Showing posts with label Best. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best. Show all posts

Sunday, November 3, 2013

006 - This is not a mis-STEAK!

Who doesn’t love steak? Ever since our ancestor lived inside a cave (and totally naked btw LOL), mankind have developed a taste for meat. This time around, I’m going to show you how to make a steak so good, it’s comparable to eating at a steak joint!

To break down the process in a very simple way, here’s how it goes:

Thawing -> Season -> Sizzle -> Rest.

Don’t tell me you don’t understand that? Well okay, I’m going to explain the steps with pictures. Here’s all the ingredients you will ever need;



1. A Steak cut of your choice. Everyone has their own favorite cut of meat. In particular, I loved either Sirloin or Ribeye. Unless I wanna go lean, I always go for either. Fat = Flavor. Simple reason. Ask your butcher for a cut that is at least 200 grams. Go any thinner than that, you’ll be eating a piece of meat that is so rubbery, Bridgestone will file a lawsuit.

2. 1 Tsp Salt. Use ONLY Coarse sea salt. 

3.  1 Tsp Fresh pepper corns. I currently have this multi colored pepper corn grinder, so I’m going to use that. But if you only have black peppercorns, that’s fine too! 

4. 2 clove of Garlic. What for? Read on!

5. Fresh / Dried Herbs. You can choose either. Since fresh herbs suitable for steak tend to be rare and bit more expensive, you can go with dried herbs. I like to use either dried Thyme or Rosemary

6. Olive Oil. Just don’t use Extra Virgin, it WON’T stand the heat.

7. 10 grams of Butter


Ready? Here we Go!


Step 1 – Thaw your steak at room temperature. This will take around 15-25 minutes depending on how thick the steak is.
We have to. Wait, scratch that. We NEED TO thaw the steak to room temperature is to ensure an even cooking. There is nothing worse than having a steak badly burnt outside, but cold and raw in the inside. NO. NO. NO.

Step 2 – Prepare your pan. I like to use Griddle Pan to get that charred markings you often see in restaurants. Don’t have it? Okay fine, regular pan would do too, sheez. Hit your pan with Medium-High heat (gas mark 7-9 on electric stove top)





Step 3 – Season. Sprinkle the salt and pepper generously on both sides. After that, lightly drizzle with olive oil.




Step 4 – Cook. Once the pan is hot (you can tell by the smoke coming out from the surface), place your Steak in it. Let it sit for 2 minutes, turning it 90° halfway through to create that distinctive cross marking on the surface.



Step 5 – Flip. Turn it with your tongs, and please never turn your Steak by poking it with a fork. This will let the delicious juice ran away from its meat prison, making it dry and tasteless. Let it cook for another 2 minutes, doing the same 90° turn halfway through like on the other side.



Step 6 – Butter and Baste. At around 1:30 mark on the second side, put your butter , garlic, and herbs into the pan. Once the butter melted, swirl it around and baste the steak with the butter/herb mixture.



Step 7 – Rest. Once the steak is finish (I like mine Medium, if you want more doneness, add 30 seconds for Medium Well, 60 seconds for Well Done), pull it out and let it rest on top of a flat surface. This step is vital in nailing that perfect tasting steak. NEVER EVER SKIP IT. This will ensure the moisture inside the steak to go back where it belong. If you skip this step and cut it right away, your steak will taste bland. NO JOKE. This should take around 3-4 minutes.



Step 8 – Plate. Oh yes, the moment you've been waiting for. It doesn't matter if you want to serve it whole or cut up, but your steak is now ready to be eaten.

If you screw up making this the first time, I can’t blame you, because I did too. Cooking steak is an art that goes better try after try. Just don’t give up easily!



Peace

xx

Sunday, October 27, 2013

004 - Cheese Bacon!

Raised on a Moslem family, never have I eaten bacon in my life. Well, not until 2 or 3 years ago (curiosity got the best of me!), when bacon became the first pork I ever tried.

I remembered vividly how I imagine the bacon would taste like: savory, salty, with hints of smokiness and sweetness, But, noooooo. I didn't like the taste because it's way too salty for my liking (let’s just hope this happens only on the bacon that I tasted), but I absolutely loved the texture! The bacon was perfectly cooked, around 12-13 cm in length, beautifully browned, and incredibly crispy! That crispiness is beyond anything I ever ate in my whole life!

So I was stumbling upon YouTube one day, and one of my favorite cooking channel, BrothersGreenEats uploaded a tutorial on how to make a bacon, out of cheese. Check it out here:




I thought, "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!". As it turns out, it's not, and it's still one of the simplest and best tasting bacon alternative around. The basic recipe is very, very simple, even a 3 year old can do it. Here's my take on the recipe this duo came up.
Here's everything you need:


1. Cheese (it has to be melting cheese. Think Cheddar, Mozzarella, Jack, Colby, Mexican, or Emmental)

2. Smoked Paprika Powder

3. Onion Powder


Ready? Here we Go!!


1. Heat your pan, Medium-High heat (Gas mark 6-7 on an electric cook top), be careful not to over heat it, we want it just heated enough to melt and crisp the cheese, not burn it



2. While the pan is heating, grate your cheese. Any kind of grater will do, but I find grater with large hole worked best for my liking.



3. Mixed the grated cheese with Paprika and Onion powder in a bowl.

4. Once the pan is hot, put your cheese in, and shape it into 'bacon' strips.

5. Watch in horror as the cheese melt. Be careful not to move them around! I know it's tempting to move them around, but trust me, it's better to leave it be for around 1-1,5 minutes!

6. Once you see there are no more cheese solid in sight, FLIP IT! And prepare to hear that majestic sizzling sound! And let it sizzle for another 30-45 seconds

7. Don't worry if the bacon looked limp, it'll harden once you let it rest!


8. After it's crisp to your liking, pull it out and let it rest over kitchen paper to drain any excess oil.

9. Go nuts.


These cheese bacon tasted absolutely divine! I like to make a BLT sandwich out of it, add a dash of Sriracha and watch as I helplessly indulged in pure bliss.

Don't blame me if you're addicted to this.


Peace

xx





P.S: BrothersGreenEats is a great source for cooking DIY. Subscribe to their channel now!