restaurant rumpus

[Wenchie]

So you wouldn't want the goodness of a beef tartare?

I had raw kibbe the other day, which is the middle eastern version of tartar... so incredibly yummy!

[Shalom]

All of this talking about how different people like their steak reminds me of this episode of one of my favourite webcomix:

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00043.htm

@Wenchie: Some people like things that other people think are inedible. My great-grandfather used to make his own wine; probably got in the habit during Prohibition. My father said one batch came out so dry (sour) they all thought it was undrinkable. He gave a bottle of it to the Italian guy that lived next door to him, and the guy later told him "Man, that was the best wine you ever made! Really had zip to it!" So you know what they say, one man's meat is another man's poisson...

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Me and my friends actually vint ourselves. We racked ten gallons of wine (yep. You read that right...TEN) Tuesday afternoon. Five blueberry and five pear mead.

I tend to prefer my wine very dry...it's often pretty high proof when you let it dry out like that. Sometimes you can add a little sugar back in, if you need to (one of my brewing partners likes it sweet, so we're always trying to find a happy medium between dry and sweet).

I like a wine you can taste...I like it strong, acidic, and dry. Probably would have liked grandpa's wine, too!

The last batch of muscadine/scuppernong wine we made was so high proof the soldier that hangs with us, who has been to freaking Iraq, was afraid of it.

[XCashier]

I prefer my steaks medium well, but I'll eat both medium and well. I just don't want it cold, don't want it burned, and don't want blood on my plate.

Exactly right. Cooked enough to be hot, but still flavorful and tender.

Now I want steak.

Me too! And, I suspect, so does nearly everyone on this thread!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You know what? I'm going to go take the pair of ribeyes out of the freezer for tomorrow.

[Chrismor]

My parents are of the well done (grey, tough, but not yet ashes) persuasion, and that is how I used to eat my steak, until I discovered the joys of a decent medium cooked steak. I have no problem with it being a bit on the rare or well side of medium, but to get one just right is divine.

Which reminds me of the last truly great steak I had. 8 oz. filet, served in an American steakhouse, floating on the English Channel (cruise ships FTW, and it was free too, travel agents get great perks). It could not have been more tender or perfectly pink, timed to perfection. The guy I was eating with enjoyed his too, a 32 oz Porterhouse, rare, designed for 2 people. He ate the whole thing SOLO, as well as a starter and dessert. The Maitre D and cruise line director of food and beverages were astonished, and wanted to start a wall of fame for people who managed it.

C.

[Ellain]

I'm going to try cooking a steak tonight. I've never tried before, so wish me luck!

[TheRabbi]

I'm going to try cooking a steak tonight. I've never tried before, so wish me luck!

Good luck! What method are you using?

[Ellain]

I cooked it in a pan with a bit of oil, and seasoned it only with salt. It turned out pretty darn good! Especially since I can ruin Easy Mac, lol.
The only thing I think I would change is the cut of meat. I got a "sale" package, and it had a few chewy bits.

[Kristev]

Few things are as divine as a perfect steak.

[Peppergirl]

Would anyone care to give advice on the best way to cook a steak without benefit of a grill?

I like mine medium-rare.

[ringflinger]

If you like a good crust on the outside of the steak:

Season your steaks liberally with salt right out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature. This pulls moisture out of the surface of the steak (which helps the crust form faster) and puts flavor in. I usually leave mine out for at least an hour.

Sear at high temperature in clarified butter, turning very frequently (every 15 seconds is fine) until the crust looks the way you want. Transfer to a 300F oven until the center reaches your desired temperature (I usually go for 130F). Let the steak rest before you cut it.

Frequent turning lets the outside get really hot (to form the crust) without the heat penetrating too deep (which would overcook the meat). If you do it just right, the pink part of the meat will extend almost to the edge.


For large cuts of meat (at least 4lbs), I've found nothing better than 20 hours at 131F (be sure to first sterilize the outside of the meat as well as everything that comes into contact with the meat). Hardly any loss of moisture, cooked through but with a beautiful color (the inside turns bright red when it comes into contact with oxygen) and super tender.

[TheRabbi]

Alternately:

Let your steak come to room temperature or close. It usually takes a half-hour to an hour on the counter from the fridge. Season both sides pretty liberally with salt and (if you like) ground pepper.

Take a pan that can get really hot. Cast iron works best, and if you're using the second prong of this recipe, DO NOT USE TEFLON. (Putting teflon in the temperatures used by ovens makes it emit toxic flames.) Also if you are using the second prong of this recipe, put your broiler on to high.

Put the pan on the burner and let it get rocket-hot. Put some butter in it - probably a little more than you think it should need - and lower the heat so that the butter is bubbling but not hissing and evaporating. Also put a half-tablespoon or so of olive oil.

After a minute or so, put the steak in the pan and leave it for 4 minutes. Don't touch it. Don't push it around. Don't nudge it. Just leave it. Put your plate in the oven to warm it up. Then flip the steak and leave it again for 4 minutes.

If you like your steak on the rare side, take the steak out of the pan, put it on your warmed-up plate, and cover it with foil and let it sit for a couple-three minutes. This is the hardest part.

If you like your steak closer to medium or medium rare, put the pan with the steak in the oven on the second-to-top position rack. Two minutes later flip the steak. You can stop here or keep going until the steak is as firm as you like. Once again, evacuate to the plate and let the steak rest.

If you don't have a pan that can stand the oven's heat, I've found that a pie tin will also work in the oven. Just give it a little greasing with olive oil beforehand.

[Jester]

Now to me, medium means there's just a tiny bit of pink in the center.

I put them on the grill and send them back out medium-well. To me, this means no pink, removed from the grill the second the pink is gone.

It depends where you go. I have always been taught that there is more pink in medium, and just a touch of pink to no pink in med well.

Of course, being reasonable(for customers) they EMPHATICALLY repeat over the phone to put BURN IT on the order slip.

A local couple I know down here likes everything they eat burnt. They are not unreasonable, and they order their food just like that: "Burnt." The first time I waited on them years ago, they asked for everything they ordered to be burnt. And I made sure the kitchen did just that. And just for the heck of it--and because it's just the kind of guy I am--when it was time for the check, I had the cook put THAT on the grill, get some nice grill marks on it--you know, the classic diamond pattern--and I brought them their check. Burnt.

The died laughing. Because, you know, it was funny. And as I said, these are not unreasonable people.

I got a lot of "looks" from my bf's coworkers, and a few "You damn city people and your well done steaks! This is the real way to eat it!"

More like the real way to guarantee you'll be sick. If it's so rare, there is pink all over your plate....ew.

Steak cooked rare or so will not get you sick. You may not like it, but many people do, and as has been pointed out, it's ground meat that is more dangerous undercooked like this.

That being said, I am one of those people that likes everything underdone. I eat sushi, I like my steaks bloody (had a perfect rare filet mignon a couple of weeks ago), and yes, folks, I EVEN order my burgers bloody. I prefer my burgers medium rare, but most places tend to overcook, so I usually order rare. And if by some (rare) chance the burger actually DOES come out rare, I'm fine with that, too. Medium to me is overcooked. Medium well or well is repulsive.

Now, I have had people say to me, "Ew. That's gross." A reminder to people who want their meat well done and think rare is gross: Those of us who like bloody meat think the same of your hockey pucks. So you enjoy your charcoal briquettes, and we'll enjoy our mooing bloody slabs, and let's just stop trying to impose our judgment on each other, okay? Because yes, I really do find well done steaks and burgers to be gross. To me, MEDIUM is overcooked.

On the topic of bloody burgers, I know, I know, "but you can get sick." You can get sick eating raw oysters, too, and any other number of things, but as an adult, I feel that if I want a steak or a burger bloody, I should be able to get it as such. I know the inherent risks involved, just as I know the risks inherent in driving....and I still drive. I personally find it somewhat funny (and a bit offensive) when I see printed on a menu "we cook our burgers medium well or better." Well, sorry, if it was BETTER, it would be rare or medium rare, thank you very much! At least in my mind. Sadly, there are more and more places that insist on medium well being the lowest temp they'll cook their burgers. From a legal liability point, I suppose I understand this. From a diner's point, I just won't be getting my burgers at these places.

