Rare Stake or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cast Iron
This is part 4 of a 7 part series on my exploration of past-iron. Its best to read them in order:
Part 1: Return of the Cast Iron Cookware
Part 2: The Search for Cast Iron Knowledge
Part 3: A Steak Pun is a Medium Well Done
Part 4: Rare Stake or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cast Iron
Part 5: Cast Iron Politics?
Part 6: A Brief Walk Through the History of Cast Iron Cookware
Part 7: Heritage
I described my first foray into cooking steak with cast iron in my last post, found here. Its important to read that before reading this one, otherwise you might be lost in the oh so compelling plot line. This is part two, the better part, because I improved upon myself. Spoiler alert: I cooked a damn good steak.
Now the biggest failure from the first steak was the garlic. I knew I couldn’t give up on that, there had to be a way to incorporate the garlic into my steak. So I did what anyone else would do…I ran to my mother. I told her about my predicament with charred garlic, and inquired what I could do to instead. And good old mom came to the rescue, suggesting that I roast the garlic.I therefore ventured back into the internet to discover the best, and easiest, way to roast garlic. Most suggested doing it in an onion, with foil, however, I found out that that wasn’t how garlic was originally roasted. Turns out, according to this blog, roasting garlic in Mexico is done comals which are essentially griddles. Perfect, I can roast the garlic on the stove top in my cast iron, more flashback to the past. So, I opened up the garlic head and separated the cloves, without peeling them.
With that out of the way, it was time to do that steak. This time I wanted to try salting the steak before hand. I know that isn’t what the recipe suggested, but I wanted to see if there was any difference in the age old adage of salting the steak. So, I let it sit for an hour and a half, since the steak was about an inch and a half.
After letting it sit, and using the cutting of onions to mask my tears for the soap opera I was watching, I was ready to get the steak all heated up. The pan was smoking, signalling that it was ready for the steak. Learning from my past mistakes, I made sure the fan was on and all the windows open, and I threw that sucker in. The smoke rose, but I was ready. After a minute, I flipped it, and then another minute flipped it again. The pan was even better than last time, the perfect heat, and within about 4 and a half minutes, the steak was out of the pan. A nice brown texture, and slightly “bouncy.”
The onions, carrots, and garlic was thrown in just before taking the steak out. They all quickly browned, as I moved the garlic cloves around to make sure they cooked relatively evenly. This time, there was no charred garlic, they all browned seemingly perfectly. After they seemed sufficiently cooked, I removed them and put them on the plate with the steak: total actual time on the pan was about 10 minutes from steak to the last piece of onion. That’s the beauty of cast iron, once it heats up it cooks fast. And it cooks well.
With everything set, I prepared to dig in. And man, was this steak good. I don’t know if it was the slightly less cook time, or the lack of charred garlic, but I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. And this time, I got a picture of the cut, showing its nice juiciness. The garlic also turned out quite well, the roasted idea was great, and they went well with the steak, although I probably could have let them roast a bit longer on the stove to get them a little more gooey. Regardless, thanks for the idea Mother!
After enjoying that steak, I scrapped off the cast iron, getting it ready for the next meal. In all, I didn’t do a too bad job with these entrecôte steaks. Was it as good as in a L’Entrecôte restaurant? No, of course not. But that’s the epitome of the craft of steak cooking. I was able to craft a steak on my own though, using techniques suggested by others, but adjusted to my own wants and styles. That’s what makes craft so fascinating, you don’t have to produce the greatest thing imaginable, as long as you enjoy doing it and you go back to some kind of roots. What I learned using my cast iron and these steaks will stay with me, I know I’ll cook many a good steak on cast iron skillets over the years, and I’ll keep getting better. Who knows, one day I might even cook a steak as good as one in a L’Entrecôte restaurant…
