Tonkatsu (Pork Katsu)

Tags

bbq pork chops, katsu, panko, pork chops, pork katsu, tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is a fried pork chop, Japanese style.  It is utterly delicious.  How can you not love a fried pork chop, smothered in sauce that is a flavor combination of bbq and steak sauce?  The chops are crispy and tender, and just perfect doused in sauce over a bed of good white rice sprinkled with some furikake.  Japanese comfort food at its best.

A note about ingredients:  I like to use pork loin chops because I think they tend to cook more evenly.  Further, they can withstand pounding without tearing a little better, which is good since you need to pound the snot out of the chops to get a cutlet that is a decent supper size, but nice and thin.  Start with a 1/2 inch chop, and pound to a little less than 1/4 inch.  Katsu sauce is available in many standard grocery stores.  If you can’t find it, Amazon sells a 3-pack for a very decent price.  I recommend the 3-pack.  We use about a half a bottle of sauce every time we make tonkatsu.

Should you happen to have any leftovers, which is such a rarity it’s almost not worth mentioning, but should this crazy event occur, left over tonkatsu warms perfectly in the oven and stays remarkably crispy.  It makes a truly fabulous sandwich on a bun with katsu sauce!!!

Tonkatsu    Prep time 45 min; Cook time 15-20 min

2 lbs boneless pork loin chops
1-2 cup flour
3 eggs, beaten
2-3 cups panko
garlic salt (if desired)
vegetable oil (for frying)

Trim any excess fat from the chops and pound to less than 1/4 inch thickness. I like to slip the chop into a freezer bag for pounding rather than using waxed paper, which contains the mess better and tears less. Set pounded pork chops aside.

Make a breading station – put flour, beaten eggs and panko in their own separate shallow dishes. At the end of the breading station place a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper for uncooked, breaded pork chops.  Line a second cookie sheet with brown paper or a rack to hold cooked chops warm in the oven.

Dip the chops, one at a time first in egg, then flour, then egg a second time, then panko. Place breaded chops on the cookie sheet. Pour a 1/2 inch of oil into a non-stick skillet and heat to medium-high.

Fry chops in batches, without crowding the pan, until crispy on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.  Sprinkle with a little garlic salt if desired.  This is not traditional, but very tasty.  If you get a good rhythm going, you can have more than one skillet going, and continue to bread chops while a first round is cooking.  Hold cooked chops warm in a 200 degree F oven until ready to eat. Serve over rice, chops sliced in 1-inch strips, topped with katsu sauce.

Yields 4-6 dinner servings (2 cutlets per person)

 

Miso Soup

Tags

dashi, miso, miso soup, seaweed, tofu, wakame

Okay, so I’m feeling a little silly today.  I’ve been buying packets of instant miso soup for years when it is, in fact, STUPID EASY to make at home.  And when you consider the fact that Amazon has darn near everything, I should have thought to try it earlier.

A note about the ingredients – I am just entering the world of honest-to-goodness Japanese cuisine.  I’ve trifled on the edges for years, but did a lot of ingredient substitutions when I couldn’t find what I needed in the local grocery store.  I’m telling you now that in Japanese cuisine, the ingredients are really important for flavor.  Especially in something like miso soup which has all of 5 ingredients.  Two of the key ingredients are dashi and miso.  Dashi is essentially a fish stock, but it has a very mild, very complex flavor and I do not recommend substituting fish stock.  Dashi has that all-coveted umami element that is hard to duplicate.  Miso is a fermented soybean paste.  It comes in several colors, which have different flavors.  For miso soup, I prefer light miso.  When it comes time to add the miso to the soup (and this is VERY important – so pay attention), turn the heat off first, then stir in the miso, and serve right away.  Do not attempt to reheat the soup on the stove.  I don’t fully understand why it happens, but direct heat on the soup after adding the miso causes the miso to become grainy.  The texture is not enjoyable in your mouth, so I like to add a little extra water to the pot and just let it simmer on super low at the back of the stove until I’m ready to serve dinner.  Then I turn off the heat, add the miso, sprinkle with green onions and serve!

We’ve got a Japanese food night lined up soon for a visit by the hub’s parentals – sweet potato and cauliflower tempura, miso soup, and katsuju.  If I get ambitious, I’ll take pictures of the katsuju (think crispy fried pork chop with steak sauce – yes, very, very yummy) and make it my next post!

