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Originally Posted by FredMitchell
One of the best ways is to do the cooking first using sous vide and cook the entire steak to your target temperature. I like 53C for rare to medium rare. The entire steak will then be cooked at the target internal temperature. After removing the steak from the wrap, pat it completely dry with towel or paper towel, then finish with a sear on grill, stainless steel or cast iron pan. To reduce the smoke, I have recently started basting the steak with ghee - clarified butter, before the sear. The sear is important to pasteurize the surface and gives the steak a more palatable appearance. The sear takes about 30-60 seconds per side. If you don't use the ghee or butter, then you need a high smoke point oil in the pan.
You can google sous vide for more information on the process. One of the really nice features of the technique is the timing is not critical. The cook time will be 1-3 hours, depending on thickness and whether it was frozen. You take it out of the water bath when everything else is ready, since the searing step only takes about 1-2 minutes.
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This DOES drift away from the question that the OP asked a bit, but is still applicable. This is more of a "long-term" focus if anyone is interested.
So, I cook a ribeye steak every day. They are coated in butter, with much salt. I use the Breville Joule and app. You would do well to find one on eBay that is used and will be cheaper. You would be best served in purchasing a container like EVERIE sells. Worth getting the neoprene cover to keep the water temp better regulated over longer cooking times, but not necessary.
You are not putting high heat around the steak to reach an internal temperature like in an oven, nor cooking from the inside out like in a microwave. The steak is already AT that temperature throughout. You can remove it a couple of hours later and it is nearly the same.
I take the sacrificial zip-lock bag out of the water, slice it open (cuz its hot!) and completely dry the steak with paper towels. I THEN have a pan at very high heat to cook each side for about 2 minutes tops to form the pleasing crust. Sometimes I just skip this step. It is NOT cooking it; just putting a crust (or garlic butter/rosemary flavoring) on the surfaces.
Cooking on the stovetop, as previously mentioned, WILL smoke the house up! It works just fine, but you will tire of this quickly. I cook hundreds of steaks per year for myself and this is the far superior method. Easy and perfectly cooked. This is why fine restaurants use this method. This might be worth looking into for your own benefit.