Not The Grill Or Stove: This Oven Method Creates The Crispiest Steak Crust With No Effort

Most steaks served up by home cooks come from one of two methods. In the warm summer months, steaks are probably going to be on the grill. During the rest of the year, however, the technique of choice is more likely to include searing the meat in a pan before finishing in the oven. Both of these options can (and do) deliver wonderful results, but if you know a thing or two about the functions of your oven, there's another technique that will cook your steak to perfection with a fraction of the effort. We are talking, of course, about broiling.

If you've never used it before, the broil setting on your oven is more than just high-heat baking. Baking differs from broiling in that it heats the whole oven chamber, applying even omnidirectional heat to the food inside. The broiler, on the other hand, applies intense direct radiant heat from flames or a heating element above the food. You can almost think of it as an upside-down grill. Instead of a pile of charcoal or a gas flame below searing your meat, the broiler produces heat from above.

Just like the grill, the powerful dry heat is ideal for creating a beautiful crust. You'll want to crank the broiler to high and give it a few minutes to preheat. Season the steaks and toss them on a broiling pan about six inches from the heating element. The length of the cook will vary based on the thickness of the steak and the power of your broiler, but expect anywhere from 6 to 16 minutes — just be sure to flip the steaks in the middle so that both sides sear properly.

Once you learn to broil a steak properly, it may just supplant the grill as your new favorite method. As nice as a pan seared and oven finished steak can be, this technique is a lot less work. Plus, the broiler works for more than just beef. When putting together a nice steak dinner, nothing adds quite the same elegance as tacking on an appetizer. Due to the intense heat of the broiler, it can be quite an efficient method for slipping, say, some five-ingredient garlic shrimp kabobs onto the menu. That's a recipe you could practically whip up while the steaks are resting.

Side dishes, of course, are another important part of a steak dinner, and the broiler can help you here as well. Preparing vegetables in the oven is often a slow process, especially if you want them to be a bit brown around the edges, but the broiler is a shortcut to roast veggies. Roasting broccoli until it gets that delicious char takes at least 20 minutes, but if you par-cook it in the microwave, you can brown it up under the broiler in a quarter of the time.

There are plenty of ways to make a good steak. A grill does well, as does a skillet, but the broiler might be best. It's relatively hands off, with just one flip needed in the middle, and it's a whole lot faster than waiting for charcoal to heat up. Perhaps best of all, though, it delivers a crust that can't be beat.