https://www.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cooking-Through-Science/dp/0393081087
This is a steal for $31
Thanks, just ordered it.
Just remember, don’t throw out your back when you pick up the package. That beast is larger than most college textbooks.
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Sweet and Sour Pork Tenderloin. Molten Sweet Potato, Rose vinegrette salad, and caramelized shallots. Plating sucks; don’t care because it was fucking delicious and I’m 3 margs in.
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I made these the other day and they were unreal good. I’m going to do the same recipe, but add cheddar and garlic.
Oooooh that’s a good hack. I’m stealing it.
I’ve said for years the internet has done more for food than any other industry.
Food Lab is terrific. Only cook book I use regularly. I don’t do a good enough job paying attention to the technique and “why” as I should, but man the recipes come out so, so good. Made the weeknight meat sauce last week and it was stellar for a “quick” bolognese. Did the buttered sugar snap peas with leeks as a side yesterday and also excellent.
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Alton Brown and Good Eats should be #1 for explaining the how and why behind food. It’s a perfect mix of knowledge, instruction and dad humor. IME YouTube videos, cooking shows and meal services like Blue Apron have drastically improved my ability.
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So, let’s say I’m going to sear a steak in a cast iron pan. I put it on my stove for a while to get it as hot as possible. Then I aim my infrared thermometer at the center of the empty pan. What kind of reading am I looking for? How hot is hot enough to do a good job?
His Mighty Duck episode changed my life, not so much because of how he cooked the duck, which results in badly overcooked duck imo, but because of his lesson on how to thaw the duck.
Oh, and the potatoes. Par boiled potatoes subsequently sauteed in duck fat, rosemary, and a generous hit of salt and pepper is fucking amazing.
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A lot of his techniques I find not to my liking, but you are always learning and accumulating more tools for your toolbox. I think his omelette episode is dead on and I followed it pretty religiously for a while. I’ve also adopted his theory on no unitaskers.
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Starting with a dry steak matters way more than getting your pan stupid hot. Remove the steak (or anything else you want to sear) from all packaging the night before and leave it on a wire rack in the fridge uncovered. Use a high smoke point oil in the pan and don’t let it smoke. This will get you a great sear every time with any meat.
Yeah, I agree with all of that. But there has to be a minimum temp that you need the surface to be. Any idea what it is?
Even though this is like the easiest ~ 350 ever, you wanna shoot for more in the 400-450 range.
like Bigoldnit said I shoot for a pan at 400-450F, when the steaks go in the pan the temp will drop a bit but it is hot enough to get a good crust
Thanks. That is what I was looking for.
While we are on the subject, are there any applications where you want to get the pan even hotter than 450 degrees? I was just checking out my new setup and I can get to about 625 max as measured by my infrared thermometer (not sure how accurate that is).
Hotter the better assuming you have a fat that can take it and no spices to burn.
Yeah, that’s what I thought too, but I never actually measured it.
How hot does yours get? If you don’t know, please measure next time and post. I measure at the center of empty pan with no oil or anything else.