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

[V1GiLaNtE]

:thumbup: Definitely gonna have to try that soon.

Paired with a good beer.. Oh boy.. better look out

[Sully]

So I gave my girlfriend my meat last night for V day and it came out pretty well I believe. I don't have a lot of during pictures but I have a pretty awesome after the table was set my girlfriend snapped.



So first, I want to thank Rex for letting me annoy the shit out of him about seasoning the pan for the last week. Also thanks to Joey for posting that searing method.

So my first attempt at searing went alright. I was a little worried that the meat would burn because its still kind of searing after you put it in but I guess I was just worrying too much. Anyway, that came out well but my steak was a little overcooked for me. Mine was probably a long med-rare and I prefer it more on the rare side. One problem I believe was I was cooking two steaks and one was a little thicker and more "condensed" than the other and I started with the probe in mine which was the thinner one but after flipping them, I put the probe in hers :wink: and took mine out when hers got to about 127 and then let it rest so it was slightly overcooked but it was still good. Next time, I'll take it out a little sooner. Hers stayed in till like 135-140, don't quite remember, and then rested coming out to a med or med well, which is what she usually likes. She has been shifting towards rarer since I give her so much shit for liking her steak the "wrong" way.

I used avocado oil due to its high smoke point and it still smoked a quite bit before the steaks went in which had me slightly puzzled but it turned out alright in the end

I ended up going with two 8oz filets because the bigger ones had pieces hanging off and I wanted a nice uniform filet. I broke out the deep fryer setup (filled with water) to boil the lobsters. The closest one in the pic weighed in at 3.28lbs and hers was probably close to if not over 2lbs. I originally went in for as close to 2lbs as possible and the lady said she wasn't sure if they had any 2's but she was pretty sure she had seen a 3. Just so happens, the 3lber was the first one she grabbed and when she said you don't want that one, do you? I just couldn't say no

[JPolen01]

Damn son! Good work!

[SlimKlim]

Attempted my first Sous Vide Filet last night. Mother of God.

I used my crockpot and mixed tap and boiling water until it was 130*. Then I just took the steaks out of the fridge, popped them in a gallon sized ziplock bag, stuck my remote thermometer in one of them, then submersed the bag while it was still open to force all the air out.



You want to keep the temperature as even as possible. I checked it every 10 minutes and gave the water a stir, turning the crockpot on and off as needed to keep the temp right around 130*.



It's working!



Ended up taking a little over an hour to get to 129*. Then I dropped them into a smoking hot pan to sear for 60 seconds on each side.



Served immediately (no resting) with broccolini and sage & white cheddar mashed sweet potatoes, caramelized onions and bacon bits.



Money shot.



God. Damn. I don't think I've ever had a filet that had so much flavor. Almost all of the juice stays in the steak. Lauren said it's the best steak I've made thus far, I didn't even season them, no salt, nothing, just how it came off the cow.

My only complaint is that I seared them too long and overcooked the edges. Next time I'll only do 15-30s/side to just crisp up the outer layer and leave the inside med-rare edge to edge.

[Sully]

Curious, but how did you seal the bag with the temperature probe wire coming out? I would like to try this possibly, and even have a portable food saver here and a legit one at home but I feel it would not be possible to keep the temperature sender in a sealed bag. Also, I don't have a crock pot so I would either have to use a cooler or a pot on the stove

My other question, are crock pots not capable of holding a set temperature? And wouldn't a counter top deep fryer filled with water with the same as a sous-vide machine. It contains a heating element and a automatic controller to regulate temperature

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[SlimKlim]

You don't have to completely submerge the bag, see how I've got the edge sticking out in the first photo?

I think a cooler would insulate better than a pot, that's how most people ghetto-sous vide I think.

[Sully]

Yea, I saw that the bag isn't completely sealed in that one picture the second time I looked. It just seems like the air tight bag is an important part when you read about it :dunno:

[SlimKlim]

When you submerge them all of the air is forced out of the bag and you get a nearly perfect seal while they're underwater. You could get a vacuum sealer but it's not really necessary.

[ScottyB]

that sous is pretty BA, and frankly it would make cooking steaks much more enjoyable for me in the winter. little chilly standing outside the grill to cook them as i normally would. i'd much prefer getting buzzed inside my warm kitchen with all my cooking implements 2 feet from each other.

[Sully]

So I am intrigued. Luckily one of my roommates family got a order from Omaha steaks which means I have a prime Styrofoam cooler that is extra thick to try this with. Currently doing a trial run.

So I just used hot tap water and a little kick of some almost boiling water and got her up to 151F


Held that for 30 minutes and dropped to 150F at 32 minutes

I think I would vacuum seal it And go by sous vide cooking times (a little over since you can't overcook it) rather than leave the bag open.

Probably guna go grab some steaks to try this with in a little bit.



