Posted by Ed Levine, September 26, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I'm slowly realizing that meat can and should be enjoyed in small portions. Serious Eats contributor and Meat Lite co-author Joy Manning does have a point: small portions of meat can be an incredibly satisfying thing to eat.
Joy inspired me a couple of nights ago when I went to a steakhouse with a group of seven serious eaters. Like many people I usually order my own steak. Sometimes it's a ten-ounce steak, sometimes it's 12 ounces, and sometimes it's even a pound. I enjoy every single bite and then, of course, I realize I feel uncomfortably full. Lots of red meat will do that to anyone.
So this time I did something radical.
Continue reading »
Posted by Erin Zimmer, August 22, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Photograph from Society In Decline on Flickr
It's important for us to remember our roots, and for the Silver Butter Knife Steak, all the history goes back to Murray's in downtown Minneapolis. When the Silver Butter Knife Steak thinks to itself, "there's no place like home," Murray's is what comes to mind. Silver Butter Knife Steak refers to the restaurant's 28-ounce strip sirloin special, priced at $89.50 and meant for two diners.
Brand Steakhouse in Las Vegas will give you their 120-ounce (seven and a half pounds) steak for free if you eat the whole thing by yourself. Otherwise, you'll have to pony up $267. Whether the rules include a time limit or puke allowance is unknown. [via EatFeats]
Posted by Ed Levine, September 8, 2007 at 1:00 AM
As a bonus to this week's Cook the Book that featured the Lobels' Prime Time Grilling, we've got a gift certificate to give away this weekend only, courtesy of Lobel's. Not just any gift-certificate, either. A gift certificate for a huge, prime, dry-aged, bone-in ribyeye, our favorite cut of beef. This baby will feed two serious carnivores or four normal people. I have had one of these bad boys, and to eat one is a primal beef-eating experience.
The gift card covers one (32-to-36-ounce) cowboy steak from Lobel's of New York. Don't live in New York? No biggie, pardner. Lobel's does mail-order; shipping is included here.
To enter to win, answer the following questions in the comments: What's your favorite steakhouse and what do you order there?
The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
You must comment before Monday morning at 8.a.m. to be eligible to win. So get your steak knives ready and enter now.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 23, 2007 at 8:05 AM
Here's the Beef: Prime steaks age in Master Purveyors' dry-aging room. From Adam Kuban's trip to the meat supplier.
The Serious Eats Steak Grilling Quiz:
Rib-eye, sirloin, or filet?
Bone in or out?
Prime or choice?
Dry- or wet-aged?
Weber Kettle or fancy-pants grill?
Charcoal or gas?
Salt and pepper or spice rub?
Eyeball, finger, or instant-read thermometer for telling when a steak is done?
So many questions to answer about grilled steak, so little time to do so with summer fleeting fast.
Mark Bittman gave his usual minimalist, reductive take on grilling steak in the New York Times, and he did end up answering many of the questions posed above. But since I had grilled a three-inch thick bone-in rib eye on Tuesday night, right before his story appeared, I did not have the benefit of his wisdom or yours when I wrestled with my hunk of red meat.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, May 31, 2007 at 12:46 PM
In this week's Eat for Victory in the Village Voice, Jonathan Gold outlines in mouthwatering detail his last meal, which features a whole prosciutto roasted and rubbed with spices at Hostaria Costachiara in Tuscany.
It has me thinking about hopping the next cheap flight to Florence, which probably won't be until September.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 16, 2007 at 5:50 PM
If you want to talk about the importance of knowing where the ingredients you cook with come from, it turns out that at the restaurants owned by David Burke, all the steaks are from cows sired by a bull named Prime that he bought in 2005: "The purchase made perfect business sense, he said, because by breeding the same bull, the restaurant guarantees its steaks are of the highest quality. 'We bought his genes, basically,' said Burke, whose customers tell him his steaks are the best they've ever eaten."
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 12, 2007 at 3:44 PM
Texan Independence Day was a few days ago and Homesick Texan celebrated it by writing about her home state's unofficial dish:
While many foods hold sway over my heart, none (except for my beloved refried beans) reigns supreme more than chicken-fried steak, which is neither chicken nor steak (at least in the dry-aged, marbled-slab of prime beef sense of the word). This Texan delicacy is a cutlet of tenderized top-round beef, battered and fried in a skillet (much like fried chicken, hence the name), and served with cream gravy. In other parts of the country, you may see it labeled country fried steak, but a Texan would never call it that—it's always chicken fried to us.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 9, 2007 at 2:47 PM
Perfect steak with DIY “sous vide” cooking: "One important aspect of molecular gastronomy is the application of scientific principles to food preparation in a normal kitchen. This can very well be illustrated by discussing the preparation of a steak."
Also: OMG I can't believe I found a molecular gastronomy blog!
Posted by Ed Levine, December 27, 2006 at 8:12 PM
Serious Eats made its network television debut on Good Morning America Tuesday morning December 26. I talked about great New Year’s mail-order foods that we think serious eaters would love. But since the nice folks at Good Morning America limited me to four ideas, I thought I would share what else we would recommend if they had just given us another half hour of airtime.
A great New Year's mail-order food lineup should take into account a few factors. People have already made their way through Thanksgiving and Christmas, eating traditional family foods and receiving gifts of foods they really don't want, like fruitcake or bad steaks. The food focus during Thanksgiving and Christmas is on doing what's expected, doing things for other people, and doing what's always been done before.
So New Year's is a time to clear the decks, to indulge yourself and a few loved ones with foods we all love to eat. With our selections, people can stay home, invite a few friends over, and enjoy a great New Year's Eve or New Year's Day meal. Let's face it: A lot of people don't want to go out on New Year's Eve and grapple with drivers who have had too much to drink, restaurants that jack up their prices for the occasion, and sharing the celebration somewhere with unfamiliar faces. In terms of New Year's Day, people like to get up late, eat a big breakfast or brunch, and lounge around the house.
So here are a bunch of great ideas for how to do up New Year's in true Serious Eats style.
Continue reading »
