Cooking Great Steaks Without a Grill

One thing that always baffled me growing up was why people acted like steak was such a great thing to eat. How could people honestly be paying such high prices for a piece of burnt, tough meat? It wasn’t until I grew up and started having to pay for my own food that I realized that it wasn’t the steak that was bad, it was how my Dad was preparing it. Don’t get me wrong, my Dad is awesome, particularly when it comes to woodworking or antique clock repair, just don’t let him near your grill!

The “traditional” way to prepare a steak is on a grill over open flame. But often times we don’t have access to a grill, or would prefer to work inside. While grilled steak is amazing, standing outside in cold driving rain or wind is not! How can we make great steak without having to go outside in the cold?

The easiest and probably the quickest way to accomplish this is by pan searing the steak. Searing means to cook something quickly over very high heat. With meat this will cause a crust to form, preventing the juices inside from escaping during cooking. You may have seen your mom browning a roast before putting it in the oven, this is the same concept. The goal is to sear the outside of the meat locking the juices in, then raising the temperature of the inside of the steak using radiant heat from your oven.

Before trying out the searing, there is a couple of things you should know:

First the process should be done on a dry, room temperature steak. Moisture (such as marinade or condensation) will disperse the heat before it hits the meat, interfering with the searing process. Sometimes you will not notice the difference, but if the outside of the steak is not fully seared juices will escape out of whatever opening they can find.

Second you should handle the steak with tongs (to look like a real pro) or your hands (wear gloves to prevent spreading foodborne illnesses). If you poke your steak with a knife or a fork to move it around, you are creating holes for the juices to run out. 4 little holes made by a fork can make a big difference in how your steak turns out.

Pan searing involves the use of a pan, as you probably guessed. You will want to use a pan that can stand up to 450-500 degree heat inside your oven without warping. The number one choice is a cast iron pan, but there are some solid core aluminum pans that can handle that temperature as well – just make sure you check the specs on the pan BEFORE using it for pan searing.

For pan searing you can use any cut of meat you want, the principle will work on any of them. However since you will not be cooking the meat for very long, it is advisable to use a more naturally tender piece of meat such as the sirloin, ribeye, or strip. Using the bottom or round portions are fine, but be prepared for a tougher steak. The steak that you use should also be an inch thick at least. Thin cut” steaks cook way too fast for this method.

Seasoning the steak is a matter of personal choice, but you must have a fair bit of salt added to the steak prior to the searing. The salt helps form the crust on the meat when it hits the heat, the same crust that locks in the meats natural juices. Sea salt and crushed pepper is a simple and tasty blend to use, but you can get as exotic as you want.

Now, to actually pan sear the steak we follow this procedure after steak has been allowed to reach room temperature:

1. Place cooking pan in oven and heat to 450 (if using aluminum) or 500 (if using cast iron).
2. Season steak and then coat lightly in Canola oil. Some people use olive oil but it may burn at extreme temperatures.
3. Remove cooking pan from oven (careful as it will be HOT, hot enough to burn you in just a quick second). Place pan on stove on a burner set to high.
4. Put the steak directly into the middle of the pan. Be careful here too as the oil may spatter.
5. Let steak cook for about 30 seconds then turn over and let cook for another 30 seconds or so.
6. Place cooking pan with steak in it back into the oven. Cook for 2-3 minutes then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes. 2 minutes per side is probably the shortest that you will want to cook for, any less than that and the steak will be pretty rare. 5 minutes per side will give you a decent well done steak with lots of juice still remaining.
7. After removing steak from the oven, allow to rest for 4 or 5 minutes (I rest mine inside of a turned off microwave oven) before slicing. Cutting sooner will result in losing a lot of the steaks internal moisture (a dry steak in other words).

Now you have a great steak in less than 30 minutes, and not much mess to worry about either. I keep things simple and serve this with just some crusty bread and a tossed salad. You could add on a baked potato if you really wanted the full summertime experience.

Cooking a great steak without a grill is not an impossible task and can be done with the minimal amount of effort (and mess). Using the pan sear method you will have a tasty steak with lots of juice, most people prefer home made pan seared steak to the roasted or pan fried steaks you will get at casual dining restaurants.