 

Miso Soup           Prep time 10 min; Cook time 5 min

5 cups water
1 1/2 tsps instant dashi granules
1/2 cup miso paste
1 tablespoon dried wakame, rehydrated in water
3/4 cup tofu, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
3 green onions, sliced thinly on the bias

Add the water to a pot and bring to a boil. Sprinkle in the instant dashi and whisk to dissolve. Cook on medium-low and add the tofu. Drain and rinse the wakame and add the seaweed to the pot. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Measure the miso paste into a 1-cup glass measuring cup. Ladle 1/2 cup of the hot broth into the cup and whisk until smooth.

Turn the heat off. Stir the miso mixture into the hot soup. Sprinkle with green onions and serve immediately.

Yield 4 servings

 

Dark Chocolate Brownies

Tags

bittersweet chocolate, brownies, dark chocolate, dark chocolate brownies, fudge-like brownies

Due to a mild case of pregnancy, I have not posted a recipe in quite some time (about 6 months to be exact 🙂 ).  But now that little man is 3 weeks old I am determined to get back into the groove today!  So, I am starting back up with a luscious dark chocolate brownie recipe.

This brownie is fudgy and decadent, as well it should be with the amount of chocolate in the recipe.  I recommend using high quality chocolate (like Ghirardelli) because it enhances the overall flavor and texture.  I have tried substituting generic chocolate and/or cocoa powder + oil when I was out of the high quality stuff, and it really does make a difference.  This recipe has a much higher chocolate content than other brownie recipes, so you end up with a more fudge-like brownie.  It beats the pants off of cake-like brownies and laughs mockingly at applesauce brownies.  I recently made these brownies for a visit with the hub’s parents, and Dad proclaimed it the best brownie he’d ever had.  The pan slowly disappeared in little sections (ahem – ‘corners’, for those of you in the know) over the next two days.  To be fair, I think we were all snitching from the pan in little sections.  They are quite addictive.  And while we are on the subject of addictive, this brownie batter is completely awesome.  Since I was no longer gestating, I ate several spoonfuls of brownie batter and was very, very happy :).

The recipe can be baked in a 9×13 pan for a traditional brownie thickness, or, in a 9×9 pan for a restaurant-style thickness.  If you choose to bake in a 9×9 pan, then you will want to increase the bake time to closer to 45 minutes.  You will need to watch the brownies closely so that they don’t burn in this case.  I usually end up baking in a 9×13 because the brownies are done in about half the time, and who doesn’t want a warm brownie 20 minutes faster?  Not me, that’s for sure.

Dark Chocolate Brownies     Prep time 15 min; Bake time 20-25 min

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
¾ cup butter
¼ cup water
1 scant cup sugar
¾ cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1⅓ cups flour
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.

In a medium saucepan, combine chocolate, butter and water. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted. Transfer to a
large bowl. Or if you are feeling lazy, remove the pan from the heat, but leave the chocolate mixture in the sauce pan and make it a one-pot brownie mix.

Add sugar and brown sugar to chocolate. Beat with a wooden spoon until combined. Add eggs and vanilla,
and beat for about 2 minutes, or until well combined. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Sprinkle with cocoa powder or powdered sugar if desired.

Yield 12-15 brownies (or a whole lot of nibbles)

Corned Beef Hash with Scrambled Eggs

Tags

corned beef, corned beef hash, hot breakfast, scrambled eggs

There is this little hole-in-the-wall bar that serves the most incredible corned beef.  It almost pained me at the time, but I pulled some of the corned beef off of my Reuben (and yes, it is one of the best Ruben’s I’ve ever eaten) for the munchkin to eat for dinner.  She didn’t find it so incredible.  So I did the mom thing and put it in a tupperware thinking I’d feed it to the hub the next day.  Don’t shake your head – all the other moms out there have done this too 🙂  We just hate wasting food!  Anyway, I was staring in the fridge on Saturday morning, looking for inspiration, and saw all these tupperwares of food that have been refused by the munchkin and realized I was halfway to a corned beef hash.  So I tossed it all in a skillet and had a very lovely, very tasty, very thrifty Saturday morning breakfast.  And oddly enough, the munchkin thoroughly enjoyed second chance corned beef 🙂

 

