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What constitutes a good steak dinner is different for different people, but everyone still wants to know how to make a perfect steak. That is a little different for everyone, of course, but there are a few tips that can really be a help for anyone who wants to improve the quality of their beef. Here is a quick look at some of the basic methods for making a quality meal.
Step one is thinking about the cut of meat you will be using. Good beef that is produced in a humane way is getting more popular for its greater tenderness and flavor. Even traditionally tough cuts of meat from quality producers may be better than the better cuts from a large commercial producer.
Fortunately, good steaks of this type are getting much easier to find. Do not be afraid to ask for them! For a lot of people, grass finished and fed beef is preferable because of its stronger flavor and better all around taste. However, this kind of beef is not as consistent or reliable as factory farm produced beef, and that should be kept in mind when you buy.
Once you know you have purchased good beef, it is time to pay attention to the heat source. Charcoal grilling remains a great and popular choice, but grill pans on a stove stop, broilers, and other options are still great choices. Use steak cooking charts and high heat to get a piece of beef that is done throughout.
Now, you will need to prepare your steak. Do not brush your grate or pan with oil, lightly oil the steak. That keeps smoke down. Next, season your steak lightly. Just salt and pepper will do it, though there are lots of marinade options out there for those who would like to get a little fancier with their beef.
When you place your steak in the hot pan or on the hot grill, it should sizzle. If it does not, you do not have enough heat. Do not turn the steak more than once – it needs some undisturbed time to cook most of the way on one side. Turning too early will be a real problem. Make sure you do not overcook, though. Rare steaks are turned three to four minutes in, before red juices form. Medium rare steaks are turned when those juices first show up, and medium well is done when the juice starts running together.
How long should you cook the other side of the steak? Two minutes less than the first side is a good standard rule that will prevent overcooking. Test the steak with an instant read thermometer, not a fork or knife, to keep the juices in.
After cooking, it is time to rest your steak. Place it fat side down, at 90 degrees to the pan you cooked it in. Do that by taking the pan away from the heat source and propping the steak up to keep it from sweating. Do not be tempted not to rest the steak, or you will lose the juices. Wait half the time you took cooking and you will have a great piece of meat.
Sirloin steak is a cut that comes from the lower part of beef ribs. It continues from the tenderloin (the place where the most prized steaks come from) and is a high quality cut with a lot of flavor, since these muscles still do a reasonable amount of work. Sirloin has more flavor than a number of other steaks, and is divided into several different subcategories.
The top sirloin is the most prized of all the sirloin steaks, and you are unlikely to find it unless you look for it specifically. Most sirloin steak is really bottom sirloin, a tougher, larger piece of steak that can be more readily available and cost less. Bottom sirloin is also connected to what is called the sirloin tip roast, a good, if somewhat tough roast that should not be eaten as a steak.
Tri-tip steak is a strongly flavored part of the bottom sirloin, and is very lean, causing it to overcook if not paid proper attention. Sirloin pin bone steak is one that is cut from the front part of the sirloin. There is an oval pin bone inside that gives it its name. Sirloin flat bone steaks have flat back and hipbone pieces inside, as well.
Sirloin round bone steaks contain less bone than most other sirloin steaks, and are rather less fatty. Sirloin wedge bone steaks come from the rear of the sirloin, and contain a small wedge shaped bone. All these different types of sirloin steaks should be available at your local market.
Sirloin cuts tend to be lean, not as buttery and tender as higher end steaks, but with a deep rich flavor and lower price. They work well when prepared using dry heat, meaning that pan frying, roasting, grilling, sauting, broiling and similar methods are a good choice for cooking sirloin steak. Different parts of the sirloin will require different treatment, and sirloin steak cooking methods will depend on which part of the sirloin you are going to be cooking.
Make sure you buy only sirloin that is red and clear in color – that is the color that normally purplish beef becomes when air hits it. Make sure your sirloin is cold and tightly packaged, with a firm feeling to the meet and a reasonable sell by date. Make sure it is in the coldest part of the refrigerator for storage, and keep it only a few days. Fat can be trimmed before or after cooking.