Me, I like my meat to be grazing on my side dish while I devour it

One of the funniest ways I've heard to describe rare! Thanks!

I've always been tempted to try beef sashimi...

I've had beef carpaccio many times, and LOVE it, especially when done right.

Take the cow into a darkened room
Explain to the cow the concept of fire
Bring the cow to the table
Back away

Hilarious! Another new way of stating bloody, and one I have not heard before. Actually brought tears to my eyes when I read it, I was laughing so hard.

If meat is still pink it IS NOT COOKED.

Technically speaking, you are wrong. If meat is cooked and there is still pink in it, the meat is still cooked. It may not be cooked to the point that YOU consider it acceptable, but if it has been put on a heat source for some length of time and is no longer raw, it is cooked. Please let's not state as factual that which is our own personal judgments.

ground beef ALWAYS needs to be cooked all the way through to kill all the bacteria that gets mixed in when it's ground. Undercooked hamburgers gross me out, seriously.

And many of us love it. So no, ground beef does NOT always need to be cooked all the way through, thank you very much. Is there a RISK of bacteria when cooked below a certain temp? Certainly. Is the bacteria a GUARANTEE? No. It's merely a risk.

Drat it now I want bison steak.

Mmmm...bison......

I've had to order steak rare to get it medium well. I've also had the *censored* waiter look at me and go

'do you want it pink, a little pink or no pink?'
Me: I want it rare.
him: pink then.

The condescending buggerall then looked at the three guys I was out having dinner with and went 'ok sir do you want it rare, medium rare, medium or medium well?'

That waiter was unprofessional and, to be blunt, a fucking jackhole.

The only time I would ever ask "Do you want it pink, a little pink or no pink?" would be if I asked what temp they wanted it cooked, and they looked at me completely confused, like a stoned deer in the headlights of a Mack truck. Only then would such a question be appropriate. In the above scenario, completely inappropriate. If that were my restaurant, and I heard of a server doing that, I would fire them ON THE SPOT. Seriously.

Of course, what do I know about such things? It's not like I've been employed in the food service industry for 24 years or anything....oh, wait....yes it is.

[Sapphire Silk]

When he went back out the insides were WHITE!! I didn't even know that steak turned white! When ended up having a romantic meal via Pizza Hut that night.

That's how my Dad used to grill steaks. Crispy charcoal on the outside, white on the inside. I love steak, but hated when Dad would grill them. I'm not into eating shoe leather. I'm like telecom goddess: a childhood of poorly cooked meat has me prefering it the rarer the better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature_(meat)
Extra-rare or Blue (in French, bleu): very red and cold

Wow. I didn't realize raw had its own classification

If you're nervous about pink meat do not order a hamburger (steak hache) in France from any place that doesn't say McDonalds on it. Very good, but I wouldn't think of eating one like that in the US.

It sucks that you can't order a hamburger to taste anymore. So much so, I rarely order one when I dine out.

<snip>After a few weeks, the rumor started going around the school: "We're having steak tonight!" All day long the guys were rubbing their hands together and anxiously waiting for dinner. Sure enough, that night, they all came rushing into the dining hall, and were served steaks.

.

.

.

Boiled.

They took two hundred steaks, my father told me, and they murdered them...

Aaagh! The horror!

My college did this once. There was nearly a riot in the cafeteria.

Would anyone care to give advice on the best way to cook a steak without benefit of a grill?

I like mine medium-rare.

I typically use a rib eye as other cuts are too lean for me. I like them cut very thickly. My local warehouse store sells them big and thick for a reasonable price. I cut them in half to control portion size, and make my buck go further.

I usually will season the meat with garlic, salt, and pepper. In the summer I use the grill, quick sear the outside, then close the lid for a few minutes to get it medium rare to rare. In the winter, I usually use a pan on the stove, turn the heat to about 75% (about 6 on an electric), and watch the edges very carefully as they give a good clue as to how well the interior is cooked. If the interior is too cool, I'll pop it in the oven for a moment.

I'll admit I'm no gourmet . . . I've seen some suggestions that I will just have to try. I was going to make sweet and sour chicken for dinner tonight . . . now I am just going to have to have a steak