Corned Beef Hash with Scrambled Eggs Prep time 10 min; Cook time 15 min

1/2 onion, chopped coarsely
2-3 mushrooms, sliced thickly
1/2 cup left over french fries, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup corned beef, chopped
3 eggs
Tabasco to taste
2-3 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion and mushrooms in butter in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until they are browned. Do not season with salt. Salt will draw water from the mushrooms and they will not brown properly. Add a little more butter and the chopped french fries. Left over diced baked potato will probably work as well. Cover with foil and add a weight (like a sandwich press or a heavy skillet) to the potato mixture for several minutes or until the potatoes are browned. Flip and repeat. Add the corned beef and push the mixture to the edge of the skillet.

Add the last of the butter to the empty spot in the skillet. Crack the eggs into the butter and sprinkle with Tabasco to taste. Scramble until soft set, then fold into the hash. Heat until eggs are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Yield 2 servings

Cinnamon Rolls

Tags

cinnamon roll; Cinnabon

Well, this is it.  My search is finally over.  After using pounds of butter and flour and brown sugar and cinnamon over the years testing recipes, I have finally found the ultimate cinnamon roll recipe – a copycat Cinnabon recipe.  I don’t know what took me so long to try a Cinnabon recipe.  Maybe it was subliminal conditioning after watching Jim Gaffigan’s bit on Cinnabon  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5LcBdbH8bo).  I also have an aversion to Hot Pockets . . . .    Regardless, this is it for me.  This recipe is tender, buttery, flavorful and packed with cinnamon.  It takes a little effort to put together, but it is SO WORTH IT!  I’m not sure I can go back to frozen rolls or rolls in a can.  I mean, just look at that picture.  There is no going back.

Cinnamon Rolls        Prep time 75 min; Cook time 25 min

Rolls
1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour

Filling
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/3 cup softened butter
1-2 tablespoons flour

Icing
8 tablespoons softened butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Let rest 5-10 minutes. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour and mix well. Knead the dough using a dough hook, adding flour if necessary, until dough is soft but elastic. Put the dough in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. I turn the oven to 200 degrees F and set the bowl on top of the oven.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll the dough out on a floured surface until it is about 21 inches long by 16 inches wide. The rectangle should be 1/4 – 1/8 inch thick.

To make the filling, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour in a bowl. Spread the softened butter gently over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the butter with a little flour, then spread the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface. Sprinkle again with a little flour. Working from the long edge, roll the dough into a large log. Cut the dough into 12 slices (easiest way is to cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into 3 pieces), and place in a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until light golden brown. Watch very carefully after 20 minutes because the rolls will brown very quickly at the end because of the high sugar content in the dough.

While the rolls are baking combine the icing ingredients. Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy. When the rolls are done cool for 10-15 minutes, then spread generously with icing.

 Yield 12 rolls

Pecan Pie Bars

Tags

bars, pecan pie, sugar cookie dough

These bars aren’t much to look at.  In fact, they look fairly unappetizing.  But these unassuming, unappetizing looking, humble little bars are, in fact, heaven.  The hub has nicknamed them ‘paradise bars’.  They have the flavors of pecan pie that we all know and love, with less time and effort.  If you don’t do pie crust well (sheepishly raising my own hand), these bars are the perfect solution.  The base is an envelope of sugar cookie mix, which is par-baked, then topped with the pecan mixture.  I’ve started keeping an envelope of sugar cookie mix on hand so I can make these bars when I’m tagged for a last minute dessert.  Check them out, and you will likely add it to your pantry list as well!

 

Pecan Pie Bars    Prep time 5 min; Cook time 35 min (2 hours cool time)

Crust:
1 pouch sugar cookie mix (17.5 oz, I like Betty Crocker)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg

Filling:
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsps flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom of a 9×13 inch pan.

Stir crust ingredients until a soft dough forms. Press into prepared pan in an even layer. Bake about 20 minutes or until very lightly golden.

Meanwhile, stir ingredient fillings until smooth. Spoon carefully over hot crust so that it forms an even layer. I use a wide spatula to gently shake the filling over the crust. You can’t spread the filling with a spoon because it will tear the crust. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until center is set and top is crackled. Cool completely, at least 2 hours. If you do not wait for the bars to completely cool, the filling will ooze. I like to make the bars the night before and then they cut beautifully.

