Sunday, April 18, 2010

Copypasta: Steamy Kitchen’s Steak Salting Experiment

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Here’s a tip: thaw some meat in the fridge. Even if you don’t have any idea what to do with it. It forces you to figure out how to cook  it.

I mean look at this meat. Would you throw that away?

I know it’s nothing compared to what’s in the states, but this is the good stuff.

Tasty New Zealand beef. It’s what’s for dinner… Tonight anyways.

By the time it had thawed, I STILL hadn’t figured anything out.

Quickly thinking about anything I had been reading about steaks, I remembered an article from Steamy Kitchen’s Blog.

Knowing I was starting out with a less than “Gucci” steak this post really caught my attention.






So reading through the article, the miracle promised, is to come from salt. You liberally salt the meat. I agree with the use of Kosher/Seas salt instead of table salt. I disagree that I read “liberally” before I saw the chart with amount of  salt for your size of meat…

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This is my take on a liberal salting. After I had this thing salted and resting, I saw the chart towards the bottom of the post that says to use only 1/2 tsp per side if it is less than 1” thick.. Oh Shi- I think the little pile of salt on the bottom left of the meat is 1/2 tsp.. Ok, you should not use this much salt. My bad. I will totally read through the post next time. Also, nowhere in the post does it say to rub the salt in…OOPS! Maybe in addition to reading the article on something I have NO experience in, I should follow the instructions properly…

The pictures in the post were very helpful to me. I too understand the difficulties of drawing with a touchpad.. but I could understand it and make it through with out scratching my head, so job well done I say!
Basically, salt makes meat soft. Read the post if you want more detail.

After it has finished resting wash it off very well and dry it even better. Very DRY!! Otherwise you would be steaming the meat. Besides making your meat soft, salt pulls water out of meat, so when you rinse it you pull water back into it (more or less). If you don’t dry it thoroughly, you will end up steaming your now soggy shi**y piece of meat.

Another tip. Don’t mistake salted butter for unsalted butter. I cooked this steak and the asparagus together in a pan with butter. So a “salt rub” (totally not on purpose) plus salted butter (aaagh!) <> good steak. The asparagus was PERFECTLY seasoned. Delicious! The meat was just too salty to be good.

<SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA>  Really, it wasn’t terrible, but next time, I will pay attention and read. When you royally mess up a recipe, you will never make that mistake again.. It actually looked pretty good too.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

My newest vice… Black Coffee in a Baggie!

It's just soo.. black!

 

Yes, it’s arrived. The time has come when I desire something more than just plain water. This deep, dark blob of coffee in a little sack, or as I call it, “Ice Coffee, baw sai nom, baw sai nam tahn.”

 

I still haven’t figured out why togo drinks are given in plastic baggies. Someone theorized that it makes it easier to carry when riding the motorbike. If anyone has any other theories, please feel free to share them with me.

 

The flavor of this coffee reminds me of a nice, smooth dark beer. Most good dark beers have hints of chocolate, coffee, and molasses.

 

 

I rock a thumb drive like no other ;)

I finally found someone to take a photo of me doing something instead of me on the food all the time. I know I am a bit on the fuzzy side but doesn’t that just complete my nerd look? I mean, honestly, I have my thumb drive on my neck (With the Harry Potter movies and my blogging tools..) the polo, and the big glasses. Wait, where’s my pocket protector? Pshh! Didn’t you know the thumb drive is the new pocket protector?!

 

It tastes pretty good!

Getting back to the coffee itself, I never thought I would enjoy the taste of completely black coffee. This stuff is as black as it gets. I haven’t mentioned it before, but I gave up sugar in drinks after a meditation retreat in Ukraine. We weren’t allowed any sugar in our drinks or food and the same for salt. Somehow the salt kept making it to out table each meal, but that sugar was never to be found. By the end of the week, I had no need of it in my green tea. When I came back, I think my taste buds were having this new revelation; I was tasting things in a way I hadn’t considered before.

 

The place I get my Coffee is a small restaurant called Just for Fun.. It is just to the south of That Dam, across the street from the wine house. I will feature them soon. I want to include their kitchen this time, so I am getting to know the owner.

Please bear with me while I am sorting out the map feature.