After two hours, I decided I’d reached the limit of what is
practical, and had gone far beyond what any book or chef
recommends, so I cooked the two steaks side by side. For
the sake of this test, I cooked them directly over hot coals
until seared, then shifted them over to the cool side to finish.
Not only did they come up to their final temperature at
nearly the same time (I was aiming for 130°F) but also they
showed the same relative evenness of cooking, and they
both seared at the same rate.
Long story short: pulling your steaks out early is a waste
of time.
Q: What’s the best fat to use?
Now we’re ready to start cooking. But before the steak hits
the pan, we’ve got to add some fat. When searing, fat
accomplishes two goals. First, it prevents things from
sticking to the pan by providing a lubricating layer between
the meat and the hot metal. Did you know that meat proteins
actually form a chemical bond at the molecular level with
metal when they are heated in contact with it? Proper
preheating and using fat will help prevent this from
happening. Second, fat conducts the heat evenly over the
entire bottom surface of the steak. It may not look so from
afar, but the surface of a piece of meat is very bumpy, and
these bumps only get exaggerated as the meat is heated and
starts shrinking and buckling. Without oil, only tiny bits of
the steak will actually come in direct contact with the hot
pan, and you will end up with a spotty sear—almost burnt in
some spots and gray in others. You need to use at least
enough oil to conduct heat to the portions of the steak that