While I shopped online for a new golf pullover as Margot slept, Erin and Caroline were at Fox and Obel http://www.fox-obel.com/ quite likely the best grocery store/upscale market in Chicago. Erin had a $50 groupon that she paid $20 for that was nearly expired so they wanted to use it up today. My only $0.02 with regard to their trip was "lets do steaks for dinner."
We love a good steak house and we have been very lucky to visit some of the best; Mastro's (Chicago and Beverly Hills) BLT in DC, Gibson's, Smith & Wollensky, Morton's, Erie Cafe and David Burke's Prime House in Chicago, but damn can't they be expensive. Out last visit to Mastro's was nearly $400 for the two of us, thank God for the $350 gift card from a client of mine.
No seafood tower as an appetizer tonight but instead Erin took the wine and cheese angle. Featured below are a nice French Chardonnay (none of the Cali oaken/butter bombs, this one is crisp and full of mineral undertones). The truffle almonds were a pretty sweet find. The cheese on the left is a triple cream (not sure words exist to do this guy justice) and the cheese on the right is an aged sharp Swiss cheese.
While the girls watched Sleeping Beauty in the basement we took in the first half of the Kentucky/Louisville game and enjoyed our appetizer selection.
As the clock ticked away after the first 20 minutes it was time to get the fire burning.
Time permitting, I'm a big charcoal guy. For my money, nothing puts more flavor into beef than a real charcoal fire. Being the purist that I am, a bag of Kingsford and some lighter fluid will just not do. Lighter fluid while easy, leaves a flavor on the coals that I don't want on my meat. As such, I use a Weber charcoal chimney and get my coals going using some newspaper stuffed into the bottom. In about 20 to 25 minutes you've got a chimney full of nice hot ready to cook coals. Today I used a mix of regular charcoal and some lump hardwood charcoal on top.
The coals are the first step to a great steak, number two is making sure your beef sits out at room temperature for about an hour before you put it on the grill. Below is my USDA prime cowboy cut bone-in-rib eye and the two fillets for Erin and the girls. Yes, the rib eye is much more work to eat, trimming away all the fat, but fat = flavor and it is so worth it.
The coals are prepping and the meat is warming, it's time to talk side dishes. Given the gourmet market, Erin picked up some twice baked potatoes, lots of work but when someone else does it you've got a very quick and easy add to our meal. To go along with the starch, Erin decided to do some Caramelized Brussel Sprouts. Below in the pan are the halved sprouts drizzled with olive oil and accessorized with some bacon!
The coals are just about ready so it's time to season the beef. My mix is very simple, equal parts of French sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and garlic powder. Be sure to use powder and not garlic salt as you don't want to double up on the salt content of your rub. It's almost very important to note, that I don't season/rub my meat (he he he) until about 5 minutes before it goes on the grill. Salt on beef for too long will turn it grey, and that results in a less than sexy steak. See the rub mixture below.
The rubbed steaks ready for grilling. Don't be stingy with the rub. A nice hot grill will melt the salt crystals and make a nice flavor crust on the outside edge of your meat.
Now that the coals are ready it's time to get my fire ready for cooking. Given that I'm only cooking three steaks, I'll split my Weber Grill in half and load the coals onto only one side.
If I were cooking four or more steaks I'd likely use two grills. I'd get the gas grill as hot as it can go and use that for searing the meat and then transfer it them all to the Weber to finish.
Grilling prime beef is kind of like sex, one speed doesn't work for all and the result of that would be very boring. The key to a good steak is a proper sear on both sides. The sear not only makes for a very flavorful outer edge when eating but it also locks in the juices to keep your meat nice and juicy regardless of when level of doneness you prefer for your beef. Using just the Weber I like to sear each piece of meat for 2 minutes per side directly over the coals.
The steaks are ready to come off the grill but not ready to eat. Time to let them rest.
Put your beef on a plate and let it sit for 5-6 minutes uncovered. The meat will continue to cook but more importantly, all the blood/juice will redistribute throughout the beef. If you cut into it immediately, the blood/juice would run out onto the plate and there goes lots of the flavor.
As I was working outside on the grill, Erin was working on the brussel sprouts inside. She put the mixture into a stainless fry pan and placed it in the oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Once the sprouts came out they went to the stove where she deglazed the pan with red wine vinegar at the very end.
Time to plate things up.
My bone in rib eye.
Erin's fillet cut in half.
All of this is great, but a good meal is not complete in this house without some wine to go along side. Erin picked up a nice bottle of Italian Barolo for our meal at Fox & Obel.
While we spent over $100 for the meal (including both bottles of wine) it is certainly no where near what we spent at Mastro's and I also dined in Adidas warm up pants and a Badger Bleacher Creature tie dye t-shirt to boot.
Mange, Mange Mange
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