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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

#81

Post by ecuzzillo »

tptacek wrote: post #45
ecuzzillo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really want to do sous vide, but basically everything I've read says you get bad results unless you have a serious-dude vacuum chamber packer sealer $4000 thing, which seems mildly impractical. Especially, you can't do the spectacular compressed stuff without one of those. You can get sous-vide-like results sometimes without said equipment, though; Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home book contains a lot of unstated back…

I call shenanigans on the $4000 SV rig stuff. Commercial kitchens will spend $4000 on an immersion circulator alone, and that's before the cryovac or whatever they're doing to seal food. If you want to (a) make watermelons with the texture of a strip steak or (b) cook SV in huge volume, you need to investigate high end equipment. Otherwise, the concept behind SV is extremely simple. Precisely controlled temperature o…

Actually, I do make French Laundry food at home sometimes. From the original cookbook, anyway.

I would think you still need something vaguely vacuum-sealer-like, since as the Baldwin guide says any air pockets will expand and insulate half the object.

But I suppose I'll try the $40 vacuum sealer.

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

#82

Post by ajross »

tptacek wrote: post #49
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…

Filet is more expensive than hanger, and often better. Dry-aged is more expensive than fresh, and always better. Prime is more expensive than choice, and always better. These things all matter. You're right, but I still want to stomp on the confusion about what "prime" means. I heartily endorse Ruhlman's "too stupid to cook" chicken recipe. Buy two chickens when you do it, save the other for leftovers. Whole chicken…

I think the second point is a matter of taste. Aging is a fermentation process, and it changes the taste of the meat. Some like it, some don't. It's not like prime vs. choice, which is an issue of fat distribution: people almost universally like well-marbled meat vs. lean or fatty chunks.

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

#83

Post by jff »

illumin8 wrote: post #59
jff wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up on a cattle farm. Is 3,000 head a "plant"? Was it evil because there was an "Inc" on the end of the name? A happy animal is indeed a tasty animal. That's why we raise cattle in dry pens (away from predators) with abundant fresh water and feed them carefully formulated food twice a day. Our cattle get better dietary planning than I do; they don't eat pure corn (as the term "corn-fed" might lead you to believ…

Call it what you want, but it's still a factory farm. Cattle are fattened on a corn-based diet to a point where they have extreme problems like heart disease and obesity that would normally kill an animal if it wasn't destined for the slaughterhouse already. Your beef still has to be treated and bathed in an ammonia solution to kill the E. Cohli that is everywhere due to the cattle living in their own excrement. Or h…

You deal with the problem of manure in the pens by clearing them out regularly. The pens are large; just bring in a tractor and scrape the pen, then give the manure to some farmer for his fields. We also keep a large "mound" of dirt in the middle of the pens so when it rains, the cattle have a place they can stand out of the mud.

These aren't cages, they're large pens, starting at about the size of a football field and going up.

A grass-fed animal is still going to be walking in, sleeping on, and eating manure; in fact, grazing cattle often look dirtier than ours.

I'm not exactly sure how watching a sensationalist film is going to erase the 18 years of animal husbandry experience I've accumulated. I've assisted in slaughtering cattle, sheep, and pigs, I've shoveled every kind of manure imaginable, I've birthed sheep (starting at about age 5), I've hauled the inevitable dead animals, I've assisted in various basic surgical and veterinary operations. I've been to numerous other feedlots and dairies, and having observed all these things I am quite happy and secure in eating beef and drinking milk.

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

#84

Post by evgen »

Groxx wrote: post #73
tptacek wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're noticing the difference in the texture of the salt, not the flavor of the salt. You'll do just as well with kosher salt, which is significantly cheaper than sea salt (and, more importantly, comes in bigger containers). I have a small bag of fleur de sel (we call it "crunchy salt") which I use to finish things, but again, it's for the texture. I wouldn't say I've found any incredible difference in salt flavor.

No, the flavor. Unrefined salts tend to carry loads of random minerals from the source, which lend their flavors to whatever you use it on. I'm not a big salt-flavor fan, so I effectively never have salt pieces on anything . The texture doesn't exist in any salt I use, as it's all dissolved. edit: finally found it. Redmond RealSalt, all the big grocery stores near me carry it. ~6.50 for 26 oz, so for my uses that's 6…

Unrefined salts carry a miniscule amount of trace minerals from the source and this small amount of contamination is almost imperceptible. If you do not actually salt after cooking (and all of the salt is therefore dissolved into the food) then you are not tasting the so-called "flavor" of the salt, it is all in your head. A specialty salt can be mildly effective as a finishing agent but if you are adding it to the dish more than five minutes before it hits someone's mouth you are wasting your money.

