Who are you? How did I get here?

It’s Monday. I think.

Time is an illusion.

There is only With Baby and Not With Baby.

Momentarily, I am Not With Baby.

The flood of family that followed the birth has abated. It was wonderful seeing everyone, and it is also wonderful having our house back to the latest iteration of “normal.”

While our families were here, we cooked beef. And they cooked beef. Unfortunately, I didn’t document this beef cookery for the same reason I haven’t shaved, slept regularly, or been in a room by myself for the past monthish.

So here’s a quick look at what we did. It isn’t the book, but it’s the Reader’s Digest condensed version of a text that doesn’t exist. Stay tuned for Humor In Uniform.

Pot Roast -

Somebody made it. Me? My mother in law? It was chuck.

I think it was my mother-in-law.

Ribeye, grilled quickly

I remember making this, but I don’t remember for whom or when. My camera says it was on October 12. Nice, camera. I always liked you.

Before.

Grill gets hot.

Brought meat to room temp. Salted about a half our before grilling.

Salt way in advance.

After.

Ribeye Hash

The day after I did the ribeye, I had leftover mashed potatoes, onions, and a semi-functional cerebral cortex, so I made a hash.

I based it on a corned beef hash – i.e., leftover steak, leftover potatoes (mashed, in my case). Also added onions, garlic for aromatics to bring it all together. Moderated the liquid content with some beef stock.

And scallions. Forgot those.

This may have been my wife’s favorite meal post-partum.

T-Bones, grilled quickly

New batch of fam, new batch of meals. We did a steak for my folks when they came to visit. T-bones.

Same deal as above. Bring to room temp, salt liberally, wait a half an hour or so, and slap them onto a grill like the surface of the sun.

I feel bad posting more steak photos. Wanna just scroll up and look at my ribeyes again? No? Okay, then.

Pretty.

Maillard-y.

I Suck

…because I can’t remember what this is.

Pot roast, for sure. Chuck, I believe. But I do not for the life of me remember which cut this is. (Readers?)

But I do recall that I seared it and braised it in beef stock with garlic, shallots, carrots, and probably something else.

I also sauteed some red cabbage in bacon fat and served that as well.

Sorry, people. Wasn’t sleeping much.

It's a mystery.

Everybody get braisey.

Plated.

Steak Salad

Sick of seeing steak yet? I’ll do something more interesting soon, I promise.

This was a crazy fast weekday meal some day that I had a meal on a weekday. I did a very quick grill on a NY Strip, sliced it thin, and served it over screamingly fresh farmer’s market romaine with red onions, Parmesan, and a crazy fast vinaigrette I whipped up.

This one is almost too simple to post about, but I’m not documenting almost an entire cow.

Besides, it was deceptively tasty. Which is a plus for a four-ingredient salad whipped up in about twenty minutes.

Mmm... Salad.

Dug the hell outta this.

And now you’re up to speed.

The Wife Says: Hungry. Cook more.

The Sheep Says: Baaaah.

The Zombie Says: Braaaaains.

Wait, what? Where was I?

Back soon.

Up Next: Jerky, baby.

Short Loin – Grilled New York Strip

Ben and I just got back from Oroville. Good trip. If you have the means and inclination, I highly recommend it.

I’m beat up from the feet up, and I have a lot to do. First things first, though – food. I’ve been waiting for this.

Scenario: You have four hundred and twenty five pounds of premium grass-fed beef chilling in an iron box in your backyard.  Without exaggeration, you can have for dinner any damn beast piece your fluttery little heart desires. What’s it gonna be?

I’m a Kansas kid with Kansas tastes. Also, not a lot of time. Let’s roll up on some KC Strip.

Alright, technically it isn’t a KC strip, it’s a New York strip. KC usually has part of a bone attached. But it’s the same muscle. It’s off the short loin primal, just behind the ribs. It’s about the size of my hand, fingers outstretched. One thing I’m noticing with this grass-fed action – the meat seems to be a slightly darker red than the grain-fed beef I’m used to. That, or this could by attributed to my unhealthy affection for Cocoa Puffs.

Short loin doesn’t do a whole lot of work keeping the beast upright, so there isn’t much connective tissue there. It’s fairly tender, yet flavorful and lovely. No connective tissue to break down equals high, dry heat. It’s flavorful, so let’s not impede on the goodness.

I fire up the grill. While it’s coming up to speed, I prep the piece. Salt, pepper, and a little canola oil. No use camouflaging the flavor here, strip is a sincerely quality cut. I rub a little canola on my hands, rub the steaks (too much oil, and it’ll drip and cause flare-ups), salt, pepper, done. Walk away.

Grill’s at 450. Close enough for jazz. My guideline says three minutes per side, each side grilled twice, for a total of twelve minutes over the heat. Grass-fed beef is supposed to be leaner and quicker-cooking than grain-fed, so I shoot for two minutes per, total 8. Can’t un-cook things.

My meat thermometer recently died a horrible death, so we’re doing this oldschool. Finger test.

mid-grill

My three minute calculation was for rare. Two minutes per side and eight total minutes later, I’m looking at medium. It really does cook faster than grain-fed.

the inaugural meal

Next time I’m shooting for medium rare at 1:30 per side, 6 minutes total.

Rest, sides, and plating.

I did something right in a past life. Paired it with steamed corn, roasted broccoli with Parmesan and panko, and some home-baked potato-caraway bread my wife baked while I was gallivanting in NorCal, and we ate like kings.

But how was it?

Quite frankly, it was stupid good. Everyone at the table gasped and then fell silent when they tasted their steak. Ben and I ate at a high-end steakhouse the night before we brought this home, and this piece compared very favorably with the meal we had in the restaurant. Rich and flavorful, yet lean. I’ll willingly attribute any shortcomings to my cooking skills. I’ve never cooked grass-fed before. Cut me some slack.

Food porn? Don’t mind if I do:

steaky goodness

the plate

corn

roasted broccoli and parm

My wife bakes. I'm lucky.

In a word – holy bouncing buddha, batman. This is some quality cow.

It’s gonna be a very good year.