Cooking and Dining

[mac5155]

i sous vided stuff last night. i had a two inch thick cowboy ribeye and it was great.

whats the best way to get an ultra charred crust on it? i cooked mine more rare than i would normally prefer because i knew id have it on the grill an extra minute or two per side. it came out great but id still love a bit more char to it. should i be using cast iron over gas w/ butter to finish?

'

are you patting the steak dry after you remove it from the bag? Dry steak=better sear.

[Miami Vice]

i did do that, yes. the grill put deep char lines on it, which was nice and looked cool, but i think maybe a flat skillet would do the entire top evenly.

when i do burgers i just use [a lot of] salt and pepper, but i like montreal style seasoning all over a steak

[NTP66]

Does your grill have thin, rounded grates on it? Thicker, flat grates do a better overall job, IMO.

[Miami Vice]

thin rounded

[tifosi77]

whats the best way to get an ultra charred crust on it?

The absolute #1 best way to get uber-caramelization that will, without fail, be crazy go bonkers good.........................................

Cryo-frying.

But since cryo-frying involves the use of liquid nitrogen, it's not super convenient for most home cooks. You can sorta kinda get most of the way there by chilling the beef chunk after 'boiling', and then putting it in your freezer for 15-20 minutes or so. Then into an appropriately-sized vat of your favorite frying oil for maybe a minute total, and boom. 360-char (including the fat cap). There will be spitting, of course, and for an application such as this I prefer to use my induction hob rather than an open flame burner. But that is, without a doubt, the absolute best way to char a steak or a chop.

[Kraftster]

I find it impossible to do better than cast iron sear. I let the pan heat for at least 10 minutes, can't overstate the difference it makes giving the pan sufficient time. I also go no more than 15-20 seconds before flipping. I like safflower oil and add ghee for the final 60 seconds.

[mac5155]

My next culinary endeavor is going to be making ghee.

Either that or coming up with my own beef/pork hot link.

[tifosi77]

Do the hotlink thing. You can buy ghee in grocery stores, but hand-crafted meat in tube form is sublime.

[NTP66]

Source of the post meat in tube form is sublime

Really, you're setting yourself up for this far too easily.

[columbia]

Hey, we don't judge.

[tifosi77]

Ha, you missed it......... I posted (heh) in a new post right after that, but realized I had a typo in the original. So I deleted the (heh) post, and went back in and edited the typo with the idea of redoing the (heh) post, but then your stupid face showed up and ruined my plot.

[NTP66]

Ha, you missed it......... I posted (heh) in a new post right after that, but realized I had a typo in the original. So I deleted the (heh) post, and went back in and edited the typo with the idea of redoing the (heh) post, but then your stupid face showed up and ruined my plot.

Heh.

[mac5155]

Do the hotlink thing. You can buy ghee in grocery stores, but hand-crafted meat in tube form is sublime.

I've already done my own pork links. Never thought to mix beef in with them though. Genius!!

[mac5155]

Ok well I did SV burgers... I did 140*. I gotta say I probably won't do it again. If I was blindfolded maybe but the visual just was grossing me out. I know they're safe just not my thing.

[NTP66]

I can't do burgers that are pink, no way. 147 for me, with no pink left after finishing it on the grill.

[tifosi77]

The poor cow is already dead.

If I grind the meat myself, or perhaps if it is ground to order at the market, I'll go as low as 135 on a burger patty. Makes the contrast between the interior and the crust that much more enjoyable, imo.

[columbia]

I like my burgers considerably charred and perfectly rare.

[NTP66]

The texture alone of a rare or medium burger is just not for me. Steak is a completely different story.

[Algernon]

Yeah I don't understand people who can't have a bit of pink in their burgers.

Weirdos if you ask me

[NTP66]

140 isn't a bit of pink - it's flat out red.

[count2infinity]

I've pretty much perfected my frittata recipe. Shoestring cut a couple smallish red skinned potatoes, fry them up in a non-stick with a bit of oil. Get them nice and crispy. Put them into an oven safe pan with a touch of butter and spread them out into a thin base across the pan. Add some broccoli that was roasted (bit of color, but not mushy), a few slices of deli ham that is sliced up into smallish pieces, a small handful of cheddar, and beat them all in with 4 eggs and 3 egg whites, pour that over the potatoes while they're still on the heat in a pan on the stove and allow the eggs bottom to set a bit. Toss it into the oven until the eggs start to brown on the top (I do 450 degrees for both the broccoli and the frittata). Slide it out onto a cutting board, cut it into pieces and add some cholula on top and dig in. I love it with the crispy potato base.

[tifosi77]

The texture alone of a rare or medium burger is just not for me. Steak is a completely different story.

I completely agree that the texture of a small-ground patty cooked to 130 or lower is kinda gross. The reasons I will only do this with fresh/home ground beef is not just because you can better control the food safety aspects of things. You can include a variety of cuts and grind sizes in the mixture, and that goes a long way towards eliminating the texture shenanigans that are sort of inherent in cooking at the lower temp.

[mac5155]

140 isn't a bit of pink - it's flat out red.

Yeah, it's pure pink. I can handle lime like the middle 1/4 being slightly pink but 140 sous vide is edge to edge deep pink

[tifosi77]

edge to edge deep pink

[NTP66]

So far, the ChefSteps SV side dishes I've made have been terrific.