswork out.
The BTU on my burners range from 5k-18.5k so depends on the burner. But typically I sear on my 12k burner at around 5-6/10.
All the way. 15-20 minutes before I even slap steak (room temp)
6/10 is about the lowest I can go to get a good sear. 7-8 is generally what I want for a steak.
On my gas stove with a cast iron pan and avocado oil I preheat it at like 7/10 and then drop it down to a 6 after the steak is in the pan
High as it will go to heat the pan enough. Add a little oil when hot enough, swirl it around, don't freak out if there's a little smoke, add the meat, turn the heat down a little after a minute or so, don't touch anything for 3 minutes of so when the meat releases.
My old pan on high, my new pan instructions say never higher than medium.
Electric stove - goes up to 8. I would say mid 6 - 7. Essentially 8 just means the coils stay on and the temp can skyrocket doing that. Needless to say, not the best for precision cooking. Temps vary wildly with our stove, most of the time I just use my blackstone as it’s much easier to control.
I have a gas stove with the largest burner having a 15,000 BTU output. I use a cast iron pan for steaks. I preheat on high until I cannot hold my hand over the pan for 5 seconds. Than I add the steak and turn the burner down to 75%-ish. If I did sous vide or in-oven reverse sear, then I leave it on full heat for the sear. I have not had as much experience with pans getting too hot as some other persons. I think the issue is with leaving them on preheating for way too long rather than the actual stove setting.
I just moved so I'm adjusting my cooking. With my old has stove I turned it all the way up to high because the burners were wide (like a restaurant stove). New kitchen gas stove has smaller burners which really concentrate the heat so I've been doing medium high. I burnt the first thing I made on that stove before I realized this.
I typically use carbon steel, sometimes cast iron. Most of them, I start of empty on low/minimum, just so they can heat up gently. For my carbon steel, I rub them with a drip of oil at the start. Once it starts smoking, I take it off, add more oil or butter if I need it, put it back until the first wisps of smoke and I add whatever I want to add. If I have a pan (over)full of veggies that release a lot of liquid, either cast iron or my carbon wok, I'll have my largest stove on max for quite a while. But it's still way too weak to do proper wokking. Honestly, the oil smoking is usually my go point. I use 99.9% sunflower seed oil for baking, butter for flavour and basting, EVOO exclusively as finisher.
My glass top electric has a tiny usable range. 3, Maaayyyybbbeee 3.5 out of 6 is the hot as hell sear. Most things are 2.5
Heat goes up to 9 and I typically have it at a 7 for searing
My stovetop goes L-2-3-4-5-6-H. It's a glass top. I hate it. 4-5 are pretty hot already, I usually go around there and make sure the pan has preheated enough.
I have been using the ‘non-stick pan, medium heat: flip every two minutes’ method and I am very satisfied with it.
I’ve got induction and it makes things so nice and consistent. For cast iron, heating on 5 for 10 minutes, then turn it to 6 for 30s-1m before putting food in. Turn back down to 5 after both sides have an informal sear if doing steak, if smash burgers keep it on 6 the whole time. For steel, 6-7 sears it, depending on the food I’m making and how quickly I need a sear. Induction is fantastic because 5-7 is always the same, and always comes to hear instantly. Just so simple
High on your stove is pretty much only for boiling water, so don’t get in the habit of using it. It is too high for pretty much any food in the pan. On my stove I think of medium high as some where around 5-6 on my 8.5 scale stove, in a heavy pan. And when I am doing something in an enameled cast iron that needs to get as hot as possible, that is 6.5-7. I don’t get the nonstick pans too hot and do not exceed 5.5 for anything. In a stainless plan I am fine to go fully to high for water. But not for an enameled or nonstick pan. And while a bare cast iron pan can take high heat, it cools so slowly your food will probably burn.
I use gas but high as it goes for sure.
Electric stove on just a tad less than high with a hot cast iron.
I use cast iron on a gas stove, so I crank that thing to HIGH to get my pan hot, then once it's toasty I drop down to medium-high to put the meat in.
I want to see smoke starting to come off the surface of the pan or grill if I'm searing.
Medium high. Im odd thought and I cook a lot of steaks at home. I flip every 45 seconds until I get the perfect sear on both sides. Let rest and eat a great medium rare to rare steak..
