Pan Fried Steak

If I'm going to get you to try this method, I better have some pretty good reasons. I'll give you two: fantastic browning, and an outrageous sauce you'll make from the pan drippings.

Browning vs. Searing.
If you take a look at recipes for pan-frying steaks you'll see this again and again: "Sear meat over high heat to seal in juices." There's one word for this--bogus.

I like what Harold McGee had to say on this subject in his book, The Curious Cook. Based on that, (and experience) here's my summary: Searing meat is just cooking it quickly over high heat until a brown crust forms. It doesn't seal a thing! The whole process of cooking meat, on the other hand, has a lot to do with extracting liquid from it. And there's no way around that. The more it cooks, the more liquid is lost -- searing or not.

An Experiment.
If you're a little skeptical, try an experiment. Sear two identical steaks over high heat. Then cook one rare and the other well done. Will the well done steak turn out as juicy as the rare one? No matter what you do, the fact is, well done meat is always going to be less juicy than rare meat. Editor's note: Mr. McGee did a similar, but more detailed, scientific experiment to prove this point.

Taste.
So why is searing misunderstood? Because it does add flavor -- loads of it. It's just that the flavor is added to the outside, in the form of browning (caramelization).

Searing requires high temperatures -- just what you want for browning. As juices escape, the outside of the meat gets drier, and also hotter. That hot, dry part of the meat is needed for the chemical reactions to occur that cause intense browning.

So, will that brown crust stop juice from coming out? No. But I'll tell you this: Every time I see it, I get myself ready for something special.

Now for the Beurre Rouge Sauce

PAN-FRYING STEAK
ONE Pour olive oil into a sauce pan. Use a paper towel to coat the entire inside of the pan with oil. Heat Skillet up to medium-high.

TWO The pan is ready when you can throw a little piece of fat in and the fat starts sizzling right away. For medium rare 1-1/2"- thick steaks, cook six minutes on one side, then flip the steak and cook 6 minutes on the other side.

THREE The meat should be nicely browned on both sides by now. Double check doneness by thermometer, touch, or cutting, to make sure it's done the way you want it.