What's cooking?

An omelet, very simple but good

Corned Beef and Steamed Cabbage.  Corned Beef Round is Bill Baileys brand from Costco (only available through St Patricks day).  A little salty, but great flavor and off the charts tender. It is pre-cooked and can be microwaved, cooked on the stove or in the oven.

Ok guys. So I was going to make a whole other post about this as it was so profound, but I figured no one would even read or comment on it so I am planting it here.

T-bones and Ribeyes.
I don't think I knew the difference between them or could identify them till I was about 35 of so. I am sure I had one or the other but, again, it was just a piece of meat to me.
In 2009 I started raising my own beef. Now I know the difference.

I have never cooked a ribeye or Tbone any other way than on a grill. Seriously. Never. Ever. Not once. Until thurs.

When it's 5 deg with a -10 windchill standing at the bbq is a crappy proposition. THEN I start jonesing for a nice steak that I have out in the freezer.

I seared a T-bone steak for the first time in my life last Thurs. I did some ribeyes earlier this week. I have officially impressed myself and my wife.

She also tells me "welcome to the rest of the world".....as thats how most people fix theirs

I think it was Shadows dad that talked me into getting a Sioux Vide a few yrs ago. I do my steaks that way for about 3 hrs, then I brown them 3-4 minutes per side on my griddle. Seasoned before searing. Pat dry before seasoning.

Also, Since I don't have a flat iron griddle, I used my Presto griddle turned all the way up to 400 deg. Also, I found an unused Pampered Chef bacon/steak press I picked up at auction a few yrs ago and never used. It has a use now.

OK. So as to not look like I am making things up as I go. It looks like here in this thread I testified to actually boiling a ribeye. So I might need to walk back my previous statement half a step. Mostly because I didn't remember doing this!

Nowdays I   really do sous vide every ribeye or Tbone before I grill it. Unless I am doing the Weber grill. I can use my Weber Grill as a better smoker than I can with the Brinkmans smoker.

Sous Vide thread.
https://damnfineshave.com/thread-the-boiled-steak

I'm glad you tried sous vide. I have a flank steak in the bath right now @ 129.4°F and when I pull it out it will have been in for roughly 30 hours. FWIW, for those who don't know, the steak is sealed in a plastic bag that is devoid of air and not floating naked in water.

But OSS, SV isn't something we make up. We MUST follow guidelines or there is the potential for sickness or more. Since the temps we use are lower than conventional cooking it takes longer for the product to get sanitized to kill anything living. Since the temps we use are right in the magic zone for bacterial infection it becomes even more imperative to follow guidelines for safety. I don't know how thick your steaks are but off the top of my head I doubt that 3 hours is enough time. There are charts that one can use to figure out the hours required.

Here is one of the best sites I found that explains the why, but it also has charts that one can use to figure times. It takes time for the product to heat through, then time to kill any bacteria, and then time to tenderize/cook. But since the temp' never exceeds the done temp' I want for a, in this case flank steak, it will never be overcooked but nice and rare. In use the charts are additive. Use one to find out how long it takes to get the meat up to temp clear to the center, another for sanitizing it, yada, yada. Each time the hours are added to what came before.

If you tell me what the starting temp' of the steak was (frozen or thawed), how thick it was, the temp' of the bath, I can tell you the minimum time it should have taken.

https://douglasbaldwin.com/

Edit: After removing it from the bath and bag I put some dextrose on it and torched it. It was delicious, med' rare, and tender.

I may have been doin mine wrong then. I have my Tbones and ribeyes cut @ 3/4". They are 2 to a pkg and vacuum sealed by the butcher. On days I am going to grill I fill the pan and get it all set up then drop in the pkg frozen (at about 1 in the afternoon) and turn it on to 120 deg and let it go till about 5 ish. I open up the pkg, season them, and brown them on a hot gas grill. No more than a few minutes per side. By the looks of things I need to bump up the temp to 131 Deg and cut the soak time to 2-3 hrs.

