SageTV Saved my Steaks!

[Opus4]

The unexpected benefits of SageTV continue to amaze me...

A few weeks ago, we reluctantly bought some steaks at Costco (which has much better meat than our local grocery store). I say 'reluctantly' because as someone who is "grilling challenged", I find it very difficult to grill things & have them consistently taste good. My steaks often taste like, uh... dead meat... no matter how done they are. Anyway... we got home & decided to put something on TV for the kids while starting dinner. My 4 year old is quite entertained by cooking shows, so rather than choosing yet another Scooby-Doo (that I watched when they were first-runs), I decided to check the culinary category... and what do I find, but a recently recorded (that same day) episode of America's Test Kitchen where they showed how to grill steaks!!! Dinner preparation was delayed for 20 minutes (no commercials, remember?) while we watched it... and my steaks have been coming out nearly perfect ever since.

Ahhhh.... Thanks SageTV, for a recording well done!

- Andy

[kny3twalker]

thats awesome
LOL

[malore]

So, what's the secret?

[Opus4]

Originally posted by malore
So, what's the secret?

OH! Sorry -- I forgot that part of the story. The biggest difference I can tell from what I've done in the past is that they rubbed oil all over the steak (I think they used salt too, but I skipped that part) before putting it over high heat for a few minutes to sear/seal both sides before reducing heat for the remainder of the time. I noticed that it _really_ flames up with all that oil on it. There was very little, if any, flaming in the past so maybe I never got a good sear before. That's all I can figure out since I didn't change anything else.

The first time I tried it, I didn't notice that one steak was much thinner than the other & thus became almost well done... but it still tasted ok.

- Andy

[stanger89]

[beautye350]

I put a small pat of butter on mine, let it melt, then sprinkle some garlic powder and pepper on there. mmmmmm, getting my mouth watering this early in the morning is not good. I'll be grumbling-stomach-man until lunch.

Anywho, I digress...congrats on making an acceptable steak.


Regards,

Beau

[falchulk]

Opus4, Thats all my wife records. Cooking shows and soap operas that is. I have to admit, dinner has been pretty tasty for the last few months!

[salsbst]

My girlfriend has, I believe, 8 different cooking shows defined as favorites (some including reruns). On weekends, when she's procrastinating from business school homework, she is required to set at least half of them to watched so that they don't clog up the disk.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by salsbst
On weekends, when she's procrastinating from business school homework, she is required to set at least half of them to watched so that they don't clog up the disk.

And that process of setting them to 'watched' probably takes 20-30 minutes for each show, right?

- Andy

[salsbst]

Most of the time it takes about 15 minutes (lots of commercials), but she does skip recipes that don't interest her. The formula is:

interest = [is sweet] XOR [involves beef]

[falchulk]

Let them set Watched? I blow through and keep everything that looks good and flush everything else. I dont want her getting a recipe that sucks and forcing it on the family! Its my civic responsiblity to prevent bad tasting food from making it to our table.

[Opus4]

salsbst: So... sweet beef is out of the question, I see.

falchulk: Isn't that what those parental controls are for? To set what the parents are allowed to watch?

- Andy

[falchulk]

Thats right, salsbst's wife uses gate logic and it must be Exclusively about sweetnees or beef. Otherwise it does not produce a high output.

[Nate]

Try this...

http://www.n4te.com/misc/recipes/steak.html

But what I have found even better (and easier) is to use Stubb's Beef Marinade in place of the Italian dressing concoction. Stubbs is THE BEST! http://www.ilovestubbs.com

[Opus4]

Eek... I don't want to ruin a steak with steak sauce! I only use such sauces on things that don't taste very good to begin with... needless to say, I used a bit of steak sauce on my grilling results in the past.

Now, things that are meant to be BBQ flavored in the first place are a different story! Someone I knew when I lived in TX put his smoker to good use & the results were excellent.

- Andy

[DFranch]

I had always bought cheap Char-Broil, Crastsman, or Sunbeam grills which cook unevenly to be generous. Last year I got a Webber. It has improved my grilling skills greatly. I no longer have to rotate items from the edges to the center, Things in the center don't burn while elseware meat is raw.

[Opus4]

I'll certainly second that one -- my Weber is _much_ better than a couple cheaper ones we had in the past. (It lasts longer too.)

- Andy

[Nate]

Who said anything about steak sauce? Stubb's Beef Marinade is... marinade. There is nothing wrong with marinading steak before cooking. IMO, Stubbs gives even the $50 a steak restaurants a run for their money. I highly suggest trying it! Rub the steaks with spices, stab the hell out of the steak with a fork, then marinate them in Stubbs in a plastic bag in the fridge for 25-30 minutes. Then grill!

I also recommend the Jaccard Super III Meat Tenderizer. Great for making steaks more tender and juicier after marination. Works on high grade, expensive steaks and also helps cheaper steaks a lot. There are some knockoffs out there but they are more cheaply made than the Jaccard. Make sure you get the Super III (48 blade version) and not the 16 blade version.

[Nate]

I use a gas grill (gasp!) because its convenience can't be beat. I grill so much more because its as easy as pushing a button! I've grilled out on the deck while it was snowing. To make up for the gas grill, I use a cast iron box filled with hickory wood chips. I wouldn't do it any other way (I detest charcoal ).

What actually works better than the iron box is aluminum foil, because it is so much thinner the chips smaoke faster. Make a pouch of foil with the chips inside and poke a few holes in the top with a fork. Put it right on the grill in a corner and you're good to go!

[falchulk]

I dont know about that, I have a no name cast iron tube type charcoal grill with a smoker box thats freaking amazing. I would not trade it for anything, even though it is big enough to cook a horse and takes all day to cool down. We just used it yesterday and thinking of it makes my mouth water! Best grill we ever owned and we got it on close out for $200 + $75 for the side fire box.