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[cack]

Originally Posted by Mick Chicken

That damn porterhouse just made me hungry as shit

Thanks ... I can cook a damn steak that's for sure

[RebelGamecockfan09]

that all looks awesome!

[cockfight21]

Love the Dexter apron, my favorite show.

[GarnetInChicago]

Good stuff Cack. I'm a terrible cook, so I'll take some of this as tips to try out. But in your intro to the blog, you need to change "inspire" to "aspire."

[PyroPepper]

It looks great! I'll be following your progress as you "aspire" to win a competition. Merry Christmas!

[cack]

Originally Posted by GarnetInChicago

Good stuff Cack. I'm a terrible cook, so I'll take some of this as tips to try out. But in your intro to the blog, you need to change "inspire" to "aspire."

Originally Posted by PyroPepper

It looks great! I'll be following your progress as you "aspire" to win a competition. Merry Christmas!

Ah, 'preciate it

[The Yancey]

Cack, the porterhouse is my fav cut of steak but I have to take issue with adding a damn cherry wheat beer. DISGUSTING! Sweet bright fruit and beef do not go together. It is why if you are using wine as a marinade base you use a nice dry red instead of sweet white like a riesling. If you are going with beer I suggest that you use a porter, a dunkel, or any of the great American brown ales. Leave the fruit along with the paper umbrellas for the girly girl drinks. If it is important for whatever reason for you to add an undercurrent of slight sweetness then please go with a dark sugar as well. Dark brown or even a little 'lasses would do. When I want that though I make sure to balance it with a bit of vinegar: red wine vinegar if using a wine base or good English malt vinegar if I am using beer. Your goal should be to create complexity that subtly adds to the natural flavor of the meat. When I bite into a rare to medium rare piece of fine grass fed and dry aged steak (Yes, you over cooked it.) I want to taste the steak. I don't want to be eating marinade.

Now lets kick that steak up in a couple of other ways. Ditch the Heinz and go with Lea and Perrins. It is a better woosterweister. What you are adding with that is the flavor sense of umami. You can add more umami with a little fish sauce. One of my secret marinade/sauce ingredients is high quality black oriental oyster sauce. Ah crap, there went one of my secrets! Again, balance is everything. Now lets look at that rub you are using. The McCormick's is surprisingly acceptable but you can do a bit better IMO. Try this instead: .

When I am in the mood for a Montreal style seasoning I do find that McCormick does well with this:

Pay close attention to the sodium content of every ingredient! I have seen people ruin good food by inadvertently adding salt here and there. I use the lower sodium versions of almost everything and boost the salt to my wishes in my kitchen. Salt should be added in layers. It is way to late to season food after it has been cooked. You need to season before, during, and after cooking. Do not go overboard at any point. Do not skimp either. Again: BALANCE. One of my current fav post cooking saltings is passing a a small silver or ceramic bowl of seasoned fingerling salt tableside. I prefer this rosemary infused Mediterranean flakes from Cyprus by Sailor: In this way I am adding yet another layer of complexity while letting my guests control their individual salt level. It is also appealing to the eye and hand as my guests crush the flakes between their fingers releasing smaller bits of the flakes upon their perfectly cooked piece of cow. It involves them in the cooking process in a way as well. Camaraderie around the table can be an important component of the overall dinning experience.

The exterior of your steak is certainly visually appealing. Most people like seeing grill marks like that because they contain tons of caramelized flavor. It is how I have cooked my steaks over the years as well. This past year though I came across this piece that argued against it. http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/searing_steaks.html Their premise that if grill marks are good then having the steak as one huge grill mark would be better rang true. I have been trying it out and I have to agree that the reverse sear produces a tastier steak, perhaps even by far. I also have to say that I miss the eye appeal of the alternating stripes of the grill marks. In the end flavor wins though and I wil continue to experiment and refine the reverse sear.

Oh, back to that cherry wheat crap. Now you really have something there for pork or chicken! You could go with L&P's white woosterwasher and add a handful of cherry infused Craisins That would be a nice base for a chicken dish. Use a more poultry specific spicing too so you don't overwhelm its more delicate flavor. Because it has less natural fat you will need to add some as well. Various cuts of pork (As well as boneless chicken thighs) can take a stronger seasoning but also can do well with a fruit based admixture. Experiment some and I think you will find that this marinade you like can be kicked up and married off to something other than beef with even better results.

