Mrs. Devil is undergoing a ravaging chemotherapy regime. She has a handful of good days on her ‘rest’ week, days when she can eat most of a meal. Because of the immunosuppressive side effects, any beef she eats must be well-done.
We know there are cuts out there that directly lend themselves to thorough cooking, but a chuck roast isn’t in the same category of experience as something from the steak family. Also, we know that some people like well-done meat to begin with, but we don’t have time to develop such a different pallet. And of course it’s an easy suggestion to just skip it, but it’s one thing to eschew chewing blasphemous beef; it’s another thing to lose it all together, particularly when there may be a finite number of meals to go.
We could just prepare things as normal but continue cooking until the required temperature, but I figured it was worth asking if there were other techniques or methods that would improve things. For example, we have some top round that we were going to marinate to make london broil. Is there anything we can do to make it more palatable?
Use the sear after cooking method on steaks. Cook them at a low temp, maybe 300F until they reach the internal temperature you need, then sear the outside in a frying pan or under a broiler. Or just get thin cut steaks. Broiling, grilling, frying will go fast and the steak will be well done as soon as the outside is browned.
I wish you, Mrs. Devil and the little Devil the best.
Would soup work? I love beef Pho. I’m guessing that the high temperature of the water and the thin cuts of meat would help to ensure that the beef is well done. You get the side benefit of the broth preserving some of the softer texture and adding flavor. It comes with some herbs, vegetables, and noodles too, so she would get a somewhat rounded meal. Other beef soups might work too.
If toughness is a problem, make sure to tenderize it properly. As long as it’s not cooked to death, it should be fine. Well-done steak, properly cooked, shouldn’t lose any flavor. Consider buying a slightly thinner steak, or maybe butterflying it. You can also try slow cooking, since there are a variety of methods that should result in a thoroughly cooked steak that ti also quite tender.
I sincerely hope Mrs. Devil gets through this in good health and better spirits.
Flank or skirt steak take to well done-ness quite well. Slice thin and cook over high heat, or braise whole. Marinate in garlic and lime juice. Think fajitas or carne asada.
Searing the steak in a hot-as-you-can-get-it skillet and then transferring it to the oven to let it finish cooking will make it easier to get it to well done without overcooking it or drying it out. It would be best not to use a bone-in steak in any event - the bone conducts heat and the parts of the steak near the bone will be overdone.
I’ve heard that sous-vide cooking makes it possible to get a well done steak that’s the same texture as a rare steak, but I don’t own a sous-vide machine so I can’t personally attest to it.
I really like this “copycat” recipe for PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef. I made it with a little less garlic and more ginger. Best wishes to your wife with her treatment, and I hope this recipe is one that she will enjoy!
Our favorite is flap steak, marinated in “carne asada” spices is excellent. My local Mexican supermarket has them pre-marinated at the meat counter.
Or, my mom used to make “Swiss” steak. Get a cheap cut of meat and boil it whole in tomato juice. You can also add beans or rice to soak up some of the meaty flavor.
Or if you really want to taste the meat, get a thick cut and have the butcher slice it into 1/8-inch slices. Grill them on a very hot cast-iron skillet (they tend to slip through a grill). This is Korean BBQ style.
You may be able to find a pre-marinated ‘Korean’ flank steak at your supermarket. It’s basically a teriyaki with added garlic and a bit of heat. Teriyaki marinade (wine, soy, garlic, mustard, etc.) in general does good things for a steak that’s going to be grilled, as the marinade sort of pre-cooks the meat.
Another option would be to have a beef fondue. Chunks of good steak cooked in hot oil until done to your liking. You could also have small meatballs, shrimp and chunks of chicken to make it more interesting. Make some sauces for dipping, like peanut/soy or curried mayo and the like. Adds a bit of fun to things, particularly since you folks are going through tough times.
How do you feel about slow cookers? Top round does great in a crockpot with either Mexican or Italian spices; let it sit on low heat for twelve hours, then shred it to make taco/burrito/nacho meat or a filling for Italian beef sandwiches.
Marinating is important; in addition to flavor, it gives you a good, saturated starting point. Use thin cuts, as others have said, so they’ll cook through quickly without drying out.
My own additional tip: baste it with a mix of olive oil and spices when you grill/sear it. It’s tasty, and a light coating of oil helps contain some of the moisture, keeping the meat juicy.
Bulgogi? Man I may have to look for that, I never considered it being in the store. But my college roommate always came back from home with pounds of it, and damn is that good stuff.
If you’re going to cook a steak well-done, it might as well be Salisbury steak (ground beef, often served with a mushroom gravy). The fact that the meat is ground means it can’t toughen up, and you have lots of opportunity to add flavor.
Likewise, minute steak. There are lots of interpretations of minute steak, but I think they’re all a tougher cut of meat that is cut thin and tenderized/pounded out. The idea is that it cooks in a minute, though it would still be a little rare at that point. Some people use cube steak and tenderize it like they would for chicken fried steak.
If she likes the idea of coating the meat, chicken friend steak is just one example. These come from all over the world with a ton of different names: scaloppine, piccata, cutlet, schnitzel. All of these are basically breaded, thin-cut meat cooked quickly (but well done) and served with a sauce.
If you buy good, high quality meat, it can stand a little overcooking. Sometimes I’m inattentive and accidentally overcook a steak, and the high quality stuff is still perfectly tasty, albeit not ideal. Sam’s Club intended for restaurants is good, Kroger “choice” or “select” not so good.
I’d be interested in more detail about what the doctor is concerned about.
As far as I know, no pathogenic bacteria can survive past 122 F. If you can guarantee that this temperature is exceeded by some margin (and held for a reasonable time), it should be totally safe.
A sous vide machine allows dialing in a specific temperature and holding it at that for hours–guaranteeing that the internal temperature has equalized and that there’s no chance at cold spots.
So I would think that cooking it to 135 F (and holding it for a few hours) would give you a nice medium rare and plenty of safety margin. I’d speculate that the advice for well-done steak is to give a high degree of margin, since cooking practices are so variable. Sous vide is so consistent that you shouldn’t need such a large margin.
Of course I’m not a real doctor or anything, so maybe there are other reasons for the advice about well-done steak.
