Steak Day

Basically the same wines that you would serve for beef based dishes are also the ones you should serve with steak. There are some steak dishes though, such as steak au poivre and steak Bearnaise that offer slightly different choices.

Simple steaks are highly suited for showing off your finest red wines - red Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and blends made from both. Shiraz is also a superb match and, staying in the Rhone region, so are the wines of Chateauneurf-du-Pape. Generally young or very fruity wines go better with rarer steak or char-grilled. Medium-rare or more well cooked steaks suit softer styled reds. Try a decent Rioja for example.

My favourite steak dish, Beef Stroganoff, is great with a good Rhone village wine. Look towards Cairanne, Vacqueyras or Lirac. These wines often display a distinct peppery quality and it is to these I would turn for the steak au poivre. The Bearnaise sauce makes serving a white wine with steak a possibility. Try a good quality Californian Chardonnay but if you must stay with a red try a good Beaujolais Cru - Morgan or Brouilly.

 

Strange but true! I was on a health kick around that time, and I vigorously avoided all meat. And over the years, I just haven't eaten any steak. It's not a concious health decision on my part, really. I just stopped eating steak, and in the past 14 years my meals have been dominated by chicken and turkey (and pizza). I've had cheeseburgers once in a great while, and I sometimes get pepperoni on my pizza, and I certainly can't get by the winter without having several bowls of mouth-watering chili. But your typical steak? I haven't had one in so long.

But I have a feeling that this day here at Slashfood is going to change all that ...

When I was growing up in California, I noticed that chicken-fried steak seemed to be a popular item on school lunch menus and in dormitory dining halls. I never actually knew what it was, so I never ordered it. Was it really chicken? Was it steak? Every time I came across it, it was round, flat and breaded, with what appeared to be dark-colored meat inside. The "steak" also never looked appetizing.

As it turns out, chicken-fried steak is a variant of schnitzel. It is popular in the Southern US, perhaps especially in Texas. The dish is a cut of beef that is pounded until very thin, breaded and fried. The cheapest, least tender pieces of beef are usually the ones that are used for this dish, since the pounding softens the meat and the majority of the flavor comes from the fried coating and the cream-based gravy that the dish is inevitably smothered in.  And even afficianados will tell you that the best parts are often the coating and the gravy.

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This sandwich is a great, tasty way to use up leftover steak and it's very simple to make, mostly because I rely on prepared barbecue sauce. All you need to do is chop up some onion and mushrooms (white or portobello) into small pieces and saute in a pan with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper until they are tender. I use a few tablespoons of onion and about 1 cup of the mushrooms, sometimes a bit more, per sandwich, but the amount is completely flexible. Vary the amounts depending on the size of your rolls. While the mushrooms are cooking, shred up some leftover beef and add it to the mushrooms once they're tender. Stir in enough of your favorite barbecue sauce to moisten everything, cook until the mixture is heated through, and serve on a fresh roll or baguette. This sandwich can also be made with all mushrooms for a vegetarian alternative.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

This simple combination of skirt steak and cucumber salad is easily the steak dish I make most often. For the salad, combine two cucumbers, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced; one medium tomato, cored, seeded and thinly sliced, minced Thai chili to taste; a good palmful of fresh mint, finely chopped; 3-4 tablespoons of lime juice; and a splash of fish sauce (start with around a tablespoon if you're not a huge fan of the stuff, yet). Toss all ingredients to combine.

As we all know, steak lovers can be pretty particular about how they like their steak cooked. Having said that, I'm not going to insist on any specific method or level of doneness. Most recently, I grilled a 1.5 pound skirt steak, trimmed of excess fat and cut into three pieces, over a very hot (three seconds max with the hand test) fire of hardwood charcoal. If grilling is out of the question, broiling the same skirt steak works just fine. After resting the steak, cut it across the grain into thin strips. This shortens the muscle fibers and yields a more tender cut.

[Photo: Nick Vagnoni]

One of my favorite steak rubs is the Sizzlin' Steak Rub made by Brazos Legends. I got it as part of a gift set quite some time ago, and since Brazos doesn't list it on their website, I'm not certain that they even make it anymore. The rub contains salt, black pepper, garlic, coriander, cumin, onion & paprika. I got my bottle quite some time ago and, though I use it all the time, the bottle isn't empty yet. Of course, that's because I concocted a mix that is almost identical to the original spice rub and am able to keep myself well supplied. It's fantastic on all types of meat, on vegetables, french fries, pita chips and probably many other things I haven't yet thought of. Here's my rendition of the steak rub so you can try it out for yourself:

 

New York strip steak is another name for the cut known as the top loin. It is a large, boneless cut of beef and each steak is usually a generous 1-inch thick when raw. The name may vary depending on what part of the country (or the world) you're in, but the cut is pretty much the same. This type of steak is very tender and is a great choice for grilling, which is exactly what I did with it. My steaks were seasoned very simply, with a bit of vegetable oil to keep them from sticking to the grill and a generous amount of salt, black pepper and red chili pepper flakes. When they were cooked, which only took a few minutes on the grill, they were tender, juicy and had just the right amount of spice.

The name Steaks, Chops, Roasts & Ribs just about says it all when it comes to this cookbook. It's a book from the editors of Cook's Illustrated and, true to form, it is a book that cuts right through any fluff and tells you what you want - and need - to know about cooking these cuts of meat. The detailed instructions will walk you through buying, prepping and cooking meat, even if it's your first time, and they will shed light on questions that plague even experienced cooks, such as how long and appropriate resting time is and which type of cut is the best for pan-searing. The recipes have been tested until they are virtually fool-proof, a standard that Cook's Illustrated's exhaustive recipe testing strives to guarantee. There are no show-stopping illustrations and, though some variety is given, you would do best to look into one of their other cookbooks to diversify your cooking; there is no question that this is a great primer on meats that will allow you to cook any cut with confidence.

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It is difficult to tell when a steak is done simply by looking at it unless you like your meat very, very rare or very, very well-done. The cooking times given in recipes, if given at all, tend to be vague because the temperatures that our grills and stoves work at can vary so widely. For example, a dial set to "medium heat"  on one stove might actually produce as large a flame as "high heat" in another kitchen. Cutting meat open once at the end of cooking isn't a big deal, but if you need to keep checking the interior of the meat, you can lose a lot of the cooking juices. The best way to check if the meat is done is by using a meat thermometer (125F for rare, 135F for medium, and 155F for well-done, according to Real Simple), but you can also use your hand as a reference and determine the doneness from the firmness of the meat.

I labeled a diagram of a hand, above, to identify the reference points. Simply press the labeled spots on your hand. They correspond with the following levels of doneness:

1. Rare meat should feel soft and offer little resistance to pressure.
2. Medium meat should feel firm, but with a little bit of give to it. The less give, the more well-done the piece will be.
3. Well done meat should also feel firm, but will have only minimal give to it.

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