My mother occasionally broiled steaks...but she had a wonderful chambers range with a broiler that was easy to access.
I had a stove at one time that had a fancy broiler...there were 2 heating elements that were fairly close together...and you filled a pan ( came with the stove) with water, put it on the rack below to catch any drips and put the steaks directly on the rack and it cooked both sides at once....and smoke?? Hoo boy!!
I have also cooked a steak or 2 or lamb chops in that broiler thing in the drawer below the oven....where you lie on the floor to see what;s happening.
Nope...iron fry pan or out side grill...not doing that stuff any more!
Linda c

I believe - could be wrong - that many top steak houses broil rather than grill. But I doubt the typical home broiler gets hot enough to replicate that setup.

You ask what broilers are for then? For me, I'll broil seafood from time to time, but more often than not will simply use the broiler to "finish" a dish, in particular a casserole type dish like lasagne when the top could use a little help getting browned and bubbly. Or a chicken that's fully cooked but not yet crispy enough for my liking.

My mother used to broil steaks all the time. The little flames that spark up scare me so I dont like to broil anything.

I looked up the specs on steakhouse broilers. 35K to 45K BTU/hr. Looks like the typical residential oven broiler is 13K to 15K. Bummer . . .

Just all the spattering from the broiler and smoke is enough to put me off. (Despite a self-cleaning oven)

I fire up the grill outside to the point of near combustion, then place the oiled seasoned steaks on, close grill, walk away no peekin'!!! and flip in exactly 3 minutes, then leave for 2 minutes the other side (for about a 3/4" to 1" thick steak). After a "loosely tent with foil" few minutes resting time, (the steaks, not me!) I'm good to go with rare steak!!!

A broiled steak is not the same as a steak cooked on a grill. I've never cared for any foods broiled in a home oven. Not even in the Viking which had an Infrared Broiler.

Ann

I think restaurants use 'salamanders'. I've never seen one. Link below for a GW discussion.

I'm with Lyra, if I'm in a good restaurant, I always tell the waiter/ress that I want my steak done 'chef's choice'. I've never been disappointed.

We usually do steak at home on our outside gas grill - cross hatched ala AnnT - but I do order filet minon when I'm out since DH doesn't like it.

See link for a ''heavy duty, high production, specialized Steakhouse Broiler . . . 42,000 BTUs/hr cast iron burners . . . temperatures as high as 2500ºF''.

I recall an Alton Brown show about re-creating the steakhouse meal at home. He uses a chimney starter, gets the charcoal nicely hot, then places the steak on the grill and the chimney starter - with the charcoal still inside - over the steak. Voila, improvised steak broiler. 90 seconds per side to crust and sear, then place the grill on top of the chimney starter and 60 seconds per side with a large bowl inverted over the steak to finish cooking. Of course, you can only do one steak at a time.

>>That said, I dont believe that you need formal training or a degree. I know many engineers, most of them cant make a hotdog or fry an egg. On the other hand, most great chefs have no idea what is latent heat in phase change. Scientific knowledge can be gained and practiced empirically. Your great grandmother may not have gone through high school, yet she can bake the most perfect bread. >>

Well...not MY grandmother, hee hee. She was, from all accounts, a simply terrible cook. My aunts and uncles always expressed their amazement that my mother was such a wonderful cook with a lifelong passion for multicultural cuisines. I think they suspected she was a changeling of some sort, LOL!

I don't think everyone has to read a cookbook or food science book, much less go to culinary school, to become a good cook. However, when so much has been written about food, and is so easily and cheaply available, why would you not avail yourself of the opportunity to avoid having to reinvent the wheel?

I have shared a lot of recipes on the web, but not my meat marinade. Anyone who's ever done a study in Chinese regional cuisines could figure out a similar recipe. Just leaving you guys with a little mystery to wile away your spare hours [wink]!

Harris' and the House of Prime Rib are still around. I like Bob's Steak and Chop House, although the prices are breathtaking.....ouch and double-ouch.

We keep missing the Tues prime rib special at One Market, but we're determined to get there before we leave on our next trip. Chef Mark Dommen really loves his meat, and knows how to cook it. You want to smack the hostesses for being so snooty, but once you sit down, the waitstaff is top-notch.

I'll second Ann's question, "Is there a reason why you won't share your marinade?"

Unless it's a proprietary commercial secret such as the Colonel's blend, for the life of me I can't undertand why someone wouldn't want to share a great recipe with his/her food-loving friends.

