Leaderboard
728x15

Cool Upload Image images

Large Rectangle

Check out these upload image images:



Seared and basted steak
upload image
Image by dollen

There are two very simple things you can do to make even mediocre cuts of beef amazing.

Sear the meat (Even though I know better health wise)
Baste the beef as it finishes
It's really that simple. If you already know how to sear and baste, just stop reading now. If not, here's how I approach it.

Start with a properly & oiled (seasoned that is) cast-iron pan. Why cast iron you ask? Well, that's a bit of a story but in short:

99% of non-stick pans are bad for you
Stainless steel pans very in quality and are harder to get consistent sears with
Cast-iron pans are easy to cook just about anything in and they can go straight in the oven from the cook-top if you need to finish a larger cut of meat.
Sear with a high-temperature oil: I like to use an organic coconut oil to start the cooking and get a good searing on the beef. When the pan and the oil are good and hot place the meat in the pan, away from your body as not to splash your fleshy-bits with hot oil. Once the meat is in the pan just leave it alone. Don't shake it and play with it as if your on the Food Network. Just leave it there until you can see the sear developing from the side of the meat and the beef lets-go of the cast-iron pan nice an easily. It's a bit like talking a jumper off a ledge. You have to be gentle and precise. If you push to far to soon, it's a sloppy piece of meat.

Time to flip: Once you've seared the first side of the beef to a drooling @instagram like image of perfection lift the beef from the pan, roll the oils around for 10 seconds and find an unused portion of the pan to repeat the same show of beef-love (searing) on the others side of the beef.

This is the time to start adding veg. Onions and red bell pepper go a long way. If you're in to heat but find jalapeƱos to be a bit too much, add those now to steal some flavor while dulling the intense heat. Otherwise wait until you're at T-minus 60 seconds for the jalapeƱos.

The second side of the beef will take less time to cook than the first side. Keep an eye – and finger on the beef checking for your personal level on done-ness Just before the steak is done, drop a spoonful of @KerryGoldUSA grass-fed butter in the pan and your herb of choice. I like rosemary and/or sage but it's your call. Let it melt-down for a minute or so and as soon as you have a foaming liquid and herb butter sauce going, tilt the pan towards you a bit to pool-up the herbed/butter basil and start baling the butter onto the steak as if you were baling water from a sinking life-raft in an ocean full of sharks. Seriously, keep it going as the steak finishes. Once the butter turns a bit brown, you're in your final seconds of basting.

Well done! Now take a rest and let your beef rest for a few minutes as well. Why – I love hypothetical questions. Because the only thing a resting steak wants to do is soak it's liquids back up and make little aquifers of steak juice for your taste-buds to splash into. Really. Let the steak soak its juices back up a bit and you'll be a happy, happy camper.


WATERCOLOR OF A JAPANESE VILLAGE WITH MT FUJI IN BACKGROUND BY R. L. HUFFSTUTTER
upload image
Image by roberthuffstutter
This is a watercolor I began and completed yesterday, 23 September 2009. In order to find my subject matter, I closed my eyes and reflected on a few events enjoyed in the early 60s while stationed in Japan with VQ-1, based at NAS Atsugi, Japan. From the base, I was afforded a view of Mt Fuji everyday when the weather permitted. With a few moments, the joy of those memories became an easy subject matter. Thus, the above image. While I did take many photographs and made many sketches, I am sorry I did not spend more time taking photos and sketching. Japan is truly a nation where almost everywhere one looks, there is a view worth capturing. It is a beautiful nation with a beautiful and honorable people.

www.flickr.com/groups/1555401@N23/

Banner