I got to the point with my cast iron that i turned a fan on pointed away from the smoke detector to keep all the smoke away. It was awful. Lately though, I've been preheating the cast iron in my oven and putting it on the electric burner on medium heat. I haven't had to bust out the fan since I started doing this.
That's actually my preferred way of cooking a steak. Quick hot sear on the gas stove with the cast iron grill pan, then after it's seared, charred, and has grill marks, put it in a pre-heated 350° oven for X minutes, where X depends on the thickness of the steak. This might be because most of my steaks are thick enough to be roasts, and you just can't cook them without using the oven or they'll get burned. If your steaks aren't that thick, knock the sand out of your vag and get thicker steaks.
I'm getting my girlfriend (what I think will be) a decent knife for Christmas and I think it deserves a sharpener too if she's going to be using it a lot in the kitchen. Any recommendations for a sharpener to touch up an 8" chef knife? Simple is good.
Home knife sharpeners can't do nearly the job a professional sharpener can. If you can afford it having a pro do it is the way to go. At least once every year or two. If you absolutely have to get a home sharpener, this is a decent one: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Yoshikin-220-GB-MinoSharp-Sharpener/dp/B00005OL3L" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.amazon.com/Yoshikin-220-GB-M ... B00005OL3L</a> I use it on my global every once in a while and it does a passable job, but I can't stress enough how much better it is if a pro does it by hand.
I'm looking for something along the lines of a honing stick or strop to keep the blade in check inbetween sharpenings. I do agree about professional sharpening though... after I had my hunting knife (Buck) done by a pro, it was insanely sharp and still is.
I'm fairly adept at sharpening, but at 3-4 bucks a knife I take all my kitchen cutlery to a pro every year. Many of them use the Edge Pro, which is the Ferrari is knife sharpening. I've thought about buying one, but I wouldn't get my money back for a while and they are huge. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.edgeproinc.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.edgeproinc.com/</a>
Whatever you do, do NOT take your good knives to the grocery store that advertises free sharpening. I took my Henkel knife there and it looked like a 4 year old sharpened it. Since we're talking about knives, I'd give my right testicle for a knife by Bob Kramer <a class="postlink" href="http://kramerknives.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://kramerknives.com/</a> I originally saw his knives on an episode of Modern Marvels and have wanted one ever since
Thanks for the suggestions. I did pepper the steak a touch beforehand, so that definitely didn't help. And I knew about the oven trick, but my steak was just thick enough that if I could have seared it for about a minute and a half on each side, it would have been beautifully rare but not still mooing. Oh well, it has been a learning experience. While cooking some bacon in the CI pan last night I noticed that in the middle, some of the seasoning appeared to have come off with the steak. I did some reading last night about proper seasoning procedures, and it sounds like properly seasoning is a bit of a black art and open to debate. So now I think my approach is going to be to wash it with soap and water, possibly sand down the surface a bit to make the actual pan surface smoother (apparently Lodge Logic doesn't sand their pans down any more), and basically start from scratch. I did find a good pan seasoning thread on Chowhound: <a class="postlink" href="http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/433869" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/433869</a>
I was recommended to use animal fat (i.e. bacon grease or lard) when seasoning and to be certain the pan is hotter than hell because you want the pores in the iron to open up as much as possible.
Also, with the cast iron, you've got a build up of fat from other foods you've cooked. You might be smoking due to previous dishes with low smoke points. It'd suck to wash it out, but it may be your only choice if you're searing.
I cooked up a meal today for the first time in months. Nothing fancy, and I'm not going to get any awards, but it came out pretty well. I sauteed some garlic in vegetable oil, then added bell pepper slices with basil and Italian-style seasoning. For meat, I spent about twenty minutes cutting the gristle out of a 1.5lb slice of beef, which was well worth it for the lower price/pound. Browned the chunks off in the oil from the peppers. Separately I boiled up some rigate with oil and butter, threw in a can of basil/onion seasoned diced tomatoes, and a bottle of Prego tomato/onion/garlic sauce. Not exactly farm fresh, but tasty nonetheless. Mixed everything together and simmered it for a bit. Next post will be Bluedog's next episode of "Fuck you" cooking.
Stuffed Pork Loin wrapped in bacon The loin Spoiler Butterflied and pounded somewhat to even thickness, added diced onions and sharp cheddar. Spoiler Bacon weave Spoiler Wrapped and seasoned with Plowboy's Yardbird Rub Spoiler On the WSM until finished, around 275-290 degrees. Spoiler Turned out good, stuff was gone before I could get a final shot of it sliced up.
I haven't tried this, but it seems like it could be worth a shot. How to season cast iron with flaxseed oil and why it is the best oil to use because of science and shit The picture she has looks pretty amazing.
I'll be deep frying a turkey this weekend. Any pointers? Also, since this is the first turkey I've really worked with, what all do I have to do to the turkey? I just put it in the fridge now to thaw.
I put a rub on mine and refrigerate for 24 hours, what every rub that is. Also, if it's a fresh Turkey you're going to want to brine it. If it's a butterball or equivalent it's really already been brined for you and will be too salty if you give it another bath. Anyways Christmas beast. Get one of these and do this to it. Delicious.
If you like chicken and you like beer, get down with this... as soon as possible. It was so good! Beer Braised Chicken Thighs 2 tablespoon Creole seasoning blend* 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs ½ onion, chopped 1 tablespoon of chopped green onion 2 cloves of garlic, minced ¼ cup flour 1 bottle beer 1 handful of parsley, roughly chopped 1 tablespoon fresh Thyme, roughly chopped ¼ cup half and half Salt Pepper Clean chicken thighs and remove unnecessary fat. Pat them dry and coat with Creole seasoning. Heat oil over medium-high heat in heavy braising pot or Dutch oven. Once the oil is hot, add chicken thighs and brown on each side for 2-4 minutes. Once the thighs are browned, add chopped onions and sauté for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 45 seconds. Mix onions, and garlic together while scraping up browned bits from pan. Add flour and mix. Once mixture has thickened, add the beer. Once pot begins to boil lower heat, cover and lightly simmer chicken for 45-50 minutes until chicken pulls apart easily. After the chicken is done, remove each thigh and turn heat back to medium-high. Add parsley, thyme, and half and half. Cook until sauce reduces and is thick. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to your taste. Serve chicken and sauce topped with chopped green onion. I made it with roasted cauliflower and roasted brussels sprouts (since we're low-carb in this house), but mashed potatoes and whatever other vegetable side would be awesome too. Enjoy! *usually made up of (some variation of) onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and salt
You should try the exact same thing that hooker did, except, substitute hard cider for the beer. I've been braising almost everything I eat lately and I find hard cider to be an awesome liquid that pairs well with beef, chicken, and pork. I've been using Angry Orchard cider, but I've experimented with the different flavors of Woodchuck depending on the dish.
Simple smoked chicken The birds rubbed down with Yardbird and Tastylick's rub. Spoiler Cruising along in the UDS with some hickory Spoiler Plated up with some garlic potatoes and mac n cheese Spoiler Made some MOINK balls for the hell of it Spoiler Moinks done, sorry for the shitty pic Spoiler
Alright folks. I need your help. My dad's job gives him lots of free hamburger. So much free hamburger in fact that we have a hard time eating all of it. Especially if you don't want to eat the same dishes all of the damn time. My question is: what is your favorite recipe for ground beef?