What does "high heat" mean in a recipe?



D

[email protected]

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OK, I know this may a classic dumb newbie question, but an experience
yesterday leads me to believe I need an answer to it...

So I'm attempting to pan-sear a tuna steak in a cast-iron skillet. The
recipe said to heat it to the point that a drop of water "jumps."
Crank the burner to "HI," wait about three minutes, throw a drop of
water on the skillet, it scatters like mercury...ready to go. Hit the
pan with a couple sprays of canola oil. It worried me a bit when the
oil immediatedly smoked and seemed to evaporate. Anyway, with some
trepidation I went ahead and dropped in the steak. According to the
recipe, two minutes per side would yield a medium rare steak, and
that's what I did. The result was white through, medium-well maybe. I
also burned the seasoning off the skillet. On the other hand, the
steak wasn't too bad.

Clearly, too hot. I realize your stove and mine may differ, but
obviously "high heat" in a recipe doesn't mean the "HI" setting on my
stovetop. However, a lot of recipes that I read instruct me to heat
something to high heat. What exactly are the recipes implying? I
don't have an infrared thermometer so I guess I can't really check it,
but what temperature range constitutes "high heat" in recipe parlance?
I see a lot of recipes that call for sauteing on high or medium-high.
If I do that I wind up with smoking oil and black butter (assuming it
doesn't burn up completely).

I realize that I could answer this myself through trial-and-error. A
sufficient amount of black tuna steaks, evaporated butter, discolored
stainless, and stripped cast iron and I should be able to figure out
which setting on my stove is appropriate. I'll have to anyway, to a
lesser degree. However, I'm hope you nice folks can get me pointed in
the right direction, or maybe tell me where I can buy smoke-detector
batteries in bulk...

Thanks,

Dan
 
"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:

>OK, I know this may a classic dumb newbie question, but an experience
>yesterday leads me to believe I need an answer to it...

If you're using a wok, high heat means put the sucker on "HI" and move
the pan on and off the heat if you need to regulate it - a doubtful
occurance, since most any home stove burner doesn't produce the amount
of heat necessary for wok cooking. For a pan-seared tuna steak, or
anything in a cast iron pan, like you said, every stove is different.
Cast-iron cookware really holds the heat. I don't know what to tell
you except that now you know what you "shouldn't" do and next time
you'll try it with the burner turned down to a 7-1/2 or 8, somewhere
in there. Unless I'm using a wok, that's about where I set the burner
control for anything that calls for high heat. YMMV.

--
The Doc says my brain waves closely match those of a crazed ferret.
At least now I have an excuse.
 
On 25 Sep 2005 00:47:27 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

> OK, I know this may a classic dumb newbie question, but an experience
> yesterday leads me to believe I need an answer to it...
>
> So I'm attempting to pan-sear a tuna steak in a cast-iron skillet. The
> recipe said to heat it to the point that a drop of water "jumps."
> Crank the burner to "HI," wait about three minutes, throw a drop of
> water on the skillet, it scatters like mercury...ready to go. Hit the
> pan with a couple sprays of canola oil. It worried me a bit when the
> oil immediatedly smoked and seemed to evaporate. Anyway, with some
> trepidation I went ahead and dropped in the steak. According to the
> recipe, two minutes per side would yield a medium rare steak, and
> that's what I did. The result was white through, medium-well maybe. I
> also burned the seasoning off the skillet. On the other hand, the
> steak wasn't too bad.
>
> Clearly, too hot. I realize your stove and mine may differ, but
> obviously "high heat" in a recipe doesn't mean the "HI" setting on my
> stovetop. However, a lot of recipes that I read instruct me to heat
> something to high heat. What exactly are the recipes implying? I
> don't have an infrared thermometer so I guess I can't really check it,
> but what temperature range constitutes "high heat" in recipe parlance?
> I see a lot of recipes that call for sauteing on high or medium-high.
> If I do that I wind up with smoking oil and black butter (assuming it
> doesn't burn up completely).
>
> I realize that I could answer this myself through trial-and-error. A
> sufficient amount of black tuna steaks, evaporated butter, discolored
> stainless, and stripped cast iron and I should be able to figure out
> which setting on my stove is appropriate. I'll have to anyway, to a
> lesser degree. However, I'm hope you nice folks can get me pointed in
> the right direction,
>
It sounds like you did the right thing and found that you could
benefit from lowering the heat a bit next time. BTW: If you want it
brown and crusty, try adding a teaspoon or two of canola oil next time
instead of spraying the pan.

> or maybe tell me where I can buy smoke-detector
> batteries in bulk...

You need better ventilation, not a smoke-detector.
http://www.universal-akb.com/kitap1.html
 
On 25 Sep 2005 00:47:27 -0700, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Crank the burner to "HI," wait about three minutes, throw a drop of
>water on the skillet, it scatters like mercury...ready to go. Hit the
>pan with a couple sprays of canola oil. It worried me a bit when the
>oil immediatedly smoked and seemed to evaporate.

Um. DON'T spray when the pan's hot. Spray before heating. Though
with properly seasoned cast iron, you shouldn't need cooking spray,
imo.

Spraying on a hot pan is flat-out dangerous.

--
-denny-

"I don't like it when a whole state starts
acting like a marital aid."
"John R. Campbell" in a Usenet post.
 
Like from the sun, as opposed to a fire pit ',;~}~







Shaun aRe
 
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