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by massysett
335 days ago
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Good recipes do explain this though. They say heat the oil until it shimmers, or until it smokes, or until beads of water in the pan sizzle. Or they give an exact temperature, which you can read (imperfectly) with an infrared thermometer. None of these descriptions is perfect, but each is less likely to result in a burnt steak. |
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There is one time in my life that I recall legit burning a steak. I did what I had countless times before. Heated the pan until the oil started smoking, put on steak, and reduced stove temperature. Just like how I would have written the recipe before without a second thought. This time, however, the outside was thoroughly burnt before the inside even started to cook. The difference was I was using a cast iron pan for the first time, which has a lot more thermal mass than what I was used to. My old process relief on the steak cooling down the pan.
For recipes I'm reading, I've almost always found the temperature and time details to be nearly useless. If the recipe says to make at 400 F for 30 minutes, I bake on "high" (450F) until done. If I'm in someone else's kitchen, my cooking turns out a bit worse than when I'm at home.
This is a problem you always run into when writing down a process. You need to rely on the knowledge of the person following the process to apply it correctly to their specific situation. Trying to prescribe every detail does not work well.