Steak cooking methods

[gsganzer]

I have traded out olive oil for avocado oil in higher temperature pan cooking. Extra virgin olive oil has a low smoke point and burns easily.. Avocado goes to around 500 degrees yet has almost the same mono, poly and sat fat ratio as olive oil. Tastes buttery too and pans clean up better. Good stuff.

I'll have to look for avocado oil in lieu of olive oil and give it a try. I've also used coconut oil for seasoning cast iron, but haven't used it for cooking, so can't comment on the taste. Outside of bacon grease, the coconut oil has been the best for seasoning cast iron.

 

[TomSeller]

I'll have to look for avocado oil in lieu of olive oil and give it a try. I've also used coconut oil for seasoning cast iron, but haven't used it for cooking, so can't comment on the taste. Outside of bacon grease, the coconut oil has been the best for seasoning cast iron.

Since you mentioned it, some time back I used various oils to season cast iron until I heard about flaxseed oil. Having now seasoned with it, it is hands down the best base seasoning. I say base because it polymerizes onto the iron to "seal" it. A lady by the name of Sheryl Cantor in 2010 did a story on it (attached) which describes the process very well. I re seasoned all my cast iron after learning of flaxseed oil. The only difference that I do from what she describes when seasoning is that I warm the pan to 200 degrees and re wipe it out. You need to wipe off every bit of excess oil or it will create a freckle skin surface. Then season it at 500 degrees.

Sheryl's Blog » Blog Archive Chemistry of Cast Iron Seasoning: A Science-Based How-To

The pans clean up so much better, wipe clean with a rag where my cast iron used to always leave a little gray color to the rag I dried it with. After using the flax base coat, then cook normally and build up the non stick characteristics.

 

[gsganzer]

Since you mentioned it, some time back I used various oils to season cast iron until I heard about flaxseed oil. Having now seasoned with it, it is hands down the best base seasoning. I say base because it polymerizes onto the iron to "seal" it..

I've heard that flaxseed oil works well. Question: can you use the flax over an existing finish, or would you need to burn off the current oil seasoning and start afresh with flax?

 

[TomSeller]

I've heard that flaxseed oil works well. Question: can you use the flax over an existing finish, or would you need to burn off the current oil seasoning and start afresh with flax?

I've done both. The best is to polymerize the flaxseed oil onto bare metal. I did have some that were worn down to basically bare metal and I put the flax on without stripping them down and they did well. But there wasn't any buildup. If you need to clean cast iron, google "electrolysis cast iron pans YouTube". Electrolysis is much better than using the self clean cycle of your oven or oven cleaner, etc.

I also don't put as many layers of flax on as Sheryl Cantor says, I stop at three.

 

[LD1]

Last nights dinner cooking.



Being smoked over cherry, the lid was up only to snap a pic. Bout 30 minutes, then sear each side direct over the hot coals for ~30 seconds per side.

 

[s219]

That looks awesome LD1!

One of the best steaks I have cooked was done with a BBQ rub, hickory smoked, then seared. That was about 10 years ago. First time I tried a rub on a beef stake, and I liked it.

 

[LD1]

Never done rub. These were sprinkled with papper and garlic, then lightly hit with the pointy end of a tenderizer hammer. Not to tenderize, but to hold the pepper and garlic on instead of falling off on the grill.

Have tried lots of other woods including hickory and mesquite. Cherry and Apple are by far my favorites. I don't have an actual smoker as you can see. But grill is big enough to cook indirect, and keep the vents closed so the moistened wood smolders. It stays about 250-300 degrees for the duration of the 30minute cook. I do add a second batch of wood chips about half way through.

Cook hburgers the same way. Indirect with Apple or cherry. They are awesome

 

[IslandTractor]

I have never tried it but I have heard of a method where you seal the steak in a plastic bag or vacuum seal it and place it in a container of hot water.

That method is called "sous vide" and is by far the best way to get a very tender steak done to exactly the degree of doneness you prefer. The steak will be exactly the doneness you choose all the way through...no well done edges and no too rare center, just perfect medium rare from to to bottom. It can take as little as an hour if you are in a rush but can be left alone with no worries about over cooking for six to eight hours or even a day to further tenderize the meat. There is a final step needed after the sous vide cook but that takes just a minute and is basically just a very high temperature sear to put a nice crust on each side.

It's more involved than sticking a steak into a plastic bag and inserting into hot water though that is the core idea. Devil is in the details...the hot water bath has to be exactly at the temperature associated with your preferred "doneness". If you like it barely medium rare for example then the water bath must be at exactly 132 degrees and never go higher than that for the 1-6 hour cooking period. Luckily, scientists and fancy chefs have perfected simply water baths that do exactly that. Until recently these sous vide water baths cost thousands and were only used in fancy restaurants. Today you can get an electronically controlled immersion heater that turns any soup or pasta pot into a sous vide machine for under $150.

The key concept behind sous vide is that a given desired degree of doneness can be correlated with an exact meat temperature ( which is obviously why we use meat thermometers to check and try to pull the steak off the heat source at the right time). Trouble with grilling or pan frying is that to get the center of the steak cooked to the right temperature you necessarily overcook the outside. Sous vide gets around that by making it impossible to overcook because the water temperature of say 132 will never ever take the meat temperature higher than that. Leave it in for an hour or so to make sure you reach 132 in the center but you can add as much additional time as you want without overcooking...and additional time at 132 will break down the collagen that makes meat tough.

Great for entertainment as you don't need to carefully time the meal. Just start in the morning or afternoon and pull the steaks out of the waterbath a few minutes before you sear and serve..

 

[LD1]

Interesting. Never heard of that cooking method, but can see how it would result in a jucy steak as the juices have no where to go.

Have you ever done it? Any spices prior to the bag, like pepper, salt, garlic, etc?

What temp for other doneness? Med, med-well?

 

[TomSeller]

Any spices prior to the bag, like pepper, salt, garlic, etc?

Good question.