Marc Weber

You don’t have to be a great cook to cook a great steak. Below are instructions for how to get it right every time.

Be sure to choose a steak that is one inch to one-and-a-half inches thick — and sprinkle both sides with salt before cooking.

ON THE GRILL

When grilling steak, heat the grill as hot as it will get. (If your grill has a lid, grill with the lid on.) Let the steak cook until it lifts up slightly from the grill and moves easily when prodded with a cooking tool.

Then rotate the steak 45° (on the same side), and let it continue to cook until both directions of the crosshatch grill pattern are a dark mahogany brown but not black.

Flip the steak over and crosshatch the other side as well, assuming that the steak is thick enough that you can do this without overcooking.

Two ways to determine doneness…

1. Use a meat thermometer to determine when the steak is cooked to your taste. Insert the thermometer into the center of the steak, not touching any bone.

Rare: Remove the steak when the thermometer reaches 120°.

Medium rare: 125° to 128°.

Medium: 132° to 134°.

Well done: 150°.

2. Use your thumb as a rule of thumb. Your steak is rare when poking it feels like poking the thenar eminence — the muscle group just below your thumb on the palm side of your hand — as you make an “OK” sign with your thumb and index finger.

For  medium rare, poke and compare the feel of this muscle as you make an “O” with your thumb and middle finger…

for medium, use your thumb and ring finger… and for well done, use your thumb and pinkie.

Helpful: If the steak requires additional cooking after both sides have been crosshatched, move it to a section of the grill that is not directly over the flames.

ON THE STOVE

Choose a heavy, thick-bottomed pan. Lighter pans do not maintain their temperature as well and might not sear steaks properly.

If you are cooking more than one steak at a time, use a pan large enough so that the steaks do not touch.

Apply a light coating of oil to the pan. Set the burner on high, and place the steak in the pan as soon as you see the oil start to smoke.

Sear the steak for four to five minutes, until the side against the pan is a deep, even mahogany brown, then flip the steak over.

The deep brown color means that the steak’s proteins have caramelized, which provides much of the wonderful flavor.

Your next step depends on how well-cooked you want your steak.

If you like rare steak, sear the flip side until it, too, is a deep, even brown, and you’re done.

If you prefer steak that’s cooked a bit more inside, remove the pan from the burner after you’ve flipped and seared the steak and place it in an oven preheated to 450°. To determine doneness, see left.

BEFORE EATING

Let the cooked steak sit undisturbed on a cutting board for about 10 minutes, until you can hold your finger to the steak’s surface without feeling like your finger is burning.

This “resting period” gives the steak’s juices time to permeate the meat. Cut into a steak any sooner, and you could be left with a puddle of juice and a tough, flavorless steak.

If there is a noticeable grain to the steak, cut against the grain for a more tender result.

Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Marc Weber, a personal chef to celebrity clients. He also operates On The Marc Events, a catering company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that handles high-end six-to-eight-course dinner parties and other events. http://www.chefmarcweber.com

My husband said that the US and japan were cooperating in tracking two aliens that were posing as humans in Fukuoka.

He said a year ago the alien they call Yuiitsu landed in Jonan-ku. The US had been tracking his ship for three days and alerted the Japanese government that it had entered its air space and appeared to be attempting to land somewhere in Fukuoka.

For the last year or so both governments have been observing the alien and the contacts he made when he landed in Jonan-ku.

He eventually moved to Chuo-ku and met up with another alien they call Niban. On June 29, they boarded Continental Airlines flight #0916 and attempted to travel to Guam.

There were 38 other passengers on board and the US government wanted to tag all 38 before they were allowed to enter their air space so the flight was diverted to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport so that tracking devices could be transfered to them.

How this was done I don’t know. All I know is that it took about two hours and their transfer to another plane to get the job done.

Reba

You know the drill guys. Stop emailing me about not keeping up the Guam info. Sometimes I just can’t spend the time necessary to get on this blog.

Here is a special alert that could impact your health.
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Guam – As a result of a whooping cough epidemic in the state of California, the Guam Department of Public Health is urging local healthcare providers to be on alert for possible cases of Pertussis and to promptly report it to the agency.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious bacterial disease of the respiratory tract, particularly for infants less than a year of age.

I you are traveling to California, Public Health advises that you and your family be properly vaccinated.
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Take this seriously. We don’t need another epidemic on the island.

Peter

I may not know who the “idiots” are, but I can guarantee you that most of them are white and most surely male. My ass for a husband is one of them.

We give and give to almost any call for money to “take back our country” from the republican party or any racist solicitation.

His argument is that we have a lot of money and if we don’t support those who made it so that we could earn a lot of money, we could lose it.

What he really means is that we got it through preferential treatment because we are white. And we can’t let an awakening OTW movement interfere with that.

Sandra