Steak

Until the last couple of years, I have been a failure at cooking steaks.  It all goes back to the days when I wanted my meat well-done; if there was the tiniest bit of pink in the middle of the meat, forget it.  I've since learned that steak well-done isn't usually a good idea.  

Even if I had been able to do a good job of cooking steak, who can afford it?  So I've stuck with roasts, something economical that isn't so easy to ruin.  

When we took Sir Loin to the butcher shop, we had him mostly put into ground beef; the only steaks we saved were the fillets, because they are tender no matter what.  You see, we had never had such a young, grass-fed animal butchered.  He hadn't been fed any grain, and we were afraid the meat would be tough (remember, I didn't know how to cook steak anyhow).  Cliff had the best roasts saved, but mostly we had a freezer full of ground beef.  That isn't a bad thing:  ground beef is versatile; you can make meat loaf, chili, tacos, stuffed peppers... the possibilities are endless.  

Once we tasted the steak we had saved from Sir Loin, we realized we had made a mistake.  That grass- and milk-fed steer was as tender and tasty as could be.  

So when we butchered Clyde this year, we saved lots of steaks and roasts.  

A year ago, with the help of the Internet, I managed to cook some steak without ruining it.  Oh, baby!  I closed my eyes and thought I was at Outback.  It just goes to show that you are never too old to learn.  

Of course, those steaks were fillets, the most tender cut in existance.  Today I will branch out.  

I'm cooking sirloin steak.  

From what I'm seeing on the Internet, it can be cooked just like fillets; I'm a little concerned at the words, "Sirloin steak is a cut that's easy to overcook."  

One recipe suggests using a meat mallet on it, but the other recipes make me think that shouldn't be necessary.  

I found a marinade that I'm going to use; perhaps that will insure tenderness.  

I have harped all summer on my lousy tomato crop.  While the vines went wild, the tomatoes produced were few and far between.  Most of them rotted before they could ripen.  There weren't enough to can, although I did freeze some whole, in baggies.  I've always heard you could do this, but had never tried it.  It works like a charm, and is easy to do.  I've used some of them in taco soup.  

A couple of weeks ago, with frost threatening, I brought in some green tomatoes I planned on frying.  Before I could get around to using them, though, they ripened, right there on the counter.  I tasted one, and it was just like a fresh summer tomato.  I brought more inside, and we are still eating delicious tomatoes.  It's good to know those vines are finally giving me back a little something for my efforts.  

    
And in non-food-related news, my granddaughter Monica turned sixteen yesterday; to celebrate the day, she went and took her driver's test... and PASSED!