Nice pics

ima big fan of rare meat.....but mang...that looks like some RARE meat.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/s...-chicken-wings


Didnt get many super bowl food pics, but made a very modified version of these wings. chili/butter/lemon (didnt have limes) is an interesting taste.

I like my meat rare/med. rare, and really don't mind it RARE, but I honestly think that steak is undercooked.

I would bet that one more minute in a hot oven would have finished that just fine. I always do my steaks in a cast iron skillet (put a serious crust on it) then finish in a hot oven for just one minute, and I have really had great results.

But maybe your steak is actually not undercooked, and simply "rare."

all of this...and yeah i was being nice...unless the color on that pic is a little off then that steak is damn near raw. you can tell becausetheres a whole lot of raw fat you can see there that should have rendered had it been cooked even to rare. If thats how you like it then thats cool...its just that you really dont want to eat steak that doesnt at least get to 120deg absolute minimum...and even thats pushing it for some people's stomachs.

fwiw your fries look freaking perfect imo.

i cant tell did you finish these on the grill?

grill marks on wings is yummy.

I can't help but LOL. I know what a real Dutch Oven is, yet every time I hear the phrase I immediately picture the other meaning

The real definition

The Second Definition

I started them in the oven, then before serving they went into the deep fryer, then I tossed them in butter, siracha, lemon combo.

You almost have the traditional restaurant concept. Timing might be different.
Let your steak come to room temp while heating your cast iron skillet in a 500 degree oven.
Rub steak with canola oil, salt and pepper, remove skillet and place it on stove top burner on high heat, place steak in dry skillet for 30-45 seconds on each side and then place skillet in 500 degree oven for two minutes on each side (4 minutes total), remove and rest medium-rare steak, slightly covered under a foil tent, for a couple minutes before serving. Top with a splash of garlic butter.

At the steak discusion. Isnt a steak looking like that defined as black and blue?

Dude says its perfect for him, so its probably perfect for him, but as other I like my steak med-rare to rare

I'll start off by saying that constructive criticism is always very welcome, and I don't want this to come across as a defensive post. Some very good points made which I will take on board. Thanks. Honestly, it probably was about a minute in the oven away from being what I consider absolutely perfect. But it was close enough that I still consider it 'pretty much perfect'.

In a restaurant I ask for my steak rare, not blue. I think the steak I cooked last night was towards the blue end of rare. Here is a chart I found - I think mines falls somewhere in between the first two pictures:



Most of the fat had rendered, but as somebody mentioned there was some left that hadn't - for what it's worth, I didn't even notice this while I was eating it. It was a very lean and tender cut, which is why I was happy to cook it as little as I did. If I'm cooking a ribeye for example, I'm going medium rare.

like i said...its all about what you like... if you want it still moo'in then thats your preference .....theres nothing wrong with it. Hell in africa they eat big chunks of raw meat as a daily staple.


however those steaks in that graph or poster or whatever were cooked "incorrectly" imo. the medium rare one should be a lot more uniform with its color. You can tell these were all cooked with only direct heat, not finished in the oven.... which imo is the "wrong" or "unpopular" way to cook a steak...as rushmore said just because most people find the raw fat chunks a little unappetizing. I for one dont care for the texture of well done<>near raw<>welldone steaks which is why i use the oven.


like i said these are all just personal preferences....i know some people only use grills to cook steaks, some use the oven, some pan fry.... the best thing about cooking is experimenting and finding out what YOU like.
_____________________________________

On the menu for tonight:
Lamb chops with asparagas and mashed potatoes with a red pepper and cream coulis.

I'm pretty sure I agree with this. I just have no experience doing it and am terrified that it's going to come out of the oven brown all the way through. What temperature should the oven be?

i heat mine to 400 and just check it constantly after searing it on my castiron. Once it hits 125ish i let it rest the rest of the way under my metal wok cover on a wood board. I know purists say you can tell by the feel but i use a meat thermometer just to be accurate. My wife is pregnant so ive got to make sure i get one to 165ish while keeping mine normal which is a huge pita.

you'll mess up a few times with the oven but after a while you'll get the feel of it. Honestly i do the same preperation with pretty much all my meats unless im roasting or braising.

Or better yet,



I'm a pretty good guestimater of doneness, but the quality of my roasting and grilling went up considerably when I just started always using a thermometer. Plus, that gives you the confidence to pull things like chicken and pork just at the very leading edge of being done without nervousness about disease.

but use a digital one...the ones pictured above are very unreliable in my experience.
mine cost like $15 at the grocery store and it reads prefect within a couple seconds... the ones above take a minute or more to get a final reading.

one of these days im going to spring for a laser thermo to check oil temps and whatnot.

Ah wasn't even considering a meat thermometer, but that makes so much sense. Getting myself one of those before next time I have steak. Thanks.

I think you will really have an eye-opening experience once you get this oven thing down.

Livin said 400 degrees, but I like it even hotter (450-500), and I think I prefer to leave it in the cast iron on the stovetop for longer than just searing. I like to get it actually cooked a little before the oven, and then the oven really just finishes, taking out the inconsistencies you see on that chart.

The steak shouldn't go from blackish to greyish to red in the middle. I want mine charred/seared/crusted on the outside, then pretty much consistent red and juicy throughout. You can get this with the oven finishing.

I HATE sticking a thermometer in my steaks. It ought to be obvious enough that juices will assuredly run out while the thing is resting in its little tinfoil hat, so I simply will not stick that thing in it. I never use one, and in the past several years and dozens of steaks, I really have not missed once. You grow a great feel for it. It's actually a lot of fun, much like figuring out the best way to put the awesome crust on it (hint: plenty of seasoning, hot dry cast iron, DON'T PLAY WITH YOUR MEAT!).

P.S. That chart made me sad.

everyone has their method i just dont buy into the "you're letting all the juices out" campaign against thermometers. i can get a general idea of where it is by feel but i dont see the downside of using one and being precise. I even brought up the point about piercing it to my teacher at school and he said that the thermometer thing leaking out too many juices just isnt true....just like how searing doesnt lock in juices, piercing it slightly wont release them more than usual either.

just my 0.02. like i said everyone has their own way of doing things...doesnt make one right or wrong.

Yeah that sounds perfect. I've probably been undercooking mine just to make sure I avoid that greyish layer, but if oven finishing avoids that... really looking forward to trying this now.

For the searing, do you prefer this:



Or this?



I've always used the former, but thinking the latter will give a nice even crust?

Edit: And re the meat thermometer debate, I'm going to at least try it and I guess I'll see for myself whether or not I lose juices. Until I'm more experienced I'm not sure I'd be comfortable oven finishing without one.

i have 2 different sizes of the latter....for the reason you stated.
nothing wrong with having both though!

Just remember to leave the thermometer in while you let it rest and you should be ok.

wow....
the simplest solutions are right in front of you sometimes arent they?

damn good call.

Another consideration for doneness, (I have always done this by touch) is if you are cooking dry-aged prime beef rather than the usual grocery-store choice cuts. Dry-aged prime has much less moisture, will cook faster and go from medium-rare to medium well in unattended nano-seconds.
The only thing I might use a thermometer on would be leg of lamb. Maybe.

lol im poor this is never a problem for me.

although i am going to be attempting to dry age a beef roast here soon in my fridge.