Please help me figure out how to achieve the ultimate (for me) char on my steaks!
I love tenderloin steaks cooked medium-rare (~130F) with a really heavy char. I mean a thick, crunchy bark-like black crust covering the whole outside... as if I could pick up the steak and write my name on the tablecloth with it! Maybe an extra-Pittsburg? (Please don’t judge!)
However, this is surprisingly hard to achieve reliably and I’d love tips. I can get the inside perfect (with a sear-then-finish-in-oven) but the crust is the issue. Tenderloin is a lean steak, and even with extremely high heat, I alternately end up with singed edges, dried out gray outside, overcooked interior, or just a mild brown. I’ve used a bunch of toys and tricks, but I think there’s something I’m missing.
Here are some things that haven’t worked:
I know it’s possible: I’ve seen steakhouses produce amazing results! I just can‘t seem to replicate it and would love tips!
​​​​​​​Thanks!
I love tenderloin steaks cooked medium-rare (~130F) with a really heavy char. I mean a thick, crunchy bark-like black crust covering the whole outside... as if I could pick up the steak and write my name on the tablecloth with it! Maybe an extra-Pittsburg? (Please don’t judge!)
However, this is surprisingly hard to achieve reliably and I’d love tips. I can get the inside perfect (with a sear-then-finish-in-oven) but the crust is the issue. Tenderloin is a lean steak, and even with extremely high heat, I alternately end up with singed edges, dried out gray outside, overcooked interior, or just a mild brown. I’ve used a bunch of toys and tricks, but I think there’s something I’m missing.
Here are some things that haven’t worked:
- Very hot gas grill with cast iron grates. the grill marks are nice but the space between the marks isn’t.
- Very hot gas grill with thin metal grate. (IR temperature of radiant fins is ~1100, and steak is about 2†above.) I get a very thin black crust — more like a skin than a bark. I tried this with a thin coat of mayonnaise too and it was better (more golden-delicious) but still lacking.
- 1800F Broiler. The "corners" of the steak get singed, but if I wait long enough to really blacken the outside, then the inside is way overdone (and the outside still isn’t great). Plus it’s a royal pain to get the steak the right distance from the flame, especially if it’s not perfectly cylindrical: a part that sits 1/4†higher up will blacken while the rest is still flabby.
- Ripping hot cast iron skillet over a 27k BTU burner. This is getting better but still has some issues. First is that the steak must have a perfect shape (which few do), as the char really only covers the part of the meat that touches the metal, so any lumps or ridges in the stake mean un-seared parts. Then there’s the challenge of the oil: I use a pretty thin coat brushed on (as pooling oil in a pan that hot just generates tons of smoke), so there’s not really enough to baste. I tried spreading on a thin layer of mayonnaise and that was an improvement, but still ran into the steak-must-be-perfectly-flat issue.
- Blowtorch (with and without Searzall). Similar to the broiler, it gets the corners singed, but the result is pretty uneven.
- Light dusting of flour our the surface of the steak before cooking. Not good. Let us never speak of this again.
- Cooking the steak from frozen. Seems odd but I find the outside gets dried and skin-like rather than charring nicely.
- Salting the meat pretty heavily the night before cooking.
- Thoroughly drying the meat: leave it sitting uncovered on a rack in the fridge for a day or two before cooking.
- Caveman-style: roll the meat in kosher salt then place directly on hot coals. This is the best so far, but it’s pretty irregular. Works better on a whole roast that gets cut into servings after cooking. Very hard to do on an invidious steak.
I know it’s possible: I’ve seen steakhouses produce amazing results! I just can‘t seem to replicate it and would love tips!
​​​​​​​Thanks!
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