Cooking a well done steak Gordon Ramsay

I found this video on Youtube and thought it was interesting. A news crew went to Gordon Ramsay's Maze restaurant and filmed a well done steak that was "overdone and a bit burnt" and tasted like "rubber."

In other words, it sounds like just about every well done steak I've ever had.



I think the journalists were a bit obnoxious, and I have to side with Ramsay on this one. Either they have an axe to grind with Ramsay, or they're fishing for more ratings. In any event, a well done steak loses its flavour through cooking.

Typically, well done steaks will be slightly charred on the outside, especially if it's a thick steak that the longer cooking requires. An overcooked steak will be bitter. I'm not sure what rubber tastes like as unlike the reviewer, ever eaten it but I going to assume he's referring to the chewy texture.

However, the USDA minimum safe temperature for cuts of steak are 145F which is around Medium to Medium well done so a well done steak is not necessary for safety reasons. Red meat turns pink at around 140F as the myoglobin -- a protein that stores and carries oxygen to the muscle tissue -- starts to turn colour. It's also that runny red juice that people mistake for blood. It's actually the myoglobin that gives the meat its red colour.

Some tips for cooking steak:

• Don't go by weight when cooking meat. Use the thickness as a measure instead. A one inch thick steak will cook on medium heat for 4 minutes a side for rare, 5-6 for medium and around 7 for well done.
  
• Only turn steaks once especially if using a BBQ. If turned too early, the outer layer can stick to the grill and you want to get those great lines on the steak.
• Meat is mostly water and they give it up through the cooking process. Let the meat rest for about 10 minutes so it can reabsorb the water and you'll end up with a more tender steak.
• When taking temperatures, use the center of the meat away from the bone (the bone can heat up more than the meat and give an inaccurate temperature reading) and slowly pull out the thermometer reading the temperature the entire time. The lowest temperature will be the most accurate.
• Ground meat should be cooked to 155F at least. There is greater danger for pathogens and fecal bacteria from the intestines in the butchering process with ground cuts of meat.
• Chefs often fry their steaks in butter with a bit of olive oil and keep basting through the cooking process. Tilt the pan slightly towards you and with a soup spoon, keep pouring the butter over the top. This will result in a juicier steak even at medium.

Does 'searing' meat seal in the juices?

I know it's been a while, but I'm returning to the blog because I've started cooking again after a long contract. I dug out this old post I wrote two years ago and made some changes to it.

This is a somewhat old question now but I thought I would revisit it because there is still a great deal of confusion on the topic. I still see people doing this and for the wrong reason. It seems to depend on what one means by 'searing'. That does not mean preventing a complete net water loss from the meat tissue.

In fact, searing the meat results in a greater loss of water content from the muscle tissue than not searing the meat. As the meat is applied to a very hot surface, it browns the outer tissue and purportedly reduces the porousness of the muscle fibres, a belief that, according to Wikipedia, began with a food scientist and chemist Justus von Liebig in 1850.

The hard crusty outer layer of that is formed through a chemical process is often falsely believed to act as a barrier to prevent water from escaping during the cooking process.

Searing a piece of meat improves the flavour through a chemical process called The Maillard reaction. Unlike caramelisation in which sugars are oxidized, The Maillard reaction is a process where a carbon and oxygen group of a sugar reacts with an amino group from an amino acid which results in a browning effect and a flavour change. A good example is the toasting of bread or roasting of coffee.

It does improve the texture as the difference between a crusty exterior and a softer interior make for a more desirable palate experience. Quite often chefs will brown the exterior of the meat before broiling, frying or even boiling large roasts.

Sear the meat to improve the flavour, but a juicy cut of meat on the table starts with a fresh cut of meat from the local butcher.

For more information on the science of cooking, try On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee and Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor by Herve This.

Visitors

Screw Cork! Caps work just as well!

I may be a snob about a few things (movies in particular) but wine isn't one of them. The science is in regarding the cap vs. cork debate on wine and it's clear that the cap works just as well but adds convenience.

Globe and Mail wine connoisseur and fellow alcohol snob Beppi Crosariol agrees with me.

He writes:

Some avid wine drinkers know – and too many do not – that cork is highly susceptible to a foul-smelling but otherwise harmless defect commonly known as cork taint. Officially called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, it is not to be confused with those little particles falling into the bottle as you wrestle with a dried-out cork. TCA is a specific chemical fault and it smells, depending on whom you consult, like mouldy cardboard, damp newspapers, sweaty socks or my neighbour's unwashed dog in the rain.

So why use cork? Partially I think it's part of the experience. Searching through the kitchen drawers for a corkscrew and fumbling to stick it through the cork and turn against mounting resistance seems to make the effort of enjoying the wine more pleasurable but only in the way being made to wear a toga and ceremoniously dunked with maple syrup is tantamount to entering high school.

Let's hear it for TCA less wine. I love progress.

The Shoe Burger

Want!

A curious letter from Doctor Who

This is a letter I received from Tom Baker about ten years ago when I first started working on the cookbook (not a typo -- it's really been that long) It didn't make it in the book because I didn't know quite what to do with it and I never got written permission to use it. I do think this blog is a good place to put it and it's a shame to go to waste. It is pretty entertaining and I hope more people can make sense of it than me.

