NEW ORLEANS RESTAURANTS & FOOD - Chef's Corner

Chef David English of Cobalt Restaurant

Cobalt’s Rack of Lamb with Fingerling Potatoes

“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen,” goes the old saying, but maybe there’s really just too much heat.

Cooking with lower heat can work wonders, says Chef David English at Cobalt. Cooking meat and fish longer at lower temperatures can get you the best of both worlds: the flavor of medium rare, but the texture of medium.

“With lamb, rare gives the best flavor,” he says “But it’s still too chewy for me.”

With salmon to duck to lamb to beef, English cooks dishes longer at lower temperatures. The approach preserves the juices of the meat. Cooking to medium at higher heat can dry out the meat and sacrifice flavor. But diners who don’t like to see rare meat don’t have to worry.

Cooking slowly also allows better control of the cooking process. With fish or scallops, cooking on high heat can lead to overcooking much more easily. Especially with sautéing, high heat can be difficult to gauge and manage. Scallops are a perfect example of a delicate food that are often ruined on high heat. Even with sautéing, English will sear them quickly in a very hot pan, no longer than 10 seconds, and then lower the heat to below medium to finish the cooking slowly.

Applying heat to any meat draws the juices in to the center. So after cooking is completed, the meat needs to “rest” an appropriate length of time to let the juices bleed back throughout. If you’ve ever cut open a roast just out of the oven and seen juices quickly seep out into a puddle, you’ve cut it too quickly. Ideally, the meat should sit for a while at 100°.

English will still sauté most meats first to get a nice outer texture and to seal in juices before cooking. Then he’ll transfer the meat to an oven, ideally on a rack, and cook at 180°. Most home ovens can cook well at 200°. Time varies depending on the size and thickness of the cut but he recommends using a meat thermometer to gauge doneness. Generally speaking, 120° is medium rare and 130° is medium. When done, remove it from the oven and let it rest before serving. A roast that cooks for two hours should rest for up to 40 minutes, though before serving it can be warmed if it cools too much.