Christian InTech Articles - Cooking TIps

Informative Articles

Choosing Mail Order Gourmet Meat Cuts Buying meat is one of the finest delicacies left in gourmet food. There are so many cuts, tastes, and styles of preparation, filets, and seasoning to delight and tingle all senses. Saving money on gourmet meat can be easy, just follow the few basic... Cooking for a Holiday Crowd Made Easy (Peasy) ARA) - The holidays. A time for loads of family, gifts and good cheer. Unfortunately, the holidays also can be a huge headache when it comes to cooking a holiday dinner for a house filled with people. Plus, you’re probably sick to death of turkey... Gianduia Peaches Grand Prize Winner 1st Prize – Dessert Category Recipe created by Wolfgang Hanau West Palm Beach, Florida Make It Special Chef Recipe Contest Makes 12 servings Chef Quote: "I enjoy cooking with fruits because they are naturally... The Secret to Preparing the Perfect Paella According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, paella is a saffron-flavored dish made with varying combinations of rice, vegetables, meat, chicken and seafood. The Dictionary also explains that in the Old French and... Your Oven: Kitchen Ally or Public Enemy Number One? As Thanksgiving approaches, newspapers, mega-stores, and food producers have recently begun their annual advertising assault to get your turkey dollars. Yet I suspect that huge numbers of people are living in dread and anxiety because they're...         Grill Your Steak The Right Way No matter what you preference in a steak, maintaining good moisture should always be your goal. When searching for a good cut of beef, look for a cut with good consistent marbling. Fat equals flavor so very low fat content in meat will tend to dry it out and have much less flavor. You should not have to coat a great piece of meat with sauce just to get flavor, in fact you should avoid using a sauce at all. You want to see visible grains of fat running through the meat but not large pieces of fat. If you do see larger pieces simply trim them off. As you cook your steak the fat will melt and naturally tenderize the meat. After removing the meat from refrigeration seasoning the meat with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Many other herb and spice combinations can be added to your taste just be sure you have plenty of salt and pepper in addition to any other seasonings. Allow the meat to come to room temperature before grilling. When grilling your steak first make sure that you have your grill nice and hot. This will give the outside a nice crust and will also help seal in its natural juices. If you fire flares up at any point, move the meat off the flame. While you want a hot grill, you do not want direct flame on the meat for any extended time period. The worst mistake that most grillers make is to continually flip the meat time and time again. Continually flipping the meat does nothing but cause the meat to dry out. Flipping the steak over and over does not make you a grill master, doing it right, does. In the end you will flip your steak 3 times which will mean you have cooked both sides twice for 3 minutes on each side. For cross-hatch marks on your meat simply turn it 45 degrees when flipping. Total cooking time should be roughly 12 minutes. This will achieve a medium rare steak depending on how hot your grill is. Because every grill it different you will need to experiment to get the desired results. There is no exact way to tell when the steak is done. Without cutting the meat open and risking the release of its juices, the best way is to either press the meat to judge its tenderness or use a meat thermometer. If you choose not to press the meat, you can use you hand as a guide. For instance if you take you index finger and touch the fleshy part of your palm right under your thumb, that is what rare should feel like. Conversely if you touch you pinky to that same part of your palm that is the consistency of well done. So from finger to the next starting with your index finger and ending with the pinky it would be: rare, medium-rare, medium and well done. Herb rub: 1 tablespoon dried thyme 1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon kosher salt 2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper 2 teaspoons mustard powder 2 teaspoons paprika 1 teaspoon onion Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Brush the steak lightly with olive oil and rub in herb rub. About the author: Scott Schirkofsky is the chef and owner of At Home Gourmet. You can find more recipes, cooking tips, food and beverage articles on his highly recommended website: http://www.athomegourmet.com. Scott is also the owner of http://www.americasfavoritefood.com and http://www.thetravelassistant.com .