Posted on 02/23/2019 5:24:24 AM PST by PJ-Comix
There are only 3 local supermarkets around here. One is large and nice but sells only “select” steaks. The other two sell mostly ungraded but sometimes pretty decent looking ones and the other sells mostly “select” but always has a few “choice”.
I have noticed that meat within the same grade varies quite a bit. I remember around 1960 my parents got taken by Wilson Beef. They advertised a great price but the beef half looked awful. They then upgraded you to choice. Oddly enough, prime was the same price as choice.
The one good thing is it turned out to be really great beef, even if it was a bait and switch.
You’re welcome.
Well, eggs are in my top five favorite foods. Incredible beautiful things! Good job on your newfound cooking skills!
A Porterhouse always seem to do well on the grill. :)
I will try it on chicken though. It sounds like a good way to do up thighs...bone in, skin on...and drumsticks.
I just happen to have a 3lb. pack of each in the freezer. New Sunday chicken fry protocol up!
When should only use cast-iron.
The nonstick stuff is nonsense
Eventually every time the stupid coding starts to come off in your food
And furthermore the fact have to worry about scratching it says it all you cannot worry about scratching a pan
I don’t fry my chicken. No breading. No oil (except a little olive oil in the skillet). More like pan-seared - baked chicken.
I have one from my grandmother and it was used so much the handle is bent. Gumbo rue and gravy over 50 years makes a great pan. Ah, rice and gravy from grandma.
B4l8r
You are right; the older cast iron pans are better. We had some older ones in the 60’s but back then the cooking surfaces were machined smooth and cooked beautifully. Finding one now is impossible. I’m taking one to a machine shop to see if they can do it.
You are right; the older cast iron pans are better. We had some older ones in the 60’s but back then the cooking surfaces were machined smooth and cooked beautifully. Finding one now is impossible. I’m taking one to a machine shop to see if they can do it.
I have an Anova unit. The guy that does 15 hr steak is clueless. 1 hr at 120. 45 seconds to a minute per side in 500 degree cast iron. Let the steak cool down a little before the sear. Torching with MAP gas is optional but I like it. A thick ribeye is the best cut for this. 120 is my preferred temp since I like my steak to moo on the plate. You could go up to 130 before I would have to hunt you down for ruining a steak.
Ps. No salt b4 the bath. Salt b4 sear. (Or it will be dry) Pepper after sear. (Or the pepper will burn)
Try eggs. Ever seen a solid yolk with runny white? Any style egg. Want 4 dozen perfect poached eggs... Easy.
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-egg-calculator
They run the Anova on sale from time to time. Sign up for their mailing list.
Cool, Thank You !
Everything has a place. Cast iron, Teflon, ceramic, stainless steel, etc.
There is a lot of virtue signalling going on here but I must tell you that for some tasks cast iron is crap for others teflon is crap.
Pre - preservative’s era ........ real butter, less antibiotics in livestock, less chemicals / insecticides, cane sugar, didn’t come in the house till street lights came on..... Sun came up you were doing something, sun went down you were dancing, bumping uglies, listening to the radio or going to sleep ...... Hard work.
Today I fed about 40 head of angus cake from 50 pound bags, a bale of blue stem was forked and filled two stock tanks from a water buffalo. Didn’t even break a sweat because hardest part was getting in and out of the pickup to open the gates.
Few get simple endurance or strength exercise at work or eat clean food these days ....... The food chain and the materials it comes in contact with are the threats .......
A seasoned cast iron skillet with a lid, a dutch oven, etc .... may be heavy but its been safe for centuries . Just my opinion . Stay Safe !
You’re right. I checked this out on several websites and they say it’s OK as long as the pan doesn’t have burrs. This is good news as there are a number of things I like to cook in cast iron.
Thanks for the info. I think there are 2 sizes for the Anova. Correct? Std and compact. Different wattage IIRC>
I have the standard size. There were some qc issues with the compact one. Mine has been a trooper. Use it about twice a week for the last 2+ years. Looks and operates like the day I bought it. The original seems overbuilt being v1 before they figured out where they can skimp.
Stick to zippered zip locks for anything up to 4 hours or so. Save vac sealing for the stuff like 48 hr medium rare brisket that is like butter. Don’t bother with veg. That anti Trump jackass kenji Lopez is a good resource through the chefs steps website. Make sure to run an add blocker if you read any of his stuff.
Sous vide is easy and forgiving. It is also fun. I want a second one. I now consider it a kitchen must have.
Read up on pasteurization and denaturing of proteins.
I’ve been using cast iron since I was a kid. Also got a couple of ceramic coated skillets not long ago for things like eggs, omelets, a couple other things. Planning to try some salmon in the ceramic before long, should work well.
For other things like chili, cornbread, biscuits cast iron is great.
I keep an eye open at yard sales, flea markets and resale shops. I only get Wagner and Griswold, my most recent find was a large Griswold about 11 inch I think, 2 bucks. Had a layer of crud I literally had to scrape out with a putty knife, looked more like engine grease than from cooking. Cleaned it up, seasoned it again, works great now. SK is also US made and good quality but I don’t see it often. Anything marked Japan I don’t even look twice. Lodge sucks, not smooth enough.
Wagner and Griswold are both older, made in USA and smoother. I’d have to look it up again, both went out of business years ago. I have just about everything from small 8 inch skillet to large dutch oven, 4 inch deep skillet, 2 square skillets and a Wagner griddle.
Interesting note - Griswold also made mailboxes, the kind mounted to the front wall of the house. I never knew it till a friend and antique collector showed me one.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=griswold+mailbox&t=h_&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images
My biggest problem is relatives who refuse to stop cleaning them with soap. I can’t let relatives touch my cast iron any more. My mother and sister refuse to believe me...IQ around 150 and they think I’m totally stupid...don’t know how to treat a skillet...
I fill it with water and heat to boiling, scrub it with a brush, wipe dry and depending on what was cooked, wipe with a light coat of oil. Chili has a high tomato content, very acidic, so I always coat with oil and usually heat after doing chili.
Otherwise, just heat water and scrub out, wipe dry. Water will mostly boil off almost anything. Sometimes just wipe it out with a paper towel is enough, especially if I just do eggs with a little oil.
Using it camping a little boiling water and some sand works too. But let it cool some after boiling the water...my mother would make a stew on camping trips, bury a cast iron dutch oven in a hole with some coals all day.
Hard to beat cornbread from a cast iron skillet. I got lazy and started using a mix a few years ago, never could make decent cornbread anyway.
I always keep the heat as low as I can except for times I can get my hands on some redfish, nothing beats redfish on a very hot cast iron skillet...just enough oil to barely coat the bottom, smear on some mustard, sprinkle on a little Tony’s and pan fry it really hot for about 30 seconds a side. Everything else is done at moderate temps.
Once seasoned, it’s about as nonstick as you can get. I can fry eggs in a little oil in any of my cast iron with no problems, but the ceramic skillets do so well I’ve just about switched entirely for eggs. For oil I use sunflower, olive or coconut, depending on what I want to make, usually sunflower oil most of the time.
I noticed in that TV ad for the red ceramic pan they show baked on cheese...I’ve done cheese like that for 30 years on cast iron, never stuck once. Did it by accident once, turned out we liked it so I started frying cheese. Cook it long enough to brown the bottom a little, scoop it up with a regular spatula. On a seasoned cast iron skillet it never sticks.
I got away from teflon years ago soon as I found out the fumes are harmful. Never liked it a lot anyway, too easy to get it scratched up.
Will do. Thanks
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