The Cellar - Steak, there's nuthin' better

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Where exactly you at in TX? I forget.

Quote:

Originally posted by That Guy
You don't need to puncture steak to let it marinade. Lime juuice is very acidic and will start the protein-breaking process right away, thus getting the delicious falvors into the meat.

Pick up a copy of Kitchen Essentials (I think that's the name, but I'll check again). He explains many of these concepts in depth.

So it's called Kitchen Science, and was written by Howard Hillman (ISBN 0-395-30533-0).

From pp51:

Quote:

How do commercial meat tenderizers work?

Most of the powdered meat tenderizers sold in grocery stores user papain as the tenderizing ingredient. . . they break down the proteins in muscle fibers and connective tissue into smaller molcules. . . If you increase accessibility to the interior by deeply piercing the meat, as some papain-promoting recipes suggest, your efforts will be counterproductive. Your cooked meat will be tougher than it would be normally because you have created channels through which a lamentable share of juices escapes during the cooking process. The store-bought products also tend to be laden with salts and other additives that can impart an unwanted flavor to your finished dish.

If you like to cook, I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book. I got mine at the Austin Public Library (which shuold answer your last question, Dave -- sorry I missed it before).

Pete brought home a nice little pat on the butt from her company in the form of $75 toward whatever eatery we wanted to hit. So we went to a swanky place to see how the other half eats making sure to dress below standard so everyone would know how cool we are. Anyway the steaks were just too salty.

Questions
1) Is it a trend? Last time we went out for steaks we were assaulted as well.
2) Are you sposed to remove all the chicken crap from your shoes before going into a "nice" place?

Re: steak grievence

On point 1, I don't recall Morton's being too salty... but I like salt. (BTW, the steakhouse is NOT related to the salt company. I don't think.)

On point 2... hey, at the prices they charge, they should clean the chicken crap off FOR you.

On point 3...Anyone know how K.C. Prime compares to Morton's?

Re: Re: steak grievence

Quote:

Originally posted by russotto
On point 1, I don't recall Morton's being too salty... but I like salt. (BTW, the steakhouse is NOT related to the salt company. I don't think.)

On point 2... hey, at the prices they charge, they should clean the chicken crap off FOR you.

On point 3...Anyone know how K.C. Prime compares to Morton's?

How do you know where he went? :)

A lot of (especially chain) steak restaurants have traded proper aging of the beef for the cheaper method of soaking in brine with assorted secret spices. This is also typically done by those 'tender juicy chicken' people, you know, the ones that rotisserie roast their birds.

Quote:

Originally posted by That Guy
The marinade:
pound in some garlic powder, pepper, and meat tenderizer
pour on some Lea & Perrins
refrigerate at least over night, preferably two nights
pull out of fridge at least 1 hour prior to cooking
add 1T beerverege of your choice per steak

So I tried something a litte different the other night. Since we had a few ears of freshly harvested sweet corn (still in the husks), I figgered I'd whack the ol' noggin for something new.

I dashed on a little garlic powder and meat tenderizer, ground in some pepper, and sprinkled a little ground coffee (Texas Pecan Roast, I believe) over the top of two 1.5" thin NY strips. I let it sit out about 30 minutes after I poured in about 2T Lea&Perrins, covered and popped it in the fridge.

Flamed over an extremely hot grill the next night for about 4 or 5 minutes per side, they couldn't have been more pink without still wearing their horns. Perfect grill marks, perfect steak. Luckily the sweetness of the corn offset the bite of the coffee. I highly recommend it.

Poured in a shot of vodka per steak the other night, on top of the usual marinade. Letting it sit for about 20 minutes after the meat reached room temperature also helped.

The vodka really brought out the flavor of the meat, making the proteins extremely bold in my palate. Yummy!

I had a great steak last night at the Chestnut Inn on Oquaga Lake. We also had a couple nice sides asparagus and seasoned small potatoes. The place was packed on a Thursday night out in the boonies, near Deposit NY, the people have spoken.

Izzat the place up on stilts that you can see from the highway??

Nah, its an older fair sized inn right down on the water not too far from rt17. Food and drink downstairs beds upstairs.

Hmmmm... I can't think of a stilt borne restraunt out there. Do you remember anything else about it?

They have a timberman festival out there each year, maybe its a related structure?

Well this was a long time ago. All I remember is that it was wooden-like, and it had a huge glass front for the patrons to look out at the scenery, and it was just over the border in NY state, and you could see it from 17.

But wait, now that I think about it, it must have been further west because we were staying in Sayre at the time...

Anyway, that was a good steak too.

Obriens Inn in Waverly is set up high North of 17. They have a fantastic view of the valley into PA from there. They had been closed for a little while but I think someone said they were opening again.