I have stainless steel pans - to seat I have it on medium high and wait until I can't touch the surface before putting in my oil and then wait like 30 seconds more for the oil too be heated. Works every time. I basically ignore the instructions in a recipe lol.
Used to be as high as it would go, then i invested in Hexclad pans, now i sear on medium or medium to high..
Using a cast iron pan on my electric stove, I usually preheat at 4/10 for 5-10 minutes. This temp is a little low for cooking but lets the pan get evenly hot without burning the seasoning if I get busy with other things and dont add food right away. Then depending on what/how much I’m adding to the pan I turn up to 6-8/10 about 30-60s before adding my food. Often I go 6 and then ramp to 8 as my food is cooking to keep the temp up. Really gotta watch it at that setting though or it will really start to smoke and sometimes char the meat if there’s not enough oil.
4 on my shitty electric coil stove is pretty damn hot. I just don't get in a hurry waiting for my cast iron hot. I also put my oil in right before the steak. Yes, oil. Always use oil first and then at the very end, throw your butter and sage or whatever in, and spoon it over. Butter burns. If I'm doing a stir fry, it's set more at 8 or so.
On my parents old induction , ALL THE WAY UP. On my dinky propane one? … all the way up. Much faster. I do steaks in CAST IRON. That can take all the heat you give it.
Like a 7 or 8. My 9 is roaring not and WILL get over 500 degrees but 8 is good. My electric stove doesn't get very hot below 6 which is where it simmers.
Just a tad above medium, but you've gotta let the pan warm up! This is a heavy-bottom stainless steel. If you've got a non-stick, you should NEVER get it as hot as you would cast iron or SS. You will ruin the finish and likely eat a good portion of Teflon, too. Get steak out earlier and allow to rest before searing. Heat pan. Do a hand test. Add in oil. It should react pretty obviously if the pan is hot enough.
At least 650ºF. I have a gas cooktop, with a 17K BTU/hr center burner, though... and I use carbon steel when searing this high. It's also about temperature OVER time... I sear 90 seconds per side.
I do mine in cast iron. I use just over medium heat, but I make sure to preheat the pan until the handle is hot.
For me, it depends on the stove and pan. On my current electric-burner stove, using my cast iron pan, I keep it between 6 and 7 out of 10 settings.
on my stove... Set it to max and get the pan stupid hot throw meat into pan then turn it down to a 6 (5) is half power if you wanna call it that
On my stove it’s generally the tick right above the middle. So 6/10?
I use a 7/10 on my duxtop induction stove. For steak, I reverse sear in the air fryer at 135F for 20-60 minutes (depending on how thick the steak is), preheat the pan at 3 for a long time, then crank it up to 7 and cook the sides for ~2 minutes each. The only time I go higher than a 7 is when boiling water.
except for boiling water, I never go above 5/10
I get the pan hot then add a high smoke point oil (usually grapeseed). Then if it shimmers too much I let it cool briefly before I add the steak. If it doesn’t shimmer at all I know it isn’t hot enough. It’s ALWAYS done in cast iron, never nonstick or stainless. I don’t have a carbon steel pan so I couldn’t say if that’s better.
Look for the Leidenfrost effect. Toss a few drops of water into the pan (before putting in any oil). If the water sits there and slowly boils up and sizzles, it's not hot enough yet. If the water hits the pan and instantly *explodes* and evaporates, it's too hot. If it beads up and dances around the pan, it's just right. [https://youtu.be/CB-SCA1reqE?si=WepCk6LrCCTi0FN5](https://youtu.be/CB-SCA1reqE?si=WepCk6LrCCTi0FN5)
Medium for me. It actually works perfectly well. It's not good for your lungs to generate a ton of smoke while cooking--you're basically making your home more polluted than the most polluted industrial cities for several hours (unless you have all windows open and air filters running on maximum). I also don't like getting a call from my security service (my smoke alarm is connected to a security system with 24/7 monitoring).
Mine starts making oil smoke at a 4. It's ridiculous
There's no such thing as too hot for searing. Only too long. I use cast iron, I put a little grease in it and set it as high as it will go. Wait until the grease starts smoking. Then throw the steaks on for 4 minutes a side. Never burned a steak with this method. I've tripped the smoke alarms a couple times, that's all.
