STEAKS!!!!!!!

[Piobaire]

Good analysis of the issue. Prior to my IR hell-fire it was a screaming hot cast iron pan coated with some grape seed oil (very high flash point) to get the initial sear then butter with aromatic basting to finish crusting. A good result but leaves the casa smoky.

 

[Lizard23]

Grape seed oil is wonderful stuff. I also sometimes use a little piece of beef fat trimmed from the steak and rub that on the surface where ill be searing.

 

[te0o]

Grape seed oil is wonderful stuff. I also sometimes use a little piece of beef fat trimmed from the steak and rub that on the surface where ill be searing.

In my experience, beef fat, especially when it is dry-aged, has a very low smoke point. Tried it once but it set off the smoke alarms in my place in no time.

 

[Lizard23]

In my experience, beef fat, especially when it is dry-aged, has a very low smoke point. Tried it once but it set off the smoke alarms in my place in no time.

Interesting. Havent seen that in my experience and don't recall a difference between dry aged and reg (i mostly am doing dry aged these days).

Template:Smoke point of cooking oils - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

this chart of smoke points seems to also suggest a high smoke point of tallow (480). FWIW grapeseed comes in at 420.

also, i have made french fries cooked in tallow at omegmale’s suggestion. And fried at temps of 400 without issue.

 

[te0o]

Interesting. Havent seen that in my experience and don't recall a difference between dry aged and reg (i mostly am doing dry aged these days).

To be fair, the steak (and the fat I cut off from it) was really intensely dry-aged. More than 100-120 days judging by the smell and mouldiness. I imagine this is bound to alter the chemical composition of the fat enough to mess with the smoke point. Which also makes my experience very limited and probably not really representative of the general case. I'll try again with something less extreme in terms of aging.

Do you see a difference in the crust/taste of the finished steak when using beef fat compared to grapeseed oil, for example?

I myself am a fan of sunflower oil - zero smell and very decent >400F smoke point in most cases.

 

[Lizard23]

Yeah, age at 120 def changes things I would think. I would love to have that problem. Hard for me to source anything at home with more than 60 days on it.

Not really a major difference in taste IME. Its just easiest since the steak is there anyway. I have even been so lazy as to just rub the fat capped edge of the steak on the pan before i sear.

have to give sunflower oil a try. The lack of flavor is what i like about grape seed oil.

 

[Girardian]

The major theoretical negative is that SV to get to temp, while yielding a perfect doneness with zero gradient, does nothing to dry out the surface of the meat and therefore you either are left with a worse sear, or need to “give up some gradient” and sear for longer.

This can be mitigated by diligently drying off the steak after the SV/pre sear and by using IR or some other screaming hot tech… blowtorch?

I forward to seeing your results.

I think the main issue that I have with the sous vide method is that it doesn’t render the fat in cooking (I have tried a long slow sous vide just at the tender point, but didn’t love the texture results the one time I did it).

getting a nice crust is not an issue. Yes I dry fully. I have a Searzall on butane and use a combination of torching plus a very hot cast iron skillet — so can get a nice crust on sous vide steak. I find the torch is better for controlled rendering fat in spots on the meat.

I have tried a very hot grill, just cast iron, and just the torching. My current method is cast iron and torch with a little herbed ghee basting at the end (ideally in a new pan for a cleaner result).

 

[JohnMRobie]

Thursday night NY Strip because

 

[bobby jonathan]

What happened, to fish steak?

bobby jonathan

 

[te0o]

The thread has been pretty quiet lately.

I had this big boy a couple of weeks ago. 1.1kg/2.4lbs of Wagyu-Angus crossbreed.

 

[esoxm]

Meant to get an after on this. First steak on the new Napoleon - medium low for 3 or 4 minutes per side then 1 minute a side on the infrared on high to finish. Very happy with the steak and the grill

 

[Piobaire]

Need a finished pic.

 

[Lizard23]

Took the family to our favorite pizza spot last night. Its the real deal naples style pizza with in-house wood oven imported from italy, etc. etc. and is actually very good.

We learned that the chef/hostess have just bought the restaurant out from the original owner (amicably) and so they are trying new things. This had me worried, but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt since they have never steered us wrong before.

The special was a prime dry aged strip steak cooked entirely in the pizza oven with charred brocolli rabe. Seasoned only with salt… no sous vide, no reverse sear… It was honestly one of the best steaks I have had at a restaurant ever… in the top 5 for sure. Maybe top 3. Some gradient for sure, but the flavor of the char and smoke more than made up for that.

My wife then reminded me of a steak we had in spain at asador extebarri, where everything is grilled on charcoal. That was also a top 5 steak for me.

Got me thinking - maybe the reverse sear is a cheat code to good to great results with consistency but perhaps something is lost vs direct fire cooking for the duration. The latter obviously requiring more skill.

Now i need a pizza oven built in the backyard, stat. to experiment.

 

[Duke Santos]

Had a college buddy in town for business over for dinner.

Started with charcuterie plate (mortadella, Chicago-made soppressata picante, toscano and genuine alto adige speck) and Manhattans.

Dry aged Bone-in strips and potato-leek dauphinoise.

Buddy turns around and busts out a white alba truffle on ******, which got shaved on the steaks and the daupinoise.

And the dead soldier 2005 St. Emilion Grand Cru that was consumed with the steaks.

 

[te0o]

A modest piece of meat today but a good result on the cooking. 1kg of Simmental ribeye.