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Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

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Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#201

Post by twodave »

noahjk wrote: post #175
twodave wrote: post #168

I cook (and eat) a lot of steak. Probably 3-4 per week, 1.5" thick ribeyes. For me, resting has always been about temperature normalization. I like to sear my steaks in a cast iron skillet. I use an induction cooktop and tend to start at medium-high and ramp up to as hot as the stove will get. I think the ramp-up is important to render some of the fat without just letting it all evaporate. I turn the steaks over freq…

How long does the steak generally stay in the pan to sear? Have to ever tried reverse searing instead (which I believe is just oven first)?

About 5-7 minutes, tops. I haven't tried the reverse sear, I'd worry about overcooking.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#202

Post by fsckboy »

bookofjoe wrote: post #177
bmurphy1976 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not wrong, it's incomplete. It will briefly bring the temperature up as everything stabilizes but then it will start going back down. How quickly is entirely dependent on the environment it's in as well. Keep it in a warming oven? It's gonna a be a much slower process than sitting on a cool countertop.

"It's not even wrong." — Wolfgang Pauli

"It's not evenly cooked." -- Wolfgang Puck

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#203

Post by School-Cotton »

cogman10 wrote: post #162
School-Cotton wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder whether something similar applies to spirits. I feel absolutely sure that I could tell the difference between, say, a long-aged rum and an unaged one. But if you added food coloring to an unaged one and told me it was aged, would my brain invent oak barrel flavors behind my back? Who knows.

You can always give yourself a blind taste test. Get two (or more) opaque bottles, add the various rums in test, mark the bottom of the container for the type of rum, mix it up and see if you can reliably tell the difference. My assumption is you could because that oak flavor is pretty strong, but who knows. Worst case scenario is you find out you still prefer expense alcohol :)

But not knowing what rum you’re tasting is not the same experiment as someone actively tricking you and telling you it’s something it’s not.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#204

Post by fsckboy »

gerdesj wrote: post #171
chasebank wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Resting allows the temperature to drop, which creates less pressure, so the juices aren't forced out of the meat nearly as strongly." I was always under the impression that if you pull your meat at let's say 128, resting it will bring the internal temperature up, finishing at like 132-134. Is this wrong?

"I was always under the impression that if you pull your meat at let's say 128" Please state units. In en_GB (at least) "pulling your meat" is ... ambiguous.

ambiguous? I'll take the compliment, but there is no "us"

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#206

Post by fsckboy »

CGMthrowaway wrote: post #106
dataviz1000 wrote: post #105

"Searing the meat seals in the juices" -- every chef on every cooking show. Can we do a study on that too? hmmmmm. I want to grill two steaks, the same size, and to the same internal temperature on the same grill. Let one rest for ten minutes in a pie pan and cut the other into 4 pieces letting it also rest for ten minutes in a pie pan. Probably also wrap them in tinfoil. Then weigh the released juices at the end. Th…

Real cooks know the point of the sear is to create browning (maillard). Anyone who says otherwise either doesn't understand or is just speaking to a basic audience

the flavor enhancement of the maillard reaction does not mean that searing is not also sealing the meat. I'm not saying it is either, just, saying your statement is not an answer to his question, as anyone can see. almost anyone.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#207

Post by fsckboy »

jameslk wrote: post #184
dataviz1000 wrote: post #105

"Searing the meat seals in the juices" -- every chef on every cooking show. Can we do a study on that too? hmmmmm. I want to grill two steaks, the same size, and to the same internal temperature on the same grill. Let one rest for ten minutes in a pie pan and cut the other into 4 pieces letting it also rest for ten minutes in a pie pan. Probably also wrap them in tinfoil. Then weigh the released juices at the end. Th…

> "Searing the meat seals in the juices" -- every chef on every cooking show. This is debunked. See myth #2 and #4 here: https://www.seriouseats.com/old-wives-tales-about-cooking-st...

I'm not arguing in favor of "searing is sealing", but that whole article is trash imho. I can see flaws in every empirical test he sets up. (ok, not every one, i quit reading in horror after I read a few)

cauterizing a wound, btw, does seal in the juice.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#208

Post by righthand »

NamTaf wrote: post #165
twelvechairs wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overall the steak is cooling (as the outside air is cooler). At the centre of the steak the temperature will go up first (as heat from the outside of the steak which has been in contact with the pan transfers in) then down again.

Unless I’m mistaken (and that’s quite possible!), this should be trivial to test. Sous vide some meat for an overly long time to a precise temperature, then cut each piece at set intervals.

This is not a very quick test because you can hold sous vide food up to 4 hours at the target temp. So you will need to account for that 4 hour gap in all the testing before it starts to break down.

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#209

Post by pillefitz »

twodave wrote: post #168

I cook (and eat) a lot of steak. Probably 3-4 per week, 1.5" thick ribeyes. For me, resting has always been about temperature normalization. I like to sear my steaks in a cast iron skillet. I use an induction cooktop and tend to start at medium-high and ramp up to as hot as the stove will get. I think the ramp-up is important to render some of the fat without just letting it all evaporate. I turn the steaks over freq…

Aren't you worried about the health impacts of eating steak that frequently?

Re: Major rule about cooking meat turns out to be wrong

#210

Post by brudgers »

b_e_n_t_o_n wrote: post #192
brudgers wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

microcosm of the story of the interaction of science and engineering over time. Science requires measurement. Engineering requires cost benefit analysis. Rules for resting meat are more like religion than science or engineering…resting meat is a morality play of socially acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Eating without resting is labeled crass because it is the sort of thing a starving peasant might do. That’s ho…

I prefer the term "impatient peasant".

Seeing as patience is a virtue, did you intentionally make my point?
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