I need some help cooking my porterhouse. Normally I either grill it outside, or use a cast iron skillet.

I don’t have any of those at the moment, so I ask you. How would you cook a 1 1/2 inch bone in, porterhouse steak? I have all the spices, but I can either cook it in a non stick skillet, or in the broiler.

How would you cook the steak, and how long would you cook a 1 1/2 bone in steak to get it medium to medium rare?

Grilling is the best option but seeing as you don’t have that luxury at the moment i can offer you this advice. Most of the time at any major chain like lets say Outback or Longhorns they use a flat iron to cook your steaks anyway. Broiling has a tendency to dry out thick cuts of meat. Searing it will lock in the flavors. The key is finding the right temperature on your stove-top. Depending on how you want your steak cooked you would want to use a slightly lower temperature for higher degrees of doneness throughout. Or a higher temperature to sear the outside quickly and lock in the goodness. Make sure that your using butter in the bottom of the pan and another tablespoon when you flip. A good pinch of regular old salt hear and there on a steak can add a tremendous amount of flavor as well. Good luck!

they are so similar.

Indeed, but I’d hope that you’re not mixing up your vinegar with your H2SO4.

the same as conventional cooking?

Many things taste the same, some things taste better cooked in a microwave, and it’s much quicker. I just wondered if they destroy nutrients in food though?
I do conventional cooking as well but often use the microwave for quickness, or combination of the two methods.

Some studies show that microwaving changes the molecular structure of food, which wouldn’t be healthy. It also increases free radicals, which cause cancer. So, no mirowave food does not retain the "goodness".

I had read about a cooking ‘class’ where you can meet with other people, you all cook lots of food in one evening (enough to last a month or a week) and you take home your food and freeze it and then use it for the next month or so. What is the name of this? Has anyone actually done this?

It’s called "Once a Month Cooking" or "OAMC". I couldn’t find any classes where you actually meet with other folks in person, but I found a website with a lot of information that may steer you in the right direction. Here’s a blurb from the site (I’ll provide the link below). Hope this helps!!!!:

*What is OAMC or Once A Month Cooking? It is a method of producing several entrees or meals in a one or two day-long cooking session. Meals and entrees are prepared for the next 30 days, then frozen. This makes cooking and clean-up minimal for the remainder of the month, giving you more time with your family, and to pursue personal interests.

it’s like… not only do i not really know how to cook… i feel like the planning and shopping is hard to figure out / balance out too. and finding time for it all.
how did you guys start out cooking/menu planning?

KIS…Keep it simple. It depends on how many you are cooking for but start out by going to a cooking site and finding some easy recipes. Find 7 of them…one for each day and write the ingredients on a piece of paper and use it as a shopping list for your weeks groceries. Make sure you dont double up on things…if one recipe uses 2 eggs and another uses 1 and another uses 4 dont go buying 3 dozen eggs. Just buy 1 dozen and use what you need. Once you learn how to make a few meals this way you can start to modify the recipes by adding or taking away things you like or dislike. For example if you are making a stew you might like to add mushrooms but you might not like carrots very much so you can leave them out. After a while you build up a repertoire of things you can cook and it’s not so hard to figure out what to buy at the supermarket because it is all in your head.

I prefer a website that on the recipes they have pictures of how the food looks like.

Simplyrecipes.com

I love them I use them a lot. Also you can try if you like a certain food go to the store and check out the package normally food items have recipes on them.