a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment

I've been meaning to try poaching a steak for a while now. Now hear me out before you tell me I'd be wasting a perfectly delicious piece of meat. I've poached fish a ton and by far the best thing about poaching is temperature control, the food you poach will never be warmer than whatever the temperature of the water is. Secondly poaching can infuse flavors deep into the food that are hard to get at otherwise. Thirdly poaching keeps foods that would otherwise quickly dry out nice and moist.

So here's how I think about it in my head. While steak really benefits from a nice char on the outside it also is very important to have the inside cooked right. Maintaining a proper internal temperature is difficult as almost always you get a little slice of perfect in the middle, a ring of okay around that, a ring of well done, a ring of well this is rather dry, and then your char. So picture this: A light red wine, salt and pepper all mixed into a brine poaching a cheap steak (maybe a bad sirloin that always has a habit of turning to sawdust when cooked) that you've dry aged for a few days. The temperature is set to a perfect 135 and that steak now infused with all that salty, peppery, red winey goodness is now medium rare all the way through. Throw it into a skillet or onto the grill for 30 seconds a side to char and drain a little bit of the juices so it isn't water logged... in my head it tastes so good. Never had the occasion to try it but man, would I love to.