Cooking with Maintankadin

Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:30 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

I like medium rare, but I don't think Vanifae knows how to cook that

Medium well is exactly like Medium rare...only shorter (cook time that is)

I prefer using a rub as well. I do like a high quality cut of meat absolutely plain.....but there's only one reliable source for that here, and I'm not driving to get it every time. So, more often than not, I just go to the local grocery store, buy the good-but-not-stellar cuts, and season them.

My favorite cut is rib-eye, preferably with the bone still in.

I will generally rub the steaks with the dry-rub 20-30 minutes before I actually plan to cook them...this does impact the intensity of the flavor...

As far as marinade.....for like...fajitas....if you don't include lime juice and cilantro, you're doing it wrong.

As a disclaimer, I'm just a big fan of cilantro and lime juice to begin with...

mew

Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:56 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

I thought medium well was brown all the way through and medium rare was pink in the middle?

Fridmarr

Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:02 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Medium well will have a slight pink in the middle, medium rare is pink throughout with some red possibly in the middle.

Dane

Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:52 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Isetnefret wrote:fajitas....if you don't include lime juice and cilantro, you're doing it wrong.

As a disclaimer, I'm just a big fan of cilantro and lime juice to begin with...

I've got to say...I've got a recipe that uses fajita meat that uses neither of the above...but it's kind of a fucked up sounding recipe anyway.

You get all the makings of tacos...but instead of your standard meat (ground beef, fish, what have you), you get strips of beef, like you'd use in fajitas.

Now, here's the messed up part...cook the meat in a frying pan on your stove...in teriyaki sauce.

Seriously. my mother-in-law made it once while my wife and I were dating...I had my doubts, and it was just an experiment for her. They turned out amazing.

I know...sounds nauseating, huh?

Drathian

Fri Jul 24, 2009 11:26 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Attempting sweet potato fries today for the first time.

Wish me luck. I've read horror stories of them refusing to crisp up.

Gracerath

Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:30 am

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

My favorite things to cook up are steaks. I'm always on the lookout for quality steaks on sale (Tbones, Ribeye). I've got cooking them to a perfect medium rare down to an exact science. For anyone looking to cook meats to their preferred wellness, I highly suggest a meat thermometer.

Biscuits and gravy, potato soup and beef stroganoff are things I cook fairly often. The first time I made beef stroganoff, I didn't have any cheap sirlion but I had some T-bones that had been sitting in the freezer for about 5 months not being eaten. You might cringe thinking about cutting up a perfectly good steak into strips for a stroganoff but it was worth it. When you bite into the tenderloin portion of the steaks... well. Words fail me. It was fantastic.

Katraya

Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:52 am

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Isetnefret wrote:
As a disclaimer, I'm just a big fan of cilantro and lime juice to begin with...

Please, please tell me you read the black bean taco recipe I posted many pages back. The slaw recipe that goes with it kicks ass. Just don't try to substitute lemon if you run out of lime. It doesn't work well.

For steaks we often by large slabs of meat and then cut it down to steak size. We have a couple stores around here that are good for that. By $20 worth of meat and cut it down to 6-8 cuts of rib-eye or fillet minion. I rarely grill but when I do it is usually just a "wet rub" of olive oil, granulated garlic, salt, pepper and maybe some spice like tarragon. Nummy, nummy. If I do buy a store bought marinade my favorite is Peter Luger's, particularly on skirt steak.

phaqueue

Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:52 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Cakes wrote:
Grehn|Skipjack wrote:Had delicious fried chicken and mashed potatoes last night. Wish I knew more ways to cook beef than "Stick it in a pan and wait for all the red to go away".

Depends on what type of beef you are cooking with, but a simple thing to do with beef strips is to throw some red onions (cut roughly the same size as your strips) in at the same time as your beef, followed closely by soy sauce and red wine vinegar. After sauteing those for a bit, your beef should be cooked and your onions should be caramelizing (browned around the edges). At this point you can add fresh vegetables that don't need to cook for long, but rather just brought up to the temperature of the rest of the dish. I typically add cilantro, green onions, and a few tomato wedges. Serve with some white rice, and you're done. Alternative methods to this dish include adding garlic to the beef when it's sautéing and/or adding french fries to the beef right after your fresh vegetables. Optional spices include salt, pepper, and cumin. This dish is known as a saltado.

As for my own cooking, I'm a dessert nut, so I've been baking a lot lately. I made an awesome lemon rum cornmeal pound cake a couple days ago, and I think my next project will be a soufflé of some sort.

made this beef this morning for dinner... Was excellent - thanks for the idea

Vanifae

Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:48 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Fridmarr wrote:
Vanifae wrote:
Fridmarr wrote:I'm not really a fan of marinades with steaks. Is a good rub an option?

It is.

Well the essentials in a rub are generally salt, garlic, and pepper. Currently, I use one that my local butcher shop makes. It's really good, and not so heavy on the salt like some of the store brands can be, and I'm too lazy/busy to make my own these days. If you want to make your own, I found this recipe that's similar to what I used to use.

# 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
# 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
# 1 tablespoon kosher salt
# 1 tablespoon paprika
# 1 tablespoon garlic powder
# 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
# 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
# 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

If you think that red/cayenne pepper might not be what you are looking for, you could probably substitute some chili powder in their place. You can also pick out a store brand that has the ingredients that sound like what you'd like. Anyhow, put a good coating of your rub on both sides of the steak (you don't have to rub it in) about an hour before grilling, then enjoy.

Save the marinades for the poorer cuts, like round and flank steak.

Using something similar to this thank you.

Brutalicus

Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:52 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Bacon Explosion. It might just end you, but it's worth the risk. Google it.

Vanifae

Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:28 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Thalia wrote:This is Aergis's favorite meal, and one of mine too. Was taught by my dad and it's very simple, best shrimp I've had in my life.

-Go to costco and get their big black shrimp, de-vained.
-Use 1 stick of butter for about a pound of shrimp, give or take as much butter as you want.
-Garlic Salt

So throw the stick of butter in a pan, also throw in all the shrimp, liberally season it with the garlic salt and stir. Have your temp around medium-high. Once the butter is melted, re stir, and if your shrimp are getting pink turn off the heat and cover the pan. Let the steam cook your shrimp, this ensures you don't over cook them, that makes them tough. Having tender shrimp is the best way to enjoy shrimp. Now get some steamed rice and put your shrimp on top and drizzle the rice with the liquids from the pan.

You eat it like this, get one shrimp, sucks the yummy garlicky butter juice out of the shell, take the shell off, eat shrimp and scoop some rice.

Ejoy.

Requires lots of finger licking.

Thank you we are doing something similar to this as well.

Vanifae

Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:32 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Brutalicus wrote:

Bacon Explosion. It might just end you, but it's worth the risk. Google it.

http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/

This is so awesome I may just go blind.

Brutalicus

Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:37 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

This is so awesome I may just go blind.

Hey, you don't need eyes to enjoy a log of pure concentrated awesome!

mew

Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:29 pm

Re: Cooking with Maintankadin

Vanifae and Mew cooking adventure extravaganza! :O I think we went a little overboard (I wanted to do lobster, but it was more expensive than anticipated, so we went with shrimp instead).
Thanks to you guys, we decided to cook up some tasty.

2 big t-bones (using a rub recipe/suggestion from this thread). The picture makes them look a bit small but that is really a giant plate, for reference, that is a paper towel roll behind them: