The reason your pan erupted in flames is because water vapor disrupted the oil in the pan enough to ignite. The oil was already at the smoke point and the contact with the flame caused combustion.
Next time, get the pan that hot (I'd use peanut, filtered coconut oil, or rice bran oil) and before laying the steak in, turn your burner off. Once your pan spatters and shit and most of the moisture is evaporated from the surface of the steak, turn the burner back on. Sometimes when oil ignites it gives an off petroleum flavor to the food.
Also it looks like you used an anodized aluminum pan, might I suggest one of these?
![[Image: images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqYhJuGOxQogKGLrMQPhg...E-IKE1f9pg]](https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqYhJuGOxQogKGLrMQPhgFN6YvLKbCDcWXUQZPUWq1E-IKE1f9pg)
Also not sure what G says, but when I'm cooking steaks I flip them every 30 seconds. You'll hear rhetoric to the contrary ("only flip a steak once"). This is wrong. By the time the interior is medium rare, you'll have a pretty thick layer of medium well meat around the border of the steak. If you turn the steak every 30 seconds (putting the steak in a different part of the pan so you expose it to maximum heat) you get a much darker, and much more savory crust and sear, and also more even cooking. This picture is the 100% what you want and what you can acheive by flipping every 30 seconds. (I might have to make a youtube vid) A properly seared, and cooked steak:
![[Image: steak01.JPG]](http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20120607-steak01.jpg.ece/BINARY/w620x413/steak01.JPG)
Other than that, that's a great looking piece of meat, congrats.
Next time, get the pan that hot (I'd use peanut, filtered coconut oil, or rice bran oil) and before laying the steak in, turn your burner off. Once your pan spatters and shit and most of the moisture is evaporated from the surface of the steak, turn the burner back on. Sometimes when oil ignites it gives an off petroleum flavor to the food.
Also it looks like you used an anodized aluminum pan, might I suggest one of these?
Also not sure what G says, but when I'm cooking steaks I flip them every 30 seconds. You'll hear rhetoric to the contrary ("only flip a steak once"). This is wrong. By the time the interior is medium rare, you'll have a pretty thick layer of medium well meat around the border of the steak. If you turn the steak every 30 seconds (putting the steak in a different part of the pan so you expose it to maximum heat) you get a much darker, and much more savory crust and sear, and also more even cooking. This picture is the 100% what you want and what you can acheive by flipping every 30 seconds. (I might have to make a youtube vid) A properly seared, and cooked steak:
Other than that, that's a great looking piece of meat, congrats.