Inspiration

So, after six months of silence, what could bring me back to the world of blog?

But perhaps first, why did I leave? One week after my last post, I got a job. A no shit job with 40 hours of hard, draining work and only two days off and very little energy for cookery.

But inspiration strikes. As does competitiveness.

Cousin Gas (whose blog went on hiatus just about the same time mine did) has returned with a harrowing tale of her toddler daughter shitting in the bath.

My inspiration, however, is not so gross, but rather a reminder of the awesomeness of cooking. And one sorely needed after two weeks of noodles-in-a-cup lunches.

After work last night I stopped off at the grocery store, for random staples, and grabbed a package of three thin-cut steaks. Three bucks for three steaks. Can't beat that.

Anyway, today I decided to whip them up for lunch. I decided a simple preparation was what I wanted. So inspiration struck, and I improvised this little number; Garlic Minute Steaks.

First off, do you own a Needler? Why not?!

Mine is also known as a "48-Blade Meat Tenderizer", but they come in cheaper variants with as few as 16 blades. It looks as much like an instrument of the Spanish Inquisition as the French Kitchen. I originally bought it for making cube steaks, but I realized it had much more to offer when I saw Masaharu Morimoto working over a whole chicken with one on Iron Chef America. Since then I use it whenever I do a marinade or brine, to get flavor deeper into meat.

In this case, I work over my steaks with the needler, then rub it with minced garlic, which gets into all the little holes the needle made. Neat trick, if I do say so myself. I use jarred minced garlic largely out of laziness, but remember that it is also packed in olive oil, so the meat gets oiled as well.

Then needle the steaks again, to drive more garlic in.

Season with black pepper and a bit of kosher salt (but not too much; reason later). Whip out your cast iron of choice (I used a griddle), melt a quarter to a third a stick of butter on it, then slap on the steaks before the butter burns.

Being thin, they cook quick, so we want screaming high heat. Experiment with the exact settings on your stove and cooking time for optimum results. What we want is a nice sear outside, with the desired doneness (medium rare for me) inside. Turn only once.

Remove and sit to rest. Season further with some alder-smoked sea salt.

What's that? You say you don't have any alder-smoked sea salt?

Why not?!