Gravy's Cooking Thread

Noodleface_sl said:

I'm looking for a good way to cook steaks at home (not on the grill). I've been trying to sear them in a pan then finish them in the stove, but even if I marinate them for a very long time, they seem to come out a bit chewy. I usually cook my steaks medium or medium rare, so I'm not terribly overcooking them. Anyone have any good techniques? I basically just cook by feel and usually don't follow a ton of recipes.

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The way I cook ribeyes is to put a cast iron pan in the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. (With the pan inside.)

Steaks should be chilling out on the counter for at least 30 minutes to come to room temperature.

Once the oven has preheated, carefully take the pan out and place on the range at a very high heat. Slather the steaks with some olive oil (Or canola, whatevs), add kosher salt, black pepper, and any other seasonings you prefer. (Though I keep it simple with just S & P)

My ribeyes the other night were about an inch thick, maybe slightly under. I placed them both in the screaming hot pan on one side for about 30-40 seconds, did not move them. Flipped them over for another 30-40 seconds, immediately placed into oven.

Cooked them for about 2 minutes on each side then took them out and covered them with foil and let them rest for a few minutes.

As they rested I put a little butter into the pan, swirled it around to scrape up the drippings, then when I uncovered the steaks I put a little butter onto them and served.

Ribeyes were a beautiful medium rare, and delicious.

Great advice, thanks guys (girls). I don't have a cast-iron yet, but I'm looking into getting one soon.

I actually enjoy cooking but I basically do my own thing through experimentation. The first few times I cooked chicken was an abomination but now people really love it. I am a great grill master for cooking steaks, but cooking them indoors has always been a bit elusive to me.

I have found that adding about a tablespoon of fish sauce adds a lot of flavor to my marinades. It does smell like a dirty pussy when working with it though.

LadyVex_sl said:

The way I cook ribeyes is to put a cast iron pan in the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. (With the pan inside.)

Steaks should be chilling out on the counter for at least 30 minutes to come to room temperature.

Once the oven has preheated, carefully take the pan out and place on the range at a very high heat. Slather the steaks with some olive oil (Or canola, whatevs), add kosher salt, black pepper, and any other seasonings you prefer. (Though I keep it simple with just S & P)

My ribeyes the other night were about an inch thick, maybe slightly under. I placed them both in the screaming hot pan on one side for about 30-40 seconds, did not move them. Flipped them over for another 30-40 seconds, immediately placed into oven.

Cooked them for about 2 minutes on each side then took them out and covered them with foil and let them rest for a few minutes.

As they rested I put a little butter into the pan, swirled it around to scrape up the drippings, then when I uncovered the steaks I put a little butter onto them and served.

Ribeyes were a beautiful medium rare, and delicious.

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If you are getting the pan that hot, I would recommend an oil with a higher smoke point than olive....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point

Some pork chops I cooked up last night:

4 chops
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp rosemary
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Heat your oven to 325. Salt and pepper your chops. In a skillet, melt the butter on low to medium heat. When butter is melted, turn to high and add pork chops. Brown both sides. Remove pork chops and put in an oven-safe dish. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions, brown sugar and vinegar. Cook until onions are tender and vinegar is absorbed. Add rosemary. Cook for about a minute. Spread dijon evenly over the pork chops. Spread the onions over the chops. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.

I'd also suggest tossing some potatoes, carrots or other kinds of starchy root veg in with the chops as they bake. It creates a lot of juice that would get soaked up and make a great side.

Kinner_sl said:

If you are getting the pan that hot, I would recommend an oil with a higher smoke point than olive....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point

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It's just for flavor; you are not using the olive oil as any sort of fat to cook in etc. There should be nothing to smoke, or exceedingly little so as not to matter. Smoke points are mostly only relevant if you plan on cooking something in them, since it starts to smoke when the fatty acids break down. For example, you can add oil to butter when butter to saute, since it raises it's smoke point. I did also recommend canola however, if you are worried about it.

And woah daddy. Someone needs to find themselves a chart of cuts of meat; eye of round is not chuck. Here, I've included one:

Beef Made Easy

As for cooking the steaks in the oven, what are you doing is getting a nice sear/crust on the outside and keeping the inside tender and juicy. Most high establishments will do it this way; you can cook it in the pan the entire time if you like, but since the heat is not surrounding the steak, and is instead penetrating from one side, the results are not as good.

I do agree you should never marinade a good steak. S&P and into a very hot pan/grill.

What do I know though, I'm only a chef with a culinary degree.

Edit: NM, just realized you weren't talking to me! Leaving the chart there for infoz however.

Deathwing_sl said:

Counter point is that you're cooking it in the over longer, giving more time for juices and fats to seep out.

I thought most high end places used only a salamander to cook steaks.

I say cook it in the pan at the right heat to get crust on both sides and the middle medium rare at the same time.

