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I followed in this answer to How do you properly cook a steak?, but I ended up with one problem. After cooking in the oven for 10 minutes, my steaks were soggy and flavorless in the center, yet okay on the outside. I cooked a few minutes longer in the oven and the steaks started turning white and firm, obviously overcooked.

Should I flatten the steaks first; is thickness the problem? I had 1-1.5 inch thick ribeyes from Whole Foods.

One thing: after searing the steak in the pan, my oven wasn't fully heated yet. So I stuck the steak in at around 267° F and it sat there for about 5-7 minutes before reaching 425° F, after which I cooked it for 10 minutes. Could this have messed it up?

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  • At least I think it was Whole Foods. It was $12 for 2 ribeye cuts, about a foot-long total. But the packaging was in a cheap looking white cellophane box.
    – user3180
    Aug 10, 2013 at 2:10
  • Do you have pictures? It is really hard to understand exactly what happened from the description. That recipe is also okay as far as it goes, but is overly prescriptive, and insufficiently flexible, not telling you how to know when they are done. You can find better methods.
    – SAJ14SAJ
    Aug 10, 2013 at 2:11
  • Yeah, one second.
    – user3180
    Aug 10, 2013 at 2:16
  • Another thing: I used a KitchenAid nonstick pan. Problem here?
    – user3180
    Aug 10, 2013 at 2:31

2 Answers 2

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If your steaks were soggy and flavorless then the steak wasn't good to begin with. It's possible it was old as well, or had been frozen and thawed. It doesn't sound like your method was wrong (except not having your oven to temperature but that shouldn't make them soggy and flavorless), but meat itself wasn't good. You paid $6 per steak, I'd expect to pay triple that for decent meat to be honest.

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  • I wouldn't expect to pay $18 for just a "decent" steak, like a striploin or something. But yeah, $6 seems way below the price point of even an ordinary select ribeye from the supermarket; certainly I'd expect an 8-12 oz choice or prime ribeye to be upwards of $15.
    – Aaronut
    Aug 10, 2013 at 12:24
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(based on Richard's later comment) :

Non-stick pans aren't typically oven-safe, or even suitable for high-heat cooking. If it's a teflon pan, you might've actually cooked off the coating -- look to see if the surface is is smooth, or looks like it had lots of tiny holes like popped bubbles in it.

If it's got holes, I'd recommend throwing the pan away. It's never going to perform well again, and coating will break down and end up in your food.

It's possible that some of the new ceramic non-stick are rated for higher temperatures and/or oven cooking ... I've never used them, myself.

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All that being said ... I still don't know that it'd account for a horrible taste only in the middle of the steak. It's possible that the flavor of the charred outside of the steak covered up the off flavors of the non-stick surface, but this still might be a problem with the meat itself.

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(Disclaimer : back in college, I got a hand-me-down set of pots & pans from my great-uncle ... I put one in the oven. It wasn't non-stick, but the handle wasn't oven-safe ... of course, when I opened the oven, I knew something was wrong instantly by the smell. I've also over-heated a teflon pan, and so I know the look of it, but I can't remember if it smelled the same or not (it might be the difference between the closed oven vs. open stovetop w/ more air)

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  • I've confirmed it was a Wal-mart steak. Is it impossible to cook these things with the steak-cooking methods, and end up with a delicious steak? Or was my method wrong.
    – user3180
    Aug 11, 2013 at 21:44
  • @Richard : way too late to be useful, but ... it's possible ... you want a pan that can take high heat (stainless steel, cast iron, etc.), and to pre-heat your oven. Of course, I prefer to use a broiler pan & top heat in the oven. (keep the door cracked, so the element doesn't shut off)
    – Joe
    Jun 25, 2017 at 2:02

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