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Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

steamykitchen.com

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Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#11

Post by garply »

ErrantX wrote: post #7

I've tried this a couple of times. It's nothing special. Your better off finding locally sourced fresh meat - it's usually as cheap and you will be able to find one you like. (also, incidentally, I'd say a good steak is as much about taste as texture. This sorta sacrifices one for the other)

What good does local sourcing do? Is it freshness? I'm not a meat expert, but I would guess that a big company with an economy of scale would be able to produce higher quality meat for a lower cost. Also, if you're sourcing locally from non-big brand names, don't you have concerns about their cold chain?

Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#12

Post by dzlobin »

weaksauce wrote: post #9

OK. Sous Vide looks more interesting to me that overly salting a piece of meat. tptacek care to weigh in? I am about 23 hours away from buying a rice cooker + pid controller to make this happen. I do the pid part at work so it is interesting to me from a work point of view too. Edit: If you have not seen sous vide cooking: http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html It looks amazing to me.

I was cooking at a two Michelin star restaurant last year where a large majority of proteins and vegetables were cooked sous vide. Don't underestimate the importance of a good salting, but sous vide will make everything you cook perfect, and consistent.

There is a better home option now than the rice cooker + pid timer( which does not circulate water and leads to uneven cooking. http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/

This is as good as you can get without buying a $995 dollar immersion circulator(which you should buy if you can).

Pick up the more expensive foodsaver, if you can't afford a commercial unit. I cook at arazorashinyknife.com these days, and our commercial unit which costs $5000 just died on us, it cost $1000 just to have a guy look at it -.-

http://cookingissues.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/coming-soon-so... Here is a primer on sous-vide cooking, which by the way can can be done the ghetto way by sealing a sturdy ziplock bag almsot under water, to get as much air out as you can. Then you can leave a large pot of water running under the hot water tap until you can get the water to the temperture you need.

Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#13

Post by ErrantX »

garply wrote: post #11
ErrantX wrote: post #7

I've tried this a couple of times. It's nothing special. Your better off finding locally sourced fresh meat - it's usually as cheap and you will be able to find one you like. (also, incidentally, I'd say a good steak is as much about taste as texture. This sorta sacrifices one for the other)

What good does local sourcing do? Is it freshness? I'm not a meat expert, but I would guess that a big company with an economy of scale would be able to produce higher quality meat for a lower cost. Also, if you're sourcing locally from non-big brand names, don't you have concerns about their cold chain?

You'd think so. But I have found you get better quality for very little premium. And even the cheap stuff is better than supermarket schmuck.

My aunt rears poultry for several markets. Her supermarket produce is usually additionally processed in a variety of ways by an intermediate to increase it's sale value (with poultry it is usually water plumped).

It might take a while but there is sure to be a local butcher or farm shop nearby where you can buy more directly.

Edit: also I personally don't think meat is a Market that benefits from economy of scale :-) I usually find supermarkets a false economy.

Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#15

Post by ecuzzillo »

Salting things a while beforehand so the salt penetrates it is a good idea in general. You're supposed to do that to basically any savory food, including chicken, meat, eggs. For big things, like prime rib roasts, you salt it a whole day ahead.

So, this guy compared wrongly-salted expensive steak to correctly-but-very-heavily-salted cheap steak. Unfair.

Also, in general, expensive steak isn't expensive because it's aged. Aged steak is expensive, but the difference between cheap and expensive is more commonly just which part of the cow it is. Filet mignon is a happy tender fatty underused part of the cow. Also, not very much of it per cow.

A good recipe for chicken:

Turn your oven on high (450 if you have ventilation, 425 if not). Coat a 3- or 4-pound chicken with coarse kosher salt so that you have an appealing crust of salt (a tablespoon or so). Put the chicken in a pan, stick a lemon or some onion or any fruit or vegetable you have on hand into the cavity. Put the chicken in the oven. Go away for an hour. Watch some TV, play with the kids, read, have a cocktail, have sex. When an hour has passed, take the chicken out of the oven and put it on the stove top or on a trivet for 15 more minutes. Finito.

From http://blog.ruhlman.com

Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#16

Post by dzlobin »

garply wrote: post #11
ErrantX wrote: post #7

I've tried this a couple of times. It's nothing special. Your better off finding locally sourced fresh meat - it's usually as cheap and you will be able to find one you like. (also, incidentally, I'd say a good steak is as much about taste as texture. This sorta sacrifices one for the other)

What good does local sourcing do? Is it freshness? I'm not a meat expert, but I would guess that a big company with an economy of scale would be able to produce higher quality meat for a lower cost. Also, if you're sourcing locally from non-big brand names, don't you have concerns about their cold chain?

Locally sourced meat tends to be grass-fed or at least grass finished. It also tends to have WAY better living conditions than any commercial plant. A happy animal is a tasty animal.

I highly suggest you watch Food inc. :-)

Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#17

Post by dzlobin »

ecuzzillo wrote: post #15

Salting things a while beforehand so the salt penetrates it is a good idea in general. You're supposed to do that to basically any savory food, including chicken, meat, eggs. For big things, like prime rib roasts, you salt it a whole day ahead. So, this guy compared wrongly-salted expensive steak to correctly-but-very-heavily-salted cheap steak. Unfair. Also, in general, expensive steak isn't expensive because it's a…

ruhlman is the goddamn man.

Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#18

Post by whimsy »

weaksauce wrote: post #9

OK. Sous Vide looks more interesting to me that overly salting a piece of meat. tptacek care to weigh in? I am about 23 hours away from buying a rice cooker + pid controller to make this happen. I do the pid part at work so it is interesting to me from a work point of view too. Edit: If you have not seen sous vide cooking: http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html It looks amazing to me.

I thought of this exact page whilst reading; I'm glad I wasn't the only one.

It would be pretty awesome if you documented how you made it work (especially if you do it in such a way that is cheap and easily reproducible).

Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#19

Post by garply »

ErrantX wrote: post #13
garply wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What good does local sourcing do? Is it freshness? I'm not a meat expert, but I would guess that a big company with an economy of scale would be able to produce higher quality meat for a lower cost. Also, if you're sourcing locally from non-big brand names, don't you have concerns about their cold chain?

You'd think so. But I have found you get better quality for very little premium. And even the cheap stuff is better than supermarket schmuck. My aunt rears poultry for several markets. Her supermarket produce is usually additionally processed in a variety of ways by an intermediate to increase it's sale value (with poultry it is usually water plumped). It might take a while but there is sure to be a local butcher or…

I had no idea about plumping. Do you know what percent of the revenue her supermarkets take?

Re: Turn $5 steak to $50 steak with salt

#20

Post by wooster »

ecuzzillo wrote: post #15

Salting things a while beforehand so the salt penetrates it is a good idea in general. You're supposed to do that to basically any savory food, including chicken, meat, eggs. For big things, like prime rib roasts, you salt it a whole day ahead. So, this guy compared wrongly-salted expensive steak to correctly-but-very-heavily-salted cheap steak. Unfair. Also, in general, expensive steak isn't expensive because it's a…

The difference between prime and choice is not aging, it's marbling. Marbling will also usually be the difference between pricing of different cuts of meat from the same animal, as more often-used muscles will tend to be leaner and tougher.
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