I'm Just Here for the Food (6 page)

2. Sear to attain a yummy crust then finish cooking by another method.

3. Stick with foods that are natural-born searers.

Master Profile: Searing

Heattype
: dry

Mode of transmission
: 100-percent conduction

Rate of transmission:
very high

Common transmitters:
metal pans and griddles

Temperature range:
the widest range of any cooking method, from very low to very, very high

Target food characteristics:

• low surface-to-mass ratio

• wide, flat shape

• high-protein foods that profit from a contrast between surface and interior doneness: beef steaks, tuna steaks, scallops

• starchy batters: pancakes, crepes, and so on

Non-culinary use:
branding cattle (and in some cases, fraternity members)

SEARING: THE SHORT FORM

1.
Decrease the difference in temperature between refrigerated meat and your oven before starting the process; counter the meat for up to 30 minutes, depending on the size.

As long as you’ve read the section called cleanliness is Next to. . . and put safe habits into practice, that is.

2.
Don’t be afraid to let the pan get hot. Heat the pan over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes if the food is small (a single duck breast) or 5 minutes if the food is large (a flank steak). Consider several small pieces (four duck breasts) to be one big piece.

3.
Season the meat with salt as soon as you put the pan on to heat.

4.
Double-check everything before you start because once the food hits the pan, there is no turning back.

5.
Examine both sides of the target food—whichever side looks best goes down first. When you turn the food, the pan isn’t as hot as it was when you started, so the second crust doesn’t form as quickly. This means it probably won’t look as gosh-darned delicious as the first side, which is why you cooked the handsome side first.

6.
When you place the food in the pan there is going to be noise and maybe some smoke. Many people who cook respond to this by grabbing the food and moving it around. This is not a good thing to do.

7.
The food is hot, it’s juicy, the kitchen smells great, the table’s set—time to dig in, right? Wrong. Heat is still applying pressure to the meat, and any slicing or poking will result in a rapid exodus of juicy goodness. Place seared meat on a resting rack, covered with a large bowl or loosely tented with foil. Wait 5 minutes. This will give you time to ponder a pan sauce (see
Sauces
).

Skirt Steak: The Master Recipe

Skirt steak is flat, uniform in thickness, and rarely longer than a 12-inch pan is wide. Not only was it born to be seared, it is one of the leanest cuts of meat suitable for searing.

Software:

1 skirt steak (see
Beef Blueprint
)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Hardware:

Spray bottle for the oil
Cast-iron skillet
Resting rack
Aluminum foil or a large bowl

Application: Searing

Prep the meat.
Remove the steak from the refrigerator, pat dry, and place on rack for at least 15 minutes. (Less difference between meat and oven temperature.)

Lube the meat.
The goal here is to barely coat the surface of the meat with a thin film of oil. This will hold the salt to the meat, provide no-stick insurance, and serve as a heat conductor for all those nooks and crannies that don’t actually come in contact with the pan. The trick is to make this layer skimpy. Too much oil and the salt will wash away. Oil also likes to spatter and even burn when faced with high heat, so I say use as little as possible. To that end, I employ a drugstore spray bottle. I don’t put anything in it but peanut or safflower oil and I keep it set for “spray” rather than “stream” at all times.

Season the steak liberally on both sides with kosher salt and pepper.
What the heck does “season liberally” mean? Truth is, most folks underseason their food before cooking, which usually drives them to oversalt at the table. In the case of skirt steak, I go with at least ¼ teaspoon of salt per side.

Grind pepper onto each side (I go with half as much pepper as salt), and then
use your hand to really rub the seasoning into the meat
. Rubbing is the only way to make sure you’ve got good salt-to-meat contact. Once the massage is over, go wash your hands, and allow the meat to sit for at least 5 minutes. This allows some juices to come to the meat’s surface—and those juices are what will give the steak a nice crust when seared.

Heat the pan.
Place your largest cast-iron skillet on the cook top over high heat. Allow 3 minutes for the pan to reach cooking heat.

Turn on your stove’s exhaust system.
If you do not have an exhaust system, open a window. Hold the steak so that the bottom edge hangs down right at the closest edge of the skillet and
lay the steak down into the pan.
This isn’t so much to prevent splattering as to make sure that you get the whole thing in the pan without sliding it around. This is important because moving the meat around in those first few moments can cut down on crust production.