Yield – 20 bars

 

Onion straws

Tags

french fried onions, onion, onion straws

You know those really fabulous crunchy onion straws that come on a truly delicious burger?  Yeah, those ones.  Little did you know they are ridiculously easy to make.  And this is coming from a person who has yet to successfully make a passable onion ring.  Apparently I’m not a complete failure at fried onions. 🙂  Ree Drummond (Pioneer Woman) has the best recipe I’ve come across. Her trick is to soak the thinly sliced onion in buttermilk for at least an hour.  It made all the difference in the finished product.

These crunchy little treats are marvelously versatile.  You can eat them all by themselves, on a sandwich or burger, substituted for canned french fried onions in dishes like green bean casserole; the list is almost endless!  Next time you make burgers, layer on some homemade onion straws and barbecue sauce.  The taste combination will become one of your favorites.

 

Onion Straws          Prep time 1 hr 10 min; Cook time 15 min

1 large yellow onion, sliced very thinly
1-2 cups buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 scant tablespoon salt
Lots of black pepper
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
Vegetable oil, for frying

Separate the onion slices and put them in a shallow dish. Pour buttermilk over the top, pressing the onions down so that they are completely covered. Soak the onions for at least an hour. Stir the onion every now and then to make sure they are all soaking. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the flour, salt, black pepper and cayenne, and set aside.

Pour 1 to 2 quarts of oil in a Dutch oven. Heat to 375 degrees F, or until a pinch of flour sizzles when sprinkled over the pot.

Using tongs, remove a handful of onions from the buttermilk and immediately dredge in the flour mixture. Tap them on the inside of the bowl to shake off excess flour. Immediately transfer the onions into the hot oil. Use a fork to break up the mass of onion. Watch the onions carefully because it will only take a couple minutes for them to turn golden brown. Remove them from the oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with the remaining onion slices and serve immediately.

Yield ~ 3 cups fried onions

Granola

Tags

almonds, granola, pecans, rolled oats

I know many of you think of granola as eating milk over twigs and berries.  But let me tell you that not all granolas are created equal.  I came across a fabulous granola recipe from Michael Symon’s wife, Lizzie (originally posted here http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/michael-symon/lizzies-granola.html).  I was a little surprised to see a granola made with olive oil, but Michael Symon has yet to steer me wrong with a recipe, so I decided to try it.  I needed to make a few modifications (partially for cost of ingredients and partially because I couldn’t find unsweetened coconut), but it was hands down the best granola I’ve ever eaten.  It is good both with milk and alone as a snack.  According to Michael, it is also good over yogurt.  The nuts and coconut are toasted to perfection and the olive oil gives an unexpected complementary flavor.  It is my current favorite food gift – just package in an air-tight container and gift away.

Granola     Prep time 5 min; Cook time 30-40 min

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups slivered almonds
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 honey
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt
1 – 1 1/2 cups sugared, chopped dates

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Combine the oats, coconut, almonds, pecans, oil, honey, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl, and stir together to coat. Be careful to evenly distribute the honey as it tends to clump with the oats.  Spread evenly on a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir again when you remove the pan from the oven the final time to prevent sticking to the pan as the granola cools. Let cool completely on the baking sheet. Add the dates and store in an airtight container.

Yield ~ 10 cups

Patty Melt

Tags

burger, hamburger, patty melt

If you told me that I would eat a hamburger with minimal seasoning, garnished with only mayo, onion and cheese, and want to lick the plate when I was done, I would have advised you to seek counseling for your outlandish delusions.  That was before I had the pleasure of eating a patty melt.  It is one of the most simple-looking hamburgers, yet one of the most delicious.  Because there are so few ingredients, you taste each part so distinctly and the flavors meld so beautifully.  If you’ve never had a patty melt, I highly recommend them.

Patty melts are traditionally served on rye bread.  I’m not a big fan of rye bread.  In  fact, I can only think of two applications where I like rye bread: patty melts and reubens.  Since it seems silly to buy an entire loaf of rye bread to make 2 patty melts, I’ve gotten smart and started seasoning my hamburger patties with caraway seeds.  Caraway seeds give rye bread that distinctive flavor and are essential for a proper patty melt.  But if you like rye bread, by all means use it an omit the caraway seeds.  Or if you are just nuts for caraway, go both/and – I won’t hold it against you. 🙂 At any rate, give this simple hamburger a try.  You’ll love it too!

