Seasoning and Grilling: Tools of the Trade

Ok, so I have gotten some questions about the seasoning series I have been doing and talking about. (By the way the lamb is being cooked tonight and seasoning has already begun)  When I season meat, I use a base of kosher salt and medium grain fresh cracked pepper.  Sometimes I will add a little garlic powder or onion powder if the side dished call for a complimentary flavor.  For instance, when I cooked the ribeyes pictures below, I used only salt and pepper because I was serving homemade potato salad (with white, red, and purple potatoes, celery, homemade mayo, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper) and hand-cut coleslaw (napa cabbage, sliced carrot, raw onion, my secret slaw dressing, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper).  I debated dashing a little cumin and paprika on the steaks to compliment the other dishes, but these spices can burn and taste a bit nasty.  Also, the flavors would not be that pronounced in the other dishes, thus difficult to pick up on the steak.

As for choice of grill, I have the luxury of a two grill system.  I start my meat on a super hot Weber grill, and always with natural hardwood charcoal.  Lighting this type of charcoal can be a pain in the ass, so get yourself one of these, a chimney starter.  Once you have the chimney filled with enough good lump charcoal, get some newspaper and put about 1-2 oz. of vegetable oil on it so the paper burns longer.  Place the paper under the chimney and let it work.  After about ten to fifteen minutes, wearing a fireproof glove or a thick oven mit, pour out the red-hot coals into the grill.  Get yourself a long pair of tongs, and evenly distribute the coals.  Let them set up and burn off any grim on the grate where the meat will be.  Place the steaks on the grill with the longest points facing 2:00 and 7:00 on a clock.  After about 2-3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat (this is for a steak about 3/4'' or 1'' thick) turn the steak to face 5:00 and 11:00 on a clock and cook for 2-3 more minutes: this is for pretty grill marks.   Flip and repeat.  

Now if you do not have a gas grill, at this point you want to move the steaks to a cooler part of the grill and turn the air system to closed so the heat dies down.  I, on the other hand, have already placed a tray in my gas grill and turned the burners on the lowest setting.  I place the steaks in the 250-300 degree gas grill to finish, much like I would for inside cooking on the stove and in the oven.  If there are people who want to mistreat their meat and overcook it, then allow for a few extra minutes on the charcoal grill or longer cooking in the gas grill.  Remember though, you have to add even minutes on both sides of the meat, or there will be uneven cooking from side to side.  

Other foods that are to be grilled should can be placed on the charcoal grill after the meat is tucked into the gas grill.  Things like onion slices, corn, and poblano peppers are nice on the grill, as well as hot dogs or hamburgers for people who are not looking for a steak.  If you are considering chicken as well as steaks, you ought to cook the chicken first and let that carry-over-cook while the steaks are grilling.  If you try to do the chicken after the steaks, it will take too much time to cook and the steaks will either get cold or overcooked in the gas grill.  Remember though, all meat needs time to rest after cooking, so cook to 5 degrees under temperature and let the carry over time finish to a nice 128-130 degrees on beef for medium rare.  

For any other questions regarding proper grilling techniques, please leave comments and I will be happy to answer them.  

I'm on a Quest...A Quest for Meat

"They call me The Seeker 

 I've been searching low and high

 I won't get to get what I'm after

 Till the day I die"

-The Who

This quote runs true to my life in the recent few months.  What am I searching for you ask? Well, I am searching for that which all good cooks ought to, the best ingredients possible.  Recently, the product that has disappointed the most is meat.  Besides the lovely rib-eyes I cooked last week, I have been devoid of really impressive beef, pork, lamb, chicken or any other tasty animal to eat.  So, I went on a quest for good carcass.

I had heard about a few places in the area that claimed to be premium butcher shops, so I made the trek out into the hot summer in search of something seemingly common: rack of lamb.  I obviously wanted to conduct the next phase of my "When to Season Different Meats" series.  Can you freaking believe that I could not find a fresh rack of lamb (and by fresh I meat not dry-sealed and shipped from New Zealand) anywhere.  It was not a surprise that the mega-marts did not have anything other than imported, so I don't count that.  

I was surprised that these "butcher shops" did not have what I needed.  I went to two butcher shops.  First was the Westtown Butcher Shop and Deli.  This diminutive establishment on Rt. 202 south (you can access from the northbound lane) doesn't seem like much from the outside. Once inside, you will not find much more.  There are a few roasts in the case that may be trimmed into steaks, and a few loose steaks as well, but nothing special.  There are lists of available products, but not much in the case.  If you are like me, you like to see, touch and smell your meat before purchase.  Here, I did not get the opportunity.  More importantly, there was no lamb at all.  An overall disappointment.

