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Pan-Broiled Steak
Trim fat from steak, also part of bone, if desired. Wipe with damp cloth. Heat frying pan till very hot, or until blue smoke arises. Rub surface of pan with little fat. Place steak in pan, searing it quickly, first one side, then on the other and turning every 10 seconds. After both sides are seared, reduce heat under the pan and cook steak more slowly. Stand on edge to brown fat. Keep pan free from fat. Steak is done rare, when well browned and puffy. If one inch thick this will take about 8 minutes. If desired well done, it will require 12 to 15 minutes or more.
A clear, still-correct method for cooking steak in a heavy pan. Two details are worth expanding: what "keep pan free from fat" is really asking for, and how to judge doneness without cutting.
- The hinge: pour off the fatPan-broiling means dry heat, not shallow frying. As the steak renders, tip the accumulated fat out of the pan (into a heatproof bowl) or blot it with a wad of paper towel held in tongs. Fat left in the pan drops the surface temperature and steams the crust rather than browning it.
- "Blue smoke" and modern pansThat signal means the pan is well above the smoke point of the fat on its surface, a heat cast iron or carbon steel will hold and a thin nonstick pan will not. Nonstick coatings also degrade above about 500F, so use bare metal here. Run the exhaust fan; the smoke is part of the method.
- Turning every 10 secondsFrequent flipping is not fussiness — it keeps either face from overheating and gives a more even interior. Modern testing has borne this out, so follow the instruction literally for the searing stage.
- Doneness by temperature, not by puffiness"Well browned and puffy" is a real cue but an imprecise one. An instant-read thermometer in the center is better: about 125F for rare, 130-135F medium-rare, 140-145F medium. USDA advises 145F plus a three-minute rest for whole cuts of beef.
- Timings assume a thick cutThe 8 minutes given is for a full inch of thickness. A thinner supermarket steak will reach rare appreciably sooner; a modern inch-and-a-half ribeye may do better finished in a moderate oven after searing than with more time over direct heat, though the original recipe uses no oven at all.
- Wipe, then dryThe damp cloth is for cleaning the surface. Follow it by patting the steak thoroughly dry with paper towels — surface moisture must boil off before browning can start, and a wet steak greys instead of searing. Salting 40 minutes ahead, or right before it goes in the pan, both work; salting in between draws out beads of moisture.
- Rest itThe original stops at the pan. Let the steak sit 5 minutes on a warm plate before cutting so the juices redistribute. The recipe gives no yield; a one-inch steak of this kind will generally serve one or two depending on its weight.
Pan-broiling is a stove-top substitute for the older practice of broiling over live coals, and the name preserves that lineage: American cookbooks of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used "broil" for any dry radiant or contact heat without added fat, which is why this recipe insists so firmly that the pan be kept free of grease. The method spread as coal and gas ranges with flat solid tops replaced open hearths in urban kitchens, where there were no coals to broil over and the gas broiler was often small or unreliable. A book of this kind aims at exactly that reader: a household cook working on a modern range, given short technique lessons rather than elaborate dishes. The advice to turn every ten seconds is notable for how well it has aged.