DanCole42

I think the fact that I 1) trimmed the fat and 2) used sirloin, which has less internal fat to begin with, definetely helped matters. I, too, used jumbo hard wood charcoal.One difference was (and call this serendipity), I mistimed my oven roasted tomatoes. They were nearly done, but the charcoal wasn't nearly as burned down as I would have liked for the steaks. Everything was on fire and glowing (and HOT!), but the coals were still only about two inches below the rim. Because the charcoal was still flaming, the steak was exposed directly to whisps of fire. However, because there was so little room (i.e. air) between the steak and the coals, I don't think there was ample oxygen around the steak for the fat to fully combust. Flames from charcoal and flames from fat have a very different character, and I think this contributed to the lack of flareups and the quality of the char.

High heat yields very different results and is much preferred in many situations. Like with love, it's not a race, but it's not a marathon, either.

Sorry I missed it It was cooked ENTIRELY over the chimney starter. Restaurants cook over high heat, why can't we? This is just a guess, but the fact that the steak was soaked in fat may have helped the transmission of heat to the center. Or I may be completely off base. I put the chimney starter on top of the TOP grate to ensure plenty of air beneath, and I cooked the steaks on the smaller but much THICKER, STURDIER grate that the coals usually go on (after cleaning it, of course).

What I REALLY need is a good cast iron grate.

Well, the coals themselves might be the same temperature, but you'd be getting far more heat transfer to the steak this way. By using the coal in a "traditional" manner, you're losing a lot of heat to the air. With the chimney starter method, you get a lot more radiant heat hitting the steak.

I should have specified... this is NOT a Ray's steak. This was cooked on my own grill. I would never want to misrepresent, even unintentionally, my own pieces of burnt leather for a Master St. Michael original.And yes, it was reheated. But even before being reheated, the cooling/resting/drying of the steak in the tupperware DID pinken it. A good visual guide: http://et.sdsu.edu/radair/world_wide_weber...ak_doneness.htm

Well, bear in mind that I took this picture the day AFTER. This is cold steak that's been in the fridge overnight (something I failed to mention).Don - maybe move all these to a "steak doneness" thread?

I took this picture the day AFTER. This is cold steak that's been in the fridge overnight, hence the pinkness.

Must be your monitor settings Or maybe I need to up the saturation in Photoshop...

At the risk of straying off topic, my fiancee and I have standing permission to leave the other in the event that one of us orders our steak medium or warmer.THIS is what a steak is SUPPOSED to look like.

Now THAT'S good fall fare!

There are more symbiotic organisms living in your body right now (~10^14) than there are cells of your own (~10^13). Many of these organisms ARE e. coli, of many strains. If you want to say "hi" to the little buggers, there are 100 billion to 10 trillion in the feces you pass each day (I hope no one plans on reading any of the food-related threads after that).Not among the e. coli living inside you are one of the many virulent strains, including the now infamous O157:H7, which produces an enterohemorrhagic toxin (use your imagination). As to whether the antibiotics fed to animals are specifically targetted to AVOID e. coli I cannot say, although I can't imagine they would be. Whenever you take penicillin some of your little friends will die, but do not mourn them - many more will be born.

I want to hear how it went! Did we have any newbie converts?

After months of practice, I have finally reached a master level on my Weber grill. This is the most perfectly cooked steak I've ever made. Note the beautiful char on the outside, and a perfectly even layer of maillarded meat in the "mantle," followed by a tender and juicy medium-rare core. I prepared the sirloin the night before by trimming the fat and then rendering it. Once the fat cooled I mixed it with olive oil (to keep it liquid), garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper, rubbed it into the steak, and stored it in the fridge overnight. Then I sprinkled some more salt and pepper over it and tossed it on a grate directly over my chimney starter for the highest heat possible. The limited diameter I had to work with wasn't much of a problem since the steak cooks so quickly this way. End result: perfection. /End horn tooting.

I may be something of a quasi-regular on the boards, but I'm DEFINETELY a noob when it comes to DR outtings. I can tell any concerned newbies or lurkers, though, that the regulars aren't nearly as intimidating or imposing as they seem on-line (although Jacques Gastreaux DOES bear more than a passing resemblance to 007), and that you'd be a complete moron not to attend. I, however, AM a complete moron, and due to certain wedding planning constraints will be unable to attend. After October 15th, though... look out, DC. This is an awesome idea, and if you have the means I highly suggest taking it up!

So last night I was bored and wanted to cook something, but I wasn't hungry and it was late, so I figured I'd do some prep for tonight's dinner (grilled sirloin). I trimmed the fat and grisle off the sirloin (there was a lot of it), rendered the fat out of the cut-off pieces, then once it cooled I mixed in some garlic and herbs and rubbed it all into and over the steak. Tonight I'll be grilling the fat-soaked sirloins. Has anyone ever heard of a technique like this? Rendering the fat out of something and then marinating* it in its own fat? *I know it's not REALLY a marinade since there's no acid... it's more of an "overnight wet rub" (which you can still get in Singapore for less than $2).

