Show Us Your Meat, and We'll Show You Ours

[Apoc]

I think this is intended to be a cooking thread, not a food thread. At least, I'd prefer not to talk about things that aren't cooking related.

[JustinG]

Agreed

[Sully]

I used to be a Qdoba fan but switched to Chipotle because that's what everyone else always wanted. But I do miss the queso. They have freestyle machines too I think.

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[*insertusernamehere*]

This should just be the food thread. And people that don't like pickles are just weird.

Since this is apparently now the general food thread, I can't believe some of y'all still eat at this place:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/chipotle-shuts-down-restaurant-after-customers-get-severely-ill/ar-BBEGnkQ">http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companie ... ar-BBEGnkQ</a><!-- m -->

That was in Sterling btw...

If you haven't been to Qdoba lately they have stepped their game up.

IMO it's the same quality as Chipotle minus the HIV. Plus they have queso.

This is what I've been saying!!! And they have bacon and they don't charge extra for guac and their options and variety beat Chipotle by x100000 and the jalapenos!

But honestly cava or mezzeh before any Mexican chain of any sort ever again for the rest of my life now.

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[Sully]

Did the 8hr skirt steak today although it turned out to be about 10.5hrs because I just put it in before I left this morning.

Eating it now. Initial thoughts are it's pretty tender but almost to much. Like it kinda disintegrates in your mouth. Not melt but like a grainy melt because it isn't dry either.

Granted I did marinate it in bad so any one of my ingredients could have had a reaction resulting in the texture. I really don't see the need to go 24hr although it was my intention with the second steak I had. But I'm really not seeing how it would make it better. Feel like it would just be mushy.

Overall, I think i prefer it on the grill because i think one of my favorite parts about skirt steak is it's somewhat chewy so you get that extra time with the meat goodness.

Maybe I'll try two hours next time but don't think I'd do 8 again unless I happen upon a surplus of skirt steak and I'd throw a sliver in unmarinated for testing purposes


Edit: fiancé says she loves the texture but she doesn't prefer skirt because she says it's normally too chewy. But she also cuts around all the fat like even if it's just a thick vein to the point where I won't even buy her Ribeyes anymore so her opinion is not valid in this argument


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[HAULN-SS]

What if you do that to tenderize it, then pop it on the grill for a few to char the outsides?

[Sully]

I mean I seared the outside in a cast iron and it had a decent outside. I elected not to grill it because I didn't want to cook it more. That would defeat the purpose. And I usually only grill them for 5 minutes a side sans sous vide. Im sure I could have done it with the lid open but either way, I think my problem was that it was too tender for a skirt steak so anything done after the sous vide process is not going to help. Also it wasn't a great tender. Like I said it seemed slightly grainy

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[.RJ]

If you have to grill it for 10 minutes your grill isnt hot enough

[Sully]

If you have to grill it for 10 minutes your grill isnt hot enough

How long do you cook skirt steak for? 4 to 5 per side usually gives me a nice med rare

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[.RJ]

60 seconds per side on a skillet on a grill turned up to "thermonuclear reactor" temperature, then into the oven @ 450-500 for 2-3 min per side, alternatively, onto the stovetop for 2-3 min per side basting with butter and herbs.

also, skirt steak is for crockpots.

[Sully]

I disagree sir. Skirt is delicious eaten traditionally.

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[Apoc]

I finally made the Kalua pork. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but it needs work. More details inline with pics.

I picked up a shoulder roast at the farmers market. I wanted a butt, but the cuts were pretty small for this purpose so I opted for this cut. The cabbage was also from the market; different vendor though.



Rendered three half slices of bacon on the saute setting of the Instant Pot (IP).



The recipe calls for hawaiian sea salt, but I ran out a few weeks ago. I'm kinda addicted to this smoked salt produced about 30 minutes north of here, so I used it instead. I've seen recipes that call for liquid smoke to be added, so I figured this was a good compromise. I used a half tablespoon, but in hindsight that was way too little.



