Seasonings

Cooking a “perfect” steak is a daunting task for most people but there’s no reason to be scared. A world class steak requires two things – 1) high quality meat and 2) Truluck’s Superior Steak Seasoning. If you have those two things, you’re good to go regardless of the cooking method. It doesn’t matter if you grill it, broil it, roast it, sear it or what have you. These two things produce an excellent steak. Here’s just one way to make a restaurant quality steak in your own home.

• Rub the meat with a small amount of olive oil. This will act as a glue between your steak and seasoning.
• Season your steak lightly on all sides and allow the steak to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Heat a cast iron pan and sear that steak on all sides until nice and brown.
• Lower the heat and continue cooking to your desired temperature while marveling at that classic steakhouse crust that you just made.
• Remove from the heat and submerge (yes, submerge) the steak in melted butter. Allow the steak to lounge in the butter bath for 5 to 10 minutes. It’s earned it.
• When ready, pull your steak out of the butter, season with the steak seasoning and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Bask in the glory as your dining companions ooh and ahh.

Pro Tip #1 – For temperatures above medium, finish the steak in a 350F oven so that the crust doesn’t char. Crusty is good. Burning is bad.

Pro Tip #2 – Save the butter bath in your fridge. The meat juice and butter make for some delicious baked potatoes, mashed potatoes and pretty much any roasted vegetable. If you’re feeling particularly crazy, it never hurts to pour some it over the top of your steak.

When most people think Cajun cooking, they think of blackened seafood or chicken. This famous cooking method was a Paul Prudhomme signature and became really famous in the 1980’s. Blackening something properly is easy to do as long as you know what you’re doing. First things first, blackened does not mean burnt. It may look dark brown or almost black but there is a big difference between the two. So, how do we do it right? We’ll tell you. It begins with Truluck’s Blackened Seasoning and quality seafood, chicken or meat. Pretty much anything can be blackened.

Let’s pretend you are using seafood. Doesn’t really matter. It just makes it easier for us to write this. The method is the same for whatever you are cooking.

• Heat a well-seasoned cast iron pan over medium heat.
• Dip your fish in melted butter and gently press the flesh side into your blackened seasoning. Do not press hard. We don’t want to cake it on. You also don’t need to season the other side. There’s plenty of flavor and seasoning with just the one side coated.
• Pop your fish in the pan with the seasoned side down. It will smoke. Do not panic. Cook until the herbs and seasonings become really fragrant and take on a crisp, dark brown crust.
• Flip the fish, lower the temperature and drop in a fat spoonful of whole butter. This will allow the fish to finish cooking, soak in some buttery flavor and cool down the pan. You can skip this step if you hate flavor or are trying to be healthy.
• Brush the blackened side with some of the butter from the pan, squeeze some fresh lemon over that bad boy and serve immediately. You can add sauce if you want to but it’s not necessary. The clean flavors of the seasoning and lemon will meld with the fresh fish (or chicken, beef, shrimp, etc.) and butter creating a truly superior dish.

Fresh seafood is so delicious. It doesn’t need a whole lot to jazz it up. The idea of a seasoning dedicated to seafood is simply to complement the natural flavors and let the seafood shine through. That’s why Truluck’s Garlic & Herb Seasoning is herb and garlic heavy with less salt than you would probably expect.

It is really easy for us to go down the food nerd rabbit hole so we are really going to restrain ourselves here. Cooking great seafood requires just a few things. We’ll go over those and then give you a couple of tips. Here’s all you need:

• Quality seafood
• A true fish spatula
• Teensy bit of oil or butter
• Medium heat
• Patience
• Truluck’s Garlic & Herb Seasoning

Pro Tip #1 – Pat your seafood completely dry before you season it. All of those extra juices and water will keep you from getting the texture and color that you are looking for unless you’re poaching it. For shame. Just kidding. You do you.

Pro Tip #2 – High heat and oil are not your friends unless you are deep frying and I don’t care who tells you otherwise. There is a major difference between searing your food and burning your food. There’s a huge difference between frying your seafood in oil and gently allowing the natural sugars to caramelize. BE PATIENT!

Pro Tip #3 – You worked hard on that fish. You were the picture of patience. Don’t ruin it by tearing it up with a beat up, thick, jagged spatula. Get a thin fish spatula so that you can showcase your hard work and get the accolades that you deserve.

Holiday Tips with Truluck’s