I asked Mr. Baker if he could give me a recipe, his favourite foods or an anecdote.

This is what I got:

To begin at the beginning. I was born with several teeth on the 20th Jan. 1934. I mention the teeth not to brag but to praise my mother who adored me and told me that she went through hell for the first few hours of my life. Not only did I seem glad to be out of the womb and into the Liverpool air, but I was simply an ecstatic and voracious feeder; which I still am. Or, if you like, which is still true.

My darling mother told me that me appetite, like my acting was way over the top of anything she could imagine. And so sharp were my teeth that I made mince meat of my mother's nipples. I waited till she died before I revealed this piece of autobiography. Of course these are very dim memories for me.

Because the tooth fairy had been so good to me I was deprived of my mother's molk within three hours of my attack on her nipples; both of them. I hope it's clear that I'm talking about both my mother's nipples and not the nipples of the tooth fiary for whom I have the greatest respect. My mohter was a martyr to her love for me.

Oh, get on with it, Tom.

So there you have the beginning of my eating experience, my own mother!

I'll give you a piece of advice here; never trust a man who would eat his own mother.

My mother also told me that the Germans had heard about me and that's why they declared war on Liverpool and began to bomb us so often. I had no idea that they were also attacking the rest of the country. So within a short time the country was short of food, all my fault, and then began the austerity programme. Each day at six o'clock in the morning and then at midday and again at six at night a large wooden spoon was produced from behind the oven and I was fed cod liver oil. In no time I was hooked and would mew for my CLO.

We also were fed a nice looking asphalt like substance called malt. I grew to like this as much as my thrice daily CLO. Whatever these aids to life contained they sure made me grow. By the time I was six years old I was bout five feet and eight inches tall and often topped in the street by recruiting sergeants with gruff voices who demanded to know why I was not in the army. When they discovered I was only six and not eighteen they whistled Rule Britannia and marvelled.

About this time, 1940, I started on a course to become a professional liar. We were keen Roman Catholics in my bit of Liverpool and confession was a must if you were interested in Eternal life. Following this sacrament, I made my first communion. For the Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Nudists among your readers I should explain.

This second steop on teh way to perfection was called: "First Holy Communion," and it was a very special morning indeed. IN fact it was the most amazing morning of my entire life. It was the mornign of the day that I ate God. Shall I say that again? OK. It was the morning of the day that I first ate God. I swallowed His body, His blood, His Soul and His Divinity. It really was a big day for me. I should add for those of you who like all the details that I did not bite Him nor did I chew Him.

No, He was so tender that He just dissolved on my tongue and I ingested Him. It was my first meal on that glorious May morning 1940.

So, to recap: My first meal was milk and both my mother's nipples. This was followed by a mixture called Cow and Gate. This was a white paste, I think, that tasted vaguely of cows and I don't (know) what else. But it was a great fertilizer and made babies grow tall. Then came the Malt and the Cod Liver Oil on top of the Cow and Gate. And then, as I have just told you, I started to eat God.

Well this mixture acted like magic and I grew like a beanstalk in a Pantomime. By the time I was eight I was as tall as a Grenadier guardsman though of course much thinner. I was called lofty by any passer by.

Then came Bovril, which is an essence of beef. Taken in large quantities with say spinach seems to produce a state of credulousness that surpasses disbelief. So Nipples Blood God and Spinach were my early influences. You can imagine the exquisite sense of anticipation I feel in a restaurant when I ask the waiter to bring the Menu! But I'm always disappointed. If it wasn't for the Spinach, I'd be in despair.

Don't chop those carrots!

Chopping carrots was always a bit of a chore, but I never knew there were drawbacks to both health and taste. BBC News has released this story Cancer boost from whole carrots and the findings are

Scientists found "boiled before cut" carrots contained 25% more of the anti-cancer compound falcarinol than those chopped up first.

Experiments on rats fed falcarinol have shown they develop fewer tumours.

The Newcastle University study will be presented at NutrEvent, a conference on nutrition and health, to be held in France.

Lead researcher Dr Kirsten Brandt, from Newcastle University's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: "Chopping up your carrots increases the surface area so more of the nutrients leach out into the water while they are cooked.

"By keeping them whole and chopping them up afterwards you are locking in nutrients and the taste, so the carrot is better for you all round."

The Newcastle scientist, along with colleagues at the University of Denmark, discovered the health benefits of falcarinol in carrots four years ago.

Lead researcher Dr Kirsten Brandt, from Newcastle University's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: "Chopping up your carrots increases the surface area so more of the nutrients leach out into the water while they are cooked.

Twenty five percent is a pretty significant difference especially considering a reduction in tumors by a third for rats. I'm not sure what the comparison for humans is and what exactly type of cancer it would affect but so far this is only one study and hopefully there will be more to come

From a pure culinary perspective, I think just as many restaurants will find this interesting:

Dr Brandt added that in blind taste studies the whole carrots also tasted much better.

Eight of ten people favoured the whole vegetables over those that were pre-chopped.

This is because the naturally occurring sugars which are responsible for giving the carrot its distinctively sweet flavour were also found in higher concentrations in the carrot that had been cooked whole.

Huh.