Leave the meat absolutely alone for 3 minutes, then flip it over and cook for another 3 minutes
—uninterrupted, please. This will result in a perfectly medium-rare steak. Want it more done than that? No, you don’t … really, you don’t.

Remove the steak from the skillet and let it rest on a resting rack for 5 minutes,
covered loosely with aluminum foil or with a large bowl. Do not skip this step.

While the method given at right is the classic, it’s not one that I use anymore. That’s right, I no longer cook skirt steak on a pan, griddle, or even a grill. I cook it directly on natural chunk charcoal coals.

I get a couple of quarts going, spread them out across the grate, fan off the ashes, and lay on the meat. I let it cook 1 minute, flip the steak onto fresh coals, and cook another minute. Then I quickly wrap it in heavy-duty foil for a half hour. It’s the best-tasting meat I’ve ever had. And yes——it’s seared!

Now, skirt steak is not a very tender piece of meat.
It’s lean and fibrous and flat-out tough unless you slice it correctly—meaning thin. By slicing thin across the grain, you present the prospective chewer with short muscle fibers rather than long ones, which creates a far more tender mouth feel. The problem with thin, however, is that a skirt steak is not very thick to begin with, so if you cut straight through it you end up with something that looks like meat fettuccine, which may taste good but looks a little … weird. Thus the bias cut—across the grain.
Slice the steak on an angle
and you get it all: short muscle fibers and great-looking slices. The leftovers are delicious cold, by the way.

one of those strange, food-industry terms that attempts to describe something you can’t really describe

Cast-Iron Duck

I’m chronically depressed about the puny amount of duck we eat in this country. It’s just plain wrong. Besides being downright American, duck is without question our tastiest poultry. If we’re to eat less red meat, I say let’s eat more duck.

This sear is a little different than the basic method because it starts with medium rather than high heat in order to render out some fat without burning the duck skin. Since it depends on rendering out subcutaneous fat, proper searing also translates to a more healthful dish.

Application: Searing

With a sharp knife, trim excess fat and sinew from the breasts and score the skin in a crosshatch pattern, being very careful not to cut into the muscle. Pat the breasts dry with paper towels. The less moisture the better: it will result in a crisper skin—and crisp skin is essential. Season the breasts with salt and pepper. Heat a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Using a spray bottle, lightly coat the pan with oil. Gently lay the breasts into the pan, skin side down. Resist the urge to move them around, as you’ll want them to brown. Once you’ve achieved a golden brown skin, using tongs, flip the breasts away from yourself, using easy motions so you don’t splash hot oil on yourself. Cook for another 3 minutes. Remove the breasts to a resting rack and loosely cover with foil. Letting the meat rest will allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat. After about 5 minutes, with the skin side up, slice the breasts on a bias. Fan the meat over a tasty side dish—how about
Red Flannel Hash
?—and enjoy.

Yield: 4 servings

Software:

4 duck breasts
Kosher salt and freshly ground
black pepper
Canola oil

Hardware:

Sharp knife
Paper towels
Spray bottle for the oil
Cast-iron skillet
Tongs
Resting rack
Aluminum foil

Red Flannel Hash

This dish is best with the delicious
Cast-Iron Duck
.

Application: Searing

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Using a paring knife, peel the beet under cold running water, cut into medium dice (to yield 1 cup), and place in a cold-water bath as you go; this will help keep your clothes from getting stained. Peel and dice the potatoes (to yield 3 cups) and put them in a second cold-water bath after cutting them; this will keep them from oxidizing and turning brown. Drain the diced beet, and coat with 1 tablespoon duck fat. Spread the beet pieces out on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 8 minutes, or until they are slightly tender. Drain the potatoes and put them in the pot of boiling water. When the water returns to a boil, drain the potatoes and plunge them into an ice-water bath to stop the cooking. Drain, rinse, and spin them in a salad spinner. Heat a cast-iron pan over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the remaining duck fat and toss in the garlic. Cook the garlic for about 45 seconds, just to flavor the oil. Add the onion and cook for another 45 seconds. Add the potatoes and beets and cook until crisp with a minimal amount of stirring. Be sure not to overcrowd the pan or you’ll never get that crispness you’re after—work in batches if you must. Season with salt and pepper, add the chives, and stir to distribute. If you’re really adventurous, crack a duck egg atop the hash and cover with a lid. Cook until the egg is at your favorite degree of doneness.

Yield: 4 servings

Software: