74
votes
Accepted
Are rare burgers safe?
Applying USDA standards (which may or may not be the 'same' as elsewhere, but (IMHO) serve as a reasonable standard for "Safe") Hamburger must be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F [71°C] in ...
- 18.2k
69
votes
Can I use cooking sherry instead of red wine in my stew?
"Cooking wine" is unfortunately ubiquitous on US mega-mart shelves. It is notoriously bad. I mean really, really notoriously bad. It starts bad, and then they add obscene amounts of salt so that it ...
- 58.4k
66
votes
What qualities to look for in a cut of beef destined for "well done"?
I'm rather surprised by the judgmental tone in some of the answers here. A well-done steak is a culinary preference; just because you don't share that preference is no reason to be rude about it. ...
- 32k
50
votes
How can I get cuts of beef I recognize when in Italy
As someone who has moved from the US to another country I can relate and have some general advice. Rather than spending time trying to find the US equivalent of something try to take advantage of what'...
- 74.2k
42
votes
How can I get cuts of beef I recognize when in Italy
Would it help to compare these two graphics from Wikipedia side by side to find the correct butcher term?
As we can see, the Italian graphic has 19 distinct areas, while the American graphic only ...
- 3,466
39
votes
Accepted
What can be done with accidentaly oversalted beef?
Oversalting is best dealt with by serious dilution.
I'd make a large, not very meaty dish from it, with lots of vegetables, cooked for a while. Fry onions and other veg, add liquid, and stir in the ...
- 43.1k
34
votes
What can be done with accidentaly oversalted beef?
Make a soup out of it! Dice the meat up, sweat some aromatics (onion, celery, etc.) in a pot, put in 1-2 liters of water, add the meat and let it come to a boil. Then, bring the heat down to a ...
- 831
33
votes
What's the beef cut with solid, thick bone?
You're doing it wrong™.
Your question is, essentially, "What code-word should I use to tell my butcher to give me a cut of beef with properties X, Y and Z?" Don't do that. Just go to your ...
- 3,241
29
votes
Are rare burgers safe?
Depends on the meat-grinding process. Is it some large production facility where scraps and sub-standard meat portions are thrown into a vat and ground up, with a lot of opportunity for contamination ...
- 3,634
26
votes
Accepted
Pulled beef in pressure cooker: Is it necessary to sauté beef before pressurizing?
The reason for steps like this when slow-braising meat is to brown the meat (or, if we're being fancy, to cause the Maillard reaction), which will make the dish taste...more like browned meat. You'll ...
- 1,881
25
votes
What makes frozen burger patties bland?
When you buy a burger from a fast food restaurant you are buying a product that has been engineered to provide absolute consistency, be very fast to cook, and be as cheap as possible so it can be ...
- 74.2k
24
votes
Accepted
Can I freeze beef stew?
Yes, you can freeze stew. You may find that the vegetables are a bit softer or broken into smaller pieces after thawing. If you used a thickening agent (flour, cornstarch), it may separate as it thaws ...
- 2,755
23
votes
Accepted
Is there any advantage to cooking steak on the bone?
Well, many steak experts have held for years that bone-in steak just tastes better, something about that marrow being good.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt from Serious Eats tested that theory.
He found that the ...
- 58.4k
22
votes
Accepted
How to fix grass finished beef that tastes like fish?
Grass-fed (and finished) beef fat tastes fishy because it effectively is similar to fish oils. In particular, grass-fed beef fat is dramatically higher in omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acids) ...
- 5,673
20
votes
Does the beef cut matter when making stroganoff?
Beef cut does matter. Sirloin tip is a relatively tender cut, cuts that have done more work like shoulder, round, leg cuts have more connective tissue and need a significantly longer cooking time. In ...
- 74.2k
20
votes
How can I get cuts of beef I recognize when in Italy
I think your goal can't be reached. This is not a mere language problem - it is just that there is no market in Italy for the products you want.
There are people to whom the difference won't matter, ...
- 135k
19
votes
Accepted
Do I need to coat beef in flour mixture for slow cooked stew?
Browning your beef with some flour adds depth of flavor. The flour will act as a thickener, and by coating the meat with it you won't have problems with it clumping and getting little flour balls in ...
- 74.2k
18
votes
Are rare burgers safe?
Are you asking if it is safe for you to prepare it this way, or whether it is safe to have it at a restaurant?
Here's a useful guideline for restaurants, as a complement to other answers:
Is this ...
- 181
18
votes
What qualities to look for in a cut of beef destined for "well done"?
I would avoid "steak", which will dry out and become tough when cooked well done, and cook a cut of meat that is meant to be braised or grilled low and slow. That will mean that the cut has enough ...
- 73.2k
16
votes
What does "wedge" mean, as in "wedge" a head of Cabbage?
Another way to say this is to quarter the cabbage. The goal is to make "wedges" (triangles, when viewed from above) that are smaller than an entire head of cabbage (easier to cook and fit in your slow ...
- 8,362
16
votes
What cut of beef is "plat nerveux"?
Different countries can have very different names for their cuts of meat, and in some cases, there isn't an obvious/direct equivalent from a French cut to an American or English cut. If you look at a ...
- 8,987
15
votes
What can be done with accidentaly oversalted beef?
Use raw potato. If the meat is already BBqued put in between layers of raw potato slices. Then reheat it [meat] by boiling it with whole potato, then for a short while put on preheated pan.
If you ...
- 4,121
14
votes
Accepted
Frying bison steaks
I've usually found Bison Burgers, and other things made from Bison to be "drier" than it's beef cousin.
Try, instead, a high-heat quick sear - no more than 30-45 seconds on each side, and then finish ...
- 1,428
13
votes
Can I freeze beef stew?
By all means, freeze the stew! Having some ready meals in the freezer is a wise move, come winter or on a hectic day you'll probably be grateful for it.
Your meat won't suffer and while the veggies ...
- 57.8k
13
votes
Color of fried beef steak: sometimes dark, sometimes light-colored. Why?
It's quite likely that the steaks that ended up darker were dry when you started cooking them.
If you don't dry off the surface of your steak, the heat is used to evaporate the moisture on the ...
- 79.3k
13
votes
Accepted
Arby's Roast Beef - what cut of meat?
The "Arby's we grew up on" was a Steamship Round. That is the entire "round primal" shown in diagram. However, several years ago they went to a processed version in order to make production more ...
- 18.2k
13
votes
What's the beef cut with solid, thick bone?
If you are looking for a bone-in cut of beef for an aesthetic purpose then it would be hard to do better than beef shin, also known as shank. It has a good, strong bone with a cavity and the bone will ...
- 74.2k
12
votes
Ground beef burger patties turn gray not brown
Brown meat tastes good - Anne Burrell
Of course you know this, the browning of the meat is a result of the Maillard Reaction, if you are not getting this result you are probably not cooking at a high ...
- 18.2k
12
votes
Dry and Tough Rumproast
The Maillard reaction occurs about 280 to 330 °F depending on the food. For meats this denaturing of the proteins also results in the release of water, so the meat gets hard and dry.
By cooking at a ...
- 2,659
12
votes
What's the beef cut with solid, thick bone?
I believe an arm roast is what you are after:
For cooking purposes note that this is a "roast" (and not just a 'big honk'in steak') and is suitable for a low & slow cook time in a crock pot but ...
- 18.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible