Food Fantasia


I almost hate sharing this one...

Take a 1 in thick NY strip. Bring it to room temp. Season to taste, including kosher salt. Let it sit for 15 minutes after seasoning so that the salt draws out the water soluble proteins.

Place in a smoker (your choice of wood - i prefer mesquite) for 45 minutes. Smoker temp should not get above 185.

30 minutes in, heat a caste iron skillet over a turkey fryer burner on full blast.

After 45 minutes, place the NY strip in the skillet for 1 minutes on each side.

Let it rest for 10 minutes. At no point should you ever touch the meat with anything except a pair of tongs. No forks, not even the edge of a spatula.

Thats it.

The salt drew out the proteins. The smoke added flavor, but also dried the surface. The 900+ degree skillet caramelizes those proteins into a nice crust.

Cut into it, and its medium rare to medium, but still full of juices. It has a nice smoke ring. The low and slow smoke prep rendered fat and connective tissue, making it much more tender.

You can grill the steak if your grill uses cast iron grates, as mine does. It won't get as hot, so cooking time increases. Grill 90 seconds, then rotate 45 degrees and cook another 90 seconds. Flip and repeat. for 6 minutes total. You'll have nice grill marks. Every time you rotate or flip, move to a different part of the grill.

If you really want to make it something, pair it with a cheese soufflé, asparagus with hollandaise, and a double IPA.
 
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Went for another night fishing trip with my small family :P Even caught my personal best flat head 26Lb/s :P

Good dinner for next few days .
 
Kim said:
LOL Good for you! Flathead is one of my favourite fish to eat, so sweet and yummy! Must get some tomorrow from our local fishing Co-Op
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Caught 2 flatheads actually rest of all were Blues 10-20Lb/s range :P There were few channels caught too but i left them back on water .
 
One thing I like to do is smoke a bunch of peppers as summer ends to make my own chili powder.

I will typically do a load of jalapenos, as well as some Anaheims, serranos and habaneros. I put them into the smoker for about a day, then another 12 hours in a dehydrator before grinding them into a power.

Today, I decided to add a new pepper into the process, the Bhut Jolokia, also known as the Ghost Chili. At 1,000,000 Scoville units, it is one of the hottest peppers in the world, 3 to 5 times hotter than a habanero.

The first thing I noticed is that it was completely dried out of smoking. No need to dehydrate further. I put the smoked chili into the grinder and thats when all hell broke loose.

You thought this was a culinary post? No, its a warning.

My daughter was upstairs in her room behind a closed door, packing to go back to college. She's also asthmatic and had an attack within just a few minutes of me starting the grind. It wasn't a lot, just 20 peppers about the size of a small strawberry. Soon we all had eyes watering, sneezing and burning in the back of our throats.

Without meaning to, I effectively maced my entire family.

So the short of it is don't screw with these peppers. They really are every bit as hot as you think they are.
 
Kim said:
OH MY GOOODNESS!!! :D hahaha look at the size of that monster!

Lots of yummy flathead fillets there!
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Lol i think i brought around 16-17 in total 2 were Flat heads rest blues. My freezer has no space right now even after giving away fish to friends and relatives .

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Wow, those are big flathead! The ones we get around here are much smaller, I guess they get fished too much and don't get to grow that big!

You will have to eat fish for every meal for next month to clear your freezer out before you go fishing again :p hehe
 
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