What do cooking a grilled cheese and steak have in common? Everything

Not so long ago, I asked you the following question:

What do cooking a grilled cheese and a steak have in common?

The answer? They share the same fundamental cooking skill: careful heat management.

A grilled cheese requires managing your heat to balance the cooking of the exterior (the bread, which we aim to make golden brown) with the cooking of the interior (the cheese, which we hope to melt).

The same is true with a steak. The goal is to achieve a well-browned crust while cooking the interior to your goal temperature, from rare all the way up to well done.

When you manage your heat well, the ideal grilled cheese looks like this:

Golden brown bread

Melty cheese

Golden brown bread

When you manage your heat well, the ideal steak looks like this:

Browned crust

Your goal temperature

Browned crust

Put another way:

Bread = outside of the steak

Cheese = inside of the steak

Does that make sense? Sure it does.

Whether you’re cooking a thick rib-eye, or a thin, butterflied skirt steak, the end result should be the same. From edge to edge: brown, your goal temperature, brown.

But how do you get there?

A key difference between a grilled cheese and a steak is that the outside of a piece of meat — believe it or not — is much less dry than a slice of bread. So, in order to get a well-browned exterior, you need to remove as much of that moisture as possible.

Here’s what I do.

The night before I’m going to cook, I season my meat all over with salt (we’ll go more in-depth into how and why to do this in a future newsletter), set it on a sheet tray fitted with a rack and leave it in the fridge, uncovered, until I’m ready to cook.

Not only does this overnight salting help season the meat more deeply, but it also dries out the surface of the steak, which will help you develop a better crust on the outside.

There’s some debate as to whether it is beneficial to temper your meat (that is, let it sit at room temperature) before you cook it. I’m no scientist (at least, not yet), but my instincts tell me tempering would make a difference.

For example, on a cold, thicker cut, I imagine you might overcook the outside before the inside reaches your ideal temperature (resulting in the dreaded “gray band” of well-done meat you may have encountered in the past). On a thinner cut, however, I could imagine a colder steak might allow you more time to sear the outside before the inside overcooks. So I might temper a rib-eye but not a thinner cut of meat.

For what it’s worth, food writer J. Kenji López-Alt argues that tempering is futile, and it seems like he’s pretty thorough in his testing (that makes one of us ...). While tempering might not make a huge difference if you’re using the very reliable method of reverse-searing (which we’ll cover in a future newsletter as well), today we are talking about cooking steaks in a pan, on the stovetop. And for that, I’ll trust my gut.

Beyond tempering, it is important to consider the thickness of your steak and to adapt your cooking and heat management accordingly.

For a thicker steak, like a rib-eye, the heat has quite a bit of distance to travel in order to penetrate from the surface to the center of the meat.

In this case, I’ve had the best luck with the following process: Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat for about five minutes, until just smoking. Then, add a little high smoking point fat (like canola or grapeseed). Let that heat before laying the steak into the pan (away from yourself, to prevent oil splatters). Sear the steak for about a minute on each side to encourage browning, then turn the heat down a little, and flip the steak every 30 seconds or so until the inside reaches your ideal temperature. (See below.)

My reasoning behind this process is that flipping the steak frequently doesn’t give either side the chance to overcook on the hot pan before the inside reaches the goal temperature. One side gets HOT, then I flip, and the other side gets HOT, while the side that was just touching the pan has a chance to COOL DOWN. All the while, the heat coming from the pan is slowly migrating toward the center of the meat, gently cooking it to my goal temperature.

It’s like flipping your grilled cheese more frequently so the bread doesn’t burn before the cheese has time to melt.

For a thinner steak, I’ll cook it over higher heat the whole time, still flipping often, to try and get as much browning on the outside as I can without overcooking the inside.

These two steaks are different cuts, sizes and thicknesses, but the goal remains the same. From edge to edge, you want:

Browned crust

Your goal temperature

Browned crust

The doneness of the inside of a steak corresponds to a specific temperature. You could plot everything from rare to well done on a thermometer from 120 degrees Fahrenheit to 160F. So, for example, if you like your steak medium rare, you’d want to cook the inside of your meat to between 130F and 135F.

However, unlike when you’re cooking a grilled cheese, you can’t just take a peek inside of your rib-eye.

So I rely on the help of a thermometer. I use a Thermapen One. It rocks.

Eventually, if you cook the same cut of meat frequently, you can learn to judge doneness by touch, but I recommend using a thermometer to calibrate yourself at first.

Touch the steak often as it cooks, and start checking it with a thermometer when you think it’s getting close. When the thermometer reads the temperature you’re looking for, touch the steak again (pressing on it with your finger) and try to lock that sensation in your brain. That’s what that cut of meat feels like at your ideal temperature.

It’s important to know that your steak will continue to cook from residual heat after you take it off the stove. So, make sure to pull it out of the pan when the inside is a few degrees under your goal final temperature. Put it on a rack, and allow it to rest for about five minutes. Then, cut it across the grain, and enjoy.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Once you start to see a steak as a grilled cheese, you’ll realize so many things — chicken breasts, pork chops, tenderloins — they’re all grilled cheese too.

If you want to put theory into action, watch my latest video, and consider trying the below recipe from our archive.

Sichuan Chile Hanger Steak

Former Cooking editor Ben Mims shares a recipe by chef Brandon Kida from his time at Hinoki & the Bird in Century City. It utilizes beefy prime hanger steak as a backdrop to flavor with loads of red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 25 minutes. Serves 4.