One last thing. Some people like some sort of steak sauce. I think that is out of habit from needing to cover up less than stellar offerings from their childhood. They can help under fatty and flavorful cuts like the fillet which composes part of the porterhouse. I find a sauce most helpful in extending part of the steak's flavor to other foods on the plate such as the potato or rice or even as a dip for the bread. Here is what you do. Make double the amount of marinade you will need to begin with. After you remove the steaks from it to begin drying ( NEVER put a cold or wet piece of meat on the grill! Dry it with paper towels and then on a wire rack so that the exterior is bone dry and it is at absolute room temp.) boil the marinade down until it is close to half of what it was originally. I enjoy the taste of a Bearnaise so Lets add some tarragon prior to reducing that marinade. There are five French Mother sauces. Everything devolves from those five. One of those is the Hollandaise. The addition of the tarragon makes it a Bearnaise. These are thickened with egg yolks and butter. Every chef should have mastered this and the other four Mothers. Here is a recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/t...ipe/index.html. Another of the five that goes well with beef is the Sauce Espagnole. It is thickened with a brown roux. Here is a variation from Emereil: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/e...ipe/index.html. The other three, Tomat, Bechamel, and Veloute don't really have applications for our steak so I wont go into detail about them. While I think it is important to know how to make these classic sauces I don't think it is a good idea to let your steak burn while you are trying to keep your roux from breaking. Culinary cheating is not only allowed it is encouraged in my kitchen. I let myself off the food police's hook by calling it creativity. I think that the absolute easiest way to make a velvety and thick sauce is to take that slightly thick reduction and whisk in small pats of chilled European butter using a proper metal whisk. Use just about equal parts of butter as you have reduction. You have to use European butter because it has a higher fat content than the American stuff. The heat has to have been reduced to low and the chilled butter must be whisked in one bit at a time. Add a new pat just when the previous one has melted. Now if your classic French sauce is still too thin or if you just can't ditch your inner cardiologist screaming at you about the fat content then you can reduce the butter and thicken the sauce further with cornstarch. Cornstarch is very forgiving. Just do this BEFORE doing most of the reduction. Make a slurry of 1 tbsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp ice water. Add to 1 cup of the marinade. You will then need to cook that for about 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken and further reduce during that time. Try going a tad light on the slurry and saving room for a partial butter whisking to give your sauce a much more velvety taste and texture. Use a wire strainer to remove any large bits of herbs and spices. Garnish with bits of a chiffonade of additional fresh tarragon.

Cack, I think you have lots of promise as a chef, whether as a career or as a hobby. You have one special ingredient that sometimes people forget about: fun. Yeah, we all cry, piss, and moan when our roux breaks. Mastering this and that can be frustrating. Occasionally our mistakes are just too goddess awful to eat. (We need to always have back up food available for a quick rescue. I'll post more about that in the appropriate thread instead of in this already overly long post.) In the end though you can cook a technically perfect meal that is a drag for both you and your guests. You are best served by ordering a pizza than saucing your meals with unpleasantness and rancor. The most important seasoning is fun. The most important herb is love. From your pics and your postings I think you are cooking with those most important components. Bon Appetit!

[cack]

The beer great and was great with the steak

I would check out the other seasoning but I've been on placed on a food buying freeze haha

[cack]

My pork butt post is up everyone. Check it out.

[cack]

Just made some New York strips and the gf made twice baked cajun potatoes ... pics will be on the blog soon

[Erik]

That burger looked great, will make it next time I make burgers, minus the peppers, haha.

[cack]

Originally Posted by Erik

That burger looked great, will make it next time I make burgers, minus the peppers, haha.

I HATE peppers and onions with a passion. I'm telling you, dice them up as find as you can hand cut them and you won't even notice. We're actually making them again tomorrow

[cack]

P.S. I did ribs yesterday, and they came out PERFECTLY ... check 'em out

[The Yancey]

The ribs look good. Just please tell me that you removed the thin membrane like skin from the back side of the ribs.

[Kickerspl80]

Hey Cack, I noticed some of the temperatures were 500+ degrees. I don't think i can get my charcoal grill that hot. If I cook the meat longer do u think it will cook differently?

[cack]

Originally Posted by The Yancey

The ribs look good. Just please tell me that you removed the thin membrane like skin from the back side of the ribs.

Of course. That's rule #1 (although I do know some people choose not to)

[cack]

Originally Posted by Kickerspl80

Hey Cack, I noticed some of the temperatures were 500+ degrees. I don't think i can get my charcoal grill that hot. If I cook the meat longer do u think it will cook differently?

I do 500 only for my steaks. Charcoalon wont get that high for sure. The closer to the coals you can get the higher the temp will be. I have friends that do their steaks on a charcoal grill and stack the coals on one side and then go direct heat for however long. I'm not as familiar with grilling on coal so exact times and such I can't say.

[Mick Chicken]

Grilled out last nite with some friends and watched Falcons game. Bacon wrapped filet marinated with Newcastle Brown Ale, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Lamb chops marinated in olive oil, pepper, garlic salt, salt, and a little tobasco. Big portabella mushroom marinated in cooking wine, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic salt. All cooked on the grill. Steak and lamb were cooked to m/r and cooked the mushroom till the top had a nice crust on it. Also sauted some asparagus, roasted corn on the cob, and steamed some cajun seasoned shrimp. Food was fire...game sucked. I hate the saints.

[cack]

Did our burgers again tonight ... damn good

[cack]

The Habanero Death Dust wings post is up ... check it out

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