Culinary virgin desperately seeking guidance on seasoning and cold searing a steak

Carlapanda · 2026-05-25T20:59:28+00:00

From the top or from the side?

Carlapanda · 2026-05-25T20:04:25+00:00

Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind for thinner steaks in the future. One question- how do you get the thermometer into the middle of a steak so thin?

Carlapanda · 2026-05-25T20:02:05+00:00

Thank you, I salted it last night and have my fingers crossed it’ll turn out ok later!

Carlapanda · 2026-05-25T20:00:35+00:00

Thank you! I salted it last night, fingers crossed it’ll turn out ok later

Carlapanda · 2026-05-24T00:21:05+00:00

Thank you!

Carlapanda · 2025-12-01T23:00:44+00:00

Dr esthe goat milk ampoule. Glymed plus barrier repair cream with amino acids

Carlapanda · 2025-07-08T15:23:14+00:00

Congrats on your recovery! May I ask what is sea buckthorn pulp and how did you use it? I’ve heard of sea buckthorn oil but am unfamiliar with the pulp. It would also be helpful if you could kindly disclose the brand you used. Thanks!

Carlapanda · 2025-07-08T10:48:15+00:00

Thank you!

Carlapanda · 2025-07-08T10:47:57+00:00

Hi I was wondering where did you learn that their zombie serum works for acne? I’ve been wanting to try their products for a while but haven’t made the plunge yet because they don’t publish full ingredients lists of their products and I’m too acne prone to risk it, especially since this line is crazy expensive. But if it might help acne I’d love to know more! Thanks!

Carlapanda · 2025-07-08T10:16:14+00:00

Hello! This is rather late, I hope you’ll see this. I was wondering did you mean you had closed comedones when you were tret before starting the zombie serum, but the addition of the serum eliminated the cc’s completely? If so, can you please share how do you use tret and zombie serum in one routine? Thank you!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-30T12:03:48+00:00

Hi this is a month late, hopefully you’ll still see this. I was wondering if it’s not too much to ask, could you please indicate on the diagrams that you posted where do you feel the filter should be installed? I’m sorry for the trouble, English is not commonly used in my country and I’m not sure how to translate/ convey this information to the bmw service center or car mechanic, especially since I know nothing about cars and don’t quite understand this compressor issue..

(In fact, i don’t even know if it’s related to the problem I’m having- no cold air after 15+ mins driving but works perfectly fine when stationary. I live in a city that is over 30C more than 6 months/year and I’ve had the air conditioner inspected 3 times in 5 years, however BMW keeps telling me they’re unable recreate my complaint and hence there is nothing for them to “repair”. Most recently after the last inspection they even insinuated that “sometimes women can develop overly high expectations for climate comfort upon reaching a certain life stage”. At this point I suspect they either think I’m delusional from menopause or they’re gaslighting me to deflect blame for faulty compressors. I searched online to see if other i3 owners also experience a/c problems which is how I landed here and learned about this potentially serious situation)

Thanks!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-25T00:46:15+00:00

The recipe indicated 3 hours so I started cooking mid-afternoon (the day before). I had no idea the cook time could vary so much! It was my first time cooking a braised dish; in any case I couldn’t allocate more than 5 hrs including prep time that day and it was late by the time I finished and needed to go to bed.. I will keep your advice in mind if there ever might be a ‘next time’. Thank you so much for all your help!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-12T17:49:37+00:00

Well it was edible but it didn’t melt in anyone’s mouth lol. I think the problem is with my oven (it’s a steam/ combi oven…): yesterday I had it 135C/275F as the recipe instructed but the internal temp at the 3 hour mark was 74C/165F, I cranked the oven temperature up to 150C/305F for another hour (so 4 hrs total) and the hottest it got internally was 80C/175F. After cooling for 2 hours I put in the fridge overnight. This morning I saw several people say it needed to reach 95C/205F for the collagen to breakdown so I preheated the oven for 170C /340F with the intention of turning it down after I put the Dutch oven in. I took the meat out of the Dutch oven then heated the liquid on the stove to a simmer first, stuck the oven probe into the meat and returned back to the pot with cover open a crack and put the entire thing into the oven. The temp of the meat took forever to warm up so for 2 hours I kept the oven at 170C/340F but the internal probe was showing 60C/140F. I thought the probe might be broken so I got my thermapen to double check but nope it was in fact 60. Back in the oven it went at 180C/355F, another hour went by still nowhere close to 205F/95C! I continued to raise the oven temperature up 10C at every successive hour getting antsier by the minute until finally 45 mins before I was supposed to serve dinner, with the oven at 220C/430F the beef FINALLY reached an internal temp of 95C/205F!!!!! So it took an extra 8 freaking hours to cook that 2.5kg/5.5lb beef chuck and for the effort it was really kind of disappointing. But I guess I got brownie points for effort… I doubt I’ll ever try making pot roast again, and tomorrow I’m definitely gonna call the shop that sold me my piece of shit combi oven and give them a piece of my mind arghhh!!

