Steak Night

           This week I decided to make steak by Gordon Ramsay. Steak is a classical dish and it can be used in many occasions. I spent a lot of time watching Gordon Ramsay’s television show this week, ranging from hells kitchen to the very early master chef. I feel vary confident about my steak, since I spent a lot of time watching his television show, if I fail I can just imagine him shouting at me, “the steak is f****** raw”. I went to the Safeway to buy the ingredients I needed to cook the steak. I bought two kinds of meat, filet mignon and new york strip, so I can test the taste and tenderness between these two meat. In one of Gordon’s video, he taught people how to judge the quality of the steak, and it’s by counting the tiny bits of fat on the steak. The more little strips of fat on the steak, the better the quality. I carefully searched through the pile of frozen cow carcasses, hoping I can dig up the best piece of meat I can find. After couple minutes of searching, I found the best quality of meat hidden underneath the freezer, and took it away before other people can steal it away from me. I also got rosemary, garlic, and chime to spice up my steak a little.

One thing I noticed when buying grocery today was how processed food are these days. When I was buying garlic, I had the option of choosing peeled garlic and normal garlic. The peeled garlic cost 4 dollars and normal garlic cost 1 dollar for 2. This really made me struggle for a while because this time it’s the battle between the stingy Asian and my inner laziness. However, the stingy Asian got beaten down again, and my inner laziness took over, so I bought the peeled garlic. This really showed me how processed food is a really big issue in America. Everything in the supermarket is already made for you, and all you have to do is to just put it all in one pan. It’s also some kind of sarcastic when the brand “organic” is selling organic food and promoting healthy living, but they are actually making people lazier by selling all these processed food and vegetable.

Cooking a steak if very fast and simple once you know how. There are three things to remember when cooking a steak. The first is the finger test, this is a technique to check the doneness of the meat by using your index finger pushing the fleshy area between the thumb and the base of the palm, remember that sensation and touch the steak. This is what rare steak should feel like. Gently touch your index finger to your thumb. The fleshy area should be a bit more resilient, and that should be what medium rare feels like. When you touch your middle finger to your thumb. This is what medium feels like. Well done is when you use your ring finger to touch your thumb. I found this technique really helpful, because every time when I check it I can just imagine Gordon Ramsay beside me shouting “its still raw”. The second thing to remember is flip the meet every minute so no side gets over cooked, and when your almost done cook the fat at the back of the strip so it gives a crispy layer of skin. If you remember these two techniques, cooking a steak would be a piece of cake. The last thing is to add butter and all the spices (garlic, thyme, and rosemary) after you flip it the second time. This gives the steak the flavor and a brown creamy flavor to it. After following all these simple steps, you can sit down and enjoy your steak.

Coming to the end of my blog project, I found a quote by Gordon Ramsay that really summarizes my cooking experience. He once said, “I don’t like looking back. I’m constantly looking forward. I’m not the one to sort of sit and cry over spilt milk. I’m too busy looking for the next cow.” I can really relate myself to this quote, because I started this cooking project to try something new and I wanted to become a better person than who I was before. The only way to do that is to always move forward and never look back just like Gordon Ramsay said.

Reference:

1.     "Gordon Ramsay qoutes" Brainy quotes, 2012. Web. 29 May. 2013. Retrieved from: 
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/gordon_ramsay.html >.

2.     "How to cook steak Gordon Ramsay" Youtube, 2009. Web. 29 May. 2013. Retrieved from: 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtIiR7DBAqY >.

3.     “Finger Test” Simply Recipes, 2003. Web. 29 May. 2013. Retrieved from: <http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/the_finger_test_to_check_the_doneness_of_meat/>