Last night I dreamt I lived upstairs from Cheesetique. My fiancee and I were very poor, and she sent me down to buy a single egg. Unable to control myself, I ended up spending $500 on food. Tons and tons of cheeses, amazing meats like the cowboy ribeye, and other things that Cheesetique doesn't even have like roasted zuccini blossoms and prosciutto-wrapped figs. I felt so guilty about spending all that money when we had none that I gave all the food away to friends and people in the neighborhood. Then Yakov Smirnoff started saying in my head "In Soviet Russia, cheese tiques you!"

-Romaine & tomato salad w/ honey shallot vinagrette -Portabello mushroom caps -Bunless Thanksgiving burgers (ground turkey with rosemary, thyme, sage, onion, garlic, panko breakcrumbs, balsamic vinegar, and red wine)

-Crab-stuffed salmon roulade -Cucumber & dill stir fry* *This was supposed to be ZUCCINI and dill stir fry, but I was so pepped up on DayQuil at the grocery store I bought cucumbers by accident. I'm lucky they weren't selling miniature, elongated watermelons.

Goodness gracious yes!

I'm getting married that day. Do you guys cater?

Just wanted to report in that, even with Michael up in Silver Spring, RTS is still pumping out giant portions of oodling quality. I took a risk by taking my soon-to-be in-laws. They're the sort of self-entitled, spoiled rotten, miserable and overcome-by-culture-of-victimization parasites that have no place in Ray's. They're the kind of New Yorkers (with the thickest, loudest accents you've ever heard outside of Fran Drescher) that make people in places like Colorado say, under their breath, "New Yorkers." The kind you see in movies. They're spoiled children who throw tantrums when they don't exactly get their picky, contorted-world-view way.* Can you tell how much I love my beautiful-flower-that-grew-out-of-a-pot-of-dirt fiancee that I'm willing to put up with these people to marry her? I gave them all the usual Ray's virgin caveats: it's noisy, little decor, there WILL BE a wait when we got at 6 on a Saturday, etc. Despite this, the first words out of the mother's mouth were, in her piercing, loud, annoying accent: "Well, there's a wait!" the entire crowd outside turned to look at her as if she'd just complained about the fact that the sky is blue. I was soooo embarassed. EDIT: She seemed in better spirits when the "45 minute" wait we were quoted turned out to actually be 10 minutes - Michael's places never cease to amaze! She's the expert of backhanded compliments like "I'll bet he saves a lot of money on decorations!" Our waitress, Carrie, was awesome. She sized them up immediately and knew exactly how to take care of their bizarre customs. She took, with good nature and aplomb, the mother's refusal to eat the shrimp appetizer because there was no cocktail sauce, her refusal to eat the french onion soup because there WASN'T a slab of plasitcky cheese on top, her mention that she'd rather get dessert at Dairy Queen on the way home, and the father's request for ketchup.** However, the mother gobled up her shrimp scampi entree and said it was "Delicious." I don't think I've ever heard her say something was "delicious" without also complaining about it. The father said his steak was "better than Peter Luger's" and, in the end, did NOT use his ketchup (thank GOD). I can't think of more meaningful, positive reviews for Ray's than what came from these people BECAUSE it came from those people. As for me, I had the bisque, which was even better than usual (I should really get a bowl one of these days). Did they change the sherry? I did my usual flip-flop over whether to get the house special or the blue devil - blue devil won out and is sitting in my fridge, mocking me with its perfectly-cooked, half-eaten goodness. The key lime was excellent (but a mistake, since I could barely walk afterwards). The mashed potatoes seemed creamier than usual, which is always a welcome improvement to mashed potatoes. The mother wouldn't eat the spinach because it "might have e. coli," despite my assurances that 1) it's doubtful they get their spinach, bagged, in the grocery store, and that 2) you can't get infected by much of anything from COOKED spinach. Whatever, more for me. So Michael, thank your staff for putting up with my less-than-appreciative guests, especially Carrie. And everyone - RTS is still doing amazing work, even on autopilot. *Please note that this is meant, in no way, to imply that I dislike people from New York, the city of New York itself, nor should my comments in any way cause damage to the feelings, psyches, or egos of the expatriated New Yorkers who participate here. These just happen to be unbearable people who seem to embody the negative qualities of an otherwise great city and welcoming people. **Michael - please note that their complaints should in no way affect ANYTHING. All those dishes are perfect the way they are!!!!

This whole thing is just media scare tactics getting the better of you, and it's pissing me off. The United States ALONE averages 73,000 cases and 61 deaths from O157:H7 E. coli each YEAR. And suddenly everone's worried about 100 cases and a single death? That's one tenth of one percent of the cases. It's just convenient that there's someone to blame and someone's industry to ruin. Look what an AVERAGE number of shark attacks did to several town's tourist industries. Look what a handful of Mad Cow cases did to the beef industry. At what point does one death fail to outweigh billions of lost dollars, lost jobs, lost livelihoods, and ruined lives of workers?

Who needs breakfast when you have fourthmeal?

I miss that dog.I find that combo restaurants involving the former TriCon entities to be somewhat lacking. It's like having a DVD-VHS combo. You'll never get as good picture & sound quality as you would from buying the components individually. Having Pizza Hut in the same location ruins the all-important terroir that contributes to the Taco Bell experience.