Things You'll Need
Thick, heavy skillet
Vegetable oil
Tongs
Clean plates
Meat thermometer
Seasonings (optional)
You don't need a grill to cook up a quality steak -- in fact, you don't even need an oven. Even if the only cooking appliance in your kitchen is a hot plate, you can sear and serve a steakhouse-quality cut of meat. Whether you use a traditional hot plate or an induction hot plate, which heats your pan using electromagnetism, you'll find that preparing a juicy steak is a matter of resourcefulness -- not just your equipment.
Step 1
Remove your steak from the refrigerator and let it sit out on a plate for 30 to 60 minutes. If you don't allow it to come up to room temperature before cooking it, the outsides will burn before the insides are properly cooked.
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Step 2
Heat your pan on your hot plate. Use a thick, sturdy skillet, such as cast-iron, which retains and distributes heat evenly for a more consistent steak. Raise it to between medium and high heat -- high heat gives you a faster sear, but generates more smoke.
Step 3
Lightly coat the bottom of the hot skillet with vegetable oil. As smoke starts to rise from the oil, place your steak in the center of the skillet and allow it to sear for several minutes.
Step 4
Flip your steak with a pair of tongs. The amount of time it takes to cook depends on a number of factors, including cut and thickness, so monitor its progress -- you want an even, brown, seared crust across the entire surface of the meat.
Step 5
Insert a meat thermometer into the center of your steak to see if it is almost done. The ideal temperature depends on how you thoroughly cooked you prefer your steak, but keep in mind that the temperature will rise between 5 and 10 degrees after the steak is removed from the skillet. Though a rare steak should finish at about 140 Fahrenheit, for example, you may remove it from the skillet once it reaches 130 F.
Step 6
Remove your steak from the skillet and let it rest on a clean plate for five minutes. During these five minutes, two things happen. First, the juices in the steak settle into the meats fibers, preventing them from running when you cut it and making for a juicier final product. Second, the steak continues to cook, and the temperature rises.
Tip
Season your steak before cooking it, so that the seasoning’s flavors cook into the surface of the meat.
Warning
Turn off your hot plate when it is not in use, or when there is nothing on it. Particularly with traditional hot plates, this lowers your risk of burning yourself or causing a fire.
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