[Standard Review Disclaimer: This product review is based on my subjective opinions only. When it comes to food, what one person finds to be the best ever, someone else will call horrible. I have no business affiliation from any product reviewed and have paid retail price for the product, unless otherwise noted in full disclosure.]
I tried Weber Grill's new Chicago Steak seasoning tonight on some ribeye steaks that I had cut from my spring splurge, a whole ribeye. Alexis bought a jar of it at Sam's Club this past weekend. (Again, excuse the photos, my good camera is still at Nikon. These were taken with a pocket camera.)
I did two with the Weber's and one with my homemade cajun beef rub.
Did them all on the Big Green Egg over 500f direct heat for 2 minutes, flipped, 2 minutes flipped, 2 minutes, took them off and let them rest for 10 minutes.My Opinion: I really like the fact this product uses whole spices and the integrated grinder grinds them up (that's what grinders do, right?) as you need them. I liked to use a fine grind at first to get a good coating and then switch to a coarse grind to get a nice surface texture on the meat. The flavor was good but not as strong as I thought it would be (I went light on the rub). Next time I would use more.
Franconia Potatoes
I wanted to do something I haven't tried before so I thought I would try the Franconia Potatoes from the Joy of Cooking (97 version). The quick version of their recipe was parboil potatoes, put them in a pre-heated cast iron pan with 3 T butter, 3 T of oil, and parsley. Cover and cook at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook 10 more minutes. Blah blah blah.
I did it a little different. As you can see from the steaks I sliced (but had not yet trimmed), they had a bit o' fat on them. hmmmmmm butter....oil....fat.
So instead of using oil & butter, I diced up some of the beef fat and tossed it into a cast iron pan that was already in the 350f oven to let it render for about 15 minutes. I added the parboiled potatoes to the pan and did the 20 minutes covered, 10 minutes uncovered deal.
Overall? Close. Very close. I'd change it up next time. I'd swap thyme, basil, rosemary or ANYTHING other than parsley and I'd add a tablespoon of kosher salt.
On the other hand, it was a pretty damn good dinner:)Update: Made the same thing Thursday night. But instead, used a mixture of 1 diced shallot, 2 stems of fresh thyme, 2 sage leaves chopped, and kosher salt. I waited to add the mixture until the last 10 minutes (when the lid comes off). MUCHO BETTER!
