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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

#111

Post by antidaily »

Just tried it - it works!! best steak I've ever cooked for myself. picture (that adds nothing, but I took it anyway): http://i48.tinypic.com/2nkulfn.jpg

boneless beef ribeye 3/4in thick - I used a grill pan since it's too cold to grill outside. maybe 2 minutes a side, and another 2 to finish. I added some garlic powder an that was it (no additional salt). I let it rest for a good 10 min. One end was a little too salty, which was probably my fault for not washing it better. But overall, it fantastic. I've always tried to salt generously when cooking meat, but it never really worked like this. Great tip.

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

#112

Post by evgen »

ajross wrote: post #82
tptacek wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Part of the effect of dry-aging is the enzymatic breakdown of the proteins and fats (not really "fermentation") and the other part is the reduction in the moisture content of a particular cut. The loss of water weight is one of the reasons a dry-aged cut costs more.

You can replicate a similar process at home by putting your cut of beef in an open container in your refrigerator (be sure to put a small rack under it to get air circulation on the bottom) and letting it sit for 3-4 days. For something like a rib roast the improvement in taste and texture can be quite significant.

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

#113

Post by evgen »

tptacek wrote: post #106
gleb wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

When the steak in front of me is labelled "USDA Choice", it's choice. I would be surprised to find out that any of the steaks at Whole Foods are "select". I think you're just wrong about this. Yep, you can probably get "prime skirt" at Schaub's. Someone fedex me a Fred Steak, please. I'll send italian beef back in reply.

Mmmm.... fred steak. Ping me via email and let me know where you want it sent :)

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

#114

Post by elblanco »

tptacek wrote: post #108
elblanco wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sous vide cooking (what I just described) is effectively pasteurization. At 131f, by the time a steak is cooked through, you'll have a better than 10D reduction in botulism --- in the fantastically unlikely event that your meat is infected with it (botulism is extremely rare). The sous vide guide (Google for it) will give you the math for this, but their numbers are keyed on salmonella, which is what you really need…

Thanks for the reply, found the book.

> As far as aromatics go, cooking sous vide works on the same principal as cooking in a pouch.

Ahh, now it suddenly clicks for me. Too bad about the garlic.

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

#115

Post by tptacek »

evgen wrote: post #110
tptacek wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

For anyone trying this at home, please note the "take the pan off heat" part of the instructions... Being able to make a good pan-sauce is a skill that provides one of the best returns on the time investment for a home cook (second only to making your own stocks and glaces.)

I blew a bottle up that way once. It was pretty awesome: there were little splotches everywhere in my kitchen. There are still little splotches in the corners on the ceiling.

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

#116

Post by tptacek »

elblanco wrote: post #114
tptacek wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sous vide cooking (what I just described) is effectively pasteurization. At 131f, by the time a steak is cooked through, you'll have a better than 10D reduction in botulism --- in the fantastically unlikely event that your meat is infected with it (botulism is extremely rare). The sous vide guide (Google for it) will give you the math for this, but their numbers are keyed on salmonella, which is what you really need…

Thanks for the reply, found the book. > As far as aromatics go, cooking sous vide works on the same principal as cooking in a pouch. Ahh, now it suddenly clicks for me. Too bad about the garlic.

You use garlic powder to make up for it, and I tend to roast garlic on the side when I really need it. Also, you're saving all the liquid for pan sauces anyways, and you throw garlic into that. I don't find myself missing it.

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

#117

Post by tptacek »

ecuzzillo wrote: post #81
tptacek wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You definitely get small pockets of air. On the other hand, the week I started doing this, I fanatically probed the temperatures of the proteins I cooked, and they were invariably exactly where I set the controller to. It got boring, so I stopped checking. Also, the difference between perfect 131-133f ribeye and carefully cooked conventional ribeye is not subtle.

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

#118

Post by tptacek »

fms wrote: post #97
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.…

Get me a review unit! If it works, I will sing its praises to the heavens.

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

#119

Post by wooster »

wooster wrote: post #29
ecuzzillo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Empirically, Giant Eagle (the crap chain supermarket in PA) beef tastes like crap, and local butcher beef tastes really good. Locality is a good proxy for people caring about food tasting good, and for not going through enormous horrible disease-ridden meat-packing plants. The latter tends to produce meat that tastes bad and periodically makes you sick.

AFAIK, there are only 4 cattle slaughterhouses in PA: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/downloads/slaughter_... Only one of the 4 is not owned by Cargill or JBS. Unless your beef vendor is taking delivery on whole carcasses and then packing it themselves, the beef is probably packed at the slaughterhouse, as well.

Since I can't actually respond to any of you directly (thanks HN commenting code!)... [ugh. now the reply links are there, my bad?]

It's illegal to resell beef to consumers which wasn't slaughtered at a facility with a USDA inspector. If you buy the whole animal, like bmj does, then it can be slaughtered by anyone who knows what they're doing and packed (cut and wrapped) by any competent butcher. You then cannot resell that meat (and, in fact, all of the packaging should have not for retail stamps on it).

Now, personally, having actually toured a slaughterhouse (the one in Fresno, CA), I've got no problem with them. I definitely take issue with the "enormous horrible disease-ridden" characterization. Most of the food safety problems have been artifacts of the high volume hamburger production process. If you buy steaks, or even hamburgers made by butchers from whole cuts of meat, you should be in the clear.

I was merely trying to point out, somewhat obliquely, that unless you're slaughtering an animal you own and then buying all of the cut and wrapped meat, any beef you buy in the US was slaughtered at a huge slaughterhouse. That's just the reality of the situation, and it's a combination of regulations intended to keep you safe (having a USDA inspector on site is really, really expensive) and the continued consolidation of the packing industry (enabled by the government, NIMBY organizations, environmental groups, etc).

At the same time, as an Nth generation cattle rancher (where N > 4), I don't want to discourage anyone from buying locally raised beef. ;-)

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

#120

Post by gleb »

tptacek wrote: post #106
gleb wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

When the steak in front of me is labelled "USDA Choice", it's choice. I would be surprised to find out that any of the steaks at Whole Foods are "select". I think you're just wrong about this. Yep, you can probably get "prime skirt" at Schaub's. Someone fedex me a Fred Steak, please. I'll send italian beef back in reply.

Interesting, must be a Chicago vs SF Bay thing, definitely no choice meat in Whole Foods here.
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