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If we're going by his advice, he had his steak in the pan for 3-5 minutes, per side, whereas mine was in the pan + oven for 5 minutes total. You'll lose more juices his way than mine.

And yea, there are a lot of places that use salamanders too.

Neither is generally "incorrect", it's a preference thing, but he brought up why I would do such a thing, and that's my answer.

Also, Alton Brown is on my side. He cooks his ribeyes the same way. (In fact, the exact same goddamn way! I'll stick with Alton. )

For the record, I probably wouldn't cook something such as a filet in the oven. That is strictly a pan only type of thing.

BrutulTM_sl said:

There is some weird shit in this thread lately. Cooking a chuck roast rare? You must have some strong jaws. Why do you need to put the steaks in the oven? Just get the pan hot and cook them for 3-5 minutes on each side right in the pan, no need for an oven. Don't fucking marinade a good steak either. If you want to do that to a round steak that's fine but a good steak is at its best with just some salt and pepper. Putting sauce and other shit on steak is for Applebees.

Here's my tool of choice for steak if I don't have time to fire up the Big Green Egg:

It's not a lot different than just using a cast iron pan, but I like the grill lines.

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^ so much this, a cast iron grill pan pan-fried steak is the only way to cook a steak.

resting a steak properly makes a huge difference as well. (same can be said for all meat). alton brown says to rest meat on a rack loosely tented with foil, 7 minutes minimum.

BrutulTM_sl said:

3-5 minutes is just a ballpark figure. I would never cook based on time, it doesn't take into consideration how hot your pan is exactly and how thick your steak is, how powerful your burner is, etc. etc. Cook it on one side until you can tell it has a nice crust on it and the color is starting to creep up the side of the steak, then flip it, stick in your thermometer, and pull it off when the temp gets to 125-135 depending on how rare you like it.

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I just recently learned thepoke methodfor done-ness. after a couple weeks of practice, I stopped pulling out my thermapen.


Steaks/chops/chicken breasts: With lots of practice, the "poke test" provides a quick gauge for doneness. The poke test compares the tension in the fleshy part of your hand at the base of your thumb with the tension you feel as you press your index finger into the center of the cut of meat.


loose hand, press fingers together gently, you get the feel of it pretty quick and can stop 'calibrating' with your fingers after a bit.

For rare: Bring your thumb and index finger together gently and press the base of your thumb to test tension.
For medium: Bring your thumb and middle finger together gently and press the base of your thumb to test tension.
For well-done: Bring your thumb and pinky finger together and press the base of your thumb to test tension.

BrutulTM_sl said:

3-5 minutes is just a ballpark figure. I would never cook based on time, it doesn't take into consideration how hot your pan is exactly and how thick your steak is, how powerful your burner is, etc. etc. Cook it on one side until you can tell it has a nice crust on it and the color is starting to creep up the side of the steak, then flip it, stick in your thermometer, and pull it off when the temp gets to 125-135 depending on how rare you like it.

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Oh no, indeed, nothing wrong with what you said. Just that he read it wrong. I bought so much red meat this week that it is all I've been doing is cooking and eating, om nom nom.

With any kind of red meat, you usually rest it twice as long as you cook it. With poultry, like turkey, you rest it as long as you cook it. Seriously. Cook a turkey for 2 hours, rest it for 2 hours. Never dry that way.

But with steaks, if you cut it, and it bleeds all over your cutting board, you didn't rest it long enough. And that makes a huge difference in flavour.

Anyone have a favorable hot wing recipe they'd care to share? Always in for trying a new recipe.

Solovent_sl said:

Anyone have a favorable hot wing recipe they'd care to share? Always in for trying a new recipe.

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Cheapo stock pot for frying. Canola oil. Cut wings into wingettes and drummettes. Discard wing tips.

Season with anything but salt. McCormick Perfect Pinch makes good stuff...try Garlic and Herb. Season to taste.

Fry in hot oil til brown. Drain excess oil by dumping wings into a strainer placed over a bowl.

Dump chicken wings into a large bowl and coat with your flavor of sauce...BBQ or whatever. Mix with big wooden spoons til wings are covered with whatever amount of sauce you like...thick, thin, dripping with goop...whatever.

Place on oven rack and stick in oven @250ish degrees F for 8ish mins.

Eat.

Almost forgot, cut off excess fatty skin from chicken parts after you cut them up...makes for a tastier, non-gross eats.

classic hot wing sauce is just butter and Tabasco, nothing to it. They usually bake the wings till done and give em a quick saute in sauce.

LadyVex_sl said:

As for cooking the steaks in the oven, what are you doing is getting a nice sear/crust on the outside and keeping the inside tender and juicy.

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Are you saying that searing keeps steaks juicier vs not searing?

Merkins4Brazil_sl said:

classic hot wing sauce is just butter and Tabasco, nothing to it. They usually bake the wings till done and give em a quick saute in sauce.

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Butter as a base for a sauce is popular in areas where people die from heart disease at age 23.