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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)

#231

Post by tptacek »

steak2 wrote: post #230
tptacek wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bearnaise, hollandaise, red wine reduction, roquefort cream, lemon + olive oil, salsa verde, green peppercorn, garlic butter, bordelaise, au poivre --- not saucing a steak is a wasted opportunity for deploying some of the world's great sauces.

What's beautiful about a steak is that it transcends the collective human culinary craft. It's like this pure thing that prove god exists. All of those sauces, those creations of men, are more for making poorer quality steaks more palatable than elevating the best steaks. There is a reason restaurants that specialize in serving high quality steaks generally forgo the sauce.

Go pull up a list of the top steak houses in NYC, or in Chicago, or in Los Angeles, and find me the steak house that doesn't have a steak au poivre, or a bunch of other sauce options. What you're saying about steak restaurants is just not true at all.

Also, the best steaks that you're getting in steak houses are honestly pretty boring (at least, until you dry age them halfway to the point of rot) and if you think that a prime ribeye is the acme of cuisine, I really recommend you go out and find yourself some birria.

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

#232

Post by Spivak »

amelius wrote: post #95

How about the myth that "eating steaks contributes to one's manliness" and which some like to repeat at every possible opportunity at BBQ events?

I think it’s a more general “eating meat is manly” that I’ve heard more often. I get it kinda, eating meat feels more “predatory” and fruits and vegetables are “health food” — only women care about that something something Dr. Pepper 10.

The whole “soyboi” thing has got to be one of the funniest but also saddest things I’ve ever seen. Pour one out for the men who eat nothing but carbs, meat, salt, and dairy. You’re all keeping the blood pressure medication business alive.

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

#233

Post by captainredbeard »

paulcole wrote: post #161
gruez wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind explaining why?

HN readers are generally pretty privileged. This is slightly inconvenient change they can make to their lives. If they’re not willing to do something this small and easy, what hope does humanity have for “success” overcoming climate change? 150 years from now, people will wish all they have to do is limit steak consumption. It’s far below the very least we can today, but it’s something. Important note: I never said “…

> HN readers are generally pretty privileged. This is slightly inconvenient change they can make to their lives

Ha ha, nope.

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

#235

Post by shaklee3 »

andrewbarba wrote: post #35
jeffbee wrote: post #11

This author is such a treasure. Even if every one of the recipes was awful, it would still be a great site/book just for trying all these things and confirming or debunking them.

Kenji is an absolute legend in the culinary world. I highly suggest you checkout his youtube channel, his wealth of knowledge (backed by his own experiments) is simply unmatched.

his new wok cookbook comes out in 2 months as well

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

#236

Post by ahepp »

tptacek wrote: post #222
jeff18 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will give it a shot! Always excited to up my steak game.

If you have a toaster oven, I strongly recommend the toaster oven . They come up to temp fast, and they have a much tighter band of temperatures than an oven, which is always +15/-15 from your set temperature. Holding a tight, low temperature is all you're asking from the oven, and toaster ovens are built to do that (ironically, they fucking blow at making toast).

What are the reasons traditional ovens have such a wide band here? It seems like with modern technology one ought to be able to cut that down a bit. Is it just physically infeasible based on the size of the space to be heated? Or is it tremendous cost pressure for consumer goods? Or something else?

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

#237

Post by yellowapple »

tptacek wrote: post #39
csdvrx wrote: post #27

My favorite method (and no guy tasting my steaks has ever said anything but "hmmmmm"): use salt on both sides the day before (to remove moisture), keep the steak in the fridge until the last moment (to keep its temperature low and limit the risk of overcooking the inside), meanwhile put a decent amount of vegetable oil in a pan, wait until its viscosity is reduce to that of water (this indicate high temp, that will r…

Try it both ways, yours and the reverse sear. Don't just do a subjective taste test, but rather take a cross section of both steaks. You should find that your pan-grilled steaks have a much bigger band of grey meat --- a much more fluid gradation from gray/seared to pink/rare --- than the reverse-seared steak. That's the point of the reverse sear (which is the opposite of what you're doing); "cook" the steak (bringin…

> Don't just do a subjective taste test

That seems like a silly prohibition. The taste is kind of the whole point; if one prefers the taste of "sear then cook" over "cook then sear", then great. Whatever floats your boat. So what if the presentation doesn't meet some arbitrary standard? Unless you're cooking for Gordon Ramsay or something like that, hardly anyone's gonna care, 'cause steak is steak and - barring being burnt to a crisp - will be delicious all the same.

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

#238

Post by shagie »

tptacek wrote: post #14
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

100%. I've done just about everything you can do to a steak, and for the past year or so my bulletproof standard method has simply been "set toaster oven to 250, cook steak for 20 minutes until it's 110-115, then take it out and sear it". It's better than the circulator steaks.

Lets see what Cook My Meat says about it

http://up.csail.mit.edu/science-of-cooking/

  3cm Steak starts at 72°F
  250°F and 250°F for 20:00
  72°F and 300°F for 4:00
  300°F and 72°F for 4:00
  72°F and 72°F for 5:00
Prior to searing, 250F at a 3cm thick steak takes 17 minutes to get to an internal temperature of 200°F.

The transition from medium to well at the innermost part takes place at just over 10m when cooking at 250°F for the 3cm steak.

If, however, the steak is 5cm thick, that the 115°F in the inner part isn't until 16m.

Your method may need to be adjusted for the size of the cut, though if you're ordering the same thing it probably does work for you.

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

#239

Post by ahepp »

gruez wrote: post #67
weeksie wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>A strip is not a "cheaper" steak than a filet. But objectively speaking a strip steak is cheaper. Based on my observations of supermarket sale prices, the ranking goes: fillet > ribeye > strip > others that I don't bother with (sirloin/round)

I went to Costco a couple days ago with the intent of getting some ribeyes, but they were even more expensive than filets if I'm remembering correctly. Probably one of the first times in my post-college life I've balked at the price of a grocery store item. I got a package of tri-tip steaks twice as large for a bit less, and they were delicious.

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

#240

Post by stickfigure »

gruez wrote: post #100
fisherjeff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard disagree on convenience: Timing hot steaks with hot sides is virtually effortless with a circulator

I fail to see how a circulator is more convenient or effortless. For starters you need to prep a bag and a pot of water if you're using a circulator. On the other hand with reverse sear all you need to do is stick a thermometer in, throw it on a pan/rack and put it in an oven. After you're done with the circulator you have to wrangle with a wet bag full of beef liquid and dry off the steak (otherwise your sear will b…

If you buy whole or fractional cow, the butcher will typically hand you boxes of separately vac-sealed cuts. At that point, it's really hard to beat the convenience of "grab one, throw it in the circulator". You don't even need to defrost it.
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