Hey, we're not the only ones grilling up steaks here at Slashfood. It was BYOB all day (bring your own beef), and more than a few of our readers shared their steaks with us!

• Mama Cooks a Dirty Steak, thrown on top of the fire.
• Hot Sauce Blog's Nick makes The Ultimate Steak, as prescribed by Bon Appetit.
• Gabriella may be a Reluctant Housewife, but there's nothing reluctant about a Steak with Thyme Lavender Butter
• Jared from The Carnivore Project lists a few places to get your steak on.
• If you ask What's Cooking? Megan will tell you it's a Chuckwagon Steak, cooked rare. 
• Kevin makes a Seriously Good Greek-inspired Steak Sandwich.
• Once upon a feast, a cook named Ruth made a simple marinade for a delicious steak.
• And last but not least, Alex ponder what to do with a hunk of meat, and in the end the decision? "Fry it."

Thanks to everyone who participated! And if we missed anyone, let us know right here in the comments!

[photo: from Once Upon a Feast]

Vegetarians might be feeling left out of our steak day celebration here at Slashfood, but there is definitely a work-around for those who don't eat red meat: portobello mushrooms. Portobellos, also called portabellas, are actually just the mature versions of brown cremini mushrooms. They are known for their size, which makes the more versatile than many smaller mushrooms. They have a juicy, meaty texture with just the right amount of chew to them. The mushrooms can be seasoned and grilled (broiled, baked, etc) much in the same way as steaks can be, too. To make a vegetarian steak with a mushroom, just clean it carefully, coat it with some olive/vegetable oil and a spice rub (or let it sit in a marinade for 30 minutes), then cook as desired until tender. I cook mushrooms this way frequently, grilling them or letting them cook under the broiler. Here are a few vegetarian recipes to get you started:

• Butternut Squash Risotto with Portobello Steak
• Balsamic Portobello Steaks
• Portabella Steak Burgers

[Image Williams-Sonoma]

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]

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:

 

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.

Perhaps it's the start of the summer grilling season, but we're getting hungry here at Slashfood. And sometimes nothing satisfies quite as much as a nice, thick, juicy steak. Of course, we're not crazy enough to steal any steaks, but we do get a little excited at the possibilities that steak has to offer. After all, we're not about to limit ourselves to a simple t-bone when there are hundreds, thousands of different and delicious dishes that can be made with different cuts of everyone's favorite red meat, from cheese steak to dirty steak.

On Tuesday, May 30th, we'll be celebrating our love of red meat by cooking up some sizzling steak dishes of our own, but we'd also like to see what you're doing with your steaks. If you have a food blog, post an entry and submit a link to us.

If you're looking for somewhere to start beefing up your knowledge about steak, you can learn about the different grades of beef or the leanest cuts. Otherwise you'll just have to wait until we post the roundup.