FoH Cookbook

[Radahr Manasponge]

Originally Posted by spronk

I'm a steak guy and my wife is out of town last week and this week and its gotten a bit too cold to fire up the grill. "The Week" had an interesting recipe for cooking steak that I've been using, it comes out insanely awesome. Heres what I did:

First, have a seasoned cast iron pan.

Have the steaks defrosted (if frozen) and in the fridge overnight.

Now, 1-2 hours before you want to eat take the steaks out. Make a little mixture of corn starch and salt, about equal amounts of both.

Pat dry the steaks with paper towels. Rub the steaks with the mixture, you don't want to super coat them but get a light covering over most of it.

Put the steaks in the freezer. Let it sit there minimum 30 mins, max 2 hours. Any longer than 2 hours and I really taste a difference in the final steak, it gets too "chewy".

20 minutes before you want to eat, heat your oven to broil (500+) with the cast iron pan in it. Once the oven is ready, take the steaks out of the fridge, take the cast iron out of the oven, and put the steaks in. Put it back in the oven, let it cook for 3-5 minutes each side (flip once). I use a meat thermometer, or you can use the "flesh of my hand" method. Once its done, take it out and let it sit on a cutting board for at least 5 minutes. I've forgotten to put pepper every time on the steak, you can put it on right before you toss them into the oven.

The steaks will be incredible, very juicy and almost a lobster/butter consistency. Apparently the freezer time really helps suck out the moisture on the outside making for a great sear and letting the juices stay inside better. I've found bone-in ribeye steaks work great with this method, and the great thing is they are relatively cheap - $3-5/lb. I usually will grill 2 and chop the smaller leftover one up with salad for evening meal.

I honestly don't understand the science behind freezing the steak, I'm sure someone like Alton Brown would be able to give more info as to whether its a good idea or bad idea. Works great for me though.

My best guess, based on what you wrote: You're coating the surface of the meat with a rub that has lots of salt. Freezing for a while will cause surface-level ice crystals to form, puncturing cells and leaking out water, and causing the rubflavor to get drawn in further.

Basically what you're doing here is the same method many use, put forth generations ago and brought to the masses with the recent resurgence of cooking. Alton Brown used this method in his first "Good Eats" episode, IIRC, and its one used here by a bunch of folks, minus the freezing part. I use the cast iron method in this very thread with some 1.5ish pound filets, page back a bit to find the pics if you like.

[Haus]

Here's something I whipped up last night. Simple and moderately fast. I was raised on southern "down home" cooking so this was in my wheelhouse.

Background : My wife recently got put on a "carb controlled" diet. Imagine it as "atkins lite" so I have been trying to come up with low carb alternatives. Problem is almost anything fried is floured up and that jacks up the carb count. Ergo...

Haus' Low-Carb Pan Fried Chicken

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tablespoons of chopped up chives
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup of ground-up/pulverized almonds.
Some shredded colby jack cheese

Prep : one frying pan with around 1/4-1/2" of canola oil
One bowl with 3 egg whites in it
In another bowl combine the following :
1/2 cup soy flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tablespoons of chopped up chives
1/4 cup of ground-up/pulverized almonds.

Cut the chicken lengthwise. In the case of mine this resulted in 4 nice long tenderloin style strips.
Dip them in the bowl with all those egg whites.
Now take them and bread/flour them with the mixture. ROll them around and make sure they get a lot on them.
Take them out and put them on a plate. Repeat if you want extra crispy.

Fry in the canola oil until GBD on each side.

I then served these on a bed of steamed green and yellow beans with baby carrots. Right after putting them on the veggie bed I liberally apply the shredded cheese.

I ended up throwing out half the flour mix, so considering 1/4 cup of soy flour and all the rest I ended up with around 8 grams of carbs between 4 pieces of chicken, two on each plate. Virtually no carbs in the beans.

Wife's official review : delicious (although I admit she was just probably stunned that I cooked..)
I didn't think to take pics, will next time...

[MrGraham]

Finally got an Indian dish to turn out well.

Channa Saag -

Ingredients:
1 10oz frozen spinach pack cut/chopped or whole doesnt matter (we did with fresh spinach one time too, but it's not worth the added cost/work)
1 can chick peas - Your preference on how much to add (1/2 can seems best, but I don't usually want to waste the other half so I put it all)
2 small onions chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic minced
1-2 inch piece of ginger root cut/minced
1-2 jalapenos minced - leave seeds out to make it less spicy
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2-1 tsp chole/channa masala (Optional) Adds different taste, I wouold try recipe with and without.
1tsp butter or margerine if desired
salt to taste
add black pepper if desired to taste
oil

1) Cook spinach or heat in microwave to warm.
2) In wok or pan fry onions in oil til well cooked on med-med high heat.
3) Add garlic, ginger and jalapeno and fry 2-5 minutes.
4) Add all dry spices except channa masala powder, salt and pepper and stir 2 minutes.
5) Now add the spinach and stir 2 minutes.
6) Add 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup water and bring to a boil.
7) Add desired amount of salt, and the butter or margerine, stir and cover. Simmer 5-10 minutes.
8) Turn off flame and cool a bit.
9) Place spinach mixture into blender and blend to desired consistency.
10) In same pan add bit of butter and place spinach mixture back into pan on med heat.
11) Add chic peas, bring to a boil, add channa masala or chole masala (if desired) turn heat down and simmer 10 minutes.

Can always add more water if too thick and just boil and then simmer to desired amount.
Also, you can add more dry spices at the end if you think there is a flavor you are not getting.