Tag Archives: Medium Rare

Carryover cooking

Posted on by Standard 18

Greetings Carnivores,

An old friend asked a good question the other day and it’s worthy of a few words of clarification.

It went something like this: “What are your recommendations as to timing for various meats, fish, poultry and their respective thicknesses?”

My answer is … I ALWAYS use a good, digital read thermometer but, the MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER regarding the correct “doneness” is … whatever you’re cooking CONTINUES to cook after it’s been removed from the heat.

Residual cooking or, carryover cooking is a term that refers to the continuation of the cooking process AFTER the protein has been removed from the heat source. Think of it this way: regardless of the heat source (whether it’s hot air inside your oven or a hot surface such as your grill, skillet … whatever), your protein cooks from the outside in and, the inside cooks by induction. After you remove it from the heat, it will continue to cook … for up to 20 minutes, depending on how thick the piece of meat is that you’re cooking.

This speaks VOLUMES to the disappointment factor once you cut into your (supposedly) perfectly cooked steak, only to realize it’s “doneness” is well PAST the point you “thought” you had.

Once your meat has been removed from the heat, and it’s “resting” to reabsorb all those delicious juices … it’s STILL cooking. The process of bringing your protein up to the desired cooking temperature is NOT instant and as such, the process of bringing it back down is the same … GRADUAL. Therefore it’s only reasonable to assume (correctly) that the internal temperature of your beautiful steak (roast, chop … whatever) will actually continue to RISE after the heat has been removed.

Now, … there is some trial and error involved in getting it just right but, lets assume you enjoy your steak Medium Rare (and for me that’s anywhere from 127 degrees F to 130 degrees F … 128 is perfect for me) … I’m removing it from the heat and starting the resting process at around 125 F.

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Ahhhh … the sweet spot

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Look at the perfect, edge to edge colour and the beautiful char on the outside

If that’s too extreme for you … leave it a little longer but remember … if you’re using a REALLY hot grill, your window for nailing the perfect internal temperature is VERY small.

I wrote a post a while ago called The Beef Steak … reverse engineered … check it out here … you might find it interesting since you first, VERY slowly bring your steak up to the desired internal temperature, then you rest it.

Give it a try … you’ll never cook steak any other way again … trust me 🙂

In the meantime, please stay tuned and … don’t forget to click “follow Blog via email” (CarnivoreConfidential).

You’ll get an email notice every time I write something new … and, I PROMISE … you won’t get bombarded with spam. WordPress is very responsible. 🙂

Until next time Carnivores, stay hungry and as usual, please follow my posts on Twitter @DougieDee and like and share them on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/carnivoreconfidential

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London calling … what EXACTLY is a London Broil ??

Posted on by Standard 24

 

Greetings Carnivores,

London Broil.

I get asked about it all the time. What is it? Where does it come from? How do you prepare it? What’s with the name?

Well, the short answer is … London Broil means a lot of different things to a lot of different folks and … none of them have ANYTHING to do with London (England, that is).

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Inside Round Steak

Sliced London Broil on a wooden cutting board alongside white handled cutlery

Sliced Inside Round London Broil

In America, it’s actually referred to as a “preparation” rather than a specific cut since both the Flank Steak AND the Inside Round can be used.  As far as the preparation goes, this piece of meat is typically marinated for several hours then roasted or grilled over high heat to achieve a rare to medium rare finished product then, sliced thinly across the grain and usually stacked on a roll for sandwiches.

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Tenderized Inside Round Steak

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Sausage stuffing

 Now … here in Canada, for a “London Broil” we use either a Flank Steak or an Inside Round as well but, the big difference is … we tenderize the piece of meat, either by pounding it or running it through a tenderizer (cube steak machine) then, we a lay big roll of seasoned, pork sausage across it’s width and roll it up.

To facilitate easier slicing (since ground meat doesn’t really like to be “sliced”) the whole ‘roll’ is placed into the freezer for 20 minutes. The finished product is then sliced into 1-2 inch rounds, then either grilled or broiled.

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Let it “set up” in the freezer before trying to slice

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Canadian “version” of the London Broil

 Another variation around here is a “London Broil Loaf” where partially cooked side bacon is placed across the width of the tenderized Flank Steak and seasoned ground Veal is used as the “stuffing”.

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The London Broil “loaf”

 So, as you can see, the term “London Broil” and just what it is, kind of depends on where you live. Either way, you should give both of these a try and let me know what you think.

I LOVE getting comments and questions so, keep ‘em coming. 🙂

Stay tuned and … please click “follow” at the top of the page (Carnivore Confidential). You’ll get an email notice every time I write something new.

Until next time Carnivores, stay hungry and as usual, please follow my posts on Twitter @DougieDee and like and share them on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/carnivoreconfidential