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Implying people who don't read it should be eating more steak?
First, it doesn’t imply that.
But to clarify a bit, the people who read HN are generally privileged enough to make a choice about what they eat.
Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
151–160 of 301 posts
Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#152I think scientific cooking completely misses the point about cooking and about
eating food. You should cook your food the way your senses tell you is right.
You should cook your food so that your senses tell you it's right. You're
going to taste the food with your mouth and smell it with your nose. You're not
going to taste it with a thermometer or whatever else silly probe of irrelevance
anyone might think of sticking into it.
The same goes about following arbitrary rules about how food "should" be cooked. It's your tongue and nose that will experience your cooking. Not Julia Child's. Cook food using your senses and cook food so that you like it. Cook as thou likest. That shall be the whole of the law.
Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I'm jonesing to get my hands on a countertop combi oven like the Anova. You could automate this entire process with much better temperature control and an internal probe to get the timing right. I've done engineering on professional combis and what you can do with those is pretty awesome. Anova won't be the one to make it in the mass market but eventually one of them will step up to kick off the next air fryer craze…
I really enjoy my APO, but honestly, for steaks, between it, reverse sear, and the circulator, I still go for the circulator most of the time. I generally will be juggling a variety of things trying to get them all to finish at the same time, so being able to hold the steaks there if I get behind is nice. The APO could do it too, but it's generally handling something else for the meal that would suffer from being bagged.
I have used the APO's psuedo vide mode for steaks using the probe and it does work very well and is quite quick. It's also killer for bread - way easier and (for me) better results than the dutch oven methods.
Now that the APO has a new tank design it solves the only real complaint I've had it it though, so I do highly recommend it. Between it at my Breville SOA I haven't used my regular oven in years.
Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure if this is what OP had in mind, but beef has a considerably larger carbon footprint than any other common protein source.
And considerably smaller carbon footprint than industrial emission and cars. The vegetables and grains grown 5000 miles away are being brought via land and sea thanks to petrol right to the vegan store one goes to shop at with their SUV. But yes, let's demonise the food we've evolved to thrive on. It's mental that this has become a controversial idea worth censoring.
> And considerably smaller carbon footprint than industrial emission and cars
Yes, I am recommending people reduce their addiction to cars as well.
But honestly, planet is likely a lost cause for humanity, so “Let them eat steak!” I guess.
And if you think humanity is thriving today, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#155Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#156The whole perfect steak thing is not new.
"Males are best turned into gluttons with the help of their vanity. They ought to be made to think themselves very knowing about food, to pique themselves on having found the only restaurant in the town where steaks are really “properly” cooked. What begins as vanity can then be gradually turned into habit. But, however you approach it, the great thing is to bring him into the state in which the denial of any one indulgence—it matters not which, champagne or tea, sole colbert or cigarettes—“puts him out”, for then his charity, justice, and obedience are all at your mercy."
C.S. Lewis -- The Screwtape Letters 1942.
Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#157Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have never had a "wagyu" steak (served as a steak) that I found special. It's to the point where "wagyu" is kind of a red flag for me. (I've had A5 prepared at sushi places, and that I get, but it's a totally different preparation).
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!
Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#159I think scientific cooking completely misses the point about cooking and about eating food. You should cook your food the way your senses tell you is right. You should cook your food so that your senses tell you it's right. You're going to taste the food with your mouth and smell it with your nose. You're not going to taste it with a thermometer or whatever else silly probe of irrelevance anyone might think of sticki…
The comment above this is from CS Lewis. The contrast in morality is pungent.
Re: Myths about cooking steak that need to go away (2013)
#160I think scientific cooking completely misses the point about cooking and about eating food. You should cook your food the way your senses tell you is right. You should cook your food so that your senses tell you it's right. You're going to taste the food with your mouth and smell it with your nose. You're not going to taste it with a thermometer or whatever else silly probe of irrelevance anyone might think of sticki…
Well, sure, if you like your food some certain way, then cook it for yourself that way.
But a lot of the "scientific cooking" is about repeatability. I know I like my steaks rare, edge to edge, with a hard sear. I know that the easiest way for me to accomplish that is using an immersion circulator, combi oven, or reverse sear, drying it (and if I have time, cooling it down briefly), and then either searing/basting it in cast iron or finishing it off on my kamado grill with the temperature ramped up to inferno.
I've cooked hundreds of steaks just on a grill, or just in a pan. I can nail a rare or medium rare steak on the grill, and adjust for temp, etc. But there are inherent limitations to those methods - it might be rare in the center, but simply because of the physics at play, more of the meat than just the surface is going to be well done.
And as for the myths in the article... a lot of these are just things that are patently untrue. It's not about "scientific cooking" vs. cooking to personal taste, people just believe a lot of things that are just flat out wrong.