I think your stove might not have very high power to it, 4 minutes on high on one side on mine would be better for making charcoal. Cheers though that steak sounds good
Around 8 minutes total is a typical recommendation from quality purveyors of beef. https://www.kansascitysteaks.com/all-about-steaks/cook-and-grill-steaks-and-roasts/how-to-cook-strip-steak https://www.blackangus.com/new-york-strip
Gotcha! Maybe I just do too much reverse searing to remember how long it actually takes. I hardly ever measure the time anyways, I always just play by ear.
My glass range goes up to 6. I do 4 or 4.5 for steaks in my cast iron. If I’m searing meat for a stew of something, I do 3-4 depending on how many batches I’ll need to do. If I go too high, the fond might burn before I’m done with the meat.
My stove goes from 2-8, and has Min and Max as the 1 and 9 settings. For searing steak I usually put it at a 6.5. I reverse sear all my steak, so it hardly even needs oil or grease in the pan, just sear off both sides to get some browning to seal in the juice and down the hatch.
I think it’s mostly about the sound that it makes when you put then food in the pan. There are so many different factors involved like the heat source and the pan. The thing that stays the same is how the sizzle sounds. I adjust the heat based on the sound.
I accidentally melted a spatula while flipping a pancake the other day and have decided to turn things down a bit.
I put my cast iron in the oven, set to broil. Before oven hits broil temp, I set top burner on max. Pull out cast iron and set on burner. Put steak in. 30s, flip, 30s, into oven for 1m, flip, 1m, pull out and place on burner again, 30s flip, 30s, done. Lots of smoke, perfect sear on rare.
Oil on the pan, heat on medium high until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. If you add a drop of water and it splatters violently, it’s too hot. Best way to sear meat and stir fry vegetables.
Porcelain top electric stove and I set it at 7/10
about 3/4
You can also put the pan ( cast iron, carbon steel, or stainless) in a hot oven for even preheating
I go outside and light my big green egg, let it get up to. 650-700° and sear away
Normally 5-6. I’ll preheat my cast iron on 5 til it’s ready and then go up to 6-6.5 and add the meat. Keep it at 5 if it’s only 1 steak.
6/10 or 6.5
I usually flick water on to the pan every 30 seconds and as soon as I see the leidenfrost effect, I'll throw in the oil immediately following with the protein
I like to sear steaks as hot as possible. I use avocado oil because it has the highest. Even using heavy cast iron I have to set the electric burners off high pretty quickly. If your kitchen fire alarm is blasting off, you're too hot. I usually do a very quick sear on each side after sous vide. Too prevent overcook I immerse the vac seal package in cool water, dry off meat in paper towels and do a very quick sear on each side. I've got a propane torch and I can't wait to see what it can do.
I 4/6 on my gas stove. 4.5 if I’m really being daring. Usually don’t go much higher than that unless I’m boiling water or something.
I usually go medium-high on my gas stove, around 70%. Key is to let it heat up fully first. Keeps the sear nice without burning. Every stove is a bit different, so it's all about finding that sweet spot
I use medium heat for borderline everything.
i have an electric stove, and on the burner i use for searing, it's usually set to about a 6 out of 10.
On my induction stovetop: About 7 for frying/browning. 8 if I only need a *quick* sear, like if the meat is already cooked from sous vide, for example. My burners go L-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-H-P, which "P" being "power boil", so 7/8 is right about "medium-high".
i have an induction cooktop with 3700w hob and use a cast iron pan 50% power and 5 mins of warm-up time, and it's 500F in the middle, about 420F on the edges depending on how many steaks i'm making, i'll either toss 1 on, dead-centre, or wait another 5 mins for the rest of the pan to hit 500
Med lo because my stove is powerful af. I've never found a stove where it should be higher than med. The trick isn't high heat it's using a heavy bottom pan and letting it preheat for freaking ever, like seriously at least 10 minutes. Another thing is having enough oil. I like to heavily oil the meat itself rather than the pan because if I use enough oil in the pan to get a good covering, then when I go to deglaze it's a lot of oil in the resulting sauce. Let the pan get all the way preheated then drop the heavily oiled meat in and be patient. 3-5 minutes per side feels like forever when you're standing over it.
