Steak in a pot!

Question

I'm in college so I have limited resources here. I have a pot (medium in size), one that you would boil water in to cook pasta etc. I have 1lb frozen sirloin, water, oil, onions etc. I would like to try to use the pot to cook the steak, but I really am not sure how to go about doing this.

If anyone has step by step instructions on heat, time to cook, when to flip steaks that would be greatly appreciated!

Link to a similar pot upon request - mine is a single though (not double): http://www.walmart.com/ip/WearEver-Grip-Right-Double-Boiler/15819433

Answer 1

Attempting to cook a steak in that pot may cause it warp—its nowhere near as tough as a cast-iron pan (which, by the way, are under $20; the Lodge ones Walmart sells are fine). Your pot probably also doesn't have the heat capacity required to completely sear a steak (how heavy is it? If its not at least several pounds, it doesn't). If your pot has a non-stick coating, you probably don't want to do this—there is a risk of overheating it. (The cast iron won't care if you heat it to 600°F, but nonstick coating will)

If you have access to a grill, that's a much better bet.

If you have an oven with a broiler, that's a good bet, too. Get the broiler hot, put the steak very close to it, and keep an eye on it. Flip when browned. You may have to finish in the oven if you don't want rare or medium rare.

If you want to cook beef in a pot, I suggest a pot roast or stew. But those don't use sirloin.

Answer 2

The steak will probably stick to the bottom of your pot. Given what you have you can try this: coarsely chop onions (more is better since it will help keeping the meat raised), warm some oil, not too much, and begin caramelizing onions for about 5/10 minutes, low heat, covered. You should end up with a bed of onions: add more oil, raise heat, let it warm for a couple of minutes then add meat, cook uncovered. Don't let the whole thing stick, keep moving the pot, you should be able to keep un-sticking by just moving. If your meat is about 1 inch thick it'll need about 20 minutes to cook rare. If you have red wine, add some every couple of minutes to keep the bottom hydrated but don't add too much since the temperature will fall easily: otherwise, add water and if you have it, add some whiskey in the very end (watch out for flames!). Turn your meat after 10 minutes. I like(-d, since I don't eat it anymore :P) my meat very rare, if you like it that way too or you steak is half an inch thick, reduce cooking time to 5 + 5 minutes. Add pepper and salt in the last minutes on both sides. If you're unsure about cooking time, just cut it after 10 minutes, you'll easily guess how much more time you'll need. Good luck!