Cooking A New York Strip Steak At Home

[jb4647]

Tried to cook a New York Strip Steak last week in my condo using a stainless steel pan on the stove and filled my place full of smoke! What's the secret to making a steak at home? I've heard that I should use a cast-iron skillet instead.

[20thStDad]

If you use butter and have it as hot as you need to, you'll get some smoke. Crank the hood fan up to high. That usually still doesn't help us, which is why I grill 99% of my steaks. Tastes better anyway.

A bit of vegetable oil won't smoke like butter, but it won't taste like it either.

EDIT: it doubled my text! weird.

Edited March 29, 2009 by 20thStDad

[musicman]

sounds like you need a stove hood that is externally vented.

[BryanS]

Jenn-Air.

[TJones]

That is why there is a BROIL setting on your oven. Salt and Pepper, 500* on each side for 5 minutes. This is the Bobby Flay way. Should come out medium rare and perfect.

[RedScare]

Jenn-Air.

I love my Jenn-Air, but it still smokes up the room.

[editor]

I do New York strips in a pan on the cooktop all the time. You can get good results even with an electric range. The key is temperature control and patience.

• Put the pan on the burner and turn the burner to 100%. Sprinkle in some kosher salt (pepper is optional). Let it sit a couple of minutes until it gets hot.
  
• Turn the heat down to 60%.
  
• Drop the steak in.
  
• Do not touch the steak! Let it sit for four minutes. Do not poke at it!
  
• Lift up the steak with cooking tongs (never a fork!), turn it over and rotate 90-degrees to the scorchmark you already made in the pan.
  
• Let it sit in the pan for five minutes cooking. Do not touch it!
  
• Remove from the pan and wrap tightly in aluminum foil for five minutes.
  
• Serve immediately with a pat of butter on top.
  

I understand that you don't always have a barbecue or other superior cooking apparatus available. The hallmark of a good chef is his ability to improvise. If you can only cook one way on one piece of equipment, you're not a chef, you're a cook.

[jb4647]

Thanks for the tips. I'll give them a try!

Do you need to put any oil in the pan or coat the steak with oil?

[20thStDad]

Thanks for the tips. I'll give them a try!

Do you need to put any oil in the pan or coat the steak with oil?

Use butter! Or do like Editor says, that definitely works. Broiling may also produce smoke - it does when I do it. Be sure to put something below the steak in the over to catch drips. I suggest covering said something with foil, because cleaning it would otherwise be no fun.

[editor]

Thanks for the tips. I'll give them a try!

Do you need to put any oil in the pan or coat the steak with oil?

It depends on what the steak looks like. If it has enough fat of its own (usually there's a nice long thin strip on one side) I let it self-lubricate.

Since the hardest part of cooking a steak in a pan is getting the right char (unless you're using a cast iron pan -- that makes it muuuuch easier), I like to use as little additional fat as possible. The goal is to create a burn. Adding butter or oil will keep the steak from sticking to the pan. A little stick is what's going to help seal in the juice and help form that caramelized seal.

Also, using kosher salt (big crystals) helps draw enough moisture out of the bottom of the steak to accomplish the same thing as butter or oil, but without introducing anything to the mixture other than steaky goodness. And salt doesn't smoke.