The second place was a brighter light in my day.  The Country Butcher, www.thecountrybutchermarket.com, had much more to choose from.  The beef in the case was all marked prime, and looked it to me.  The weekly special was bone-in rib-eye for $11.99/lb.  Is that expensive?  Yes, it is.  But is it worth it, you better believe it.  The difference from prime beef (this beef, and fine dining restaurant beef) to choice beef (what you get in the mega-mart) is drastic.  Beyond these steaks, there were fresh pork chops, pork butt, country style ribs (single cut meaty back ribs either boneless or with bone- get the bone-in, they are tastier) and other assorted chops.  There were lamb chops, but no racks.  They stocked a frozen section of some more exotic meats like bison, squab, tongue, rabbit, ect.  Frozen meats are tricky and ought to be purchased sparingly (never get squab, quail, or other small game birds frozen or they will be dryer than a session of Congress).  Overall, not a bad butcher shop.  The Country Butcher also had a nice bakery, cheese, and gourmet food sections.  Give it a shot.  I will continue to look for good local lamb for the next of the "Seasoning" series.  

To season or not to season, that is the question.

 

Upon purchase of our new house, I wanted to have a few family members (a couple that isn't actual family, but feels so) over for a "soft opening" of our home kitchen.  The story goes this way:

It was a muggy early morning after a steady nighttime rain.  The lingering haze blocked the sun from shining in our bedroom window.  Regardless, the peaking light seemed to hit me right in the eyes.  I stirred for a second, but finally gave in to the restlessness in my legs.  Dragging myself out of the bed, I realized that it was a day for MEAT.  There was a burning question I had to have answered: when do I season the meat?

Ok, my culinary noir attempt is over.  The real question is, when do certain meats need to be seasoned.  I arrived at this lesson from an article in Food and Wine magazine.  They detailed four meats and the timeframe in which they need to be seasoned.  They detailed pork, beef, chicken, and lamb.  I will be doing sort of a series on the topic.  I will take each meat and season at different times with salt and pepper to see which results in the tastiest meat. 

This time was beef.  I seasoned four thick cut bone-in rib-eyes, about 24 ounces each (I like my meat big (thats what she said)).  I seasoned the first about 12 hours before grill, the second 6 hours before, and the last an hour before grill time.  I seasoned the fourth as my wife liked: I like sleeping in my bed at night.  

As it turned out, the meat seasoned 12 hours before had a great flavor with fantastically salty fat run-off.  The fat run-off seasoned the entire surface of the steak and was absorbed by the surrounding meat.  The six hour steak was also well flavored, but did not have as nice of a crust on the surface, nor did it have the flavor in the meat around the bone.  The steak seasoned for an hour before grilling had the flavor of a well-seasoned steak, but the fat was not as flavorful.  (Yes, you should eat some of the fat on a steak, it is where flavor is born.)  

So, as far as beef goes, the longer the season, the tastier the final product.  There was not a huge difference between the 12 and 6, not the 6 and the 1, but it there was a noticeable difference.  The 12 hour was far better than the 1 hour season, however.  I doubt there would be much of a difference if one would let a steak sit while seasoned longer than 12 hours.  But, I may try it.  Next episode, LAMB.

A Good Read

I recently picked up a book to read during my 62 minute (each way) train ride into Philadelphia. I was torn about genre, so I decided to do something I had always found to be a bit silly: read a book about the culinary world from someone who had never worked in it. I had heard about Michael Ruhlman for a few year from people who touted his writing. I then saw him on No Reservations (the show hosted by culinary bad-ass and lifetime skeptic Anthony Bourdain) and Iron Chef America as a judge. During one of the Iron Chef battles, Jeffrey Steingarten called Ruhlman an expert on food, so I figured me must have something useful to say.

So, I purchased his book The Making of a Chef: Mastering the Heat at the Culinary Institute. In the book Ruhlman audits classes at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. He attends classes in the order they would be attended by a full-time student. Although he does not partake in all of the classes' exams, and thus does not feel the real pressure other students do, he does find out what it is like tobe a cook, working in a kitchen on the line. He asks the right questions and searches for the answers in a interesting way: by doing. Some people have been critical of this book, in that Ruhlman was not a true student and did not get the real experience. While this is true in application, it did not prevent him from writing a cohesive account of culinary school and an accurate description of where some of the nation’s best chefs began. Give it a read, it is worth it just for the lessons on making brown stock.

A Second Lunch Trip to Butcher and Singer

As I indicated in my last post, I returned to Butcher and Singer yesterday for a second go at the $5.99 burger. Using my first experience as a guide, I adjusted accordingly. First, as my last offering was overcooked, I asked for my meat medium rare, hoping to get a nice warm pink-centered medium. Instead, I was served a rare to blue burger. Most of the center of the patty was not even warm. Granted, we went at 12:15PM this time and the restaurant was not yet full, only slowly filling up, so the line cooks were probably anxious to keep ahead of the game. Time lapse from order to plate-on-table was approximately six minutes (I counted). There is no way that a 10 oz. piece of meat can cook to 125 degrees in six minutes. (I feel like Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny asking the cook if he had magic grits because the witness on the stand said they cooked in ten minutes)

All that to say, the burger was undercooked. As is my shiny personality, I tried to find the good. I said to my lunch companion (who initially clued me in to the $5.99 B&S burger), "Being that the burger is undercooked; it will not be as greasy." I was wrong. I even ordered the burger without the oily sautéed onions. None the less, the burger was a mess to eat again. I assume that this is due to the higher quality meat used in the burger, probably 80/20 choice sirloin or chuck. Regardless, it was a mess again. This time I ruined two napkins.