The hub very sincerely thanked me after dinner tonight and said it was the best meal he’s ever had.  For those of you who know the hub, he doesn’t generally use superlatives, so that should tell you how dynamite this burger is!!

 

Patty Melt    Prep time 5 min; Cook time 45 min

4 slices wheat bread
1/2 lb 80/20 ground beef
Salt
Pepper
Caraway seeds
Butter
1 large yellow onion, sliced very thin
2 slices sharp cheddar cheese
2 slices swiss cheese
Mayo

Melt 2 tbsps butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onion to
the skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Slowly caramelize over medium-low
to low heat for about 30 minutes. Onions are finished when they turn a golden
color. If you need to speed up this process, you can add 2-3 tsps brown sugar to  the pan after the onions have sweated and reduced, about 10 minutes. Stir
constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. Transfer the onions to a paper
towel-lined bowl to drain.

While the onions are caramelizing, form two square hamburger patties a little
larger than your bread. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and caraway seeds. Heat a
cast iron skillet over medium-high to high heat. When the skillet is very hot,
add a little butter, then the two patties. Sear for a couple of minutes on each
side until there is a nice crust on each side. Remove to a paper towel to train.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat while you assemble your sandwiches.
Lay out all four slices of bread. Spread mayo on each slice of bread. Add a
slice of swiss to 2 pieces of bread and a slice of cheddar to the other two
pieces of bread. Put a hamburger patty on top of the cheddar, and pile onion on top of the hamburger. Top with the swiss cheese-topped bread. Spread butter on the outsides of both assembled sandwiches. Place in the hot pan. Put a piece of foil on top of the sandwiches, then use a sandwich press (or a clean cast iron skillet) to add weight. After a couple of minutes when the bread has browned, remove the weight and foil and flip the sandwiches. Replace the foil and weight and brown the other side. When toasted on both sides, remove from the pan and slice in half diagonally.

Yield: 2 utterly delicious hamburgers!

Steak Grilled in a Cast Iron Skillet

Tags

cast iron, dry rub, dry-aged, steak

I’m going to preface this post by saying that this is a lot of instruction.  Bear with me, cause the end result is SOOOO worth it.

I love me a good steak (as does the hub) but am not fond of paying restaurant prices.  We tried making steak at home,  but we got to the point where we would pay restaurant prices because our at-home efforts turned out so poorly.  After some research into restaurant steak-cooking practices, we think we have a reasonable alternative to dining out.  I’m not a steak expert by any means, but if you follow a couple of guidelines, you too can produce a restaurant-quality steak at home!

First, you need to buy a high quality steak.  Look for a steak with good fat marbling.  A lean steak is okay, but the end result will not taste as good without the fat.  My personal favorites are ribeye and porterhouse.  These are on the costly end per pound, but I would rather have the exact steak I want and have it less often, than have inferior steak all the time.  Also, you can consider buying one steak for 2 people.  We often buy one steak for the two of us and have lots of veggies on the side.  The other consideration is the thickness of the steak.  It needs to be at least one inch thick.  This way you can leave it in the pan long enough to form a crust on the steak and still have a nice medium to medium-rare steak.

Second, you want to dry out your steak.  True dry aging will make a steak more tender and intensify the beefy flavor of your steak, but it is difficult for the home cook to achieve.  If you want to know why this is, just google it and read up.  Otherwise, take my word for it that this is a fairly important step in producing a good steak.  To dry age (nominally) at home you are going to have to spring for the expensive fat-marbled steak.  This will not work with the leaner or less expensive cuts of meat because the fat is a requirement for dry aging.  Buy your steak up to 3 days before you are going to eat it.  I find the optimal amount of time for drying at home is around 3 days, but 1 or 2 days is just fine and is better than no drying.  Unwrap your steak, rinse it with water and pat it dry.  Then, wrap it in a clean dish towel, or a whole mess of paper towels so that the steak is completely covered.  Put the wrapped steak on a plate on the lowest level of your refrigerator.  Turn the temp of your fridge so that it is nice and cold, but not so cold that stuff starts to freeze.  Change the wrapping every day.

