Steak Myths

Can you elaborate? Your dry-brined steak goes from fridge to pan? Please share your method.

No kidding. Meanwhile many approaches work. I love a good high temp roast chicken, and a good low temp one. Reverse seared steak, sous vide, basted, turned, and so on.

The definitive outcome of articles / “analysis” like this is often dubious when in reality many things work for many people.

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No, not immediately. I used to let it sit out for an hour or two despite being aware of the minuscule difference in temp.

I just don’t know if I will continue to do so when it doesn’t make a difference in the end.

Also, grilled for the most part.

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Thanks. I paid too much attention to the headline of the myth, which was “If you cut it open to check doneness”, and didn’t note his more cautious “slit/peek” comment.

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No kidding! If simply buying per the steak[1], I’m paying over $15/pound for the grocery feedlot poor cousin version of @emglow101’s grassfed ribeye.

[1] I usually buy whole 7-bone sections and break down my own as bone-in ribeye steaks. Around Christmas I can often get wholes for about $8/lb at the grocery, and they stand freezing well in that state, so I load up. But they’re still the standard feedlot variety sourced by chain groceries.


Edit to add


I normally take them out an hour or so in advance but I’ve also gone straight from fridge to pan. As long as I’d started the dry brine early enough that all the surface moisture was gone. Works fine.

What I don’t want to do especially in summer humidity is get them out 15 minutes ahead and have them get some condensation on them.

So it’s either straight from fridge or out of fridge long enough that any developed condensation has a chance to dry. Hour or two.

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No no, neither of those is perfect. Instead the one and only perfect chicken is low/slow at 250°F.

Kidding of course. But it is a good recipe and my kids love it, so I like to spread it around when I can.

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For a while we raised Hereford, Charolais, and Angus. For some crazy reason dad once worked in several head of Holstein which were a terrible pain in the arse as they could jump fences like a deer. Holsteins are devious.

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I’ve cooked countless steaks and can’t pinch. I have to use a thermometer.

Are you making a distinction between certified grass fed, feeder lot cattle fed, or cracked corn and grass fed cattle for flavor? To a very very large degree most people can not discern a flavor difference. It might need a place on the myth list. Grass fed cattle are much leaner.

Help, what does “can’t pinch” mean here? (Edit - Maybe this is a reference to how stiff the thumb muscle feels when reaching for different fingers?)

Now rereading his comment I’m not sure if he meant all grass-fed (which I assumed at first) or grass + corn finishing.

I doubt I can tell the difference taste-wise between feedlot and grass + corn finished. But I’m certain that for me at least, solely grass/forage fed is pretty distinctive in flavor. And the flavor really seems to linger longer.

Yes as to it being a lot leaner. The first time I bought grass fed it was NY strips. I cut one in half and test cooked it and was glad I did instead of just doing all 6 at once. It was nearly well done in the usual time one of the same thickness would have been medium rare. So I turned the grill off and went to watch some demos on how to cook it without ruining it.

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I was referring to feed lot cattle . As driving down hwy 5 you can smell the stink from miles away. That beef has a sour taste. The cattle up here roam . Better watch the road when driving. I don’t know what they are finished with

Yeah, that’s it. Sorry. I see video chefs pinch or squeeze or poke meat with their finger to determine if it is done. I think I could with some practice but couldn’t use that method to cook for someone else.

I’ve heard grass fed described as tasting a bit more iron rich in flavor. I’m a bit skeptical about tasting a difference due the variation of cuts, marbling, thicknesses, seasoning and cooking methods.

Our cattle were a pasture and feeder lot raised combo. Each morning they’d be in the lot all grumpy waiting to be fed out of a bunk then meandered back to the pasture. We fed cracked corn with minerals. As for me I would not pick certified grass fed because I want the best marbling possible. However those organic types may prefer grass fed or certified grass fed as it seems a healthier and somewhat more humane choice.

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FWIW, that’s not at all what he says: "After the first 20 minutes—the time that many chefs and books will recommend you let a steak rest at room temperature—the center of the steak had risen to a whopping 39.8°F. Not even a full two degrees. So I let it go longer. 30 minutes. 50 minutes. 1 hour and 20 minutes. After 1 hour and 50 minutes, the steak was up to 49.6°F in the center. Still colder than the cold water comes out of my tap in the summer, and only about 13% closer to its target temperature of a medium-rare 130°F than the steak in the fridge.

You can increase the rate at which it warms by placing it on a highly conductive metal, like aluminum,* but even so, it’d take you at least an hour or so to get up to room temperature."

Bolding mine, but it seems like you can pretty materially change the temperature on the steak in a short period of time. Now, whether that matters, I have no idea :slight_smile:

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I don’t know where you are but that odor is the smell of money as we said on the farm. As for a sour flavor… :roll_eyes:. If “up there” means cold country those roaming cattle huddle in pole barns and in herds in the winter.

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I’d have to reread the temp thing, but I seem to recall that the difference between cold start steak and “room temp” or minimally warmer than fridge temp was negligible.

yeah, his conclusion was while you can definitely raise the temp pretty quickly, it ultimately doesn’t matter. rather, it’s liquid on the surface, which absorbs heat, that is a bigger driver, thus his rec to use salt to draw out moisture and then pat steaks dry.

But surprisingly delicious.

Bryan Flannery is a hometown boy who broke away from his family meat business to start Flannery Beef, considered by many chefs as the best you can buy. Here he tells of the industry’s success in growing and selling Holstein cows for beef consumption. Similarly, we enjoyed the Spanish Basque tradition of retiring and resting farm cattle and oxen for beef, absolutely the best I have ever eaten.

From Bryan’s website, “The beef that we refer to as California Reserve comes from the Holstein breed. Holsteins are primarily dairy cattle, and as males are no good for milk, they were destined to the ‘milk fed veal’ program and processed via the caged/force-fed veal production (which nobody thinks is very pretty). A number of years ago a group of farmers in southeastern California got together and decided to experiment with sending these steers out to pasture alongside the Angus and Hereford. As far as we’re concerned the results are phenomenal; we think they are producing as good a product as exists anywhere in the world. In some cases, we’ve seen pieces that will exceed the quality of traditional American Wagyu or Kobe Beef.”

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I always dry-brine for several hours or overnight with most steaks.

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Back in the 70’s when Dad was experimenting with Holstein as beef cattle it was not unheard of but pretty uncommon. They had a reputation of being good to eat but also had a reputation for being obnoxiously ornery too. Those were two reasons he introduced and dropped them from the herd.

I remember seeing them running, kicking, and jumping over board fences and off they’d run. Good luck trying to get them back in. They were smart critters. Lol.

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