Oh boy, a mystery. Maybe the recipe is stolen from some Far Eastern ninja or starts with tomato soup in the red and white can or.....

Ah well, I never marinate steak anyway, I like the plain old flavor of good beef with just a little salt and pepper. No steak sauce, bleu cheese or wine sauces, etc. either, thanks.

Annie

Annie, like you I never marinate steaks. I only asked because I just wondered why Jkom wasn't sharing. I've always thought that recipes were meant to be shared.

Ann

Well I'll go you one better....and not share MY steak marinade!
Linda c

I could be wrong about this:

1. It is my understanding that it is aceptable and understandable that one wishes to keep certain information private. It does not make one selfish. There are many reasons why. There are information (secretes?) (not necessarily in cooking) which were given to me which I have sworn not to disclose.

2. I much rather someone tells me that he/she is not sharing a recipe, than to share and omit one or two things on purpose and wasting my time in trying out.

Just MHO.

dcarch

I always find it odd if someone chooses not to share a recipe. I agree, it's their choice. But it's still odd to me. And it feels unfriendly.

You aren't wrong Dcarch. It is each persons prerogative to keep their recipe secrets.

I find most people who are really into cooking and who participate on cooking forums such as this to be very generous in sharing their recipes, their experience and knowledge. Thank goodness for all the really talented chefs and cookbook authors out there who feel the same way as I do, that Recipes Are Meant to Be Shared.

And as for your number two - I would hate to think that we have anyone on this forum who would leave out an ingredient or a step deliberately.

Just my LTHO!!

3. I'd rather someone not tell me that they have a recipe in the first place, if they have no intention of sharing it.

JMO

years ago, I made a cookbook for my young niece who loved to bake. I took every photo and created a cute layout using word. It took a while, but it was a labor of love. When I went to get it photocopied, the woman who owned the store asked if she could have a copy of the entire book. I said no, and when she continued to ask, I let her keep a copy of one of the recipes. I posted it here and while some agreed that it was bold, others suggested that I should have given them when asked. While I am still bugged by her boldness, I now think I should have been more generous. Other than that situation, I always give out recipes. Wouldn't give it a second thought.
I hate it when people guard recipes. I always think they are worried that someone will make it better than they do.

There is nothing new under the sun...if you thought of combining certain things ....then for sure someone else has thought of the same thing.
No one ever HAS to share everything...but it's rather childish to mention something that you aren't sharing. sort of like the 8 year-olds saying..."I know something and I'm not telling!" or "Nyah! I have a cookie and you don't and I am not sharing"
My thought is why would you even mention it unless you wanted me to beg you to share?...which I won't do. Certainly without tasting it or at least seeing the ingredients, how would I know I would like the recipe, or care about the secret...or even like a bite of the cookie I don't have?
I would rather someone not mention a recipe at all, than say I won't share it.
But I'm really not interested, as my recipe is so perfect I see no need to use anything else, but I would never share my recipe....however if you have ever been a guest and watched me prepare to grill steaks, you might know my secret.

You're not sharing either?

From LindaC: I would rather someone not mention a recipe at all, than say I won't share it.

On this forum, exactly. jkom you have been very generous with your Cooking Forum contributions on all sorts of things, from recipes to San Francisco restaurants. You are also helpful on other forums within GW, especially financial and with regards to aging/caregiver issues. I find it odd that you would do such a thing, here of all places. It's out of character and diminishes your spotless reputation for me.

That MUST be it! The CF tour bus is being invited to stop by for steak dinners complete with secret sauce.

Who is bring the spinach brownies... wit the "secret spinach"? Has anyone learned the secret to keeping them lit...

: )
lyra

OMG lyra, you're a genious. I never did like "secret spinach" much with chocolate. Cheese! That might just be the answer!!!

The Ruth's Chris Steakhouse chain was started here in New Orleans by Ruth Fertel. Ruth worked in a laboratory where she had access to high temperature muffle furnaces (ovens) that reach temperatures of over 3000 degrees F. She drew upon that experience and developed her high temperature way of preparing steaks. The restaurant's signature is serving USDA prime steaks that are seared at 1800°Fahrenheit and served on platters heated to 500° Fahrenheit. Half an ounce (1 Tbsp) of butter is added just before the plates leave the kitchen in order to cause the steak to sizzle when presented to the customer.

