Hello and welcome to this week’s Melendy Avenue Review! I do not have any fresh book reviews today, alas. I’ve been working on some pieces for some publications, reading several thick books, and have also occasionally been distracted by goings-on in the world. I do have a Friend Link for you, though- not sure if Friend Links are going to be a weekly feature but I figure I do them fairly frequently, I have a lot of creative friends. I also have a sort of “photo essay” recipe on my technique for cooking nice medium-rare steaks. Enjoy!
CONTENTS
Friend Link-
Don’t Disparage “Disparaging the Boot”!
Lagniappe-
Recipe: Steak Pete, a Photo Essay
FRIEND LINK
My friend John is, in many respects, the nerd me and all my nerdish friends during adolescence should have tried to be when we grew up, if not exactly who we wanted to be when we grew up (among other things, most of us had little understanding of the legal system and its many penalties for heists). He’s smart, he cares about others and the world, he’s confident but humble, he has a loving spouse and an adorable kid, he has a good career that hasn’t taken over his life, still can run a good tabletop roleplaying game session and discourse on nerd culture whilst also engaging with culture in a broader sense, and on top of that, he can physically kick much ass. He has also made the jump to substack. On “Disparaging the Boot,” he discusses radical politics, pop culture, fun life vignettes, and more. He has graciously praised my writing, and I have recommended his substack on my social media, but I figured it was about time I pumped it up here. Give it a look and then subscribe! Disparagingtheboot.substack.com
LAGNIAPPE
RECIPE PHOTO ESSAY: STEAK PETE
I don’t post that many recipes because, well, I don’t have that many. I can basically feed myself at a respectable bachelor level but a lot of the time that’s a simple matter of following instructions. Naturally, any cook makes things their own once they make it enough. This recipe started with instructions from the legendary Chris Onstad, author of my favorite (and probably, objectively speaking, the best) webcomic, Achewood. Among his many talents, Onstad is also a gourmand, and wrote a cookbook several years back in the voices of several of his characters. It is from him that I learned to cook steak. My preparation is somewhat different, enough to earn the appellation “Steak Pete,” rhyming with “Steak Frites” (note: no French fries involved, unless you make some). I also took some pics of my process, to make things a little more interesting.
INGREDIENTS
1 steak, between 16 and 20 ounces. I like a ribeye, a porterhouse, or a t-bone. But this cooking method will also jazz up cheaper steaks.
8 oz white mushrooms, sliced and washed (I use the little packages they sell at the grocery store)
1 small shallot. If there are no shallots (as was the case at the grocery the day I made the steak that I photographed for this recipe), you can use a small white onion.
1 can chicken broth
~1/3rd cup red wine. You can use the cooking wine they sell in stores, or you can open up a nice red and drink it whilst you cook, saving a little for the recipe.
Salt
Black pepper
~6-8 ozs of a starch- I usually use either Goya yellow rice (for that nice Goya flavor and color) or couscous with the spice package. You can try something else, like spaghetti or even fries, to make the “Steak Pete” rhyme work better.
INSTRUCTIONS
Place the steak on a plate. Salt one side of the steak, with about a quarter teaspoon of salt or a little more. I eyeball it with a salt shaker- you don’t want to over-salt, but you want it to feel granular under your finder. Pepper the steak as well, to taste. Rub salt and pepper in with your finger. Flip steak, repeat with other side.
Let the steak sit for at least ten minutes. The longer it sits (within reason), the better the salt bonds with the meat, which in turn will contain moisture and help create the tasty crust and tender inside we’re looking for (this recipe assumes you like medium rare steak. If you don’t, scram).
This is a good time to get your starch started. You want it to be ready in about twenty minutes, give or take.
Chop up your shallot (or onion) nice and fine. I’m lazy, but at the same time want fine shallot, so I split the difference- I slice the shallot as thinly as I can, and then out the slices through my handy Vidalia Chopper, as seen on TV. Wash and slice your mushrooms if you didn’t get them pre-sliced (they don’t seem to come pre-washed so get on that).
Pour about a half-cup of chicken broth and about a third of a cup of wine into convenient containers and position them near where you’ll be cooking. I believe the French call this “mise en place” but am not sure and will not Google.
Get your pan nice and hot. I use a big old cast iron a friend perma-lent me. I don’t know how this would work with an aluminum or non-stick, but I guess you can try. Set the heat to high under the pan. It’s going to stay there until you are done (or if there is a fire).
This is a good time to make sure your smoke abatement strategy is in place. This recipe will produce some smoke. Open windows, turn on fans, etc. I set off the smoke alarm about a third of the time I make this recipe, mostly during the winter when the window/fan situation is iffier.
Once the pan is hot enough — I measure by dropping a teaspoon of water in the center of the pan, if it evaporates in seconds, it’s hot enough — place the steak in the center of the pan. A hissing noise should ensue.
DO NOT use oil, butter, or any other fat, unless you think your pan needs it. A seasoned cast iron shouldn’t.
Leave the steak there sizzling for seven minutes. If it starts to curl up, press it down with a spatula. Don’t move it otherwise. This could be a good time to tend to your starch (or your wine).
After seven minutes, flip the steak over and do the other side for seven minutes. The complete side should look like this-
Sometime in this seven minute interval, your starch should be ready. If it isn’t, you’re not screwed — you will still have a tasty hunk of meat — but it’s surely suboptimal. Place the starch in a big enough plate to fit it and the steak, preferably with a depression in it so the sauce we’re going to pour on top won’t flow over. I like to make a nice bed of rice.
At the end of the second seven minutes, remove the steak from the pan and place atop the starch. Set aside for now.
Get a wooden spoon ready. Pour the half-cup of chicken broth into the center of the pan. It should sizzle and hiss and steam like crazy. Minding the steam, use the wooden bowl to scrape the pan, mixing all those tasty meat bits with the broth. This is called “deglazing.” I’d take a video, but as far as I can tell substack only supports videos as links to a YouTube and I didn’t feel like doing YouTube (for this- video content coming soon). You might need to pour in a slug or two more chicken broth if too much evaporates- you want a sort of layer of it across the pan.
Pour in your wine and shallot and mix it in with the broth.
After a minute or so of mixing, dump in the mushrooms. Pour in a little more chicken broth too. Mix it all up.
Simmer a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure the mushrooms are coated in the liquid. Add more broth (and/or wine) if needs be, but you want to reduce it a little- let evaporation concentrate the flavors.
Once there’s enough reduction that it’s noticeable but not so much things are burning, turn the heat off and (carefully- use mitts and be wary of the very hot sides of the pan) pour your sauce over your steak.
Enjoy with your drink of choice- for me, usually a nice tall chilly lager. I like to watch tv or a movie (I’m often inspired to watch the classiest movie, Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice,” whilst eating this steak, but your mileage may vary) with it.
Melendy Avenue Review 2021-01-08
Thank you for the enthusiastic recommendation! And that steak is hooked up; I covet it.