Medium Rare. Two words that, when used together, evoke an ancient neanderthal, carnivorous, very Pavlovian reaction in my mouth. This is, as some of you may know, the very best way to cook many meats. You just can't get the same flavor if a steak or burger is chargrilled until it's all brown. It's just no good at that point, no matter how juicy it may still be. Go back to when men roamed the earth and had to kill for food. They didn't always cook the meat until it resembled a hockey puck. No, they figured out the right temperature to cook the meat without it making them or their children/wives sick. Pink is better when it comes to beef.
This weekend we celebrated both Scott and Steve O's birthdays. Naturally, the best birthday a man can have is, at some point, drink lots of beer and eat lots of meat. It's cut and dry. Well, Jason lifted the lid on the hot grill and proceeded to remove the nice, big ground beef slabs from a marinate and place them ever so gently on the grate. Little did I know at that point how glorious these particular burgers would be. It was good that we celebrated birthdays, watched some basketball, drank beers, played Wii, and had a great time all evening.
I can remember the two meals in my short 32 years on the earth that were the best burger and best steak I have ever eaten. The best burger was at a little Irish restaurant in the New York Casino in Las Vegas. I'm not positive of that location, but I'm pretty sure that's where it was. My boys can chime in if I'm mis-remembering that one. There were, after all, several beers consumed during that three day time period. The other meal, which was a gloriously tasty steak, was in the same city at a place called DelMonico in the Venetian. Fabulous doesn't begin to describe these meals. Whenever a man who truly appreciates the taste of a properly prepared steak or burger eats one of these rare, perfectly cooked gems, it is usually a very memorable moment. These times are almost always shared with good people, it seems. To me, that is the Meat Euphoria, and that is what we had last night. Here's to good times with good people.
CZ
5 comments:
The burger was from here ...
http://www.ninefineirishmen.com/index2.asp
kuddos to the chef, Jason!! the burgers were "delish" :-)
and, you forgot to mention that while the boys played Wii, the girls played NERTZ!! good times!
I ate a crusty little burger on someone else's recommendation over the weekend. Highly disappointed. As great as perfectly cooked meat is, poorly cooked meat can be proportionately offensive on the other side of the "Mmmmm" scale.
Glad someone got to enjoy fine food and good friends; meanwhile I was stuck covering small school state basketball. The only thing worse than the games was the 4 1/2 hour meeting Sunday morning to vote on the all-state teams. Yawn.
I seriously cannot stop giggling at the phrase "meat euphoria." You didn't even go into how you couldn't get "the flow" going b/c your meat euphoria was so high & stomach-filling!
Good times.
Nash is a wise man.
But he is wrong, medium rare isn't the way to go. The real man's way is rare, or if you can find a place willing, blue.
Medium rare is okay in a pinch, but man you can beat black and blue.
Seared at such a high temp, the meat is almost crusty on the outside, but still cool, and a bloody red in the middle.
Best place to get black and blue steaks in Arkansas is little shack outside Waldenburg called Josie's. They have a larger place in Batesville, but man oh man they now how to cook a steak.
I haven't been to place yet that does burgers black and blue. Something about health concerns. Pshaw, but I made some at home.
They key is nice thick patty and not letting the meat warm up to room temp before you start cooking. That way you get a sear, but still cool and red in the middle.
Really good ground meat helps as well.
Post a Comment