Tag Archives: salt block

Omaha Steaks

March 13, 2017 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

It seems like everyone in the country knows about Omaha Steaks delivery service. Over the years, I’ve had many boxes delivered to me, but I just realized that I never actually took the time to review them. Recently my wife and I were given a box of various goodies, and the steaks within were tenderloins.

I did a simple preparation, which is becoming my go-to method of cooking steaks at home: sous vide and then a blow torch finish. You can see the recipe post HERE.

I think the issue with Omaha Steaks is that they spread themselves too thin by offering a bunch of other items aside from beef/steaks. They do chicken, pork, meatballs, baked potatoes, french fries, etc. As a result, maybe the steaks suffer?

My filets, while tasty, were a bit on the thin side. I enjoyed the ones from Nebraska Famous Steaks better, mainly because they were thicker and actually felt like a real steakhouse filet mignon. That said, the Omaha jams were still great in the way I prepared them.

Recipes

Salt Block Tenderloin

February 6, 2017 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

I decided to go bonkers this year on Superbowl Sunday with some Omaha Steaks tenderloin cuts that my wife and I received as a gift from her father. It had been a while since I used my sous vide machine, so I knew I wanted to use that.

I also figured this would be a good time to bust out the Searzall again, since the cuts were only about an inch thick, and, fearing a blasphemous overcooking, I didn’t want to put them in a pan to get that coveted sear on the outside.

Nothing new there. I’ve given you recipes for that before. The ringer here, for this meal I envisioned, was the Bitterman Salt Co. Himalayan salt block that I had chilling in my freezer. I keep it cold for serving sliced sashimi and raw fish items, but I thought it might be nice for medium rare, seared, thin-sliced tenderloin as well.

Essentially, I cooked the steak to rare at 130 degrees in the sous vide machine, right from the sealed Omaha Steaks bags (no seasoning beforehand). Then I popped the steaks into an ice bath to cool them down quickly and halt the cooking process. I know that the Searzall can continue to cook the steak’s interior with prolonged exposure, so I wanted them rare when they came out of the sous vide machine.

After blasting them with the Searzall, I had a good crisp on the outside and a perfect medium rare pink on the inside. Then I sliced them on the salt block, using that as a serving platter. I finished them off with a drizzle of Trader Joe’s black truffle oil, a few cranks of fresh cracked black pepper, and some ground sea salt.

Check out the video demo that I posted on youtube:

And some photos of the finished product:

It was a great, cool-temperature, lean beef dish that really packed a delicious flavor profile. The truffle oil was a great way to bring out the earthy flavors from the steak. Simple but robust. Try it at home!

Product Reviews

The Meadow Himalayan Salt Blocks

August 31, 2016 Johnny Prime 17 Comments

I was extremely excited to cook a steak on this cool salt block from The Meadow that I received as a gift from a friend.

Instructions for heating it, from the website, are as follows:

“Put the your salt block on the stove top. Set heat to low, give the block at least 15 minutes to heat up. You may notice moisture accumulating at the edges. As the salt block heats, this will evaporate off. The slower you do this, the better. Allow more time for larger plates, especially 9x9x2 inches and larger. Increase the heat slowly – low-medium for 15 minutes, and then medium-high for 15 minutes. If extremely hot sauté temperatures are desired, increase flame to full high for another 5 to 10 minutes.”

After about 10 minutes on low heat, I heard a loud pop as I was prepping the rest of dinner. I looked over and saw that a few shards of salt had broken off and fallen under the grates of my range. I wasn’t too concerned though, because I read this on their website as well:

“The first few times you heat up your salt block, fissures and cracks will appear, and the color may change from its original pink to a whiter color. This is normal.”

It was my first time using it. Did that disclaimer mean to cover what I just experienced? To be honest, I did think it was a bit off that chunks would fall off, but I figured the company was just putting it lightly on their website. I was wrong. After the requisite time on low (about 20 minutes to be safe), I turned the heat up to medium. After about eight minutes I heard a thunderous bang, almost like a gunshot or firecracker. Then there were successive loud pops afterwards, and this had occurred:

My salt block exploded. There was salt shrapnel everywhere, and it was pelting me as I made my salad. The shit literally covered my kitchen. All over the place. It took me hours to clean it all up. And nothing was salvageable from this expensive hunk of sodium to even use for curing meats or fish. I had to throw it all away. What a colossal waste. I assume this was a defective product?

I highly recommend that you avoid this product. If you must buy one for whatever reason, be sure to wear body armor when heating it.