Hey, back in the home kitchen today because I've got something really strange to show you. I went off to my weekly visit for the farmers market like I normally do but I made the mistake on going on Monday this week. Monday, not a good day for the farmers market, they get pretty much wiped out on the weekend. So, I went to my anxious beef guy and I said, “Hey, do you have any steak? I love tenderloin steaks from the local farmer.” And he wasn’t there so he didn’t hear me asking that. But the booth right next door said, “Hey, where’s the steak guy?” She said, “He's not here on Monday but have you ever tried ostrich?” “No, I hate to admit as a chef. I've never tried an ostrich.” So, she sent me home with this beautiful ostrich fillet.
Here's the problem, where do I find an ostrich recipe. This is yet another point in case, case in point both of them about how you don’t need recipes to cook things. Would you ever buy an ostrich fillet? No, because you’d be so stress about finding an ostrich recipe, you’d absolutely freak out, you know, hold did your head in the—you know, I had to use that once.
But we’re going to cook this ostrich today without an ostrich recipe because it is a protein product. It looks just like beef so why can’t I cook it the same way, why can’t I apply basic cooking methods to an ingredient that I've never even seen or heard of before and have it come out the same way. So, my friends at the hilltop ostrich farm sent me home with a little pan flip and it gives me some ideas of how to cook the ostrich all of which I'm going to ignore because I'm going to apply a basic cooking method but here is the thing that I love and if you’ve been watching these episodes for long, you know this runs all over me. They tell you how to tell when the ostrich is done and they have a little diagram with the hand and a finger poking the hand. Come on, we know the only way to tell when a protein product is done is with a thermometer. I like my digital thermometer and the way we're going to cook this ostrich is with my wireless digital thermometer, my heavy cast iron pan that’s in the oven right now, I've got that up to 450 degrees as hot as I can get that cast iron pan then we’re going to prep this with a little bit of pepper and a very simple sear in the cast iron thermometer stock in it and when it goes—it’s done. It doesn’t matter if it’s ostrich or beef or basin or any of it. I don’t need a recipe because I have basic cooking methods and I have a quantifiable way to tell when it’s done.
First thing I'll do like any protein product, any cut of meat I don’t care that it’s ostrich, that still be interesting but let's coat it with a little bit of fat, some olive oil just to coat it. This will help in browning a little bit, seal it up with some fat. And then secondly, let's get my pepper mill, I love the big pepper mill and let's coat both sides of this with a little bit of pepper and then we’ll add a little bit of salt to it just for some flavoring and then start to look at our cast iron pan in the oven. Lastly, a little bit of salt on my ostrich fillet, I know that’s going to draw some moisture out but I also know that it’s going to add some flavor to it. I've never had ostrich. I've never cooked ostrich before but I don’t need a recipe. I just need a basic method.
Why a cast iron pan? You see my temperature on the oven 450 degrees, the cast iron pan why, because I want to be able to put this in the oven. I want to—it’s getting hot right through the glove. I want to be able to use a direct source heat to sear this protein product my ostrich steak sear the protein product as if it were sauté but I can’t leave it on the stove top because the direct source heat will not cook it all the way from through.
I get this question in the forums and emails quite often. I've done a sauté method but my pan burns. It’s probably because your item is to thick so well I want see the sear on the bottom most certainly on most interested in the final internal temperature and that’s accomplished with my instant read thermometer, digital thermometer. Stick the probe part into the thickest part of the thickest piece back in the oven it goes, here's the transmitter on the outside of the oven and my temperature probe here.
The one good piece of advice they gave me at the ostrich farm was to cook it rare and you know when I get things directly from the farmers market, I have a lot more confidence in the quality of it that I can cook my steaks a little more rare. I can try ostrich and cook it rare and luckily because I cook in a quantifiable method, I have a steak number. My steak number is 128 degrees Fahrenheit. I know that’s when it’s done. This I'm going to go another temperature to let’s say 130 we’ll take it out. we let it carry over five degrees and the ostrich people tell me it should going to be just like roast beef.
So, searing any kind of protein product in a heavy cast iron pan then enables you to put it in the oven and take advantage of that convective process and slowly roast our ostrich. It’s ostrich we’ll see how it comes out when my thermometer goes off. All right, my thermometer reads, can you see that? Here we go, all right, thermometer reads 133 so if somebody ever ask you and this is the question that I got ask more than often. Time, how long should I cook turkey, how long should I cook ham? It’s not long its time don’t tell by your watch its temperature not time, so my ostrich should be ready. Just take that out, just take to probe out of there. And don’t forget this is still five degrees or so from where I want it to be because I'm going to get that carry over cooking.
So, let's take our ostrich steak at, look at that, that’s beautiful looks like a beef steak and of course what's in the bottom of the pan? Pan, we don’t know it by now and what can I do with the pan? Well, I can sauté some other things in it to add flavor. I've got some onions, throw the onions in there. Let's do some red peppers and yellow squash, they go in there back to the tongs, don’t forget the cast iron pan gets really hot and start to stir those around in the pan to sauté a little bit. Do you glaze the pan? Maybe some red wine.
Yes, that’s red wine. So, do you glaze the pan with? And see how did residual heat from the oven I don’t have the burner on top of the stove. This is just the residual heat from the pan and lastly, I've got a little bit of beef broth here, I'll add that to the pan to add a moist cooking method and return this to the over to roast those vegetables just a little bit.
Let's take a look at our ostrich and see if there is any different than beef. All right, here's a nice ostrich fillet it looks beautiful looks just like beef doesn’t it. Let's give it a curve on a nice slide by shredded slicing knife is a knife for a job, look at that beautiful temperature that is exactly what I was looking for, that nice rare temperature. This is accomplish with the thermometer and to with the clock.
And at plate off, I have this beautiful ostrich I've decided to serve it with our squash and red pepper Julian the glaze with red wine and a little beef broth and I made myself a really nice rice dish I got a four rice blend at the farmers market and I put some cranberries and it is as well because the ostrich seem like a little strange grainier kind of thing. And here's our plate with our ostrich steak, four kinds of rice with cranberries in it and red pepper and squash fillet. So, don’t be afraid of ostrich, don’t hide—I won't do it again. Don’t be afraid of ostrich at because it basic cooking methods. When you cook with basic cooking then you can pick any ingredients try wild bore, try all kinds of stuff you'll never heard of because I've never had ostrich and I hate to admit in the years of cooking. I've never cooked ostrich. But somebody presented me with the opportunity to do something new and I see it.
What did I call upon? My basic cooking methods, I cooked this ostrich steak in a time that would take you to search for an ostrich recipe. So, yet more proof that recipe, don’t work basic cooking methods always empower you over recipes especially if you want to make ostrich.
Man, that was different than anything. I have ever had before and if you come to webcookingclasses.com tomorrow check out my blog. I'll be talking about it more ostrich a brand new thing for me was interesting.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services