Cooking For Engineers

[Chuck]

To the guy that say's stop eating Cattle.
What are you doing on this site?
BEEF It's what's for dinner! Fool!

[brammy]

Great blog, lots of tips. Here's another: Nobody has mentioned that when barbecuing steak, other than inserting a thin temperature probe into the side (if you really must), NEVER stab the meat with a fork or other sharp object, or you will lose juices. Only use tongs for turning.

Top quality beef should only ever require coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Why try and change the flavour of finest beef?

Salt is used for drawing moisture out of raw meat and vegetables, e.g. when making biltong or jerky, and pickles. For that reason, I prefer to add it fairly liberally when cooking, not before. (You can scrape off any excess with the tongs, if you need to.)

Searing definitely does seal in the juices (if you don't stab the meat with a fork!), and turning only once is best. However, this does require a bit of skill to ensure the correct cooking time. The suggestion to cook until juices start to appear on the top side, then turn and repeat, works very well.

If the steak is of lower quality, rub a bit of vinegar and dry mustard powder into it, and stand for half an hour. I always use vinegar for other cuts of beef as well, i.e. roasts, sausages (South African boerewors) or cubed stewing steak. It enhances flavour, tenderises, and removes any 'off' taste from meat that's been standing around too long. The mustard is also an excellent beef flavour enhancer. If the steak really isn't great, you can add a bit of soy sauce, beef flavour enhancer (e.g. Maggi seasoning or Oxo liquid) and oil, when rubbing.

To those who fry the steak in a pan, make sure the pan is very hot and do not put too much meat in at one time - a single steak is best. Otherwise, moisture is sucked out of the meat and it starts to boil instead of fry, and it will not get a crust. Disaster! That could explain some of the mishaps described.
[/u]

[Culinary Student]

Your webpage says that the Portherhouse steak is less tender than the T-Bone steak; this is an incorrect statement. In actuality the T-Bone Steak is more tender because it is found on the rib side of the short loin, which means that it is closer to the middle of the animal. The closer the portioned cut of meat is to the center of the animal the more tender it is.

[Dilbert]

>>the Portherhouse steak is less tender than the T-Bone steak;

>>the T-Bone Steak is more tender

perhaps time re-phrase the contention?

something like less is less
or
more is more
and less of
"less is more"?

[Misty]

This is an awesome recipe and here's a little twist. REALLY SIMPLE BUT AMAZING!

In addition to the mushrooms add some bacon and once its browned remove some of the fat, add a thin layer of Jack Daniels and ignite. Then add the broth and simmer for a bit. Then pour that over your grilled steak and you will freak out on how good it is! My husband got tears the first time I made it!

Misty
Harvest Essentials

[Mothra]

Everyone knows that the ribeye is the king of all steaks. Pan fried for maximum crustiness. Write that down, you little mathematician.

[Guest]