31–40 of 301 posts
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.
Or: the myth the whole of humanity needs to eat expensive, inefficiently-produced, rainforest clearing, climate change-inducing, antibiotics-immune superbug-breeding, unhealthy animal protein grown on CAFOs. Roughly 12% of GHGs are attributed to meat agriculture. Since few people decide anything rationally since they want their steaks and Big Macs, I challenge anyone to visit Greeley CO, Tar Heel NC or North Platte N…
I wonder if it was this annoying living through Great Awakenings 1-3. Go peddle your Calvinism elsewhere.
Quoted post unavailable.
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.
I like a good crusty char tbh, I believe it’s called Pittsburgh style. Or minced up raw as a tartare. Not really what many would consider a steak, but a fine use for a good piece of meat anyhow.
The Pittsburgh style is a very hard sear but rare or blue on the inside. It’s said, perhaps apocryphally, to have been developed at steel mills where the steaks were seared on the extremely hot plant piping.
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.
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
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 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 vide them and are better off being reverse seared.
Edit: if you're shopping in the supermarket, filets will usually be more expensive. If you're buying prime dry aged from a butcher, it's a different story, mostly because filets aren't usually dry aged. Check Pat's steaks for reference: https://shop.lafrieda.com/collections/dry-aged-beef
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've done the same tests with ribeyes and strips and, in a triangle test, you can't tell the difference between a circulator cook to 54c and a toaster oven reverse-sear cook to 45c (both followed by a hard sear). I really can't see much reason to circulate steaks anymore; there isn't even really a convenience win to it.
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 the man when it comes to no-bullshit cooking. He's also been more active on youtube in the past couple of years - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqqJQ_cXSat0KIAVfIfKkVA
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…
That's the point of the reverse sear (which is the opposite of what you're doing); "cook" the steak (bringing it up to almost its desired final temperature) very slowly at low heat, so the whole steak cooks consistently and evenly (almost the same color edge-to-center) and then sear it. You also get a better sear, because the cooked steak is drier than the one you pulled out of the fridge.
(Salting ahead of time probably doesn't remove moisture; the steak reabsorbs the liquid it sweats out).
Having said all that: some people just prefer steak that isn't edge-to-center the same doneness, so your method might just suit your tastes better.
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.
If the consumer had to grow the cow in complete unconsciousness without antibotics and with enough room to avoid close contact with other wild and domestic animals to prevent superbug evolution, slaughter it, cook it, and pay for all of the GHG offsets of the entire supply chain necessary to support it, then it would be fine. Or, it's not, and it's an indulgence worse and different than heroin because its widespread…
Some people like meat. Deal with it.