Third, you will need to invest in a cast iron skillet.  I cannot rave enough about cast iron skillets.  I have four skillets in various shapes and sizes, 2 dutch ovens and a cast iron griddle pan.  They are pretty awesome as universal cooking vessels and impart so much flavor to food.  For an apartment-dwelling person, it is a great alternative to a grill.  It fabricates grill-like flavor and will create a nice crust on the steak.  For a steak, I would recommend a 12-inch cast iron skillet.  You need cast iron because you will be cooking this steak over screaming high heat, and cast iron is the best for handling high heat.  You might also want to invest in a splatter screen, especially if you are cooking on a gas range.  Also, this WILL set off the smoke alarm, so set yourself up with a fan to blow the smoke out a window, or my personal favorite, arm the husband with a kitchen towel to fan the alarm 🙂

Fourth, use good cooking techniques.  DO NOT move the steak around as it is cooking.  Preheat the pan, put in a little oil right before you’re ready to put the steak on, then add the steak.  DO NOT TOUCH IT UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO FLIP IT.  Leaving it just as it is ensures that a happy little caramelization crust will form on your steak.  If your steak is about an inch thick, you will want about 3 minutes per side for medium to medium rare.  Go to 4-5 minutes per side for medium to medium well.  If you must kill your steak (i.e. well done), cook 5 minutes on one side, flip it and immediately transfer the pan to a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes.  You need to transfer to the oven instead of finishing on the range because the crust on the steak will burn if you continue to cook for that length of time on direct flame.  Transferring to the oven will gently cook the inside of the steak without burning the outside.  But do us all a favor and don’t kill your meat.  Learn to love medium.  To help yourself determine how done the steak is, make a loose fist with your hand.  Press on the fleshy part between your thumb and knuckle.  This is how a medium-rare steak will feel if you push on it.  Tighten your fist like if you were holding a coffee cup tightly and press on the same fleshy part.  This is how medium will feel.  Tighten your fist as hard as you can go and this is how well-done will feel.  NEVER, NEVER, NEVER cut your steak to test doneness.  If you do this, you will lose all the lovely juice in the steak and end up with a tough piece of shoe leather.  Practice will make perfect and you will slowly be able to tell by pressing on the meat how done it is.  When you have cooked the steak to your preferred doneness, remove it from the heat and let it rest on the counter for at least 5 minutes.  This redistributes all of the juice in the steak.  Dot the top of the steak with butter while it is still hot.  All the good restaurants do this.  Yes, it is not healthy and yes, it is very decadent.  This is why you should exercise portion control and not make steak very often.  Really, if you’re going to have steak, do it right.

If you follow these rules, you will end up with a perfect steak and a happy mouth!

Steak Grilled in a Cast Iron Skillet   Prep time 3 days; Cook time 30 min

1 lb or larger ribeye steak, at least 1 inch thick
Steak Rub
1-2 tbsps butter
Mushroom and onion garnish

Steak Rub
2 tbsps brown sugar
1-2 tbsps kosher salt
2 tsps cajun spice
1 tsp ground black pepper

Mushroom and Onion Garnish
4 tbsps butter, divided
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
8 oz (or larger) package of mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsps bourbon (I like Jim Beam)
Salt and pepper to taste

Take your steak out of the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before you are ready to cook it.  It needs to come to room temperature before you put it in the pan.

While your steak is coming to room temperature, start on the onions.  In 3 tbsps of butter, saute the onion and mushroom over medium heat.  You want to soften them first, then let them brown just a touch.  Add the chicken stock and bourbon and simmer until moisture is completely absorbed.  Add the last tbsp of butter, and salt and pepper to taste.

While the onion and mushroom is softening, stir together the rub ingredients.  Break up the brown sugar so that there are no clumps.  Store in an air-tight container.  Remove the paper towel from the steak and coat in a little vegetable oil.    Sprinkle a generous amount of rub on the steak and press down so that it forms a thin crust on the steak.  Start to preheat your pan over highest heat.  This should take about 5 minutes.  The pan should be smoking and when you add a drop of water to the skillet it should almost dance across the surface.  Add a little oil to the pan and turn the pan to coat.  Add the steak to the skillet.  (At this point, you should be adding the chicken stock and bourbon to the mushrooms and onions.)  Cook 3 minutes, then flip the steak and cook 3 more minutes.  Remove the steak to a plate and dot with butter.  Let it rest on the counter for at least 5 minutes.  Garnish with the mushroom and onions.  Enjoy thoroughly!!