I tossed some young garlic from our CSA in the pot and brown the roast on all sides, after cutting it in half. The saute function on the IP does a really good at this, so it's a true one pot meal.



I was supposed to use a cup of water for pressure cooking, but I opted for beer instead. Eight ounces in the pot, four ounces for the cook.



90 minutes later, I can cut the pork with a wooden spatula. It fell apart as I was trying to get the pieces out with tongs and the bone came out with a lift and twist by hand.







I was able to shred the meat with the same wooden spatula, but I was disappointed how little meat there was given it's a 3+ lb roast. In hindsight, I think 5 lbs is the bare minimum and 6-8 lbs is probably better if it'll fit in the pot. I also think this cut was too lean for optimal results... which is ironic because the butt still had the skin and sub-skin fat attached. I thought having the joint would be enough, but it wasn't.



Rough cut on cabbage and pressure cooked for three minutes. I was doing chores around the house so I didn't immediately vent the pressure, which was a mistake. It sat for eight minutes with the heat off, but the remaining pressure overcooked all the thickest pieces of cabbage. I don't mind soggy cabbage, but a bit of a bite would have been better.





Pulled all the cabbage and cooked a bunch of jasmine rice in the remaining liquid. The IP book said 1:1 ratio for jasmine, but that turned out to be bullshit. I should have known there wasn't enough liquid looking at the before, but I chose to trust it. The end result was rice that was a bit crunchy - I'm hoping a reheat in the microwave will fix it. I prefer not to have any rice at all, but there wasn't enough meat to make proper lunches and leave some at home for the wife.







Here's the finished product, portioned. I topped it with toasted black sesame seeds and more smoked salt.

[.RJ]

Yeah, you need more salt that that. I try to get a 4lb or bigger boston butt, and I'll do 3 tablespoons of salt, and I also cut little pockets for the garlic cloves and I use 2x the bacon called for.

[JustinG]

Yep, I need an Insta Pot

[*insertusernamehere*]

All aboard the instapot train, cabbage in 3 mins is fucking worth it that shit takes forever in a normal pan. I made some pulled chicken with the Crock-Pot for lunch for some friends today. I love cooking when I don't really need to do anything or make a big mess. MM just needs to have a big cook off tho.... Turducken ideas....

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[Apoc]

Yeah, you need more salt that that. I try to get a 4lb or bigger boston butt, and I'll do 3 tablespoons of salt, and I also cut little pockets for the garlic cloves and I use 2x the bacon called for.

The recipe I was referencing said half the salt if it's fine grain, which mine was. You mean there are incorrect things on the internet??

[.RJ]

Use the coarse salt tho, its better for this. And extra bacon. Always extra bacon.

[Apoc]

FROZEN* whole chicken to fall of the bone cooked in 50 minutes. I'd actually describe it as better than fall of the bone because the top half of the bird separated from the bottom half when I was trying to lift it out with a carving fork in the cavity. I would think something that cooked would be mush or not taste very good, but the meat was as meaty as any other cooking method.... if that makes sense. It was like soup meat, but without all the falling apart that happens when you cook soup for hours.

*Defrosted just enough to get the giblets out of the cavity









I developed a carrot allergy a half dozen years ago, so we end up making all our own chicken broth. In the past we'd roast a chicken in the over and then cook the carcass in a crock pot with veggies. Here we just put all the parts back in the IP, added fresh veggies, water to cover, and cooked it for another 30 minutes. We actually left it on "keep warm" overnight because we didn't feel like dealing with it before bed. It was still very hot this morning and there was zero evaporation because it's a sealed system. A bit of straining and fat skimming, then into plastic bags for the freezer. The stock from this is darker than the other chicken stock we've made. I put a bunch of cilantro from our CSA in, so that may have helped, but I also think it's also because there was zero evaporation in both cooking processes.

To quote my wife, "I like that you can do it all in one pot."

[.RJ]

Damn i need this in my life

[JPolen01]

Impressive