I like meat.  That’s about all there is to it.  Sure, I go vegetarian from time to time and that’s fine, too.  But I like meat.  Like steak. Steaks are good.  Satisfying on a primal level.

Josh doesn’t really like steak too often.  Opposites attract, right?  But after having a good steak at a wedding we went to recently, he decided that maybe we should start having steak more often.  Jackpot!  Sure, I said, trying to contain my gleefulness, whatever you like.  So of course, the first thing to do when experimenting was to conduct a bit of research and educate ourselves on the various cuts of meat and how they are best cooked.  This site came in handy for that.  The next was to go shopping.  Which we do almost every day anyway.

So we’re standing at the meat counter in Whole Foods, staring at row upon row of red fleshy goodness.  Now, Josh and I aren’t overly crazy about organics.  In terms of dry goods, I rarely care.  In terms of produce, some organics are more important than others–and local always takes precedence anyway, which is why we get a lot of our produce in the summer from our CSA. But when it comes to meat and dairy, we’re pretty selective and tend to go for free-range, grass-fed, antibiotic free when given the option.  So anyway, we’re standing at the meat counter, chatting with the butcher (who we find out lives in our apartment complex, handily across the street from said Whole Foods, how awesome is that) and Josh picks a cut of meat.  And he picks ribeye.  Of course.  Because if there’s a way to a man’s heart, it’s a ribeye steak.

Now, I believe in letting the natural flavor of good quality meat shine through, and that great steak is best when kept simple, so that was my plan tonight.  I prepared the meat as simply as possible and Josh picked just a simple side of mashed potatoes to go along with, and we (well, I) washed it down with a bit of his homemade root beer.  Below is the recipe (more or less, I’m terrible at measuring when I cook) for our delicious meal tonight.  Also, yay I finally charged my Nikon camera to get decent pictures! Continue reading →

So. Full.  So deliciously–nay, delectably full.  So content.  So…you get the idea.

We made hamburgers tonight.  Glorious hamburgers.  I wanted to try pure bison burgers, but the meat counter was out of ground bison, so there went that idea.  There was also no grass-feed beef available (what is the deal?!).  So we made do with just ground sirloin.  And it was great, but I think it might have been even more colossally fantastic with the pronounced grassy flavor of grass-fed ground beef.

Tonight, it was just me and Josh, so we split a pound of meat (Josh had two burgers, I had one).  Using my usual technique, I started with the meat in a bowl and added in my spices: fresh thyme, cumin, Spanish paprika, red pepper, black pepper, salt, and most of one serrano pepper, chopped with the seeds removed.  Then I fluffed the spices and meat together with a fork and by hand, divided the meat into three big balls which I then formed into three patties that were a bit over 5oz each. Continue reading →

So I’ve never tried bison before.  I eat….less meat than the average person, and generally only the basic four that I grew up with, in order: chicken, cow, turkey, pork.  No fish (I try to like it, but I don’t), no woodland creatures, etc.  I did try lamb once, but wasn’t a huge fan—it was a roast, and it was kind of greasy in my opinion, and just wasn’t great enough to overcome my guilt about eating a baby animal.

But I digress.  So I’ve never eaten bison, but I’ve heard good things about the taste, and the nutritional value (less fat, for instance, than beef), and like all Americans, especially those who shop at *cough*Whole Foods*cough*or Trader Joe’s*cough, I am pretty interested in healthful eating.  So when Josh found these delicious looking buns at Busch’s the other day (we’re always looking for the perfect hamburger buns and haven’t had a whole lot of luck), we figured that we’d grill today, the Friday before the 4th of July, since it’s gorgeous out and we’re both off work anyway.  We like to use grass-fed beef because, frankly, it tastes better, and while we were waiting at the meat counter in Whole Foods, I couldn’t help but notice the bison, just sitting there looking delicious and figured now was the time!  I convinced Josh eventually to agree.  We bought a pound and returned home, dizzy with excitement. Continue reading →

Today, Tyler Florence did a cooking “class” via Twitter on “The Ultimate Chili Dog.”  The full recipe and an image (of, let me say,  an impressively giant chili dog) are available on his blog.

He’s using all-beef hot dogs, which I applaud, altho I do prefer mine to be uncured, and his chili is full of goodness: olive oil, onion, ground beef, ketchup, chili powder, mustard, thyme, garlic.  He tops the whole thing off with a homemade coleslaw.  I’ve often wondered about the coleslaw topping thing.  I think Josh used to get dogs topped with coleslaw at Red Hot Lovers but it’s just never been my thing.  I’m not a huge fan of coleslaw and I prefer it to be a side item rather than a topping for my hot dogs, burgers and pulled pork sammiches.  But that’s just me.

Anyway, this fantastic little series of tweets (who says Twitter is totally useless?  Right, me) also featured a recipe for homemade potato salad, which you can find at the bottom of the chili dog post.

Enjoy!  Follow Tyler on Twitter or check back on TylerFlorence.com every Friday for more classes.

Rigatoni and meatballs, to be specific.  Mmm meatballs.  You may have guessed that I enjoy meatballs.  Or perhaps not.  There may have been no clues at all…Anyway, below is a pictoral history of what went down:

The Sauce

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BonAppetit has a guide of “global hot dogs” on their website this month.  I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.  Some of the entries are just downright ridiculous (why would you put vegan mayo on a hotdog?  Why would you put mayo on a hotdog at all?), while others are…interesting enough that I’d try it out but not so interesting as to be completely unappetizing in my particular opinion, and some are just genius. Continue reading →

As of early yesterday afternoon, I’d had no real plan for dinner.  I’d bought some beef stirfry meat at Busch’s earlier, intending on putting something together for lunches during the week, but had nothing specific in mind.  By late afternoon, though, I’d slowly started putting some pieces together.  I had stirfry meat, ok.  I had pasta, several varieties.  I had spinach leftover from our farm share, and garlic scapes.  A search of the freezer revealed some shelled edamame.  And then I was sitting on the couch looking out at my deck when I realized my basil plant was getting rather tall and needed to be cut down….pesto!  So things all just sort of came together.

Continue reading →