Steak: A Love Story in Three Acts

So since surgery, me and beef have had beef. For a while I couldn’t eat most beef products: not steaks, not roast (even out of the crockpot), no ground beef. The only exception seemed to be deli cuts of beef.

Recently I embarked on a journey to reunite with beef — a journey I’ve documented here for you in three acts.

ACT I: The Rub-Down

Ok, first things first. You need to choose the right cut of meat. This is not my forte. My mom used to always buy Delmonico’s. They are ridiculously expensive. But lookit: I’ve found a good resource for you to determine the most tender cuts of meat!

For the purposes of this experiment, I used top sirloin.

So the rubdown…this is something I learned from Food Network (it is a wealth of information). I simply cut a large clove of garlic and rubbed it all over the steak then seasoned it with salt and pepper. I was skeptical if this really would make an impact but I sniffed the meat after rubbing it and there was the pungent aroma of fresh garlic!

ACT II: A Midnight Interlude

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In this case, it was the chicken. What does this have to do with anything? Well, I knew I would have to marinate my steak if I hoped to be successful and when thinking of what to use as a marinade I thought of my method of cooking my Thai Chicken Skewers.

Long story short: Greek yogurt. It is a wonder substance. You put any meat in it and let it sit for a while and the active cultures eat away at the tough proteins and what you are left with is a soft, supple piece of meat. (That was about three steps from going to Pervy-ville folks).

So I put my steaks in a zip-top bag and threw in a 6 oz. container of Greek yogurt. This was in the late evening so I stuck it all in the fridge to do its thing.

And what a thing it did! When I took it back out the next evening the yogurt had worked so well that almost the complete membrane running down one steak was completely broken down. The yogurt did its job. Yay!

ACT III: Burning desire

Well not burning. Grilling. But that didn’t fit in well with my overtly sexual analogy structure. 🙂

So after removing the steaks from their yogurt bath, I heated up the good old grill pan. I could have used a regular grill, yes, but we were in the midst of a heat wave in Baltimore and I have an OLD, untreated wood fence. That does not equal good things with regards to grill embers. So I chose to grill indoors. I simply sprayed down my grill pan with nonstick and let it get hot, hot, hot.

Then I stuck my steak on there. Now I was raised on medium rare steak. My sensibilities lean more toward a good, solid medium. To achieve this, I cooked my steak for four minutes on each side. Your cook time may vary by the level of doneness you want.

TIP: When cooking steak, don’t cut into it right off the grill or pan. Let it “rest.” It will re-absorb some of its juices and you will be richly rewarded!

So, the moment of truth. I had taken a great deal of care in the preparation of my steak. I’d cooked it with love, tenderly caring for it until it was done. I let it rest before the big moment. I transfer to my cutting board, I slice, I bite and…SUCCESS!!!

Tender, chewy WONDERFUL steak! It was so yummy I snapped a picture that night. The rest I put in the fridge to make the dish you saw above, which is essentially my cheesesteak scramble with some mushrooms added to the mix for fun. I called it my “WLS-friendly Steak and Eggs.” More recipes will follow as I eat my way through this batch of steak.

ANOTHER TIP: This one from my mom. Don’t trim the fat from steaks until after you’ve grilled them. They turn out very tender and juicy that way.

Interestingly enough, the tenderness carried over until the morning. I bit into a cold piece and it yielded to my teeth. I reheated it for my scramble and it was still tender and juicy.

You all just don’t KNOW how happy this makes me. I have reconciled my relationship with beef!