Dinner with a few friends

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Tonight, I had my best friend and his wife over for dinner. I owed him a big thank you for something he did for me. So I fixed them a gourmet dinner.
The menu was Kobe beef steaks
Mushrooms, fennel, chipotle, and yellow peppers in cabernet reduction
Summer salads
Baby asparagus with fennel and peppers
Baked potatoes with all the trimmings
French vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberries

I also gave him a little something to take home...a bottler of Balvennie 21

We had another guest drop in - Yo Bear, the party animal.

For those who haven't cooked Kobe it requires a special type of cooking. It has to be cooked very hot and very fast. If you cook it slow it will get dry and tough. You even cook it on the sides, which is a real trick.

 

[fast14riot]

So, next time set the kiln for 1200*F and throw the steaks in there on a mild steel plate. I've seen steak houses use brick pizza ovens for steak, they often times cook up to 1000*F.

-X

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Yes, fast cooked steaks get seared all around and retain all the juices.

To do Kobe, you heat the grill on high for 20-30 minutes to get it as hot as possible. You do 2 minutes on one side, flip for 2 minutes, grill the sides for about 1 minute each, and take it off. A 2" thick, 20 ounce steak takes about 6 minutes to cook. A few minutes rest while you plate the dish and it is 125° in the center and a perfect rare. Cooking Kobe beyond medium rare, 130°, is going to ruin it.

 

[quint]

Sounds very tasty. Nothing like a well grilled steak.

 

[Mike Gesualdo]

When I do thick cut steak, I like to use one of those ceramic egg-shaped grills. Hooked up a small blower to mine so I can get temperatures in the 800-900°F+ (max I've hit was just over 1000°F). Salt it, sear it for a minute or so on each side (including edges), crack some pepper and melt some butter on it if you'd like, then let it rest. Every bit as good as most of the $50-90 steaks you get at the fancy steakhouses.

Also important no matter how you cook it is to make sure the meat gets up to room temperature before heating, and that it gets patted down to remove all excess moisture. If you just toss a cold wet piece of meat on the grill, you're going to end up with a overcooked, steamed/dry outside and a cold raw inside.

fast14riot is correct; a lot of steakhouses are using super high heat to cook their steaks. Ruth Chris' steakhouse is particularly famous for broiling their steaks at ~1800°F. I believe the type of broiler they use is called a Salamander. I happen to like my steaks cooked as high and fast as possible, but I've had great ones that were done differently.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Excellent point about the temperaature....let the meat sit at room temp for 3-4 hours before cooking.

 

[mete]

In the steel mill they never told us about high temperature broiling at the steel mill. There was always a wet blanket type who shut us down ! I start at room temperature and find it much better.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

When In worked at the Ford plant there was a start-up guy who came in at 2AM. He would get the enamel oven cleaned out and fired up, to be ready for the enamel paint line to start up at 7AM. He would come in every day with a bushel of sweet potatoes. He would split a potato, put a big slab of butter in the cut, wrap it in foil, and make a loop in the end of the foil. The enamel line is an overhead chain drive going through a 70 foot long tunnel oven at a rate of speed just right to dry and bake the enamel on all the frame parts. The speed is adjustable as needed. The parts hang from hooks on the chain.
Back when we made model T's at the plant, the whole car body went into a swimming pool size tank of enamel paint and came out with enamel in every crack and crevice. It was turned upside down over the tank to drain the excess, and then went through the tunnel. No wonder they lasted like they did.

Anyway, He would hook the potatoes on the chain and set the speed just right to have them come out perfectly baked.`Since he knocked off as the rest of the plant was getting started, he would walk along the line and sell the fresh roasted sweet potatoes to the guys...still steaming hot.....for $1 each. It usually took him only a few minutes to sell the entire batch.


To keep this post on the OP subjecct, the chasis plant used taps to thread the holes for the bolts on the frames. The bolts were threaded at the bolt factory with dies.

 

[Smithy]

Here's a cooking trick I use. If I want to marinate something, I put in a 10" bowl, less than 5" high. I cover it with whatever marinade I want and then stick it in my vacuum, chamber, turn it on, and in about a minute or two it is marinated thoroughly. Just regulate the vacuum so that there is no overflow. It works for me. ...Teddy

 

[jdm61]

Sounds like you cook it about the same way as you sear rare yellowfin tuna. If you have a piece of meat that is small, the optimum device to use for searing is a charcoal chimney starter. Another way to sear is to get a cast iron pan crazy hot.

Yes, fast cooked steaks get seared all around and retain all the juices.

To do Kobe, you heat the grill on high for 20-30 minutes to get it as hot as possible. You do 2 minutes on one side, flip for 2 minutes, grill the sides for about 1 minute each, and take it off. A 2" thick, 20 ounce steak takes about 6 minutes to cook. A few minutes rest while you plate the dish and it is 125° in the center and a perfect rare. Cooking Kobe beyond medium rare, 130°, is going to ruin it.