Steak and Carbonara, or, Clogged Arteries Ahoy!

Oh, Red Meat.  How I've run from you for so long.  Truly, I haven't had a steak in about a year or more.

Just not a fan of the stuff, to be quite honest.  I've had great steaks in my life, but never to the point of wanting them weekly or even monthly.  I even had a "vegetarian" phase that probably ended in the earlier part of 2011. 

Initially going veggie in 2010 wasn't hard.  I didn't and still don't crave meat on a daily basis, and the thought of going on the Adkins diet makes me a little nauseated.  I eventually caved to the meat-eating world because I realized that I didn't hate eating it altogether, nor was it getting me anywhere good health-wise.  Most of all, a decidedly meat-eating boyfriend came along, whom I cooked for on a consistent basis, and it wasn't worth the trouble (or money!) of making two different meals.


My Aunt brought up a good point a year ago--I'm a conscientious omnivore.  I eat meat, but sparingly. Before the last six months or so, though, I didn't care where that meat came from (so I wasn't completely conscientious, but you get the progression).  Lately, however, I've been looking more into getting local cuts by people that care how the animals were raised and slaughtered.  It might be more expensive now, but if I lend my support, one day it will be less expensive.  Imagine--a world where it would be cost-effective to buy meat that came from animals that didn't suffer from birth to death.  


Cut to (no pun intended) a few weeks ago.  Another patient of mine was discussing with me how to cook a steak like one would find in a restaurant.  Salt and pepper, leave it in the fridge overnight, hot grill or pan, and leave it sit off the grill for at least 10 minutes before plating.  He described it as "the best steak you'll ever have."

"I want to go to there," stated my brain, and was waiting for the opportunity to follow his guidance.  Like I said, I don't crave meat, and especially steak for that matter, but the bug had been planted.

On my most recent trip to Revival Market, a local flatiron steak was available, and on sale! I bought it at the same time as my previously mentioned smoked lard, and the idea spread.

But what to make on the side?  I had bought parmesan but couldn't remember why.  I had pasta laying about, and eggs...so loosely following a demonstration from memory, I made a quick carbonara, sans the use of an animal fat (which I understand to be critical to the taste and basis of the entire dish).   Call it a poor man's carbonara.

I plated the pasta and threw the steak on the grill after getting a little lard in the pan.  I seared it to the specifications, and then plated it as well.

My new pan! Squeeee!

The only problem with rarely eating or preparing red meat is you don't quite know the smell of cooked steak.  I say that, as I should have let it go a bit longer on either side--the crust on the outside was delicious but the inside was still raw (this ain't no Tuna Steak). 

The worst part--there was a small part of me that felt as though the meat was not done.  I couldn't place my finger on it, but as I stated before, if I had more experience cooking steaks, I would have known right away that it wasn't done.

Poor Lighting, Foil, and iPhone Cameras.

I say that because I had to do the embarrassing (but practical) thing and put the darn things in the pan again.  When they were less red and more "pink" the smell in the kitchen was great, and the steaks had a firmness to them that wasn't there before.

Lessons learned.  Steaks failed.  Pasta passed.  We ate, and it was good (eventually).