Dan

My husband ( chef) and I just had the best steaks of our lives in Evanston, Wyoming in a dumpy place called Bon Rico's. The soup/salad/sides were forgettable but the ribeye and the filet mignon were truly superb. We live in LA, which isn't as big a steak town as NYC or Chicago, but still gets decent meat. Bon Rico's blew us away. I asked for the "petite" serving, and got at least 18 oz. The guy in the kitchen cuts the meat to order--it's local grass fed--and cooks over an open flame. I grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana, but my mother was a dismal cook. My dad cooked the steaks, but to death and beyond.

My husband's filet tasted like beef flavored butter--it was that tender. We both got medium rare, and the steaks were perfect.

Last night's festivities:

My neighbor and I took identical steaks, cooked one by searing in a cast iron pan, the other under the broiler in my oven. I positioned the steaks very close to the broiler, as you can see. Took both to the same degree of exterior browning and crusting. The pan seared steak took less time and was medium rare while the broiled one took 3 minutes longer and was medium. On this round, anyway, the pan was the winner. It seems to have more a higher ''crusting to cooking'' ratio than my broiler does.

Sadly, I've been to a couple of the Ruth's Chris steakhouses in the Bay Area, and they're mediocre at best. Very poor quality beef. My DH had one of the worst NY strip steaks of his life at the last one we tried.

I think there are many ways to make a great dish, whether steak, fish, or zucchini. That's the fun of cooking, the creativity and serendipity!

What's the big deal about what marinade I use? I started using marinades because the meat quality in our area is very poor unless I pay astronomical prices. I do like Costco's beef but I'm not a member; since there's just two of us it makes no sense for me to shop there so I dropped our membership.

Pretty much any kind of seasoning or rub is going to improve an average supermarket steak or roast, so use whatever you like best. Lots of garlic and fresh black pepper, and go wild from there!

Come to think of it, the one thing I haven't tried on beef is the Spanish pimenton my niece (also a fellow foodie) just got me as a gift. Wonder how that will taste? We ate at a new bistro last night that served grilled goat chops and made a sensational pesto to go with it. As far as we could tell there was only EVOO, garlic, sea salt, and fresh coriander in it. Maybe a few red chile pepper flakes too. If I subbed parsley for the coriander and added pimenton......hmm, the wheels are turning, LOL.

John, I've never had a broiled steak at home that I thought was great. Of course I have one of those bottom broilers that you have to lie on the floor to use, so I've never used the one in this latest stove other than to roast a batch of red peppers, another procedure definitely not worth the time.

I like goat, but truthfully, it's quite expensive here and it just reminds me mostly of venison, which I feed my good hay and apples with a side of the neighbor's corn so I think if I feed them, I should be able to eat them...

jojoco, Idon't think you were out of line at all, it wasn't the recipes, it's all the work, the formatting, the photos. She didn't ask to use your recipes, she wanted to copy all of your work, and I think that's different.

Annie

Interesting, Annie...you think goat tastes like venison...I think it tastes like lamb...hmmm...?
And Jo...I agree...you should have perhaps offered her your copies of the chicken scratch recipes..as the real gift you were giving was your time and your formatting.
But it didn't in any way diminish the gift you gave to your niece....and earned you a star in your crown. It was the right thing for you to do, but the wrong thing for her to ask!!
A recipe...or knowledge or a pattern or technique is rather like love. It's not in any way diminished by giving it away or sharing with others. Your gift comes back 10 fold in gratitude and in the esteem in which others may hold you.
Jo...you did the right thing.

Annie, I like broiling but my oven doesn't do a good job at all. Pretty pathetic that this broiler can't even out-sear a routine residential stove burner which is probably The next experiment here will be deep-frying a steak. I don't have any reason to think it will be a good technique, but might as well try it once.

"Posted by johnliu ---The next experiment here will be deep-frying a steak. I don't have any reason to think it will be a good technique, but might as well try it once."

Try a propane blow torch?

dcarch

LindaC, lamb has a taste all its own, even stronger than my local venison.

Of course Elery loves lamb and loves venison, so I probably ought to raise a goat! I don't care for lamb and can take or leave venison or goat...

John, deepfry a steak? That ought to be interesting, what temp?

Annie

I love baby goat. Bought a couple from a local farmer/butcher. Taste very much like lamb, only even milder.

John, why would you want to deep fry a steak?

Ann

''Try a propane blow torch?''

Propane, LPG, bah, 2400F is for sissies. Real men use MAPP gas at 5000F. Nothing better, unless you've got a type 3 phaser rifle.

Ann, I don't know that I would like a deep fried steak, but I figure I might as well try it. Once. Experimenting won't hurt anything but the meat.

