ConnieG999 wrote:
> (MrAoD) writes:
>
>
>>Since the others are being cutsey, black and blue/Pittsburgh mean
>>crispy/blackened on the outside, still moo-ing in the middle. It's a good
>>way
>>to test the authenticity of a steak house - if they don't understand either
>>term order something else or walk away.
>>
> Thanks for the explanation. I wouldn't like the "blackened" part, though.
> I can't remember where I first saw it, but my favorite phrase concerning a
> preference for rare meat goes something like,
> "I like mine so rare that a good vet could cure it."
The blackened part is the collected physical changes that are called
"Maillard reactions" that quite literally make most people salivate.
The extremely high heat chars the surface and caramelizes what little
carbohydrate there is in the meat.
There are three components to our sense of moistness in meat:
water-based juices, fat and our own saliva. The scent of the Maillard
reactions prompts salivation and that will increase our feeling that
the meat is moist. Given the reality that the more cooked the meat is,
the more moisture it loses, the fact that blue or Pittsburgh steaks
are barely cooked means that only a very small percentage of the
moisture is lost. Between the minimal loss of juices and the intense
Maillard-induced salivation, this is about maximum for a juicy steak.
The one caution about them is the fat. If the steak is highly marbled
and the center is cold, as it properly should be, the fat can have an
unpleasant mouthfeel. Simple solution: don't eat the cold fat.
There's a new approach gaining some ground. It's to cook steaks over
very low temperatures and forego the crust. That makes it a totally
different meal. Cooking it low and slow with frequent turning (my
culinary school teachers and every grill man I know would be
screaming) means the meat gets warmed through gradually. If the
cooking surface (skillet or griddle) is no more than 225 and you're
cooking a steak that's about 3/4" thick, it'll take a good 20 minutes
to get it to rare or mid-rare. The first time I had one it was a
singular astonishment. The meat came out looking like no other steak
I'd ever seen before. No crust. The barest appearance of being cooked:
no shrinking or pulling at the edge . It was simply the best steak I'd
ever had up to then. It was just slightly firmed up, all the juices
still in there and when I cut it, it smelled wonderful. I still like
blue steaks, but I also do the slow ones when I want that difference.
Pastorio