Cooking Adventure

I love to cook and I love cooking gadgets and appliances

My colossal failures and successes  in recipe testing and testing cooking gadgets will be the subjects of my posting - the first appliance that I want to blog about is the broiler in your kitchen stove.

I have had many colossal failures with the evil broiler - ruined steak - grey, chewy and not "broiled "

The last ruined steak sat in the greasy broiler pan - no crusty sear - grey in color and very tough ! The house filled with smoke. The broiler pan - we all use it ? Well, I went out and looked at my gas grill - get a nice sear on that grill - no broiler pan - meat sits on rack over flame.

So - I tried a roasting pan with a wire rack placed on top of it - preheated the broiler- moved the oven rack down one level - meat was now closer to heat and rack allows liquid to drain away - meat is seared - looks good. 

Cooking the steak evenly was another struggle - cooking the meat right from the refrigerator let the outside char and the inside too rare. Letting the steak sit at room temperature helps.  Putting the refrigerated steak in a 350 oven for 5-10 min to take the chill off helps.

But - wow - all smoke detectors still going off ! I tried adding water to pan - but that steamed the meat. Tried covering pan with flour - big burned mess !Tried salt covering bottom of pan - better - soaked up grease - no smoke detectors going off !

Best seared steak in Broiler

Get chill off meat.

Use kitchen towel to dry meat - press moisture out - meat will not brown if full of water.

Roasting pan with wire rack - needs to be 1 inch from broiler. 2 cups salt in bottom

Preheat broiler.

Prep steaks - salt,pepper,steak seasoning.

Place pan within 1 inch of broiler - flip steaks halfway through cooking time.

1 inch - turn every 2 min

1.5 inch - turn every 3 min

2 inch - turn every 4 min

Use a meat thermometer to - 125 to 130 degrees

I like to remove from broiler - top with softened butter (add a close of pressed garlic if you wish to butter) and let rest 10 min before serving.

Serve with my daughters favorite french fries !

I like to use russet or Idaho potatoes - peel - hand cut into long slices - I like a larger " steak house " size.

Use a heavy 5 qt pan to heat cooking oil - I use canola oil -a oil thermometer is best to control temperature - 350 degrees is best for frying - while oil is heating rinse potato's under cold water to get rid of excess starch - add potatoes to hot oil a few at a time to keep oil from foaming up - fry until lightly browned - remove from oil with slotted spoon - put potatoes in a paper bag, add salt to taste and shake bag to remove excess oil.

Enjoy !

October is almost here - my fall cooking adventure is the pursuit of the perfect apple pie - so far not perfect !