I'll get my deep fryer as hot as it will go, about 385F, and try a smallish piece, 4 oz or so. Might try a browning-inducing coating. Worst case, the cats get an odd meal.

John, somehow I think I'll stick with Sherry's spinach brownies, I love those!

No chocolate necessary FOAS, just spinach, eggs, cheese, yummy stuff...

Oh, Lyra, you meant the SECRET spinach, LOL. I'll pass, thanks, and stick with Sherry's original recipe!

Annie

Did anyone see the Next Food Network Star where that one guy Tom took a chunk of bacon and tried to cook it like a steak? A Bacon Steak.

The judges couldn't even cut it. What in the heck was he thinking???

I saw that one. Same guy that made a savory stuffed french toast and added clams to it. The bacon steak actually made a squeaky noise as they tried to cut it.

Here ya go...make this with any kind of "spinach" you wish!

Appetizers, spinach squares
2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen, chopped spinach
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
8 eggs beaten
10 to 12 soda crackers, crumbled (2/3 cup)
2 teaspoons herbs, (thyme, rosemary, dill)
1 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese
Paprika
Thaw and drain spinach. In large skillet, heat oil. Sauté spinach, onion,
Garlic and parsley until lightly cooked. Remove from heat, Add eggs, crackers, seasonings and
Cheddar cheese, mix together. Pour into a greased 8 1/4 X 13 1/2 inch baking
Dish. Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese and paprika and bake at 325 for 45
Minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cut in small
Squares, about 1 3/4 inches. May be served hot or cold. Makes 36 squares

JO I know! hahahah I laughed so hard when I heard that eek eek eeek as the judge was sawing at the bacon steak.

Oooh yea, stuffed french toast with clams. No thankie.

"...I don't know that I would like a deep fried steak, but I figure I might as well try it. Once."

That was my thinking when I once saw fried lobster on a menu. I tried it and found out why you never see it. It was long ago and all I remember about it is that it wasn't good.

Funny, but it was only a couple of days ago, while cooking some bacon, that I thought about why bacon is always sliced. Without having to actually do the experiment, or see that program, it seemed obvious that cooking a slab whole would not be a good thing to do.

Jim

"What's the big deal about what marinade I use? I started using marinades because the meat quality in our area is very poor unless I pay astronomical prices. I do like Costco's beef but I'm not a member; since there's just two of us it makes no sense for me to shop there so I dropped our membership."

If you can't get good beef in your area and you like the beef from Costco, the membership price would be a small price to pay for getting decent beef.

I have a number of good butchers in the area, but I still maintain my membership at Costco. They carry Triple A beef from Alberta. I've never had a bad steak from Costco. Since I'm also only shopping for two, I don't buy huge quantities. The closest Costco is in Victoria so I don't shop there every week, but probably at least once a month. The membership is cheap, less than $60.00 a year.

Ann

I had one of those secret spinach brownies once but never did figure out how keep it burning long enough to smoke it. Must be what they mean by tried it but didn't inhale. One of those things that looks good on televison but don't hold up to real life?

I have deep fried steak. Cut it into chunks. It will be crusty on the outside. Lots of salt and blue cheese topping. Not the best steak but quick and easy.

: )
lyra

Isn't chicken fried steak deep fried?

I don't know, never having had it. I've only seen printed descriptions or a quick shot on something like Unwrapped or DD&D.

I've just always assumed it was steak (of some sort) battered and deep fried.

But, my thought on the matter is, with so many great ways to cook a steak why bother with deep fry?

Deep fried steak is basically fondue. Good in small pieces with dipping sauces.

Ann_t, I've considered it but it isn't worth it for us. The Costcos are not close to us and driving to areas I don't normally visit aren't worth my time/energy/gas. I enjoy cooking but not every day. Our budget is generous for going out and that's what I most enjoy.

I LOVE chicken fried steak! But it is possibly the worst thing in the world for you, LOL. Restaurant versions are okay, but The Real Thing is dynamite. I wrote up my mother's method one day, when I was doing a restaurant review of a cafe that did a decent chicken-fried steak we liked. My younger friends and family have never had this recipe, so I included it in my email as a humorous touch.

