Red Meat and Red Wine
August 7th, 2008
Steak and Wine
I don’t really eat a lot of flashy foods or gourmet dishes. My general eating revolves around plain food and simple recipes. I guess you could say I like traditional American style food most of the time. I love a good burger. I love my Mom’s potato salad and my mother-in-law’s coleslaw. Good fried chicken or hot wings with just the right degree of warmth make me very happy. Occasionally I will venture into something a little more challenging or unusual and I love Greek, Mexican, Italian and Chinese foods just to name a few, but basically I eat fairly simply. I have a peanut butter sandwich and a banana almost every day.
Last night I fixed one of my favorite meals and although it was nothing too exotic it really hit the spot for old Bob.
I love a good steak and ever since I saw Alton Brown cook one in an iron skillet I have been a firm believer in that method of preparing them. Burning meat on the grill is another passion of mine, but I seldom cook steaks that way anymore. I would advise anyone interested to check out this method on the Food Channel web site for the details but basically it goes like this.
Paint your steaks with canola oil and salt and pepper on each side. Heat up a cast iron skillet in a 500 degree oven. Be very careful handling this pan in and out of the oven because it is going to get very hot. When the pan is thoroughly heated turn your stove top burner on high and give it time to heat completely as well.
Place the skillet on the hot burner and lay the steak on the hot skillet. I give the meat 60 seconds on each side and then place the whole thing, skillet and all back into the 500 degree oven. Here is where you have to adjust things for your own preference depending on the thickness of the steak as well as how well done you like yours cooked. For a fairly thick steak, about an inch and a quarter, I cook mine about three minutes and then pull it out (very carefully with oven mitts) and flip it over for another three minutes on the other side. Once again, you may have to experiment with just how long you cook it on each side. This will depend on how rare you like your meat. I like mine a little rare, but my wife will be happy if it’s almost raw.
The last step is probably the most important. Mr. Brown says to plate the steak and cover it with aluminum foil for ten minutes. This resting is very important for most meats. It allows the juices to settle and gives you time to finish any last minute side dishes you want to serve with it. I will admit that I usually don’t wait the whole ten minutes. I find seven works fine for me and besides, at this point I am usually ready to eat it with my bare hands. Grrrrrr!
Last night’s meal was even better than usual for me because I took the time to make a small plate of sliced mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes. I sprinkled some fresh sliced basil over them and then drizzled olive oil over the whole dish. After a couple of shakes of salt and pepper all I needed was a fork and I was ready. I opened a bottle of wine and sat down to enjoy the cheese and tomatoes while the oven was heating my pan.
I tend to get a bit passionate about things I am interested in. An example of this might be the two years I spent reading nothing but baseball books. Recently I have been reading about and tasting new kinds of wine. Red wine with meat or spaghetti has always tasted good to me but for the past month I have been talking to the folks in the wine departments of my local grocery stores and reading books about wine. I have tasted a variety of wines and listened to podcasts on my computer about wine. I am even considering going back to school to study food and wine pairing.
The most amazing thing I have learned is that there is this whole huge world of wine out there and that there are probably more wine options for people today than any other time in history. This is particularly true if you are fortunate enough, like me, to live in the United States. The other good news is that there are a lot of very good wines you can purchase at relatively inexpensive prices, meaning less than ten dollars a bottle. Of course if you have the funds and the desire you can also purchase unbelievable wines at higher prices.
Yesterday morning I bought a half bottle of a red wine from the Rhone Valley region of southern France for eight dollars that although I did not know it at the time, was going to blow me away that evening. The label read Domaine De L’Ameillaud, Cairanne, 2005 with Cairanne being the name of the small village it came from. It was extremely rich and smooth. The color was a ruby red and when I tasted it I could pick up traces of dark cherries and a faint chocolate aftertaste. I just got lucky on this one.
I plated my steak with some chopped spinach that I had “seasoned” with butter and wine vinegar as well as salt and pepper. Not too fancy. Just frozen spinach heated up. I love green vegetables with steak. Sometimes I do green beans and sometimes I do Brussels sprouts but what I love the best is fresh cooked collard greens. Collard greens are a subject I will fully discuss at another time. The spinach and the moist flavorful steak were the perfect complement to the dark, velvety richness of the wine. All in all it was a heavenly experience and one that you could enjoy yourself. Just ask your local wine person for a good dry, red wine to drink with steak and don’t be afraid to try several. Eventually you will find one you like.
So that is what I ate and that is how I made it and you can learn more about making steaks this way by visiting www.foodtv.com. I did a rib eye steak last night but I have done sirloins as well and one time I even cooked boneless pork chops this way. You do want to make sure that you cook pork thoroughly. Be careful with the hot pan and remember that this only works with a cast iron skillet. NEVER use a non-stick surface pan or any other type of pan with a plastic or wooden handle. Just cast iron.
If you love steak you will love this and if you love red wine with your steak, invite me over.
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