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Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

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Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#171

Post by tptacek »

contravariant wrote: post #164
tptacek wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The marrow you're getting out of a marrow bone (ie: the marrow you're getting when you order a dish at a restaurant that has "bone marrow" in it, or features marrow) is also not the same kind of marrow as is in the thin/small bones you're getting in a steak. No, I don't think marrow is making bone-in steak taste better. (Marrow, though, would make a steak taste better! Order a marrow bone, cook the marrow, and then b…

I'm willing to accept that marrow won't have much of an effect on cooking a steak, simply because: 1) The marrow isn't touching the actual meat 2) Bone marrow and steak have very different preparations Claiming bones don't have any flavour is a silly overcorrection though.

They don't impart any flavor to a steak, is the claim. Not "bones don't have any flavor".

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#172

Post by cellularmitosis »

errcorrectcode wrote: post #15
tedunangst wrote: post #4

Doesn't matter how it's cooked as long you put enough ketchup on it.

Wrong bottle. It's all about A1 sauce.

As a child, my grandfather would serve filet mingnon at family holidays, and I would drown it in A1. It is only as an adult that I truly understand the severity of my sin.

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#173

Post by emmanuel_1234 »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #58
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having compared the methods in my own kitchen, I'm also coming around to the idea that the reverse sear is a better method than sous vide, because I seem to get a better crust on the steak (likely because the steak is dryer than what I can remove from the s-v'd steak with paper towels). But , I find this only holds true for really nice cuts like filet mignon. If I want to cook a cheaper steak like a NY strip, I think…

I was a professional chef for many years before I got into coding and I very rarely use a sous vide at home. The practical advantages of it have a lot more to do with timing, prep dynamics, and consistency than they do with final quality. There are some things that it makes possible or easy that are otherwise nearly inaccessible to home cooks and that is cool if you want to play around with it. Or if I'm cooking 6 st…

Definitely agree with the "cooking 6 steaks for guests". This is my secret trick at barbecues: I pre-cook a bunch of steaks that I keep warn in an ice-chest (with no ice, obviously), then as guest comes and goes, I sear them, which takes a few minutes only. Every group of arriving guest gets to eat a nice perfectly cooked steak, straight out of the fire.

My other secret trick is to sous-vide chicken wings, so I don't have to fear about contamination of my tools, people being like "is it cooked enough? It looks pink". After sous-viding, I leave them on a cold side of the barbecue until they turn golden brown: the meat is soft, moist and almost candied. It's fool proof as they'll never really have a chance to burn and they always come up perfect.

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#174

Post by cthalupa »

astrange wrote: post #123
vkou wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same reason people drink, smoke, do heroin, and do California stops at intersections. In the case of steak, the particular reason is because it's delicious.

Isn't steak boring? They're huge and the huger they are the more masculine you are for eating them, but every bite tastes the same and there's no need to experience it past the first few.

>Isn't steak boring?

No.

> They're huge and the huger they are the more masculine you are for eating them

I dry age steaks at home, so between trimming off the pellicle (which I then use for mixing in when grinding burger meat or turn into stock/demi-glace) and the water loss from evaporation, my steaks aren't particularly large, and I certainly don't do it because of any sort of masculinity.

>but every bite tastes the same and there's no need to experience it past the first few.

I'm not really sure what this argument is. If you find something delicious, why would you decide you should stop after a couple of bites?

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#175

Post by twoodfin »

tptacek wrote: post #29
gruez wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>set toaster oven to 250, cook steak for 20 minutes That seems really fast, at least compared to the time I get with a regular oven. Either you're using really thin steaks, or your toaster oven's temperature is way off.

I'm cooking to temp, not to time; I pull them when the Thermapen says the steak's near 115. But I set the timer on my toaster oven to 20 minutes (after preheating, starting immediately when the steaks go in) and watch out of the corner of my eye for the display to go blue when the timer expires, which is when I check the steak temp the first time. I guess every once in awhile I end up giving it another 5 minutes, but…

Quality convection makes a big difference. Think about the experience of a sub-freezing morning with still air vs. a strong wind and the thermal dynamics become obvious.

