FeChef

All im saying is you used more then was needed. 2oz of ground mushrooms would have gave you the same amount of flavor as the 10oz you used. Also, looking at the sides of your pot, you burned the milk.

I heard salted butter makes cookies dry. I dont know if i bellieve that mularkey. Most recipes call for unsalted butter and salt. Seems counter productive if you ask me. And as mentioned, who wants to be bothered with adding salt to buttered toast?

If it worked to your liking then great. But you would not have had to use so much mushrooms if you ground them up and used water. You could have gone as far as adding powdered milk to the liquid after straining.

Problem here is the amount of fat you would need to infuse the flavor and now you have to use all that fat or reduce the amount of the infused flavor. Water is still the better option for flavor.

Baron, If thats true, why does a steak quickly grilled on a really hot flame have so much flavor? Surely a few minutes is not enough time to carmelize a steak? For me its always those burnt parts of the steak with alittle fat on them that taste the best. Maybe my version of a good tasting grilled steak is different then yours.

Ok, so charcoal as fuel, air to keep fuel burning hot. Is a leaf blower really needed, or will a air compressor work?

So this is like a mini Kiln? Whats the purpose of the leaf blower? And what is the fuel/heat source? Trying to understand what i am looking at.

I am not understanding your issue with using water to extract the dried mushrooms flavor. If you want to use milk or what ever then do so. I am just suggesting using water and letting the water evaporate as much as possible to concentrate the flavor. If you want to use milk, to extract the flavor you risk burning it and altering the taste and in my opinion, milk will not do as good of a job at extracting compared to water. Anyway, im done. Good luck.

What does this have to do with my advice? It doesnt matter what your making. My point is valid. You need some form of liquid to extract as much flavor out of the mushrooms. Water is a good choice because it will not leave any taste behind when it evaporates.

Yes i have. And after you strain all the gritty powder, put the liquid back into the pot and simmer it to evaporate most of the water so you dont dilute your cream sauce.

I would grind the dried mushrooms into a powder and let it steep then strain it. You will get the mosr flavor out of them and faster aswell.

All that is, is activated charcoal and some salt,msg,and onion powder. If i was going to buy that crap, i might aswell grind up some hardwood lump charcoal and make my own.

Good point! I have a big tub of maltodextrin from my bacon powder experiment. I was thinking of "cutting" the charred ground beef powder with MSG and other spices depending on yeild and potency of flavor. You know this interests you! But i have this gut feeling you have some crazy contraption that can char a steak in 30 seconds. Am I wrong?

I kind of figured the company's that make the flavor are using some artificial method thats more cost effective. I am just trying to find the most cost effective "real" method. Ground beef seems to be the cheapest approach. I am thinking there needs to be some fat to get that charred effect, and 80/20 sounds like a good ratio, and happens to be the cheapest @ $2.59/lb. But i am totally open to trying other methods if anyone wants to chime in. Im sure there are a few egullet members that have taken a bite out of their perfect sous vide steak and thought this steak would be even better if it had some charred flavor.

I am starting to notice a lot of food products with "grilled steak" flavor is popular now. I have tried a few, and i gotta say, they really do taste like a juicy charred steak. Especially when the food product in question is a potato chip. This got me thinking how are they getting this flavor onto that potato chip, and how can I make this flavor so i can add it to my perfectly med rare sous vide steak that always seems to lack that flavor even after throwing it on the searing burner on my grill. My theory is to take ground beef and roll it out on a cookie sheet really thin and blast it under the broiler until it turns black. Then pop it into the oven @ 150F until its completely dehydrated. Then crumble and grind it into powder in the food processor. I am hoping that will come close the that charred/grilled steak flavor. What do you think? Will it create that flavor? Should i maybe mix some liquid smoke into the ground beef first?

Cast Iron pan preheated in oven @450-500F, then onto stove top on high will get you the best sear. I lightly rub the scallops with oil or melted butter and leave the pan dry. This prevents splattering and smoking up the house and also bad taste of burnt oil.

I dont think it has anything to do with cooks being newbies. Its the person posting the recipe thats to blame. Why should anyone assume the recipe there following is bad? Especially when theres a million reviews saying how good it was. And how they added this, and used less of this..ect..ect. But lets give the recipe a 4-5 star.

I use red food coloring (powder). It doesnt add any flavor, but in my mind, char siu does not look right without that nice deep dark red color. No amount of nitrate would give it that color. Also, dont use lean pork. I use boston butt. It has a perfect fat/meat ratio to give you that nice char when thrown on the fire/grill. I debone and filet the entire roast similar to how you filet short ribs to make Kalbi. You end up with something that looks like 2 full rack length ribs but boneless. After you marinate them for a few days (yes few days) you can hang them and slow cook in an oven and finish off on the grill. I like my Char Siu more savory then sweet. There is this chinese take-out not far from my house that makes "in my opinion" the best "boneless spare ribs" (Char Siu) i have ever tasted. But the funny thing is its the only item on there menu that my wife and I like. Everything else is bland. There sauces are watered down. We have mentioned this in a nice way, but there is a language barrier unfortunately. And its come to the point where i would like to figure out the marinade they use because i hate when i am craving there Char Siu. I make my wife pick it up...lol

I did not see that article. I found there videos through youtube. They did not mention the use of nitrates in the videos and people that asked, they never responded. Maybe they should rename there article/videos to "corned" or "cured" short ribs. nitrates produce a totally different flavor profile, to say "enhances" is a joke.

No a better test would be to buy a whole loin, cut and trim the ends and edges and seal them all.

Apparently some people that like to waste a good steak on a salad. Me, I was just too lazy to reheat it. To be honest, i did not realize the steak was rare when i put it in the fridge. The part i ate the night before was medium. As far as having the $hits all day, some people pay for that kinda cleansing therapy I suppose i payed for it aswell....all day.

Theres alot of worry worts on this forum. I have cooked steaks to rare, let them sit out for an hour or two and put in the fridge and eat cold the next day. I had the $hits all day but i survived. If your fridge is that cold it partially freezes food, then i wouldnt worry about 6 weeks, heck, if it was vacuum sealed i would still eat it 8 weeks later.

My grandma's husband pickled them. He would always dare me to eat one. He told me they were raw, but im thinking he was joking and they were probably boiled first. I eventually ate one. It was chewy and crunchy. Did not taste bad, but not good either.

Your definitely more ballsy then me. Braised tender i could handle, but crunchy would definitely get the gag reflex going. Thought reminds me of eating raw pickled chicken hearts when i was a kid.

All i see is the top of a short rib. The top looks good, but you really need to show the inside to impress pretty much everyone on this forum that has cooked the elusive perfect short rib.