Nevermind the temperature was hovering somewhere around zero. Also nevermind the fact that there was about five inches of snow on the ground, in Michigan we are fairly hearty people and a little bit of snow isn't going to keep us from firing up the grill for some weekend BBQ. It was a nearly perfect February cook and it all started a couple of weeks ago when @mrsbozz let me know that we were almost out of chicken.
I've written about this before, but my wife and I usually make a trip to the local butcher about once a month or every other month. I drop about $150 USD in various varieties of meat and then we package all of that meat up with our vacuum sealer to use at a later date. Although she is a very strong independent woman like I mentioned in this post, she still doesn't like to touch raw chicken, so by processing the 20 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts we buy, she can then just cut open the package and dump the meat in the pan without having to touch it.
It takes us a an hour or two on the weekend to go through all the meat, but it really does save us time when we are prepping meals and she appreciates it, so that is all that matters.
While I was at the butcher, in addition to the 20 pounds of chicken breasts, three pounds of bulk ground breakfast sausage, and seven pounds of ground white meat chicken, I also picked up a couple of really nice looking ribeye steaks that were an insane $16.99 per pound. It's crazy how much the price of beef has went up lately. Similar to the price of eggs, it is totally out of control.
If I had the room to store it and I ate as much beef as I used to I would look into buying part of a cow, but I fear it would go to waste these days. I don't want all the weird cuts anyway, just some nice steaks and some ground beef.
When it comes to steaks, there are three cuts that I usually prefer. Of course I am never going to turn down a nice filet, but one of my go-to cuts is usually the New York Strip. If I am looking to splurge a bit I will opt for a big Porterhouse. Finally, more recently I have started to realize the magic that is a ribeye.
I used to pick up my steaks from the local Costco because they have fairly decent prices and the meat is good quality, but recently I read something in some of the grilling forums I am on that has given me pause. Apparently Costco "blade tenderize" their steaks. This puts little holes in the muscle to break apart the sinews and stuff. While it does make it more tender, it also leaves spaces open that bacteria and other nasty stuff can thrive in.
Then let's say you like your steak a bit more rare than I do and that can be a recipe for disaster.
I might not get as good of a bulk price at my local butcher, but I know the meat is a bit safer if that makes sense. If I am being honest though, in all the years I have bought steaks from Coscto I have never gotten sick and I am sure people do it all the time, so it could be a non-issue.
I threw some of my favorite Kinder's Buttery Steakhouse seasoning on the ribeye and I got the coals going in the grill. As I said, there was a bit of snow on the ground, but I had cleared it off the driveway the previous night.
Once the coals were going I threw a packet of chopped onions and potatoes on the grill that @mrsbozz had prepared ahead of time. it's basically just onions and potatoes as I already mentioned along with some avocado oil and other seasonings. If you leave them on long enough, they come out so tender and delicious.
After the potatoes had cooked for a while and I had flipped them at least once, I put the chicken on. For this cook we used a simple marinade of avocado oil, soy sauce, honey, and garlic. It's called a speedie marinade and rumor has it that the recipe was acquired by my wife's family may years ago from one of the World's Fairs.
It can be used on any protein really from chicken to pork to beef and probably salmon too.
Due to the oil and the sugars in the honey and soy sauce it can catch pretty quick and as you can see from the photo above and the opening photo I may have let it go a little too long before flipping it. @mrsbozz didn't really seem to mind too much and the few bites I had while I was cutting it up for her were delicious.
Finally, I threw my ribeye on and cooked it. It only took a few minutes before I needed to flip it and then I only flipped it one more time before it was ready. They actually say that ribeye is a steak that you should take closer to medium or medium well versus medium rare or rare because it has a good deal of fat in it and you want that fat to render down. If you just sear it quick and pull it off that fat stays pretty solid.
I've gotta be honest with you, this was quite possible the best steak I have had in a really long time. It was cook perfectly with just a little bit of pink in the center and the fattier portions literally melted in your mouth when you bit into them.
After we had finished my wife put out a dish for me to put my leftovers in, but she was surprised to find that I had none. I had eaten the whole thing, it was just that good. Needless to say, it is a bit more expensive, but I think the ribeye is definitely my new go-to steak.
I know it's hard to get quality meat like this in some areas of the world, but if you get a chance, I highly recommend you try a ribeye or whatever the equivalent cut is called in your country.
What is your favorite cut of steak? Let's talk about it in the comments!
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