Your steak will be done to medium rare when the internal temperature is 145 degrees Fahrenheit, and well done at 165 degrees. Turn steak with tongs only, since forks can cause juices to escape, and allow steak to rest five to ten minutes before serving to preserve juices.
Steak should be broiled two to four inches from the heat source, and will take eight to ten minutes, while grilled; lightly oiled steak will take six to eight minutes. Pan-broiling takes a little longer – thirteen to fifteen minutes or so.
If you are like a lot of Americans, your conception of the role of cheese in Mexican food is a little skewed. Typically, what one sees a lot of in the US is an Americanized version of Mexican dishes; many people’s only exposure to cheese in the context of Mexican cuisine is either cheddar cheese or perhaps Monterey jack in a taco or burrito.
There are a lot of cheeses, which are unique to Mexico; the country has a tradition of making cheese and other dairy products, which goes back several centuries now. Happily, these cheeses are becoming increasingly easy to find in the US, opening up new options for cooks who want to try cooking their favorite Mexican foods at home.
The art of cheese making came to the Americas with the Spanish, who imported goats and cows. These new foods were quickly adopted by Mexican cooks and styles unique to the country soon developed and some Spanish style cheeses found new fans in the New World. Mexican cheeses provide a variety of different flavors and textures perfectly suited for a wide array of traditional Mexican foods.
Quesadillas are one of the more familiar Mexican dishes in the US; however, queso Oaxaca, the cheese customarily used to make them is far less so. This cheese is a mild flavored string cheese, which is great on its own as a snacking cheese as well as being ideal for quesadillas, enchiladas, and other Mexican recipes with melted cheese. If you can find this cheese in your local markets, give it a try the next time you are thinking of making quesadillas at home.
Some have called Cotija Mexico’s answer to Romano and Parmesan cheeses. Cotija is a hard, sharp, salty cheese, which can be crumbled or grated into salads or used to top soups and refried beans. The texture and flavor of this cheese are very much like that of the aforementioned Italian cheeses and it does indeed also make a good accompaniment to pasta dishes. Named for the town of Cotija in Mexico’s Michoacn state, this is one cheese you should certainly consider trying for yourself.
A popular cheese for the Mexican sandwiches called tortas is queso criollo. This is a pale yellow cheese with a mild, nutty flavor, which is somewhat like Munster. Originally made in the state of Guerrero, this cheese is a good choice for sandwiches of all sorts; you may occasionally even find it grated for use in quesadillas.
Queso fresco is a cheese, which originates in Spain but has been enthusiastically adopted by Mexican cooks. This is a mild, soft cheese made from both cow’s and goat’s milk. Try queso fresco crumbled on salads or tacos, as a filling for chiles rellenos, or serve it with fruit; berries and pears make especially wonderful pairings with this mild cheese.
There are more wonderful Mexican cheeses than there is room here to discuss; but that just means there is more to explore and experiment with in your kitchen! Next time you are planning to cook your favorite Mexican recipes, have a look at your local Mexican grocery, and seek out some new cheeses to add a new and delicious dimension to your old favorites.
The idea of seasonal eating is becoming a more popular one these days, as more of us find out about how we can have better food and more contact with the natural world. While modern technological advances allow us to enjoy winter strawberries and late summer rhubarb, it cannot ensure that the produce is the same quality all year round. Everyone has had a hard, pink winter tomato, so you know that simply because we have the ability to grow it does not mean it will be great.
This is one reason that so many people have begun to pay attention to when and where their food is produced. After all, in season, produce tastes better, plus it is better for you, too. It can be frustrating to need to wait for your favorite foods to be ready, but the taste and quality of these foods is worth it.
Once you remember that in season foods are the tastiest, you will not want to try them out of season. A peach in winter usually is not worth your time, after all. Delicious summer beets and peppers, spring spinach and lettuce, and many other foods just taste best in season.
