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So it seems that every time that I pan sear something, any oil I have in the beginning seems to be gone about half way through and it turns into me dry searing whatever I am cooking.
My guess is that I have the heat too high and the oil is evaporating or burning off.
Is there a simple way to know when the oil is hot enough to pan sear but not so hot that it burns off?
If the oil is of too low temperature, it'll have a tendency to get soaked up by the food you're preparing or get evaporated together with the water that's leaking out, so that's where it's disappearing. (Some vegetables like eggplant, zucchini, ... tend to soak up oil like sponges regardless of the temperature.)
To test whether the oil is hot enough, I always use the empirical method:
Works for anything you're going to sear!
Having said that: Don't be shy on the oil: it doesn't just sear, it adds flavour too!
A method to test if oil is hot enough, is to hold a piece of wood into it and see if bubbles form around the wood. This is typically a good method for when there's a good layer of oil in the pan or when frying.
You may also drop a droplet of water into the pan and see how violently it reacts. This sounds a bit ambiguous I know, but when a strong sizzle occurs, you know it's hot enough. But please, don't use this method if you're cooking on fire, only for induction/ceramic.
Otherwise, I strongly recommend you to buy a simple thermometer to test the temperature. Let me explain why: It's very unlikely that your oil is evaporating. It depends on the type of oil you use by typically oil will start to vape around 230+ Celsius, and when this happens you are creating unhealthy situations. You would want to prevent that, hence why a simple cheap thermometer may be wise.
