Real Cooks

The back strap is the only one I would not consider overcooked. If it was reverse seared it does not appear to have been taken to much over room temperature before being seared as it is still 120° or below in the center.

Oven searing is great. That is why it is used in the steak lovers post below. It is not used in the Delmonico post due to the thinness of the steak. It is the pre-cook that can cause overcooking issues for a smaller piece of meat.

Hilditch
 
I prefer my red meat to be medium-rare. You seem to prefer it just a shade beyond blue. But the idea behind reverse searing isn't a matter of if the steak is over or undercooked to your preference... its about creating only a very thin "twilight zone", or gray area between the crust and the preferred doneness for the interior, while still getting an awesome crust.

I take the interior to around 100F before searing it, because I still prefer more sear than many cooks seem to.

(sigh... we've done it again... let's try to get this back on-topic, and not a thread about how to cook a steak. Sorry, DougD)
 
William J said:
When I was in second grade I was given a cookbook for kids (50+ years ago). One day when I got home from school I picked up the telephone and asked for number 52 and the operator connected me to the place my mom worked and she answered the phone. I asked her,"If I wanted to make a triple batch of chocolate chip cookies would I take the amount of all the ingredients times three and then mix it together?" She said "yes." "OK, thanks mom." Then I proceeded with the work of making a triple batch of chocolate chip cookies.

After a while mom started wondering why her eldest son wanted to know about a triple batch of cookies? Then I am certain terror struck! Undoubtedly, she was visualizing, flour strewn all over the kitchen, broken eggs on the floor, broken dishes and then the horror of trying to get a match through the tiny little hole in the floor of the oven after turning on the gas and trying to get the oven lit with a match!

She raced home!

Upon her arrival, she immediately headed for the kitchen and found me getting the third cookie sheet out of the oven and the fourth one going in. I can still see the relief on her face! She calmly told me she didn't mind that I was wanting to bake some cookies, but, Please do it when she was home ... just in case.
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It is a good story for thanks given diner
 
Okay, so when I started this thread, I thought I may actually be a real cook. But now I know the truth. I'm gettin' there, though.
 
Mark H said:
A person cannot call him or herself a cook. Only through your efforts will someone else see your talent.
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But beware. When people call me a chef; at least I know they don't know what the hell they are talking about.

Hilditch

PS: When this thread started I sad to myself: "Oh s***, here we go." Fun.
 
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Stan D said:
I wasn't necessarily looking for humor. And as disappointment goes, I've had more than my fair share. I got hooked on homemade bread with a bread machine and store bought mixes, but soon tired of the shape of the loaf that one of those things makes. So I started doing the dough only mode, and finish in a glass bread pan. I finally wore out the machine, and had just gotten a stand mixer, so I decided to do it from scratch. After a dozen or so "disappointments", I finally found what the problem was. A simple 1/8 of a cup of water. The recipes I was using all either said 1 cup, or 1 1/2 cup of water. The final recipe that said 1 1/8 cup water was perfect, and have been using it ever since.
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Stan-One thing I learned the hard way when I first used the dough hook on my Kitchen-aid mixer for bread.

Be very careful of the speed and duration. Too fast and/or too long can create enough heat in the dough to kill off the yeast prematurely and stop your rise from happening or stunt it.
 
Thanks for the humor Stan--just now saw your first post. In my OSHO every time you try to fix food, there is a 50/50 chance for success or failure! My hubby is a good cook, I think, but where he excels is in presentation and the items he puts together in a meal. We never eat in restaurants--too expensive, and food at home is fun--although I hate doing dishes:chuckle: I agree with Hilditch in his comment that making breads or any items with flour, you really need to have a feel for the texture and moisture of the food. Now to haul out the DO and make some chili. (Which my husband says is really some sort of Tex-Mex flavored soup.)
 
William J said:
Stan-One thing I learned the hard way when I first used the dough hook on my Kitchen-aid mixer for bread.

Be very careful of the speed and duration. Too fast and/or too long can create enough heat in the dough to kill off the yeast prematurely and stop your rise from happening or stunt it.
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The recipe that I finally settled on for my weekly white bread said to use the lowest speed on the mixer, and while yeast needs warmth, most recipes say to not go above 110 or 120 degrees. I've had the rise stunted or not even happen, but I can attribute that to old or an odd brand of yeast. Otherwise, I've had good luck with that.

Admit it, Hilditch. This thread has been fun.
 
You might be a real cook if you can name 6 ways to cook an egg keeping a runny yolk and never use two hands to crack open an egg.

Hilditch
 
You might be a real cook if you know the best way to cook any cut of meat. From nose to tail. (Boy, does that remind me of a pig roast!)

Hilditch
 
I was thinking along the lines of "Real Men" do this or that and I threw it out there. I once cooked bacon without my shirt on and I guess the word mistake isn't a strong enough word, stupid is more apt. The bacon started popping and dummy me didn't take the hint and just stepped back a moment and stepped back in and turned the bacon. Just as I finished, one piece exploded and I got 1/4 inch droplets of hot grease on me and burned me good. The rest of the story is that I've been through some major surgeries in my abdominal area and I have little to no feeling from my chest down. I did feel the burn is some areas but I didn't catch others, and I have some scars where you can actually see the "drip" as it ran down. So I was just making light of a true life experience here Hilditch. Chuck Norris I am NOT. Sit back, drink what you brought, I'll be here all week.
 
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