It turns out that in the first four years that I owned those knives I used them pretty much just as conversation pieces. I cut my fingers with them (during demonstrations) more frequently than I used them to cut food. Those knives were seriously wasted on me.
Then I married Ashley. She takes food to a new level. Since our marriage we have had so many wonderful things to eat, which I had never heard of before. Eating good food is one of the perks of being married.
When I visited Seth last time he shared with me a secret of manhood: men have to cook too. Steak. Lots of steak. Preferably over some kind of actual fire.
We have a Sam's Club membership and we realized that you can buy steak in packs of 15. This was totally my chance to become a real man! Ashley and I have been eating steak every other day for a little while now. And I do the cooking!
The first day we baked it in the oven after applying a bunch of seasoned salt. It turns out that bottom round steak has a tendency to get tough--like, thank goodness for cutco steak knives and good teeth. So with the next batch we marinated it in balsamic vinegar and then cooked it at a really low temperature. It turns out that balsamic vinegar is awesome in a salad but it's weird on steak. We continue to try something new every other day. Mmmm steak.I had to learn what marinating is, and that there's such a thing as meat tenderizer (I thought it was a hammer with points on it, not a chemical). Next up to learn: the definition of brazing. It's not broiling, it's not boiling, it's brazing. Mmmm brazing.
I also shared my one recipe with Ashley: fried potatoes. You have to cut them just right to let the savor truly resonate, no just slicing it perpendicular to the long axis of the potato. And you have to grind pepper over it, no getting the pre-ground stuff. In fact, you have to hand pick the pepper kernels, the way I do. And that's extra virgin olive oil (extra extra virgin, also from Sams Club).
I feel like getting a cookbook or even watching cooking shows.
Mmm cooking. Now it has been definitively shown that marriage changes a person.
9 comments:
Luckily there is a cook book on the way. I mailed it yesterday morning. And yes, marriage does change a man, for the better.
WHAT!? A meat tenderizer isn't that hammer thing with points on it?
We don't do a lot of steak here either, obviously.
Yes, we are evolving. Long gone are our dating days of chicken tenders and broccoli. Although I still make broccoli, gotta have something green to help you digest all that red meat.
His favorite so far is chicken parmesan but he's always asking me when we can have more edamame.
Dude, if you guys have a little balcony or something...and even if you don't, you need to go to Wal-mart and buy a $20 grill--even if you have to carry it outside to use it and then back in afterwards.
This is why: I used to do all the steak cooking for us while in Provo. My favorite was go fry it over a ton of butter..but then one day, I bought a grill. Without knowing anything--I mean anything--about grilling, I cooked us some Hamburgers and they were absolutely amazing. They were SOOOOO juicy and tasty. Better than you can get at most places. And I didn't do anything special. Then I did steak. I figure that the first few would be throw-away steaks. But instead, I realized that I could with no practice or knowledge make steaks that taste like the ones you get form nice steak houses. They were AMAZING!
They were so much better than anything I had ever done with a stove. I have learned that it is almost impossible to mess up steak on a grill. Even if you cook it all the way through to well done, they are so tender and juicy.
Its the magic of the grill. Try it out an enjoy. That $20 grill has given us serious dividends.
BTW, grilling chicken is way harder and you need to read up on it and consult your bro.
Grilling is the same thing as holding the meat over the flame of the stove, right? I used to "grill" hot dogs that way, with a fork. I wonder if I could suspend the dang steak over the stove somehow. Then I wouldn't have to go outside.
If you don't have a barbecue grill, the closest thing is broiling with the meat on a rack over a pan. Tastes good but not as good as over charcoal. Round steak tastes best braised (check out the recipe for swiss steak in the blue cook book or call me. Actually, Ashley probably has some good recipes. You don't have to cook all the meat just to prove you are a man. Just occasionally.
What a man!!! Now, if he could only figure out how to clean toilets and vacuum - that's when you know you've got a GREAT, AWESOME, NEVER-TRADE-HIM-IN man!!!! ;o)
Haha, actually I clean the toilets like some kind of insane person. Especially our toilet, which is a bit...inefficient in some ways.
What ashley wants next is for me not to leave candy wrappers around the computer.
Seth is the steak man and google is his best friend :) Butter is great too :)
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