In the case of the salt you mention this is just kosher salt with a particular bit of marketing spin on the package. What makes kosher salt the go-to choice for most chefs is the size of the crystal -- it is large enough that you can use a "pinch" in your fingers and get some control over distrbution and these large crystals also take a little while to completely dissolve so it is much better than standard table salt when you are doing something like salting a piece of meat prior to cooking. Another reason you may like it (given your stated aversion to salty flavors) is that because of the large crystal size a given volume of kosher salt has only half as much actual salt in it compared to table salt. If you have a recipe that calls for one teaspoon of salt and you use one teaspoon of kosher salt you are actually only putting in a half teaspoon of NaCl (the other half of the teaspoon is just air.) This is not bad for most cooking, but you should go out an get a bit of regular table salt if you do any baking at all, that is one area where cutting down on salt can ruin a recipe if you don't know what all of the other components in the recipe are doing and compensating appropriately.

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

#85

Post by ModelCitizen »

illumin8 wrote: post #54
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…

A great way to cook a steak if you have good ventilation is to use a cast iron skillet and heat the skillet in an oven to 500 degrees. Brush the steak with olive oil ahead of time, and make sure it is room temperature (not fridge temperature). Pull the skillet out of the oven, put it on the stove. Turn the burner up on the stove, and cook the steak for 30 seconds on each side, then put the entire skillet back in the…

I also sear, then finish off in the oven, especially in the winter when I don't want to brave the snow to get to the grill.

Tip: Most olive oils have relatively lower smoke points, especially if you're using virgin. So, if you want to prevent most of the smoke, try canola oil. The OO isn't doing much for flavor, especially if it's burning. Also, a pat of butter at the end is essential.

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

#86

Post by ramchip »

Groxx wrote: post #67
jackfoxy wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cut her some slack. She did confess to sleeping through chemistry and otherwise wrote and illustrated a good article, while pounding bourbon.

It's not the article writer in particular, the article is basically fine in other respects, it's people in general. I see far more people using "osmosis" more often than "diffusion", despite almost never using it correctly. For example, those "Learning through osmosis" signs in libraries, articles, shirts, etc. absolutely abound. It clearly isn't working if you think that's osmosis. Or there are tons of services with…

I wouldn't say "learning through osmosis" is necessarily wrong. Knowledge is like water. Throw a human in an environment with concentrated knowledge and he will absorb some. Of course, this isn't strictly the same, but it's just a simile...

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

#87

Post by encoderer »

mousebender wrote: post #61
dgordon wrote: post #6

I tried this once -- it was very salty, which I don't mind, but it was nothing special as far as tenderness.

Seconded. I salted a one-inch-thick steak about an hour ahead of grill time, with a rinse and pat-dry just before grilling. It still tasted too salty. Furthermore, even with 5-10 minutes' rest time after grilling, the steak still lost too much juice upon cutting. This method works: Preheat grill to 500 deg F. Lightly salt and pepper the steak just before grilling. Grill for 4 minutes per side per inch of thickness. R…

You missed a step.

Remove, [let rest for 5 minutes], call the guests in...

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

#88

Post by encoderer »

illumin8 wrote: post #54
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…

A great way to cook a steak if you have good ventilation is to use a cast iron skillet and heat the skillet in an oven to 500 degrees. Brush the steak with olive oil ahead of time, and make sure it is room temperature (not fridge temperature). Pull the skillet out of the oven, put it on the stove. Turn the burner up on the stove, and cook the steak for 30 seconds on each side, then put the entire skillet back in the…

i make a mean peppersteak using a similar technique that I picked up from a local restaurant.

The diff:

1. crack peppercorns spread across a baking sheet. Lay steak upon them. Compress. I use a heavy (cold) skillet. Flip steak. Repeat.

2. Heat oil just beneath the smoke point in pan, otherwise cook steak as described.

3. Serve with any citrus-based steaksauce. (A1 if you have to, but I prefer to make my own OJ based sauce)

The peppercorn crust is quite good.

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

#89

Post by encoderer »

logicalmind wrote: post #72
tptacek wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cook steak in a vacuum-sealed bag submerged in a water bath held with a PID controller at precisely 131f, then sear them in a cast iron pan with just-barely-smoking peanut oil for about 30 seconds a side. Nobody has flown cross-country for my cooking, but the Chicago HN'ers should do a dinner sometime.

"Chicago HN'ers should do a dinner sometime" Sounds like a good idea to me. I cooked a 15lbs kobe beef brisket last weekend and had more meat than people to share it with.

American Kobe is quite good. It's beef for people who think beef is blue collar and prefer shellfish, lamb, duck, etc.

Jappanese (true) Kobe is even better, and it's the only beef I've ever even considered eating "blue" (super rare). If you're ever in Japan, treat yourself. It's worth it.

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

#90

Post by grandalf »

jff wrote: post #50
dzlobin wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. :-)

I grew up on a cattle farm. Is 3,000 head a "plant"? Was it evil because there was an "Inc" on the end of the name? A happy animal is indeed a tasty animal. That's why we raise cattle in dry pens (away from predators) with abundant fresh water and feed them carefully formulated food twice a day. Our cattle get better dietary planning than I do; they don't eat pure corn (as the term "corn-fed" might lead you to believ…

Would you allow cameras into your whole operation?
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