BTW, I do not claim this is an authentic Southern Recipe. This is just how my JapAm mother made it when we were growing up in Chicago, after she learned it from the Mississippi AfrAms in our neighborhood:

*The Traditional (e.g., home-cooked) Chicken Fried Steak

Yes, this is another thing my Japanese-American mother learned to make from Southerners (Mississippians transplanted to Chicago, hence our familys love of sweet cornbread and really good fried chicken from the legendary Harolds in Chicago [you can look up Harolds Chicken in Wiki]). It can be eaten for dinner or breakfast. Or lunch. Or....well, you get the idea. Like most Southern food, it goes best with biscuits. Real biscuits, the kind made with white lard and even whiter soft wheat flour, rolled and cut with a biscuit cutter (what do you mean, youve never seen a biscuit cutter?!?) and served hot out of the oven with lots of butterc. Definitely not the fake Pillsbury-in-a-can stuff. To the day she died (at age 84), my mothers idea of heaven would have included a hot biscuit dripping with butter.

Start with decent-sized pieces of beef, well trimmed of fat. Bottom round is ideal. The mechanically tenderized "cube steak" is sheer laziness and has the wrong texture. Traditionally the pieces of bottom round meat are pounded thin with the edge of a heavy china plate (okay, my mother did use a traditional meat mallet instead).

Never, under any circumstances, do you use a wet batter. Never, ever! The egg and the flour do not mix together promiscuously in a bowl; this is a worse heresy than a mechanically tenderized steak. As you are pounding the steak pieces thin, you sprinkle them generously with seasoned flour. The flour, up to a cup or more, is pounded into each steak. "Seasoned", BTW, means salt and pepper. Thats it, no garlic (powder) or onion (same). Just lots of the evil white Mortons.

Heres where you get a split between the thin batter-fried and the thick batter-fired recipes. My mother was a thin batter advocate, so she fried the steak after pounding it with the flour. The opposing camp sets out a beaten egg and a pan of more seasoned flour. The steak is dipped in egg and then in flour again, making a thicker batter coating.

Either way you do it, next you fry the bacon remember I said there was another whole level to this dish? The bacon doesnt actually appear anywhere else in the recipe, so you probably just nosh on the crispy strips which youve fished out of all that bacon-y, salty, greasy artery-clogging saturated rendered fat.

If you happen to have rendered bacon fat on hand, why are you reading this recipe? You already know how to make this.

While youre chewing and swallowing bacon, you fry the steaks really crisp in the bacon grease. This is where most restaurants fail. Its bad enough they use some kind of healthy polyunsaturated oil but to make things worse, they dont cook it long enough to really get it dark brown.

Drain them on newspaper in a warm oven, while you toss leftover flour into the pan to soak up the bacon grease of course you dont drain any of the fat out, why would you do something so silly when thats where all the flavor is stirring and scraping for a few minutes to cook the flour. Then in goes the evaporated milk whole milk, not that ridiculous reduced fat stuff just enough to make a thick gravy that holds in nice clumps on the spoon. Not glue-y, just very thick. Some people make a thin gravy, but not in our house. Oh, and more pepper, too.

Serve with two fried eggs. Or maybe three. Or better yet, eggs and biscuits so you can chase all that yummy gravy around the plate to sop up every bit. Real biscuits, the kind made with white lard and even whiter soft wheat flour, rolled and cut with a biscuit cutter (what do you mean, youve never seen a biscuit cutter?!?) and served hot out of the oven with lots of butter handy.

After that, you go clear out an entire field of cotton, or chop down every tree in the forest, for the next eight hours straight (as youve already worked five hours before lunch). The discovery of statins to lower cholesterol is obviously Gods way of saying that every American has a right to copious quantities of salt, fat, and cream, three times a day. Also sugar, but that goes into the coffee, tea, and peach cobbler.

jkom51, love it! !
Can I copy & use it in my family cookbook?

Credited to jkom51 of the Cooking Forum, of course.

Rusty

if im planning on grilling steaks ahead of time i put kikomens sauce on and sprinkle with a little meat tenderizer,when on grill sometimes i basre with butter mmmgood.med well

therustyone, you certainly can, but credit it to Ann K. Lui, please. My mom would be so proud that one of her old favorites has been preserved by someone.

I should have been more careful to clean it up beforehand (didn't mean to include the biscuit cutter phrase twice) but it's a combo of two different emails so I wasn't reading all the way down when I pasted them together, LOL.

Thank you, jkom51. I have copied & pasted it, along with the name.

I guess a 'family' cookbook isn't the appropiate word.
There will also be recipes & helpful hints from cookbooks, the 'net, etc.

I had hoped to have it done by Christmas this year.
Don't think now I'm going to make it.

Rusty