For fall, there are all kinds of great options that do not get a lot of attention. Fresh corn and new potatoes come in at summer’s end, and as the autumn continues, you will get to enjoy nuts in season, hard winter squash, and the familiar pumpkins. If you have been making all your pumpkin pies out of a can, and you do not think much about this great vegetable beyond that, it might be time to think again.
Pumpkin is a tasty and nutritious choice that offers a lot of vitamins and fiber. It is easy to cook, can be included in all kinds of dishes, and is not just for dessert. Do not confine pumpkin to Thanksgiving and Halloween anymore. It should be on your table often during the fall, in the form of all kinds of baked goods, sides, and even main dishes.
Try roasting pumpkins with a little oil and some fresh or dried herbs, slicing it thinly to saute with other veggies, or including it in soups. A recipe for pumpkin soup offers you a delicious addition to the table, and it does not have to be sweet. Try roasted garlic or strongly flavored cheese with your pumpkin, ginger, pepper, and many other flavors.
Take the time to be a little adventurous, and you will be surprised by the results. Pumpkin soups and stews can make your fall dinners a lot more interesting. Pumpkin chili adds a sweet note to go with your cornbread and salsa. Pumpkin curry is wonderful over rice or Asian style noodles. The possibilities are almost endless!
Many of us are tired of having the same old thing, day after day. If you agree, seasonal eating, including great recipes for pumpkin soup, might be the right choice for you. Check out your options this fall and experience the difference.
Corn is something, which everyone is already quite familiar with; after all, this grain (which is often eaten as a vegetable) is a staple of American cooking but in Mexico, corn is a food, which has a great importance to the country’s culinary tradition. From salads to soups, salsas and of course, as the basis for tortillas, corn shows up in a great number of easy Mexican recipes in one form or another.
This grain has been a staple food in Mexico since long before the arrival of Europeans on the continent. Used to make flour for tortillas, tamales and a variety of other dishes, corn was already central to Mexican cooking centuries, if not millennia before the Spanish came over in search of gold. The corn-based flatbreads acquired the name “tortillas” upon the Spanish conquest of what is now Mexico, after the Spanish word for “little cakes” (a name also given to omelets in Spain).
Speaking of tortillas, these are something, which are familiar to most of us in the US, though flour tortillas are much more popular at least for now. However, you will now see the more traditional corn tortilla for sale in many grocery stores across the country and they are quickly gaining new fans. Anyone who has ever tried a freshly made, warm corn tortilla knows why; there is just no comparison between corn tortillas and flour tortillas for tacos. If you have not yet tried using corn tortillas in your favorite Mexican recipes, then you should seek them out next time you plan to cook Mexican food at home – you are in for a treat!
Tamales are a traditional Mexican comfort food, which you may see, served at any meal; these are made from corn flour dough (called masa in Spanish) which may be filled with meats, cheeses, vegetables, or even fruit! There are even sweetened tamales, which make a great breakfast or dessert served with coffee or hot chocolate.
It takes some doing to make your own tamales at home, but nothing can beat a fresh homemade tamale’s flavor. It is certain to impress your guests if you are up for a few hours in the kitchen, making (and eating) your own tamales can be a very rewarding experience.
Corn is sometimes used in salsas, where its flavor blends perfectly with tomatoes, herbs, and peppers. One common combination is black beans and corn, which makes a very satisfying salsa; you might have even seen some of these salsas at your local grocery store. Corn salsas are great with tortilla chips and wonderful with a taco (made with a warm corn tortilla, of course) or tamale.
You will also find corn in Mexican soup recipes, with pozole being by far the most popular of these dishes. Pozole is a soup made with white hominy (something certain to be familiar to you if you live or have lived in the southern United States). This spicy, savory soup pairs the mild sweetness and earthiness of hominy with meat (usually pork), chili peppers, and spices; this is a very popular dish in Mexico and a bowl of pozole is often a meal in itself.
If you live in a city, which has a significant Mexican population, you may even have a pozoleria (a restaurant that specializes in this soup) nearby. However, if you are not so lucky, do not despair. You can easily make pozole at home. Try this Mexican recipe in the fall or winter and prepare to discover a new favorite; and see corn in a whole new way!
