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jkcerda

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 10, 2013
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Criminal Mexi Midget
what are you using? I have been cooking a lot at work and I really need to grill meat to make it the way it was intended.
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MY anchor baby and I have been enjoying steak or chicken but a pan is NOT the way to make steak :nono: charcoal would be nice but since it's just food for 2 it's not worth the time or effort. I am looking at a few options.

this one looks good but it's over $100
http://www.amazon.com/Stephens-Stov...474961&sr=1-1&keywords=stephens+stove+top+bbq

this one I might try since it's cheap
http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Cooki..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=1WYHG6YYPN1NB5F522NN

other options might be
http://www.target.com/p/char-broil-...Slot=medium_1_6&term=small+portable+gas+grill

if any of you grill at home, what do YOU use?

thanks.
 
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What about getting a heavy bottomed stainless steel, or heavy bottomed cast iron, (or even a heavy bottomed copper) sauté pan really, really hot - the sort of hot where, when you add the oil, you can see the oil swirling with a gleaming, sinuous and oily intensity and where it has become almost colourless in appearance?

This is what I do. It doesn't replicate what a good charcoal grill can do in the back garden (but then, when I am at home, I live in a rain soaked corner of Europe where we don't get to do outside barbecues all that often).

However, when I buy good, thick steaks, I do manage to cook them on the stove (I rarely grill them) so that they are properly charred on the outside and pink to red (personally, if I am to have steak I like it red) inside, if that is what your fancy is.

The trick is, though, to pay good money - sometimes quite a bit of money - for cookware. It is a good investment because it will last you decades. Some of my stuff is over twenty years old. None of it was cheap, although I did pick up a few pieces in sales, or when they were discounted (which is how I got the Lagostina set) and negotiated an occasional discount on others.

Anyway, over the years, I have bought quite a bit of good quality (actually, excellent quality) cookware. These days, I have French cast iron stuff (mostly Le Creuset), Italian (Lagostina) or Geman (Fissler) stainless steel, and both Italian (hand made) and French (Le Mauviel) copper cookware. These are made to be used, and are heavy bottomed: In practice, that means you can use a high heat and not burn what you are cooking.
 
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um.. steak... I prefer those grilled pan with the steak mark types stripes:

steak-large.jpg

Several French companies make excellent, solid, reassuringly heavy, ridged, cast iron skillets - which give the appearance of the seared steak in your picture. Le Creuset are only the most well known and possibly most expensive of these companies, but there are others, too, some of whom produce pretty affordable cookware.
 
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If you MUST cook a steak indoors *shudder* make sure your exhaust hood actually removes air to the outdoors. Using a cast iron pan or griddle will cause a LOT of smoke, and your smoke detectors will go crazy unless your hood is removing it to the outdoors.
 
Well, those of us who live in this rain sodden corner of north west Europe think that outdoor cooking is a fantasy, as opportunity rarely arises here, (rain and charcoal don't really mix well, methinks…); rather, outdoor cooking is something that tends to be done on holidays, or when working abroad…...

Yes, cooking steak indoors, means putting the (robust, German made) fan extractor up to its maximum setting……..maybe opening a window or two…..that normally does it.
 
I agree with @Scepticalscribe 's comment on a heavy grill pan. A couple years ago my girlfriend got from my understanding a fairly expensive cookware set including a grill pan. I'm not up to speed on cookware brands but I'll check the name.

I've only used the grill pan for steak, but I've perfected its use the way I like my steak done. It's still not quite as good as a grill, but it's close.

Another option is something like a Forman Grill which I survived using through college. I had a pretty fancy model with temp controls and removable cooking surfaces for easier cleaning (you could also put in a brownie cooking pan and cupcakes... Weird). Anyways, I got pretty decent at cooking with it but never could get it anywhere close to perfect. It didn't work well for thick steak. It was difficult to get a steak that didn't taste overcooked yet overly juicey. I found it worked better using the top open and flipping.
 
