Is there some kind ot trick to get a good brown sear on a steak

Hot pan with oil, turn the pan down and then put butter in.

>>8324901

Well, you won't get lines on your steak without a grill or grill pan.

But a good sear is easy as fuck. Get the pan smoking hot, put the steak in it. That's it. I can't imagine how you could possibly mess that up.

Are you possibly trying to sear a steak that's dripping wet with marinade or something? Are you trying to sear it on "low" heat?

Hot pan + dry steak gives a sear every time.

Make sure the outside is very dry.
You could also give the outside a light dusting of baking soda.

>>8324922
>>8324909
I've seen people mention it should be "smoking" but kind of confused what they mean. Should the bare iron be giving off smoke? Or do I oil it first and wait for the oil to smoke? Or oil after it gets hot?

A cheat/hack/visual shortcut is to brush the steak in an 8% glucose solution - the sugar will caramelize and get brown. You don't get the extra maillaird reaction, though

>>8324925
Not drying could be part of the problem I guess. I'll make sure to do that next time.

>>8324930
Heat pan with 1 tbsp. of a high smoke point oil.
When you start to see small whisps of smoke add steak and 1 tbsp. of butter. After first flip add more butter if needed and begin spooning excess fat over top of steak.

>>8324947
Ah ok, so I guess I was fucking up by trying to preheat before adding oil too then, will keep this in mind next time as well.

>>8324930
Oiled pan smoking.. 1 1/2 to 2 mins a side for strips, imho...

>>8324930
>Or do I oil it first and wait for the oil to smoke?

That. You're using the smoke point of the oil as an indicator that the pan is hot.

Mind you, you're just looking for the tiniest wisp of smoke, not a full-on fucking fire.

>>8324950
depends on the equipment, IMO
that works well for a cast iron pan because a lower temp is ok due to retention characteristics than the typically thinner steel pan (even ones with "thick" bottoms)
when I use a steel pan I preheat without oil, add oil and immediately add steak after to try to keep the oil from going nasty
the steak drops the temperature of a steel pan much faster than a cast iron
judging preheat temp can be tricky, but I cooked on a line and after years of it I can get pretty close with the back of my hand as a thermometer
there are instant read point and shoot surface thermometers that could work, but that's overkill
you can get it pretty consistent with timing
an electric heating element will add another unpredictability to it
if you happen to put a steak into a thin steel pan right at the end of a heating cycle of an electric element, you sear will suffer a bit