[Sca-cooks] One for the pros

[Olwen the Odd]

>I missed the beggining of this, due to being away on a road trip!  But, let
>me address a couple points raised by our Very Esteemed Pearlness, Olwen...
>
>>The cut is a good or "prime" grade and can either be cooked dry or in a
>>moist heat.  Personally I use a moist heat by setting a pan of water in
>>the
>>oven with it (usually under it).
>
>If it is a prime cut, one should not use moist heat, as moist heat is
>really meant to be used on tougher cuts.  Kind of a waste.  Of course, in
>my experience, *moist heat* is cooking in a liquid, or cooking with a lid
>on top of a container so the heat creates its own moisture and it can't
>escape.  A pan in an oven is not quite enough to raise the level of ambiant
>humidity to qualify as "moist heat".  I could be wrong, and would love to
>be proved so :-))

It will do no harm to use a moist heat method in cooking a prime piece of
roast.  No it is not necessary.  I just prefer it as I usually take that
opportunity to add some bayleaf and other herbs in the water to fragrance
the air being blown out of the convection oven.
>
>>Let the roast reach room temperature before beginning to cook.
>
>Danger!!!  Danger, Will Robinson!  This might work well on small pieces,
>however, on larger pieces such as roasts, you are leaving the meat in the
>"danger zone", where bacterias are most happy.  By the time the inside of a
>biggish roast has reached room temperature, the outside is a real colony of
>nasties.  Of course, this also happens in the oven, but the danger zone
>gets passed much, much quicker :-)

I should have been more size specific in this but wanted to make the point
that a piece of beef that comes straight from the refrigerator and goes
directly into the oven tends to drain juice out and makes for a tougher
piece of meat.  Even a large piece can be set out for a time.  If you let a
20 pound roast sit out till the whole thing is room temperature, then yes,
you can have a real killer on your hands. Thank you for the assistance in
correcting this Muriedach
>
>>To check the doneness you can do two things.  First, do the math as stated
>>above and set a timer.  That will get you in the right ballpark.  Secondly
>>you can do the touch method.
>
>Thirdly you can use a thermometer with a probe, they make them that can go
>in very far.  Your friendly restaurant supply store should carry them.
>
>Fourthly, you can do a variation of all that, "ol' trick o' da trade".  Use
>a roasting fork (the kind with the long straight "pins" instead of the
>short curved ones).  When you poke the roast in, leave the fork in a few
>seconds.  Pull the fork out, then bring it to your lip, you can feel the
>heat of the fork, tells you the internal temperature of the roast.  Takes a
>bit of practice, but you can get a feel for things by using your emat
>thermometer in hot water, determine which temp you want, then practice
>touching the hot fork from the water to your lip.

I have used that method too but forgot about it.  It's a pretty good one.
And depending on how 'crusty' a larger piece of meat is then yes, even a
larger roast can be checked with a touch method.  If your read what I wrote
I actually said poke.  To me there is a difference.  A touch is a caress and
a poke is much firmer.  Now if you are doing a 40 pound roast that is two
feet thick then it may not work but can still give a good indication of
doneness as raw or very rare meat just doesn't respond with any come-back
and will remain dimpled for really long.
>
>I should mention that the touch method Olwen told us about work only on
>smaller pieces.
>
>Don't forget to let the roast sit a little bit before starting to cut it,
>as the juices need to be able to flow within the roast.

A VERY good point.  I forgot to mention that.

>
>Have been doing lots of "hips" of beef that way in the past.
>
>Food for thoughts :-)
>
>
>Muiredach mac Loloig

Olwen

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