Uh, HALP.

[fenella]

Um, so, okay. Like. Okay.

I'm a vegetarian. I haven't eaten meat in roughly 10 years. I have never cooked meat.

It is kind of crucial that I learn to cook meat in a very short amount of time. DO NOT ASK.

So. I would love it if you would share with me your meat cooking expertise. Especially in the areas of CHICKEN and STEAK.

Seriously, I am studying meat cooking like I would for a massive exam. There are Sticky Notes and extensive colour coded note taking involved. I now know that a "7 bone steak" is called that because it looks like the number, not because it has that many bones, usually comes in rectangles, comes from the shoulder area, is also referred to as Chuck, and is good for stew because it is tough. OTHER tough parts are the Round, Plate, Flank and Shank.

I want to know basics, like cooking steak in the oven. Broil? How is this best done? Chicken - if you're cooking this to put in something else, where would you do this? The frying pan? I DO NOT KNOW. Why would I need to know?

Again, don't ask. Someday, no doubt, I will share this massively awkward Fenella story. It will be funny. That day is not now.

PLEASE.

Comments

[themis.livejournal.com]

I think you can stir fry chicken and steak pretty easily - also, you can buy frozen stir fries in supermarkets. Um, seriously, searing steak is very very easy. You coat it with butter and salt and then cook it for 2 minutes on each side at extremely high heat.

[lyredenfers.livejournal.com]

I have read that searing should be done in a cast iron pan on the stove ... but also in the oven, broiling, at very high heat.

So, when you say "stir fry" the frozen chicken goes in a frying pan with other things? How do you know how long to cook it? How long does chicken generally take?

... this is all so bizarre to me.

[themis.livejournal.com]

You find recipes. I've always done searing in a cast iron pan on the stove.

My dad taught me how to broil (I think) chicken, but I've forgotten all the numbers.

[lyredenfers.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay. This sounds sensible.

I am hopeless.

[anait.livejournal.com]

I'm not asking.

I would stir-fry things like chicken breast (cut up into chunks/strips) and beef (thin steaks--0.5 cm or less in height that are meant to be fried-- whole, or cut into strips). Fry them in enough oil to just coat the pan (healthy) or butter (less healthy but tastes good), with a little pepper and salt on each side to season. Try to make sure your pieces are roughly equal in size and thickness so that they finish cooking at the same time.

Also, your basic fried chicken is kind of boring. Spices are great-- like thyme-chicken, or cracked black pepper-chicken, or lemon chicken. Dad's breaded chicken fried in butter is awesome. Butter chicken is great if you buy the Patak's Butter Chicken curry paste (very important, the PASTE, not the bottled sauce) and follow the v. simple recipie on the side (involves mostly adding some butter and cream, I think).

Mostly just try to add bits of meat to things you would normally eat vegetarian-- like chunks of chicken cooked in your basic tomato sauce with veggies for pasta (very good with pickles and a little wine!), or some stir-fried chicken or beef strips over salad with a tasty dressing on top, or chicken or beef strips in your veggie stir-fry. For stir-fries, you usually fry the meat strips + onions + chopped garlic + chopped ginger (depending on what you want to use) in the oil first. Remove those things from the high heat (either spoon out onto a plate, or push up the sides of the wok) and quickly stir-fry the veggies. Then add the sauce, put the meat back in and finish it off quickly, for about 1 min.

Broiling is healthy, but you would do it for thicker things; like a steak that is 1 cm or more in thickness (flank steak), or a salmon steak, or chicken thighs and drumsticks. You would season them with a little salt and pepper (steak) or spice (chicken) or lemon juice and butter (salmon) and cook them 1/2 the time on one side, flip, and 1/2 the time on the other side. You'll have to do it once for each kind to figure out how long this should be.

If you want meat to taste good, the most important thing is probably cooking time. Don't overcook it. This is the single worst thing you can do (shoe leather). Undercooking of course can lead to food poisoning. For chicken, you want to cut through the thickest part to check if it is done. If there is no pink left, it is completely white, and the juices run clear (not pink), it is cooked. Remove and eat!! If you leave it past this point, it starts to get tough. Steak you want to leave a little pink in the centre, whether it is a broiled flank steak or stir-fried strips-- this would be well-done, I think? Or medium rare, if it is a little more bloody? I am not a steak person. When it gets to this point, you are supposed to take it off the heat, stick it on a plate and let it sit for a minute or two (this is more of a whole steak thing). It will still cook a little more as it sits. You don't want it brown the whole way through as this makes steak very tough and not as tasty. Salmon steaks should probably be just a tiny bit pink in the centre when you take them out, because fish cooks very fast, and fish that is overcooked is just gross.

Good luck!

[lyredenfers.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU! This was most helpful. I will explain later.

[anait.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

Yes, marinading is also very good.

[ubiquitous-girl.livejournal.com]

I don't eat steak, so I dunno how to cook it.

Chicken is good. I see you have some ideas already. Another way to cook chicken is to panfry it. Get some wings, or drumsticks (or cut up a chicken, but that's harder). Add some marinade (just get a bottle of nandos marinade or tandoori marinade) and leave it for a few hours (the longer the better, overnight is best). Then put it in a medium hot frypan and cook with the lid on. Ideally you only want to turn it once, and it should be slightly browned on the outside when done (but this'll depend on the heat you use). And it should be white inside and the juices should run clear, not pink. :)

You can also put it in the oven, but I find that it stays more moist in the frying pan. :)

[lyredenfers.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I am most intrigued.