The Perfect Steak and a Miscellaneous Musing

There are many dishes that I love across a wide range of cuisines. I adore spaghetti alla carbonara. I can eat moussaka until I'm sick. I'll never say no to Kung Pao chicken. Feel free to offer me seconds on cheesecake. I love to cook dishes that are complex because they give me an incredible feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when I'm done.

When the rubber meets the road though, one of my absolute favorite special treats is a perfectly cooked steak. I call it a special treat because in order to be perfectly done it's not going to be something you find on the sale shelf or wrapped in plastic at the grocery store. In fact, if the butcher area behind the glass at the grocery store looks like it's never been used, that's not even good enough.  The perfect steak has to come from a butcher or high end grocery store with a fully run butcher shop in the meat department.

The perfect steak starts with the perfect cut of meat. For me, it's one of two cuts; the porterhouse and the ribeye. The second prerequisite is that whatever cut I get has to have the bone in. That's where so much flavor lies. Many grocery stores remove the bone because consumers complain about the weight adding to the price. So, flavor is taken out to save a few pennies.

Once the cut of steak is chosen, it's time to grill. I am assuming that it will be cooked the same day it's purchased. No one would let an expensive steak sit in the fridge overnight...righhhhtttt?

A great cut of steak doesn't need to be doused in a lot of stuff that covers up its flavor. Heck, it doesn't need to be doused in anything. It only needs three things. A thin film of oil lovingly caressed over it, a generous sprinkling of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper dusted to taste. Honestly, that's it.

The perfect steak is grilled, not broiled, not pan fried (shudder); grilled. Over charcoal. Charcoal without starter fluid. Coals are heated to medium high, grates are cleaned well and the meat is gently placed right over the center of the grate to cook while the grillmeister stands guard to make sure there aren't any flame-ups or other problems that would ruin this small investment. After a couple of minutes, the steak gets picked up with tongs (not pierced with a fork of any kind) and rotated 90 degrees for the cross hatch marks, if desired.  After about six to eight minutes, it's time to flip the steak and repeat the process. For me, the perfect steak is rare, heading a little to the medium-rare direction (120 degrees F). For my husband, it sits in the middle of medium-rare (125 degrees F). Yes, that's 5 degrees lower than the real designations for rare and medium-rare, but that'll be explained in a second.

Once the steak comes off the grill, it's time to wait some more. The perfect steak needs a few minutes to collect itself; literally. Meat proteins that have heated during cooking and squeezed the juices out have a chance to reverse the process and the juices are redistributed throughout the meat instead of being located more in the center (towards where it's coolest).

Because the steak is still hot while it's resting, it's continuing to cook.  It's called carry-over cooking and if it's not taken into consideration, meat is overdone. I know. I've seen me do it. Letting the perfect steak rest for ten minutes will raise the temperature about 5-10 degrees. That's why the perfect steak is pulled off the grill a few degrees early.

The perfect steak is now ready for consumption. Please don't ruin it by adding steak sauce. Save that for cheap steaks, meatloaf or burgers. Just cut, eat, savor, remember.

A Miscellaneous Musing

I read a lot of blogs over the course of a day. While I'm doing it for enjoyment, to learn from others, get a laugh or two or just view some gorgeous photography, it also serves to help me refocus when I'm moving from one project to another or just need to clear my mind so I can come at a problem from a different direction.

The one thing I detest on blogs is the captcha that many have needed to add because of spammers (I understand the need; that doesn't mean I have to like it). I get bugged when I think I'm done with a post and hit submit as I'm turning to do something only to turn back a couple of minutes later and see that my comment hasn't been posted but is waiting for me to type "glyflo."

To difuse the frustration these things cause, I started playing a little game. I keep track of them (most of the time). So, for all you with captchas on your blogs, this is what I've typed on your behalf so far today.

esessoms
squib
pottente
austs
bivate
videssup
avusti
bijlxnks
geobleal
subbu
reamish
salsibni
gorati
korth
cuinouse
didnet
cuomour
pormic
depophy