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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

#91

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…

Fyi: people eat grass fed beef because cows are naturally meant to eat grass, not corn. Cows that eat grass do not get illnesses that require antibiotics, etc.

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

#93

Post by ecuzzillo »

d_c wrote: post #41
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…

How would you do that with eggs?

If you're frying or baking them, you salt them before they set, rather than after they go on the plate. If you're poaching, you salt the water. If you're doing the crazy poach-in-the-shell stuff, I imagine you do something with the shell porousness, like the sibling comment.

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

#94

Post by tptacek »

evgen wrote: post #84
Groxx wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 d…

A lot of people say they can detect an "off" flavor in table salt, maybe because of the anticaking agents, maybe because of the iodine. I wouldn't write off the difference between table salt and kosher salt, even if you're salting before you cook.

Using expensive salt before/during cooking though sounds crazy to me.

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

#95

Post by gleb »

tptacek wrote: post #46

Liberally salting your steak is a fine idea, but where is this person finding choice ribeye for $5? Choice isn't "cheap". The $15/lb ribeye at Whole Foods is choice, as is pretty much every other steak you buy outside a specialty store. There's nothing at all wrong with it. This article never gets specific, but I get the impression the author doesn't really know what "prime" means: how well marbled the cut is with fa…

USDA beef grading is assigned to the whole carcass, so you can get any part of the cow in prime. Only cuts where USDA rating correlates with quality are typically marketed as prime/choice, typically just loin and rib-eye. You do see things like "prime skirt steak" but it's uncommon, because there won't be any difference in marbling or tenderness on that cut. For other cuts like chuck, prime is actually too fatty for many applications (e.g. try chuck @ Schaub's @ Stanford -- not good for moist cooking, could be good for hamburgers I guess).

Whole Food beef is select not choice. I can only speak for Bay Area definitively, I haven't checked out WF meat counter in Chicago. I doubt it's any different because Whole Foods has a nice high-margin gig going on what they call "natural" beef, which is USDA Select sold as a premium product on the strength of Whole Foods brand. It's a store brand with premium pricing, great gig if you can pull it off, good for Whole Foods.

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

#96

Post by tptacek »

encoderer wrote: post #88
illumin8 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Take the steak out, drain most of the fat out, toss in a minced shallot, turn the heat off, cook the shallot for about a minute, take the pan off heat and throw in any liquor (brandy, cognac, and cheap bourbon all work great), heat to boil, scrape the bottom of the pan, clean, add mustard, mix, add cream to fill the bottom of the pan, mix, reduce. Steak au poivre!

Beautiful with the peppered crust.

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

#97

Post by fms »

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.

You are right. SousVide cooking prepares healthy meals with less salt and spices, and at the same time, preserve the vitamins and nutrients and flavour much more than conventional cooking. Our latest release SVM 1500D temperature controller works beautifully with a basic rice cooker. FreshMealsSolutions is introducing another new product called FreshMealsMagic which is a heater and circulator all in one for $159.00. It will make any pots into a constant water bath for sousvide cooking ( no need for rice cooker).

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

#98

Post by elblanco »

tptacek wrote: post #68
elblanco wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I usually just put a liberal coating of garlic salt on and grill at a low temperature, rotating every 2 minutes or so until the meat looks visibly moist. Turn the heat up to high at the end for the final 2 rotations and done. I've had people fly cross-country (twice) for these steaks and it's really not all that hard. But it makes for an expensive summer season with lots of entertaining on my deck. One guy was mystif…

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.

I've heard of this technique before, but never tried the product of it yet. How do you control for food-borne diseases like Clostridium botulinum? (honest question). I'd be concerned that level of heat wouldn't kill it off.

It sounds to me like this technique would really help with a complete and consistent cooking of the entire steak -- something I strongly favor. It's why I start with a low heat grill then ramp up to hot at the end. But my technique is imprecise and requires lots of attention.

Does it also help the flavor by keeping the fats close to the meat in the bag? I'd think another side benefit is that the steaks would come out so tender a fork could cut them.

I'd be curious to try throwing in some butter and seasonings into the bag, or at least for the final searing. A browned coating of butter seems to make lots of meats taste really great in my opinion (as opposed to a plant derived oil). But some people don't like the heavy oily taste it can imbue in the food.

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

#99

Post by tptacek »

ModelCitizen wrote: post #85
illumin8 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Cooks Illustrated just did a piece where they cook the steak in the oven to 120f and finish on in a skillet; I've used it a couple times, and it works really well.

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

#100

Post by joshwa »

dzlobin wrote: post #12
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 i…

arazorashinyknife, eh? We run in similar circles (friends with cathy erway?). Is your project food-related?
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