If you love grilling, but your budget is a little tight this year, you may be wondering if you can have steak on the grill this year. The answer is definitely yes. You just need to know your meat. There are all kinds of beef cuts that can be grilled up nicely without breaking the budget. They will take a little more care in preparation than a Porterhouse, but they can be entirely worthwhile. So if steak is a priority, but it does not seem too affordable, do not give up hope.
Your grocery store meat case contains a large number of bargains that you might not be aware of, including good steak that costs five to seven dollars per pound. Hanger steaks and flatirons, skirt steaks, flat and flank steaks, tri tip, top sirloin and chuck are all also delicious options. You just have to know what to do to get the most out of your meat.
Remember that these steaks are cheaper for a reason, which means it will take a little more work to make them taste as good as the really expensive cuts. However, it is not all that hard if you take the time to suit the cooking method to the steak. Being a good cook can save you money in the long run.
These steaks are a lot tougher because they come from the muscles that are used on a day-to-day basis. That makes them a lot less tender, but also a lot more flavorful. These steaks are low in gristle and high in flavor. Choose an intense marinade, salt the steak with care, and cook with a close eye on the timing to create a bargain cut that does not taste like it was cheap.
First, look at the marinades. These are liquid mixtures that are said to be able to infuse flavor and tenderize, but sometimes, they can do the opposite. Much of the time, they just soak in a little, and overly acidic marinades will tighten muscle fiber. That doesnt mean you dont want to use a marinade, even if youre new enough to the kitchen that youre asking what cut of meat do steak tips come from. You just need to use them right.
Even if you are only getting a skin-deep effect, marinades make a beautiful surface, with crisp crust and rich color, and the taste is still pretty good. Add a hot grill for this kind of beef, and you are looking at a really good steak. Remember to pull the steaks out of the fridge while the grill is heating so that the meat isnt chilled when it comes into contact with the grating, and let the fire guide your grilling.
You’ll want two zones of heat – one that’s hotter and allows for searing the meat, and the other that’s lower in heat and will cook evenly with no burnt outside. A gas grill makes this a matter of adjusting knobs, while charcoal requires you to bank about two thirds of the coals and scatter the rest.
Make sure the grill is clean and you are capable of being patient. You need to cook these cuts of meat undisturbed for two to three minutes if you want them to taste their best. An instant read thermometer will help you know when your meat is ready. Rest the meat when you are finished, to let it keep its juices.
Do you always have leftover pumpkin after Halloween or Thanksgiving, and want to know how to cook it? Do you love pumpkin soup and want to make sure that you do not make any mistakes? Whatever your reason, there are lots of important tips for cooking with this versatile squash relative.
Most people just make desserts out of their pumpkin, but you are not limited to these options. Here is a look at a few of the things you might want to know about this great vegetable before you begin to cook. They will help you get much better results, after all.
The first thing you should know is that Halloween jack-o-lantern types of pumpkins are not a great choice for fall recipe use. Unfortunately, these large, sturdy specimens are bred for their looks, toughness, and regular appearance, not for their edibility. They tend to be fibrous and low on taste.
While jack-o-lantern pumpkins are cheap and readily available at supermarkets and roadside stands (especially right after Halloween), they are not always the best pick for eating. They can be fun to feed to local animals and they compost well, but their flesh is not most people’s top choice when they want to eat pumpkin.
That does not mean you cannot eat them at all, but it is a good idea to “hide” this type of pumpkin in other foods. Cook your surplus pumpkin down by baking or boiling it, scrape the pulp out of the shell, and blitz it in a food processor once or twice. Then put it in pumpkin bread, cookies, or even chili.
For foods where you want that pumpkin taste to shine through, like pumpkin pie or an easy pumpkin soup recipe, look for smaller sugar pumpkins. Chock full of potassium, vitamin A and fiber, these pumpkins have a lot more flavor, are much sweeter, and have smoother, more pleasant flesh. They are often used for desserts, but work for any meal where you want the flavor of pumpkin to be a major player.
