Grilled Steak Without an Outdoor Grill  

Sure, there’s nothing like cooking steak on the backyard grill. But who has time for that? If you want to get the look of grill cooking, here are some easy kitchen cheats that do the trick. You might be surprised how good a steak can turn-out using these indoor grill tips that look like they were cooked outdoors. 

Cast Iron pan- Option #1 

What you’ll need: 

  • Cast iron skillet (at least 3″ deep)
  • Steak slabs (no more than 1″ thick) -It can be a New York strip or a rib-eye steak.
  • Cooking additives: olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary
  • An ordinary gas stovetop flame burner (you can use an induction burner too) and a cutting board for preparing your steak beforehand. A pair of steak tongs are needed for flipping them too.

The process:  

Take your olive oil and coat each steak with the oil nice and evenly. After that, you’ll add salt and pepper to season the steak. The pepper is better if it’s freshly ground peppercorns. The pepper should be finely ground however whatever kind of salt coarseness is up to you. Tip: be sure to cover the sides of the steak picking up the excess salt and pepper from your cutting board.  

Cooking: 

 Now you heat-up your skillet on high heat for 5 minutes. It should be hot so that you get a sear on the outside of the steak. Although it doesn’t just like a grilled steak yet, be patient. There’s going to be smoke since this is how skillet cooking produces fair amounts of smoke when meat is cooked. If you have a kitchen vent that sucks away excess smoke or crack-open a window.

As each side is seared for one minute, flip each side accordingly using the steak tongs. This is where you need to sear each side of the edges. The fat that’s along each side needs to sear as well, so that’s where metal tongs make this easier. Once that’s done, you can lower the heat to medium-low. Then you’ll add stick of butter that will be used to sauté your steak. Add your garlic and rosemary.

The garlic can be chopped, crushed, or even whole while the rosemary should be fresh sprigs for the best flavor. As the butter starts to bubble away, use a soup spoon to scoop and pour this over your steak. The butter should brown but not burn and each side should sauté; for 1- 1 minute per side. This gives you a medium-rare to medium cooked steak. After that take you steak out and place it on a plate, covering it with the remaining butter and herbs. Let it sit for 2-6 minutes before serving and eating. This lets it continue to cook before its ready.  

Cast Iron pan- Option #2 

The Process:  

This method is similar to the first one but slightly different. This starts when you add a thin layer of olive oil to the bottom of the skillet instead of coating the steak. The oil will begin to smoke as oil does when you heat it on high. You need to have the window or vent sucking away excess smoke for this. Be sure to season your steak with salt and pepper. 

Cooking:  

Add your steak to the skillet and let it sear on both sides for one minute each. Don’t forget to use the steak tongs to sear the sides. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Then you add your stick of butter, garlic, and rosemary and let it begin to brown. Each side is basically frying the outside of your steak, so flip every 30 seconds to build-up the butter crust.  

Do this for an additional 2-3 minutes and then put your steak onto a cooling plate. Let it rest no more than 5 minutes before serving. This method creates an excellent crust with tender meat inside, while cooking steak this way. 

Using a Broiler  

The process:  

Your oven broiler is different than the oven since heat is cooking something from the top. There is also ventilation that allows air to flow underneath the cooking area. The first step is to prepare your steak properly. The steaks should be padded-down with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Then after this, you add salt and pepper to both sides and cover the sides also.

The steaks should go onto a broiler pan and the temperature of the broiler should be pre-heated to high. The broiler pan should be on a raised mesh grate and is placed about 4 inches from the overhead heat source.

Cooking: 

Each side is broiled to the desired level you want your steak to be. If you want medium-rare this would be 4 minutes on one side and then flip for three more minutes. After this, you can remove the steak and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. As the steak sits place a nice slice of butter over the top and lets it soak into your steak. 

Sous Vide 

 The method:  

Sous Vide uses hot water to cook meat in a sealed boil-proof bag. The best methods use a vacuum-sealed bag for the best results. You’ll also need a Sous Vide cooker. Cooking times depend on the amount of time the meat is cooking. It still needs to be seasoned beforehand with salt and pepper before it cooks. It also determines how tender the meat can be the lower the heat is and how long it cooks.

The average rib-eye steak will need 1-hour using 130-degree water, but lower temperatures over 4-hours make steaks tender. As an alternative, you can use other kinds of cheaper steak that is cooked for longer and slower too.

Cooking: 
After the Sous Vide is finished, you’ll remove the steaks and open the bags. The meat needs to be patted-down before it’s given a final sear. Although these steaks don’t look too promising, the final step is pure magic. In a pan or skillet, heat the pan to high using a little olive oil. Then you sear the steak on each side for 1 minute and use tongs to sear-off the side fat. 

Put the finished steak on a plate and allow it to sit for a couple of minutes. It can have butter placed on top to add to the flavor before serving.  

Indoor electric grill

The method:  

While indoor electric grills lack performance when compared to traditional grills, you can yield a steak that looks the part. No matter what kind of electric grill you own, there is an advantage to cooking steak indoors on them. These give a great sear but can have varied cooking times depending on the model. Generally, it takes 8-10 minutes to cook a 1-1″ thick steak such as a rib-eye or New York strip. You prepare your steak the same way as above, but mind what kind of electric grill surface you have. If your model has built-in raised bars to create sear marks, you’ll need to turn the steaks more often to get a good crust. 

Cooking:
Set the heat of your electric grill to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and grill the first side for 4-5 minutes on one side. Turn your meat after two minutes at an angle so that the grill marks are crosshatched. After that, you flip your steak and repeat the process for another 2-3 minutes. Place it onto a serving plate with butter and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then it’s ready to serve. 

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