Apartment Searing

Is anyone here living in an apartment in which they cannot pan sear or torch?

I live in an oldschool brooklyn apartment. Pan searing (even a quick presear) will smoke out half of my apartment (even with a fan in the window.) Using my torch is a touchy issue (legal to store and use less than 1lb canisters of gas in residential apartments,) but storing even the little bernzomatic containers concern me and I'm sure the landlord would be concerned as well.

Does anyone have any ideas for workarounds? I'd like to effectively pre and post sear food. I'm not sure if I can presear steak with a deep fry (from frozen.) I think this may be the best solution for items like steak, but does anyone do the deep fry for things like larger pieces of beef (like chuck roasts?) I would be concerned with the oil boiling over

Items with skin (like chicken) I could probably get away with a slower crisping in the pan.

Any and all input appreciated!

Find more posts tagged with

Everything Else

Comments

tshewman

Storing the small benzomatic containers shouldn't be a big issue/concern. Storing the head in a separate location may put the landlord's mind at ease. FWIW - I live in a house and my smoke alarm is forever going off. A few things I try to do to control it such as use foil over the protein (insead of a lid) so I can still press on the protein and control (to a small degree) the amount of smoke coming off it. Open all the sindows and doors 9as you indicated). Oil the product NOT the pan (this for me shows the biggest difference).

Yes, you coul;d technically deep fry/sear a steak from frozen, however, I would recommend a really deep pot (the oil will certainly boil rigorously). Similar for all cuts.

Sean_131982

@Todd_Shewman_38102 great idea with the deep frying to sear , even a small countertop electric one would be great for that and any number of other tasks. When i use the fan in the window i make sure its blowing out like an ejector fan ( makes a difference in my apt)

Lou_34544

I'll try a pan sear in the near future with the recommended tips. Do you have a surface temp for the pan you recommend?

Brandon_Byrd_40557

+1 for deep frying. It works great, even for frozen product. It's by far the fastest searing method and won't smoke out your kitchen. You don't need a giant pot of oil, just a couple inches. For bigger things like chuck roasts, I usually do an oven "sear" by blotting it dry and putting it in an oven that's cranked up all the way. If you're doing it on a sous vide item, blot it and move it to the fridge on a rack for 20/30 minutes to let the surface moisture evaporate and form a thermal barrier to protect overcooking during the sear. Large cuts take forever to sear with a torch and tend to have an irregular shape that makes them difficult to sear evenly in a pan. That's why I prefer the oven sear.

Afonso_Tito_de_Morais_164825

Oh the feels I have for you. Living in the tiniest kitchen ever with no smoke outtage is a nightmare. Deep frying works well but mostly I rather go lockdown in the kitchen, open all windows and hope I don't die from smoke inhalation ahah

tshewman

Just a quick emphasis. Pre or post cooking, make sure the surface is VERY cold to avoid over cooking the interior. For roasts (beef or chicken) if you don't have access to liquid nitrogen, use a cooler and dry ice for ~5min or your freezer for ~20-30 minutes (don't worry, a full roast won't be cold). But beware. If deep frying, I would recommend having at least 2/3 of the pot empty above the oil. Otherwise, the oil will boil over (not fun to clean and dangerous if using a gas stove). This is where an induction plate and deep pot comes in handy. You can place it in a less dangerous spot (so you're not boxed in).

julian.lo

I'm in a pretty similar situation. I've had luck opening my sliding glass door and aiming a fan towards it from the kitchen. If you don't want to use all that oil deep frying, you could try pan frying in 2–3 mm of oil.

artstype

The fan you are using is not made to ventilate, I suspect. I made a very effective exhaust fan for my NYC apartment using this product, some plywood, a heavy duty extension cord (for AC) and a high quality dimmer switch. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ALCRDI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

I ran the wire to the switch cut it, then ran the rest of the cord to a grounded outlet. Works amazingly. This type of fan (on a larger scale) is made to pull in fresh air into a whole house, quite powerful. I have another design that will encapsulate the fan and use a dishwasher safe metal filter to cover the fan. The window is sealed with real duct tape (the silver kind used in HVAC applications), It also work to keep the apartment cooler in warm weather, as it is strong enough to create a breeze in through any open windows