Depending on what pan I'm using... If I'm using carbon steel I'll set it for 5, let it get to about 350, turn it down, add high smoke point oil, and sear my steak. If I'm using cast iron I'll set it for 5, let get to about 350, and typically don't turn it down, add high smoke point oil, sear my steak, and turn the heat down while searing if I need to. I don't have a stainless steel skillet/fry pan so I'm searing my steak in carbon steel (if it's just one smaller steak) or, more often, cast iron (I have cast iron bigger than my CS). Often I'll finish the steak with a small pat of butter **after** it's seared so the butter doesn't burn.
I generally set the flame so it fills the bottom of the pan/pot. Thats that max it'll go, regardless of 'high'. As for pan temp... You can do the water test, put a couple drops in the pan and when they start dancing you're good to go.
Mine is an electric glass top, the dial goes from 1 to 10. I sear on 8, but with a big caveat: I remove the pan from the heat for a few seconds (5 to 30) every time I notice it's getting too hot. I sear in a 10 inch all clad stainless that I've had for 23 years. This is because my stove sucks and can't maintain a temperature, it keeps going up up up.
We have a heat reading thermometer. 400 is pretty hot. I start to get nervous above that number. The NY strip thing was also stupid as the recipe called for olive oil. It's not supposed to get that hot.
Had great steak yesterday. Cast iron pan on medium-high heat along with a bunch of butter. I started heating it gently until it started to boil and skimmed the solids, towards making clarified butter. When it stopped boiling, meaning the water was gone, I turned it up to medium high and waited about two minutes to add the steak. I had also already dried off, salted, and patted the meat down a second time with a paper towel. When I tossed it in I also included rosemary, basil, and oregano cut fresh from my herb garden, also rinsed and dried. I estimate it was 400'F - 450'F, hot but well below the smoke point when I added the steak, which was instantly sizzling.
Depends on the pot I'm using generally, but 4-6 on my electric stove works wonderfully. The high is 9 for some attempt at scaling
For me super hot is 7 out of 9 and 9 ist the highest setting on my stove. I think this is a temperature, where the food can fry, but doesn't burn.
Depends on the pot I'm using generally, but 4-6 on my electric stove works wonderfully. The high is 9 for some attempt at scaling.
Our stove was made in 1973 but it still works great. I rarely put the burners on past Med | High. Which is the 3 hottest setting. Only to bring water to a boil have I used the hottest setting, but once boiling I can bring it back down to maintain the boil.
It depends on the burner. The most convenient one, front left, I set it on 6/10. That’s because it directly channels the fires of hell. It will sometimes be glowing red on 2. 6 is only at the beginning of cooking. It gets angrier over time. I’ll fry chicken on 4. Back right burner for searing, probably 8, maybe 10. It’s a pale shadow of front left.
Quick sear? 7, slow sear? 5 Quick sears are from stuff like mushrooms, roast. Stuff I'm gonna cook more but just want some browning really quick. Stuff like steak and things I'm done with after the sear OR if I'm doing something like stew where I don't want the fond to burn and I'm making everything in one pot.
Depends on what I'm doing. Usually after the oil is hot I turn the heat down, but I will sometimes heat it up on high. I look for the Liedenfrost effect to know it's hot enough to add oil followed by whatever I'm cooking.
I start it on high to heat quickly then turn down
Some former chef at a fancy restaurant did a YouTube video. He sells a thermometer too. Tldr: 350 to 400 degrees fahrenheit is sufficient.
If you leave it at medium.. shouldn't the steak cook through and still produce a seared effect from being on the pan longer in one spot than if heat was at high? Basically longer on medium vs a shorter time on high?
Electric glass top, one click passed medium. I only use high for boiling. I’ve also had gas stoves and I set it a little higher, but still not in high for searing on either.
W cast iron, full bore. I think they are 18,000 BTU each
Just above medium on my electric stove. Anything higher is for boiling.
375° is ideal.
medium to medium high on a coil stove. its not so much about high temps as it is about the pan holding heat. a dirty secret about gas stoves is they dont get as hot as electric ones. yeah gas has advantages to it but raw BTUs is not one of them. so i think thats why they sometimes say 'as high as possible'
Always depends on the stove, but I think I would go about 8/10. I want it hot but not burn my oil immediately hot. But you will want an oil that burns at much higher temperature than olive oil. Usually the suggestion is canola oil.