Saturday, March 16, 2019

I use my cast iron Griswold skillet virtually every day.

That little red handle thing is slick.  I may need one or two.


10 comments:

  1. The little red things are good...not great. Still possible to burn your hand if the pan is very hot.

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  2. Griswolds are awesome. I have thick cloth covers for the handle and then I wear nomex, non-slip glove to grip the cover to handle the 400-500 degree cast iron.

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  3. I have a Griswold that must be 75 years old and it still looks great. When I fry steaks I sometimes heat up the pan to about 750 degrees (outdoors) and quickly throw in some oil and butter just before I add the steak. You get a great sear and the butter brings out more flavors. I try to (kosher) salt my steaks the day before, too. learned that from Hubert Keller.
    MfG Goetz

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    1. Wait, what? Kosher salt the steak the day before? I need to learn more about that.

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    2. Yeah, please expound on the day before salting, I wanna know too!

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  4. Super hot pan (outdoors), some oil & butter in right before the steak goes on. I imagine the butter is melted & there for the flavor or does the pan melt it that fast?
    Kosher salt the day before & I'd imagine the meat is close to room temp..

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  5. Kosher salt is less salty than other salts and being flat allows it to be absorbed quickly without falling off. Salt the steaks and leave them uncovered in the fridge the day before grilling. Bring to room temperature before tossing in the hot pan. Yes, the butter melts almost instantly. It gives flavor and facilitates the creation of the crust.

    I also dry age my steaks at home. I'll be happy to write up my method for doing that, should you wish to learn about it.

    PS: I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. It is the least salty of all salts so you really can't over-salt the meat.
    Makes a big difference. Try this technique and, if you love steaks, you'll end up naming a child after me.
    MfG Goetz von Berlichingen

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    1. Thanks, I'd like to learn about dry aging some beef.

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  6. If you have an old reefer that still works, you can dry-age your beef. I've done it with rib roasts and with a NY steak primal (i.e. the whole chunk of meat before slicing it into individual steaks.) I use those cuts because one side is covered with a layer of fat that prevents air getting to the flesh underneath. I leave the fat-covered side alone. On the exposed flesh areas of the cut I first cover with a couple layers of cheesecloth to act as a matrix to hold the copious amount of Crisco that I smear over it. Like adding frosting to a cake, make sure you put a nice thick layer on everywhere exposed. Once it is covered, I take it to an old fridge where I adjusted the thermostat up to about 55 degrees (usually there is a calibration screw behind the fascia of the thermostat box). If it is humid out, that is all I do. If it is dry, I add a small humidifier to get it up to about 60%. Not too tough.
    Leave the meat for two weeks minimum to get the aged flavor. Removing the lard cap is super easy. Some mold will form on the covering and on the meat. Don't worry about the covering; you'll throw that away anyway. Just trim off any moldy areas and you are good to go! I've done this 4-5 times now. Plus some expensive failures. BTW, I use that reefer for my homemade charcuterie and sausages, so it has year-round use in my household.

    Hope this description is clear.
    MfG
    Goetz von Berlichingen

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    Replies
    1. Good directions. Thank you, it's appreciated!!

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