Just yesterday I got 5 head of beef to the butcher. One of the things the wife wanted me to set aside were ALL of the skirt and flank steaks on all of them. When I lived in Vegas I would pick these up already seasoned to bbg on the grill for Carne Asada. I don't know how she wants to do these but the sous vide would definitely soften them up for me.

I may have been doin mine wrong then. I have my Tbones and ribeyes cut @ 3/4". They are 2 to a pkg and vacuum sealed by the butcher. On days I am going to grill I fill the pan and get it all set up then drop in the pkg frozen (at about 1 in the afternoon) and turn it on to 120 deg and let it go till about 5 ish. I open up the pkg, season them, and brown them on a hot gas grill. No more than a few minutes per side. By the looks of things I need to bump up the temp to 131 Deg and cut the soak time to 2-3 hrs.

Just yesterday I got 5 head of beef to the butcher. One of the things the wife wanted me to set aside were ALL of the skirt and flank steaks on all of them. When I lived in Vegas I would pick these up already seasoned to bbg on the grill for Carne Asada. I don't know how she wants to do these but the sous vide would definitely soften them up for me.

Now I know why I can never find those cuts!  It’s your wife!!

I'm glad you tried sous vide. I have a flank steak in the bath right now @ 129.4°F and when I pull it out it will have been in for roughly 30 hours. FWIW, for those who don't know, the steak is sealed in a plastic bag that is devoid of air and not floating naked in water.

But OSS, SV isn't something we make up. We MUST follow guidelines or there is the potential for sickness or more. Since the temps we use are lower than conventional cooking it takes longer for the product to get sanitized to kill anything living. Since the temps we use are right in the magic zone for bacterial infection it becomes even more imperative to follow guidelines for safety. I don't know how thick your steaks are but off the top of my head  I doubt that 3 hours is enough time. There are charts that one can use to figure out the hours required.

Here is one of the best sites I found that explains the why, but it also has charts that one can use to figure times. It takes time for the product to heat through, then time to kill any bacteria, and then time to tenderize/cook. But since the temp' never exceeds the done temp' I want for a, in this case flank steak, it will never be overcooked but nice and rare. In use the charts are additive. Use one to find out how long it takes to get the meat up to temp clear to the center, another for sanitizing it, yada, yada. Each time the hours are added to what came before.

If you tell me what the starting temp' of the steak was (frozen or thawed), how thick it was, the temp' of the bath, I can tell you the minimum time it should have taken.

https://douglasbaldwin.com/

Edit: After removing it from the bath and bag I put some dextrose on it and torched it. It was delicious, med' rare, and tender.

Sous vide. My family got me a set up for my last birthday. Love it. I’m still in the learning mode. It makes awesome salmon and seafood generally. Moist and tender. I’ve done back ribs. Twelve hours and then oven or grill for a fee minutes a side. Excellent. There’s a good website that lets you search recipes by cooking method as well as the normal search terms www.seriouseats.com 

As Brian points out, time and temperature are the key. Lower the temperature the longer the time. 

A vacuum sealer is convenient to have too but if you’re a smoker you’ve probably already got one of those. Who can eat 10+lbs of pulled pork or 15 lbs of brisket all at once?

OldSchoolSteel, I get a minimum of 3 3/4 hours at 131° for a 3/4" thick steak (20mm) from frozen. That's the minimum time, going longer is better and won't hurt anything. Just don't SV a ribeye for 3 days. It's be so tender you won't need teeth to eat it. I SV steaks at 129 and if it's a good steak about 6 hrs from frozen. Tougher meat gets the treatment longer. Do you give the bag juice to your dog? They love it, or ours do. I've known some people to use it for soup stock, but for me it just curdles and isn't pleasant to the eye.

When I figured the time I used a slightly thicker steak. Always go over and not under and there's really no need to split hairs on accuracy, just go over. Shortchanging time can be a disaster. But going over is no big deal, it just results in a more tender steak and insurance for safety. That's the beauty of SV, the time is flexible as long as you go over. That's the reason it was discovered; for ease in preparing food in a hospital setting.

