"SteakDay" news and stories

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 ...

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]