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[SlimKlim]

My other question, are crock pots not capable of holding a set temperature? And wouldn't a counter top deep fryer filled with water with the same as a sous-vide machine.

Mine won't go below 140*, I dunno about a fryer. I think I might buy a temperature controller and something to circulate the water to simplify the process without buying an actual sous vide machine.

[*insertusernamehere*]

So I gave my girlfriend my meat last night for V day and it came out pretty well I believe. I don't have a lot of during pictures but I have a pretty awesome after the table was set my girlfriend snapped.

Oh baby! I had good reason not to click on this thread hock: Can I be your girlfriend too? You only need to cook for me. Every day will be Valentines Day for us <3

[Sully]

Oh baby! I had good reason not to click on this thread hock: Can I be your girlfriend too? You only need to cook for me. Every day will be Valentines Day for us <3

I couldn't afford for every day to be Valentines Day. Lobster ain't cheap son :wink:
(Not to mention the other problems with that arrangement :lol: )

Forgot to post but I also did some chocolate covered strawberries but a bad batch of chocolate caused a delay forcing me to rush for the "decorating"





Made some hearts from some papercraft website I found and turned them into boxes



Unrelated to V-Day, I made this last night.
I've also had a peanut butter pie recipe for awhile now and it gets pretty good reviews and is somewhat close to the dhall version. I finally found all the ingredients for a lactose free version so my girlfriend doesn't have to take pills with it. Although she was still nervous because the truwhip container doesn't advertise lactose free even though it only contains Casein(milk protein) and everything (except the actual truwhip site) online says it is lactose free. Anyway....picture...

[Sully]

So used my method above for sous vide filet tonight and damn. First thoughts are I'm impressed. Pretty simple. Had to guess at how much heat the cold (they had been sitting out but still cold) steaks would eat up which my guess at 10 degrees was pretty close. Had to add water twice but really probably only needed it once and after a little while, I raised my temperature to 135 as opposed to 130 after consulting the website of the company that sells the machine. I was shooting for a rare, med rare and that's where they said to set the temp. They had rare at 120 though. I let the temp play between 130 and 135 but after adding water to bring it up to 135, it didn't drop below 133 because I added a splash of water to go back to 135 about 10-15 minutes before pulling them.

Left them in for 1:30 just to play it safe because you can't overcook them so why not. Had my thermometer in the water and the steaks in vacuum sealed bags. When I pulled them, they had an internal temp (at least mine did, we'll never know if Lincoln's was cooked all the way :lol was at 133.

Pan seared them for 20-45 seconds a side and hit the edges real quick too. My avocado oil smoked again quite a bit which still has me puzzled but :dunno: End result was an extremely flavorful and tender steak. I was worried about overcooking the edges but I think counter to Joey, I would sear longer to give the outside a little more...(something...idk...more sear I guess :dunno: )

I do love my cast iron skillet for searing though and I see me using it as much as I can in the future but I am always scared of messing up my seasoning or getting a taste I don't want stuck on it. I have oiled it up with avocado oil the past two times and both times I have had a tiny bit stick to the pan. I wipe it off after use and throw a thin coat of oil back on it. Anyway on to the pics. The two above are pretty much what it looked like only a lower temperature.

The second bag is floating and appears to have air in it because the picture was taken after I opened the bag to take the steaks temperature. This was as I was pulling them out. THe bags held vacuum throughout the cooking process.

[*insertusernamehere*]

Interesting. That looks pretty awesome. I've been wanting to try this no-knead recipe for cast iron skillet pizza.

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/20...pizza.html

I made this and all I can say is I have no reason to order a pizza again. Oh. Em. Gee.


The only thing I would do different next time is to use half the dough..kind of like the directions say haha. It didn't seem like much when it was raw but by the time it cooked that thing RAISED hock: The pic doesn't really show it but thats a thick ass dough. I also used a cake pan instead, turned out great!

[JustinG]

Smoked 2 chickens the other week. Marinate in chicken broth and onion soup mix overnight. Dry rub after marinade. Hickory chips at start and added more chips at 2hr mark. Nommmmmmssss....








Took waaayyy less time than I thought. Chickens were done in under 4hrs at 250 (4lb and 6lb bird).

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[ScottyB]

looks awesome. is that an off the shelf rub or your own concoction?

[JustinG]

Followed a rub recipe from that Myron mixon cookbook I bought, its his "Basic Rub"

White sugar
Garlic powder
Chili powder
Onion powder
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne
Paprika

And I'm sure Im missing some other stuff it called for.

[SlimKlim]

Has anyone smoked using a Weber grill? I've never done my own ribs from scratch and I want to try it when the weather gets a little bit warmer. I was gonna follow this: http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_tech...setup.html

Also, this is how things are done in our household.

[navin]

Been meaning to give it a try - but the article you posted has the methods that most people use. I'm assuming you have a kettle Weber?