Kyl Haselbauer has 20 years of experience working in fine-dining and modernist kitchens, including Bar Cotto and Anchovies &amp; Olives in Seattle. He is also the owner of Bright Spot, a café and coffee shop in Seattle.

Kyl Haselbauer

There’s nothing like a perfectly pan-seared steak: a burnished crust giving away to a rosy interior that extends from edge to edge. The challenge pan-searing presents is all the heat is coming from the pan’s surface, instead of being applied evenly (with <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/sous-vide-steak">sous vide</a>) or not-as-evenly (in an oven) through <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/guides-tools/types-of-heat">convection</a>. You also have two goals that exist in tension: creating that browned crust, which requires intense heat; and gradually bringing up the internal temperature, which requires more gentle heat. Focus too much on one goal and you end up sacrificing the other. The solution? Part of it is rethinking what “high heat” means. Unlike a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/precision-pan-seared-pork-chops">lean pork loin chop</a>, steaks are well-marbled and relatively dry; you don’t need to crank the heat as high as it can go to get a good sear. By using the right pan temperature ([f 385]) and flipping the steak very frequently—every 30 seconds—we distribute the application of heat between both sides, drying out their surfaces and kickstarting <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/guides-tools/mastering-the-maillard-reaction">Maillard browning</a>, without creating bands of unappetizing gray under the sear.With the time and temperature cues we provide, this technique frees you up to focus on heat levels, pan temperature, and internal temperature; with a little practice, you’ll be pan-searing perfect steaks like a pro in no time at all.

Precision Pan-Seared Steak