Use pumpkins in chunks for your pumpkin soup, or cook them in it and puree them with some broth for a silky texture that cannot be beat. There are even a few recipes that call for cooking the soup right in the pumpkin, then stirring the softened flesh off the walls to create your soup. It all depends on what you prefer. Just make sure that you process your pumpkin with care to prevent it from cooking incorrectly and spoiling the recipe.
Pumpkin is a great choice for making soup, and a whole lot more. By paying attention to the type of pumpkin, you have and making sure that you cook it correctly, you will have a much better chance of getting a great fall meal. Try all the great options for making pumpkin soup, and do not forget to buy the right kind of pumpkin.
A lot of people’s experience with salsa begins and ends with the mass-marketed grocery store salsas. Usually on the milder side and mostly made from tomato, these are definitely the type which most Americans are familiar with. While this is a style of salsa that you will also run across in Mexico, there are many other kinds of Mexican salsas to choose from at specialty shops; you can also make your own at home.
Over the last decade or so, salsa has really caught on with the American palate, managing to overtake ketchup as the best selling condiment in America. The most popular type is the mild tomato-based one discussed above, but there are a lot of different varieties you may want to try. While many are spicier than what you may be familiar with, fear not: there are Mexican salsas for every palate, from the most heat-averse to the most adventurous.
As it happens, salsa refers to a great number of different condiments and sauces. In fact, the word salsa is simply the Spanish word for sauce. However, when most of use the word, we are thinking of a specific type of condiment used largely in Mexican, southwestern and Tex-Mex cuisines. The world of Mexican salsas is a lot bigger than many of us think, with salsa recipes including a lot of different ingredients and some being quite a bit different than what we usually think of as salsa.
There are the familiar red-colored tomato based sauces with jalapenos and other chili peppers and herbs, green salsas made from tomatillos; and for those who want something with a little more kick, even green salsas made mostly from hot peppers rather than tomatoes! Some salsas are based on other ingredients such as ground pumpkin seeds or ground dried peppers like pasilla and guajillo peppers.
Perhaps you like Mexican food and are looking for a more restrained Mexican salsa recipe, which will still add a little variety to your table. How about a fruit salsa? Mango and peach salsas are both popular varieties, with the acidity and sweetness of the fruit playing well off of tomato and cilantro and lessening the kick of the hot peppers used. If you have never tried these kinds of salsa before, you are in for a real treat.
You can also make your own fruit salsas at home. While mangoes and peaches are both great choices, do not be afraid to experiment and find your own combinations. Pineapple, avocado, and other fruits can all be used in salsa with delicious results.
Another popular type of salsa you may want to try making on your own if you have not already is pico de gallo (Spanish for “rooster’s beak”). While salsa is almost always a quick and easy thing to make, pico de gallo is perhaps the easiest of all. It is a simple recipe consisting of diced tomatoes, onions and a little jalapeno peppers. Most cooks prefer to add a little finely chopped cilantro and some limejuice as well to give it a little more zip.
Since the space we have here is not enough to cover all of the different delicious Mexican salsas and salsa recipes, which there are to try, we hope that this introduction has sparked your interest in exploring these condiments further. It’s easy to make your own salsas at home and with some experimentation and a little of your own creative touch, you’re certain to come up with some new salsa recipes which can bring an entirely new dimension to your Mexican recipes and any other dishes you choose to serve them with.
As the weather gets cooler, we all want to enjoy some hearty seasonal foods. One excellent choice to spice up your menu a little is pumpkin soup. Pumpkins are good more than just pie, and there are all kinds of wonderful options available. Creamy bisques, cheesy soups, and hearty stews are all great with pumpkin.
You can try fusion cuisine, adding Thai or Indian spices to your soup to create a great curry flavor, or stick with hearty, familiar tastes that will make you think of home. There are lots of options available, and pumpkin soup is one of the least noticed fall recipes. For a lot of people, the idea of making a savory recipe with pumpkin is strange and unusual.
