A steak revolution

I am something of a steak snob. Which means I don't eat steak very often. At all. When I do buy it, it's usually a porterhouse, well-aged, and cut to order at about 3 1/2" (Yess'm, that's three and a half inches) thick. It will cost about the same as a miniature dachshund puppy. No, really, it will be anywhere between $50 and $70 depending on provenance. It will feed two very easily and three happily and four if you're polite.

And then I will fix it (hey, I'm in America) in the fancy steak house way that spawned my love of sliced-to-order beef with melted butter served as a side: first a lot of salt on each side of the steak for about half an hour before cooking (this may sound like heresy, but because it yes, draws out the juice, said juice forms a crust very quickly when heat is sensed). Then a searing, searing, smoking-hot cast iron pan (no oil needed, this mamma is fat-marbled) on each side till truly sealed, maybe a minute (once to a side; for goodness' sake don't turn it), then into the oven at the highest heat you can persuade it to, for...how can one specify, about 8 minutes, sometimes longer. If I don't prod it with my finger I don't know that it's done, but after enough years (if you do, say, three a year?) of doing it you get to know by looking. You can also start it on a well-ashed fire, and finish it in the oven, for that nice primitive taste. Once rested and the juices are back where they belong, each side is then carved from the bone into thick hunks and everyone gets a piece or pieces of each.

I did this with some huge, allegedly aged steaks in Cape Town early in the year, as a ritualistic Introducing-the-Husband-to-be-to-the-Brothers-Over-Charred-Meat. Total flop. The brother that showed up was fine with the husband to be and vice versa, they both fly things, after all, so what's not to like, but the steak? Tougher'n leather. Not aged. At all.

So. Revelation! At Los Paisanos on Saturday, looking at the meat counter and deciding that $14.99/lb lamb rib chops were not for me, I see something that looks a little like a good steak. Not on the bone, a bit like a New York Strip. And it says...Angus chuck round. Chuck??? Talk about leather...But they were marbly, and really thick, about 2". I asked for two and when they had been weighed was asked to pay...$11. For two. Together.

I carried them home feeling as though I was about to be cheated. Maybe they were for stewing.

So, up there is one of my steaks, plus an illustration of what happens to spinach after it has been thoroughly wilted. That bunch made that ball. And below are my mizuna and arugula flowers sauteing with some butter and garlic. I almost never cook with butter. It's fun. Your life flashes before your eyes.

And there 'tis. Same treatment, salt on each side, bloody hot pan, but no oven. I cooked it about 2-3 minutes to a side. If a lot of fat spatters I tend to put a lid over it, and if you do be aware that it will cook much faster. I let it rest for a few minutes then poured over my herbed butter (terrace thyme, parsley, oregano and lemon juice - it cooked a little too long till the herbs were caramelized) and sliced. Medium-rare and tender. I nearly wept.