Halfway through the burger, I gave up. In the middle of the patty, the only parts of the meat that was cooked at all were the sear marks. I touched the meat and it was cold to the touch, with the fat specks still intact and solid. They had not even been rendered during cooking, not at all. The middle was raw. The parts that I was able to eat were tasty and delicious, but I could only eat about 60% of it. A high pointon this visit, however, was the state of the fries. They were freshly crisped and were still too hot to eat when they were placed in front of me. Big win there.

So, when the front of the house manager noticed that I had only eaten the outside half of my burger, he approached the table, looked at me, and kindly asked how our lunch was. We both said that the burger was great. He looked at my plate and asked me again, so I mentioned that mine was a little under temperature. I followed by saying that it was ok because I had been there last week and devoured every scrap of the far from low-cal burger. I expressed no disapproval or unhappiness with the meal. Low and behold, the front of the house manager removed the burger from my bill. After a minute or two of insisting that I pay for the burger that I ate more than half of, the young man (no more than 25 or 26) said that he and the server agreed that the meat was drastically undercooked and that he would not dream of charging me for it. I concurred with his assessment of the burger and thanked him for the gesture. I believe that a restaurant is half the food, setting and personality, while the other half is ability to keep the customer happy when things don't go smoothly. Butcher and Singer certainly wins in both categories. While the burger was not fired correctly both times I ordered it and was a mess to eat, it still ranks as a good burger and an even better marketing idea.

Philly Steakhouse on the Cheap- Butcher and Singer's burger deal

So, I know that I have been a shitty blogger for the last two weeks, but the move, coupled with 50 gallons of water in our basement in the first 6 days (that little gem was not in the sellers disclosure) has not awarded me the opportunity to post. I am, however, back to it today. A lot has happened in the last two weeks, so I have some good ammo for the next 10 posts.

I will start with this: Last week I heard something that I was not inclined to believe. Then I remembered a strange trend. Philly restaurants have been loosing revenue with each passing day. Some of the finer restaurants are resorting to gimmicks like Le Bec Fin "pay what you think the meal is worth if you get there before 4:00PM or something close." So, when I heard that Steven Starr's Butcher and Singer steakhouse was selling their 10 oz. burger (previously at $16) for a mere $5.99 at lunch, I said "shenanigans." I was wrong. I went for lunch and indeed devoured that burger, had an iced tea, and had a total bill of less than ten dollars. You can't get a sniff of burger in other top-end Philly steakhouses for $6.

I know what you’re thinking: this isn't the same burger that would be $16. Now I cannot speak to the quality of the $16 version of the burger, cause lets face it, what burger is worth $16? (Ok, I admit I have spent more than that on a burger, but it has fois gras and caviar on it.) What I can tell you is that this particular burger, the $5.99 version, was good. Notice I did not say great or outstanding, just good.

First off, both the guest I dined with and I ordered the burger. So did almost every other person at the restaurant that day, and the place was packed. I would estimate, from my days on the grill at a busy steakhouse, that the person on the meat station was doing 90% of the cooking, probably putting out 3 burgers a minute. This makes it almost impossible to ensure that each person gets the correct temperature meat. I ordered my burger medium rare to medium, but received a well done piece of ground meat that was hovering on hockey puck. My guest ordered medium well and likewise got well done. (Most foodies will agree that a little blood is a prerequisite to a "great" or "outstanding" rating for a burger.) The overdone meat aside, the burger was surprisingly juicy and tasty.

This brings me to the second issue, and one of paramount importance. The fried onions on top of the burger were so oily and grease ridden that the bun, which was unremarkable in itself, was coated with a healthy amount of grease, making the burger near impossible to eat. I felt bad, but the cloth napkin I was given was destroyed by the end of the meal. When I go back, I believe today actually, I will order mine without the fried onions, which actually did not add much to the burger to begin with.

The other accoutrements were fine. Pickles, lettuce, tomato, and a sauce, an emulsion of some sort (the damn burger was so messy that I didn’t dare take it apart to examine its individual components), were nicely complimented with a hunk of melted English Cheddar cheese. The fries were tasty, but not as crispy as I had hoped. (There is nothing in the WORLD worse than a soggy fry.) Overall, the burger was 7 out of 10 for me. The taste was great, the eatability (new word) was very low, and the fries were pretty good. The price, however, was outstanding. I am under the impression that the deal is for a limited time only, so if you are looking for a lunch spot, 15th and Walnut is the place to be. But make a reservation, cause it will be packed with 150 other people who are all ordering this cheap, well-worth it burger.