However, there is one big problem with making pumpkin soup – the recipes! Since not too many people even know that you can make soup from a pumpkin, it can be hard to find a good recipe. Most cookbooks do not have much information about cooking pumpkin this way, for instance. However, you do not have to go without – the Internet is the answer.
There are plenty of excellent recipes for pumpkin soup online. From personal sites to recipe hubs, there are all kinds of cooking repositories that have options for pumpkin soup. Just head to your favorite cooking site, or punch a few keywords into your preferred search engine. Lots of options will turn up, and all you have to do is sift through.
Of course, not all pumpkin soup recipes are going to be alike. You could run into some that are poorly written, or which assume that you understand what to do. They could leave some steps out, resulting in a recipe that does not come out like you planned. Take the time to examine any recipe you decide to use.
Of course, you can cut down on a lot of the work by simply sticking to sites you know you can trust. There are lots of fall recipe and specialty sites out there, and they have got information that has been checked out in advance to ensure that the pumpkin soup you make will work.
Go over any recipe to make sure that you understand it, have all the ingredients on hand, and know what to expect out of it before you start. There are lots of excellent methods for making pumpkin into soup, from using the crock-pot to cooking it in a hollow pumpkin. Add a few of the more interesting presentation options and you will have a much more enjoyable fall meal.
If you have been looking for a great new option for dinner this fall, it might be time to think about pumpkin. It is not just for pie, and there are all kinds of things you can do with it. Soups keep getting more popular. Do not just stick with the same old thing – pumpkin soup can be pretty amazing.
Smoky flavor pumpkin soup is rich and nutritious. Pumpkin provides beta-carotene and many other vitamins. The smoky flavor is created by using smoked Gouda cheese. This creates a delicious autumn flavor that can’t be beat. This can be a meal in itself or served as an appetizer.
If you want to end up eating a great steak, there is no other way to do it than by starting with one that is already great. Unfortunately, it can be rather difficult to determine whether or not a steak at the market is of high quality. There are plenty to choose from, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for, finding the best one will be pretty tricky. Here are a few things to look for when you go steak shopping that’ll help you get a better result.
The first thing you will need to pay attention to is the grade of the meat. Grading is performed by a government agency or third party organization, and is determined by fat marbling and the age of the animal. Remember that the carcass is graded whole, and then the individual cuts are made, so there may be some variance across different cuts. In the US, the major grades are prime, choice, and select. Prime is the best and select is the lowest grade available to most consumers.
You will not find a lot of prime steaks, since they are sold mostly to restaurants, or sent abroad. That means that most of us will be eating choice or select meat, according to our budgets. Try both to see if you can tell the difference between them.
Marbling is a factor traditionally used to determine the quality of a steak. Leaner meat will have little fat and be more tender, but much less flavorful. Streaks of fat generally produce steaks that have more taste to them. However, many people are discovering that other factors influence taste as much or more than marbling. For instance, raising the cattle on grass instead of grain, and finishing them on grass alone, or a mixture of grass and grain seems to result in a steak with more taste, even though it has less attractive marbling. You may have to try a few different kinds to discover what the best option is.
There are lots of different cuts of meat available on the market, with some making better steaks than others do. Steak comes from three major portions of the animal – the sirloin, short loin, and rib, and each cooks a little differently. The rib is less tender, and needs more attention and longer cooking than you’d use if you were deciding how to cook boneless top sirloin steak.
The short loin produces familiar high quality steaks, including T-bone, Porterhouse, top loin, and tenderloin. Sirloin is responsible for classic sirloning steaks and the top sirloin. You may also see round, chuck, and flank meat described as steak, but you will probably want to cook them as stew, not as a steak, due to their toughness. Pick the best steak to begin with, then find a method of cooking that suits. In the end, you will be much happier with the results you get. No marinade, no matter how good, will fix a bad steak, but a good one will make a great steak the best one possible.
Cooking sirloin steak is not too difficult, but to make it superb takes a little work and some trade secrets. Learn how to make a tender, mouthwatering steak at EasySteakMarinades.net and take the guesswork out of cooking steak. You will never look at steak the same way again.