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#176

Post by staticassertion »

tptacek wrote: post #158
staticassertion wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you referring to American/Australian wagyu as "wagyu" ? Did you get it at a restaurant or make it yourself? I find that American/Australian wagyu is not like Japanese wagyu, but it is still extremely good - it's just a really really good 'regular' steak. It's going to be beefier than a Japanese wagyu with less marbling. I'd be really surprised to hear that you can't tell the difference between a 'regular' steak a…

I'm saying the opposite thing. I've had A5. A5, I get. A5 is very good. But you don't eat a whole ribeye of A5. "A5" gets my attention in a good way. "Wagyu" gets my attention in a bad way. But I might be nuts!

Oh gotcha, yeah I don't really know. I've only ever prepared it myself and I've only eaten A4 (once) or A5. Wagyu is definitely broader and therefor a more abusable term, but I haven't had issues since I order it directly and prepare it personally.

I do, however, definitely eat whole ribeyes of A5 lol

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#177

Post by Zababa »

spiderice wrote: post #144
Zababa wrote: post #134

> Myth #6b: "If you cut it open to check doneness, it will lose all its juices." > The Reality: Again, the amount of juice lost by a single slit-and-peek is completely inconsequential in comparison to the whole piece of meat. I think this one might depend a lot on how sharp your knives are. And most people that I know have dull knives. Thus, when cutting a steak to peek, they end up pressing it, which releases juices…

I think comments like this (basically just guesses without any data) are where myths like this originate.

This isn't a guess. This is something that applies to most people I know. That means that this "myth" is true around me. I've cut steak open a lot, and I can see easily that more juices flow out when I use a dull knife compared to when I use a sharp knife. A simple thought experiment: do you think cutting open a steak with a razor blade will make the same amount of juice flow than with a butter knife? I know for a fact that the razor blade will spill almost no juice, and the butter knife will spill a lot, by pressing the steak.

The question is now: Do most people have dull knives? Or do they have sharp knives? Most people around me have dull knives, except for chefs. I've seen lots of cooking videos, and chefs often tend to have good and sharp knives. So my guess here would be that chefs have sharper knives than most people. Meaning that a chef can't properly test this myth unless they take this factor into account.

I haven't been able to find any data on knife spending, or average sharpness of knives depending on if people are chef or not. Here's an experiment we could try: have people evaluate the sharpness of a single knife, and see if non-chef tend to evaluate it as better than chefs.

This is, I think, how science works. Sometimes you have proved something, sometimes it was just counfounding factors. There's a good article about that being discussed currently: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/04/28/the-control-group-is-o....

I'll finish this by saying I have a huge respect for J. Kenji López-Alt. I only raise that point because here, I believe being a chef can introduce bias.

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#178

Post by cthalupa »

bobbygunderson wrote: post #85
abakker wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do this in a smoker sometimes. Smoke to 100*, rest, and then sear on grill or in pan. Don’t use much smoke. Can be a really killer way to do ribeyes and porterhouse.

Yep yep yep. And I’ll also echo don’t use much smoke - I went way overboard with some mesquite to see what it would be like, and it was fine but definitely detracted. A light smoke then a char is chef’s kiss though.

I do a decent amount of smoking (not steaks, too often, though sometimes) and I tend to mostly avoid mesquite, or use it very sparingly. It's STRONG.

I'm not afraid to use a good amount of post oak or cherry when smoking anything, including steaks, though.

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#179

Post by lhorie »

bradleyjg wrote: post #12

If you haven’t heard the good news about the reverse sear yet, today is your lucky day. https://www.seriouseats.com/reverse-seared-steak-recipe

Reminds me of the Chinese technique for cooking cuts like pork belly: boiling in water first then pan searing. Works well with sauces that caramelize.

Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)

#180

Post by squeaky-clean »

weeksie wrote: post #36
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having compared the methods in my own kitchen, I'm also coming around to the idea that the reverse sear is a better method than sous vide, because I seem to get a better crust on the steak (likely because the steak is dryer than what I can remove from the s-v'd steak with paper towels). But , I find this only holds true for really nice cuts like filet mignon. If I want to cook a cheaper steak like a NY strip, I think…

A strip is not a "cheaper" steak than a filet. Filet mignon is a fine cut, it's low in flavor but very tender which means that it tastes better when it's extra rare. Well marbled cuts of steak are usually better at mid-rare b/c the fat melts a little. I do like sous vide for very thick steaks with some marbling—so a strip is a pretty decent one for the dip. However, I've found ribeyes come out spongey when you sous v…

Filets absolutely can be and are dry aged. They're again just even more expensive than a dry aged strip steak.

A filet is almost always more expensive than a strip, in the supermarket, at the butcher, or in the steakhouse.

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