It also allows the use of lesser cuts that are known to be tough. Just cook them longer. The last flank steak I SV I did at my standard 129.4° for 36 hours I think it was. Then treated it with a solution of baking soda and dextrose and torched it. It was rare, tender, and tasty. Corned beef comes out of the bag really good too. Id need to check my records but I think I do that for 48 hours. I don't remember the temp' but there's no need for 129°. I did it hotter. I'd need to look it up.

In ketosis there are so many veggies that I can't have so I'm always on the lookout for veggies I can eat to help prevent boredom. I recently rediscovered eggplant and this new way of cooking it since I now have an air fryer.

Air-Fryer Eggplant Fries

My kids love these air fryer fries—and I like that they're healthy. Coated with Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese and garlic salt, these eggplant fries are delicious and guilt-free. —Mary Murphy, Atwater, California

Ingredients
2 large eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (far below)
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 medium eggplant (about 1-1/4 pounds)
Cooking spray
1 cup meatless pasta sauce, warmed

Directions
Preheat air fryer to 375°. In a shallow bowl, whisk eggs. In another shallow bowl, mix cheese, wheat germ and seasonings.
Trim ends of eggplant, peeling is optional but the breading doesn’t stick to the skin; cut eggplant lengthwise into 1/2-in.-thick slices. Cut slices lengthwise into 1/2-in. strips. Dip eggplant in eggs, then coat with cheese mixture.
In batches, arrange eggplant in a single layer on greased tray in air-fryer basket; spritz with cooking spray. Cook until golden brown, 4-5 minutes. Turn; spritz with cooking spray. Cook until golden brown, 4-5 minutes. Serve immediately with pasta sauce.

Test Kitchen tip
In our testing, we have found cook times vary dramatically between brands of air fryers. As a result, we have given wider than normal ranges on suggested cook times. Begin checking at the first time listed and adjust as needed.

Nutrition Facts
1 serving: 135 calories, 5g fat (2g saturated fat), 68mg cholesterol, 577mg sodium, 15g carbohydrate (6g sugars, 4g fiber), 9g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 vegetable, 1 fat, 1/2 starch.


Brians Notes:

I’d make these again in a heartbeat.

I’m in keto so the wheat germ is a no-no. I’d love to have the nutrition, but I wouldn’t love to have the carbs. I substituted ground Chicharonnes aka pig skins for it. Amazon has them pre-ground. I used a small bag of flavored pig skins and ground them myself. I sub’ed them 1:1 with the wheat germ. I found the flavored pig skins made the fries tasty all on their own and I also used RAOs pizza sauce as the dip because I had some on hand from a crustless pizza bowl I made. With or without the sauce they were good. But again I used flavored pig skins.

I also omitted the garlic salt since the cheese had plenty of salt. I did add gran’ garlic.

Use the real deal parm’ or romano cheese, not the “cheese” found in the cardboard box.

Changes next time? I had fries maybe 6" long since I saved a few slabs for keto eggplant parm’. Next time I plan to make the fries fork size. It’s just easier to put them on a fork for scooping up sauce. Kids would probably like them full length as finger food. I might also make them in slabs and cut them into bite size pieces as I eat... no kids just adults.
One XL egg was plenty and next time I'll put all of the fries in a bowl and pour the egg over them, Then just mix to coat. Much simpler than coating by hand. I might even bread them the same way.


Italian Seasoning recipe

Ingredients

3 tablespoons each dried basil, oregano and parsley flakes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions
Place all ingredients, in batches if necessary, in a spice grinder or small bowl. Grind or crush with the back of a spoon until mixture becomes a coarse powder. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Nutrition Facts
1/4 teaspoon: 1 calories, 1g fat (0 saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 1mg sodium, 1g carbohydrate (0 sugars, 1g fiber), 1g protein.