I finally found the ATK recipe, and it works like a charm. However, it will not make a tough steak tender. Buy a tough piece of meat, cook it perfectly, and it's still tough -- as I found out today with a "special" petite sirloin at $2.99 per pound off regular price at Safeway! (Lord, keep me from Safeway!) The toughest meat I have ever had. But it was beautifully cooked. Here's the recipe: Ingredients: 2 New York strip steaks, at least 1-inch thick Kosher salt 1 teaspoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon Freshly ground black pepper 2 nice pats of butter Special equipment: 1 half-size heavy-duty sheet pan 1 wire rack to fit the half-size, heavy-duty sheet pan 1 leave-in meat thermometer How to prepare: 1. In order for this method to work, your steaks should be about room temperature before cooking. Be sure to take your steaks out of the fridge, or from wherever you are storing them, ahead of time. 2. Preheat the oven to 275�. 3. Using paper towels, thoroughly pat your room-temperature steaks dry. Season both sides liberally with kosher salt and rub the olive oil all over them. 4. Position the steaks on the wire rack that you have set in the sheet pan. Insert the meat thermometer probe into the center of one of the steaks. You will want the tip of the probe to be parallel to the steak, so the probe should go in the side of the steak instead of sticking straight up. Make sure not to position the probe tip too close to the wire rack or to the top of the steak. Set the timer to go off at 100�. 5. When the timer goes off, remove the steaks from the oven. Remove the probe. Heat the remaining olive oil over medium-high heat until the pan is nice and hot, and oil is not quite smoking. Sear the steaks on both sides. You should remove them from the pan when they reach an internal temperature of 125� for rare, or 130� for medium rare. While the steaks are resting, the internal temperature should continue to rise about 5 degrees. 6. Place a nice pat of butter and a good grind of black pepper on each steak before serving. Serve and smile. RB

I am much too late to be of any help to starlightfarm with her salmon dinner, but here is a really good recipe for a whole salmon. Salmon Baked in Foil Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune 1 whole salmon, 6-8 lb and cleaned 1 c sliced carrots 1 c sliced onion 1 c sliced celery ½ tsp fresh thyme Salt to taste 8 peppercorns, crushed 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 bay leaf 2 c dry white wine Preheat oven to 400F. Cover a baking sheet with foil. In bowl combine carrots, onion, celery, thyme, salt, peppercorns, garlic, bay leaf and wine. Place cleaned salmon in center of baking sheet, stuff with vegetable mixture and seal foil tightly around salmon. Bake 50-60 minutes or until salmon is opaque in thickest part. Remove from oven and cool. Once cool, remove skin from fish and serve warm or chilled with Hollandaise or your choice of sauce. Makes 8-10 servings. Linda

Get a couple of 3/4" thick Flat Irons and generously rub both sides with your favorite seasoning, using 1/4 tsp. of salt per steak if your seasoning has no salt in it. Let them stand at room temp for 10 to 15 minutes. Heat a skillet (I use a heavy, high-quality nonstick) over medium to medium-high heat. Add a little oil, fry the steaks for 5 minutes on each side, flipping only once (tongs - no fork.) Take pan off heat and let rest for 5 minutes. They'll be tender, juicy, bursting with flavor . . . guaranteed.

My only skillets are 5 cast iron, 1 not (the one not is an excellent combo of Dutch oven/skillet, so I usually don't use it unless I'm making a stew or jambalaya or other casserole kind of thing. I have one BEST cast iron one. . . it's older than dirt and smoother than silk. Two are pretty "pebbly," and I'm careful about what I cook in them--stuff that is lots of oil and with foods that aren't are prone to stick. I just keep adding oil and lard and heating them up to 450-500 when I have time to think of it, and scrub the heck out of them with salt. . . they're getting better. . . I just got a brand new Lodge dutch oven. . . it's very pebbly. I know my husband wonders why I haven't used it yet. I'm dousing it with lard and heating it up (to 450-500) at times. . . scrubbing with salt. . . gotta get that pebbly finish worn down with filling it in with oil, I guess, and conversely, scrubbing. Counteractive? Maybe, but it seems to be getting a little more smooth. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all. LOL AND I'm yet one more who is frustrated and confused about how to get them to be perfect. . . But here's the best thing of all about cast iron. . . I've only been using this 5-cast-iron-skillet collection for 3 years. And my biceps are considerably more developed. And I have much more arm strength. What a great thing, and what a riot!! LOL Here's to cast iron!