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When I moved to Texas last year for temporary work I needed something to get me by while I was there. Found this and I cannot recommend this thing enough. I'm absolutely amazed at the quality it cooks the food. Nothing is overcooked and even chicken is still juicy. Haven't used it since I'm back in Seattle as I have a Weber Genesis and a Traeger. But for indoors this is amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/T-fal-OptiGri...TF8&qid=1457545252&sr=8-1&keywords=tfal+grill
 
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When I moved to Texas last year for temporary work I needed something to get me by while I was there. Found this and I cannot recommend this thing enough. I'm absolutely amazed at the quality it cooks the food. Nothing is overcooked and even chicken is still juicy. Haven't used it since I'm back in Seattle as I have a Weber Genesis and a Traeger. But for indoors this is amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/T-fal-OptiGri...TF8&qid=1457545252&sr=8-1&keywords=tfal+grill

I second this. And it also cooks directly from frozen also. It's bailed me out of a few badly planned dinners. I've even cooked steaks on it when I was out of charcoal or it was crappy outside.
 
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Skip "grilling" indoors, yikes.

If you're not making a steak dish, i.e., something like fajitas, stir fry (anything you might marinate, and/or use a thin/plank steak cut into strips), then get a thick, marbly cut - sear in a cast iron, finish in the oven, or even the current trend of oven-rest-sear (creates a more consistent interior cook). Lots of coarse sea salt and fresh pepper.

For chicken, get a whole bird, seriously, skip the pre-packed parts, a big - organic/range fed if possible - whole bird, a light high quality EVOO rub, and stuff it with garlic and rosemary, oven roast. The skin will get brown and crispy, the meat will be so juicy. Modern cooks have gotten so afraid of whole chickens.
 
Skip "grilling" indoors, yikes.

If you're not making a steak dish, i.e., something like fajitas, stir fry (anything you might marinate, and/or use a thin/plank steak cut into strips), then get a thick, marbly cut - sear in a cast iron, finish in the oven, or even the current trend of oven-rest-sear (creates a more consistent interior cook). Lots of coarse sea salt and fresh pepper.

For chicken, get a whole bird, seriously, skip the pre-packed parts, a big - organic/range fed if possible - whole bird, a light high quality EVOO rub, and stuff it with garlic and rosemary, oven roast. The skin will get brown and crispy, the meat will be so juicy. Modern cooks have gotten so afraid of whole chickens.

I second the excellent suggestion about roasting a whole chicken; and yes, that means to take a large, organic (the taste is so much better and it has been treated well) chicken, put it in a roasting dish, - drizzle it with olive oil and butter; stuff it with organic lemons - occasionally, I might use an organic orange as well - and garlic (and some sprigs of rosemary and thyme) and baste regularly. This will give you an extraordinarily tasty, and well flavoured dish.

Agree that modern cooks fear whole chickens; done properly, they are delicious.
 
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Amen to that - 'round here there's a thing called "drunken chicken," or "beer can chicken," which is exactly what it sounds like - stuff an open can half-full of beer into a chicken and slow cook it over a fire. It's wonderful.

beer-can-chicken3.jpg

It is, plus it looks hysterical :D
 
Amen to that - 'round here there's a thing called "drunken chicken," or "beer can chicken," which is exactly what it sounds like - stuff an open can half-full of beer into a chicken and slow cook it over a fire. It's wonderful.

beer-can-chicken3.jpg

Not sure I'm quite up to that, but I have used craft beers, Trappist beer, or good wine, on a roast chicken when basting (along with squeezed juices from organic oranges and lemons that have been used to stuff the chicken), and it is usually quite delicious.
 
so I picked this sadly aluminum grill top from Target (heard the cast iron ones were much better)
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BUT IT DID OK
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that is porterhouse there , what I need now are some decent Marinades for steak. :drool:
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Well, then, why didn't you buy a cast iron one, as some of us advised you to?

Personally, I have been very impressed with cast iron when used as cookware, and, for that matter, I'd never use aluminium for cookware, but maybe, that is just me.

Anyway, good luck with it.
 
Well, then, why didn't you buy a cast iron one, as some of us advised you to?

Personally, I have been very impressed with cast iron when used as cookware, and, for that matter, I'd never use aluminium for cookware, but maybe, that is just me.

Anyway, good luck with it.
I got antsy , it worked ok . heard/read you need to cure/clean? the cast a couple of times before its first use?
 
I got antsy , it worked ok . heard/read you need to cure/clean? the cast a couple of times before its first use?

You need to 'season' it - so that the heated oil melds with the cast iron and provides a sort of non-stick patina. At least, once. But, it lasts forever and when used for cooking, cooks superbly.

Personally, I'd never touch aluminium; but I am a big fan of high quality stainless steel for cookware.
 
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You need to 'season' it - so that the heated oil melds with the cast iron and provides a sort of non-stick patina. At least, once. But, it lasts forever and when used for cooking, cooks superbly.

Personally, I'd never touch aluminium; but I am a big fan of high quality stainless steel for cookware.
got it, I did read some were already "pre-seasoned".
 
Amen to that - 'round here there's a thing called "drunken chicken," or "beer can chicken," which is exactly what it sounds like - stuff an open can half-full of beer into a chicken and slow cook it over a fire. It's wonderful.

beer-can-chicken3.jpg

The beer can is an excellent idea.
 
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Hey guys, this is 2016!

The only way to cook great steak indoors is using a sous-vide unit at 55ºC for 2 hours, followed by a rapid browning of the outside using a blowtorch.

Is this a tech site, or did I stumble into a cave?
 
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Hey guys, this is 2016!

The only way to cook great steak indoors is using a sous-vide unit at 55ºC for 2 hours, followed by a rapid browning of the outside using a blowtorch.

Is this a tech site, or did I stumble into a cave?

Welcome to my cave. My European cave. Full of antiquities, and Old World charm. Replete with copper and cast iron cookware, a Rangemaster cooker, organic food, an exceedingly well stocked cellar (you see, caves are good)…..French table cloths, some silver cutlery, cut crystal….

You stumbled into a thread where some of us are aficionados of the Slow Food Movement………I, for one, have eaten in the restaurant in Piedmont where it was founded.

Now, in the spirit of liberal tolerance, I will allow each their own. However, there are two things about your post I will dispute, or contend with.

The first is your rather arrogant sentence which argues that "the only way to cook steak…", as though such certainty banished alternatives. (Although, I will grant you your method for duck; for duck, a challenging bird to cook in a way that ensures both a crisp skin and moist flesh, the sous-vide method works exceedingly well).

Now, candidly, there are a great many ways to cook steak, and - how you choose to do so it is a matter of personal preference. Mine is to get a (copper, or cast iron, or stainless steel) pan really hot, add olive oil, and sear the steak on the outside while ensuring red tenderness within. But, others think differently.

And, the second is that tired, tedious, cliché 'this is 2016!' Really? And, is it possible that you think we did not notice this? I suppose that it is the judgemental and patronising tone in your post that I take issue with.

The thing about tech - and technological discoveries and advances - is that they may well have been invented, unveiled, made available in a given year (the year that will be forever associated with that product or invention, or technology, forever) - but it may take years, if not decades and centuries for the full effects of some inventions to be felt worldwide.

Alexander Graham Bell may have invented the modern telephone in 1876, but it was a over quarter of a century later before possession of a telephone became de rigueur in upper class circles, and the best part of a century later before automatic telephone exchanges had been rolled out to the more remote, rural parts of much of the First World, let alone elsewhere.

And, the thing about using dates to define yourself (and I am a trained historian, so dates are My Thing), is that it is so constraining and limiting to confine yourself simply and solely to the advantages conferred by one date over others. Sometimes, the old ways are better, and sometimes, the new rocks. There are times where using both is what works best in the circumstances of your life.

Me, I use them side by side: Thus, my life a tribute to the joys of the possibilities conferred by an eclectic approach to such issues, one influenced by an intellectual delight in à la carte solutions, but governed by a magpie method in seeking them out.

So, I use Apple computers (and write with nothing but fountain pens); I prefer reading books between covers and printed on quality paper - for that matter, I prefer reading newspapers. Real ones, the kind you might have found in coffee houses all of three hundred years ago. But I read most of my daily news and get much of my daily current affairs fix online……such, are the compromises we make in our lives, as we marry different forms of technology for different tasks in our lives.
 
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