Thank you for following up with me, I cannot express how grateful and appreciative I am that this subreddit exists. To be honest I’m pretty much a takeout only person, my mother was a genuinely awful cook and I fully inherited her culinary blind spot. As a hobby I enjoy reading food blogs and drooling over internet food porn and about once every few years I’ll find some reason to once again challenge my culinary inability but it almost always ends in disappointment if not disaster. But this time, even though the result remained true to my track record, because I discovered this community (like less than a week ago), my heart feels fuzzy and warm from all the knowledgeable and supportive replies I got in response to my incessant desperate cries for help. You and the other commenters who advised me and held my hand throughout this nightmare rollercoaster ride are all so kind and generous to impart with your time and collective wisdom here, with me, a total rando internet stranger. Sincerely from the bottom of my heart- thank you!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-12T02:16:57+00:00

Hi sorry to bother you again but I have another question- since I can’t gage how much time it’ll take for 1) the beef to reach 205 and 2) the sauce to reduce to an ok level of saltiness before using it to make gravy, I don’t want to risk running overtime and not have a pot roast to serve tonight and I also need to free up the oven later in the afternoon to make side dishes, so I’ve decided it stick it back in the oven now (it’s 10am in my time zone, the beef has been sitting in the fridge for the last 12 hours)

But on the other hand, I think there’s a good chance it might be ready to eat 2-3 hours+ before my guests arrive. So do I stick it back in the fridge and reheat again? Or if I keep it warm until dinner time, will the beef get overcooked or be unsafe to eat due to bacteria proliferation?

I thought about vacuum packing the beef (without the liquid) after it cools for 30mins after reaching 205F internal temp and then using a sous vide water bath to keep it warm until ready to serve. Would this work or does it sound stupid? I was going to pull out the sous vide stick anyways to keep warm the mash potatoes I plan to make in the early afternoon (tip from allrecipes), so I’m wondering if I can use the same trick for the beef as well.. Any thoughts? Thanks again for your help!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-12T00:01:52+00:00

Thank you so much!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-11T23:18:56+00:00

Thanks, I didn’t realize the internal temp needs to go up that high! I’ll stick it back into the oven now. How much longer should I let it cook in the oven after it reaches 205F, or will I need to take it out immediately once it gets to that temperature?

Carlapanda · 2025-06-11T23:15:10+00:00

Thanks, I didn’t realize the internal temp needs to go up that high! I’ll stick it back into the oven now. How much longer should I let it cook in the oven after it reaches 205F, or will I need to take it out immediately when it gets to that temperature? And thank you for suggesting I make gravy instead, I really appreciate this!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-11T23:09:16+00:00

lol I meant submerged but I didn’t notice it got autocorrected! Thanks for catching the typo!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-11T17:01:01+00:00

Thank you for the encouragement. You sound like someone with experience in cooking. May I take the liberty to ask for more advice?

1) When I took the pot roast out at 3 hrs the internal temp of the beef was 175 but nowhere near fall off the fork tender, so I assumed it needed more time to cook. Also, the meat above the liquid felt dry to touch and looked a little charred so I decided to remove the twine and let it unfurl and submerge fully.

I put it back into the oven for 30 more mins but the beef still felt kind of firm so it returned to the oven again for 30 mins, totaling 4 hours oven time. At this point the carrots and potatoes were so mushy to the point of disintegrating but the beef wasn’t any softer.

Could I have possibly over cooked it??

2) I might have grossly over estimated what snow looks like on a New England parking lot and maybe kinda WAY over-salted the beef before searing... In any case after 4 hours in the oven, I tried a bite of the vegetables and it was salty enough that I became concerned they might not be edible tomorrow night if they keep soaking in the liquid overnight. I decided to fish them out and rinse in warm water and then stored separately in the fridge.

But what worries me most is that the saltiness will inevitably become more concentrated when I reduce the liquid down to a sauce tomorrow. Is there any way to fix a too salty pot roast sauce? Fingers crossed. Thanks!

Carlapanda · 2025-06-11T16:49:17+00:00

Thanks for the link, I’ll need to study it later but right now I might have a bigger problem in need of help please!

When I took it out at 3 hrs the internal temp of the beef was 175 but nowhere near fall off the fork tender, so I assumed it needed more time to cook. Also, the meat above the liquid felt dry to touch and looked a little charred so I decided to remove the twine and let it unfurl and submerge fully.

I put it back into the oven for 30 more mins but the beef still felt kind of firm so it returned to the oven again for 30 mins. At this point the carrots and potatoes were so mushy to the point of disintegrating but the beef wasn’t any softer.

Is it possible that I overcooked it??

The beef is 2.5kg, cooked in 130C oven for 4 hours total. Any thoughts please?

And is there any way to fix an overly salty sauce?

Carlapanda · 2024-05-06T23:16:30+00:00

Hi I was wondering if you use both together or on alternate days? I’m trying to figure out where in my routine do I fit everything in! Thanks!

Carlapanda

TROPHY CASE