Day Fifteen

In our third meat lecture with the Head of Everything, we talked about America's favorite meat, Beef. America has an affinity for bovinity for one reason, we've got space. This country is plentiful with plains and pastures which can be devoted to grazing animals. Other countries, such as France, simply can not allow cattle to take up precious space and time (veal, a popular meat in France, must be slaughtered before turning 9 months old, which means quick turnover and more paydays).

He walked us through every cut of beef including its location on the cow and how it is best cooked. We were shocked when he said, "Evrhebadee haz a prhefrhunce az to which cut of meet zhey prheefur, so my opinyun dhuz not mattur." For the record, however, if offered any cut of beef, he would select a Porterhouse. And surprise, surprise, when I asked him how he likes his beef cooked he replied, "Zhee onlee way it shood be kooked, rhair."

The Porterhouse is a cut from the cow's short loin, or the very center part of the cows back. A piece of Porterhouse provides both a tenderloin and a strip steak. A T-Bone is similar, but the piece of tenderloin will be smaller. A cheap substitute for a Porterhouse, that almost always must be requested from a butcher, is a Sirloin Pinbone Steak. There are only a couple of this cut in each cow, and although the strip steak may be slightly tougher and the tenderloin much smaller, a Sirloin Pinbone Steak is great bang for your buck.

"Zhair is onlee one whay to kook a stake propurlhee."

The Only Way To Cook A Steak

Ingredients:
A Quality Steak
Salt
Pepper
Butter

Methods:
-Heat a small amount of butter (use clarified to avoid burning) in a steel pan
-Season the steak well with salt and pepper on both sides
-When the pan is very, very hot, plop the seasoned steak into the pan - it should sizzle
-I really meant that, it should seriously, seriously sizzle
-Do not touch the steak until you intend to flip it over
-For rare steak, you should flip after no more than 30 seconds
-After flipping, put a generous dollop of whole butter on the steak and finish in a 400 degree oven
-For a rare steak, it should be in the oven for no more than 1 minute