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Tasty Gourmet Steaks Done Right = Divine Bovine!

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For me, grilling up a New York Strip steak on the barbeque in my backyard is a long and cherish pastime. A trend that my steak-loving father got me hooked upon at a very early age. That being said, I have always thought of cooking a great grilled steak as something that is tantamount to making scrambled eggs, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich—it is really easy to do, and I find it to be disturbing that many people are not in the know about how to properly grill up a tasty steak these days! Perhaps this article has been prompted by my most recent steak-eating disaster, where I was over at a buddy’s house and the steak was so tough and rough, I could have sworn it was an over-cooked pork chop! So to better enlighten you all with what I have learned over the years, here are some really quick and easy steps to making that delectable New York strip steak perfectly every time!

Four Simple Steps to the Best Damn New York Strip Steaks Ever!
1. Selection is everything. If you want a great New York strip steak, the first thing you will need to do is select the right one. Look for minimal amounts of fat around the edges, or grizzle. Seek out steaks that are marbleized with very fine lines of fat in the center of the meat. As you grill them, this fat will melt into the meat—making it ever so tasty!
2. Marinating and tenderizing is the key. You don’t have to go overboard here, just use some forks and punch tons of holes in both sides of the steak. Choose your favorite marinade, either a store bought one or one you make on your own, and allow the steaks to marinate for at least a half hour, covered in the fridge.
3. Proper cooking temperatures are everything. Heat your grill up to high. Then clean it or brush down the grills. Next turn the heat down to medium. Once you place your steaks on it they will grill on medium heat. Patience is truly a virtue when making divine bovine!
4. Don’t overcook or over turn the meat. Never flip your steak more than one time—it really dries out the meat! Instead, here is a good rule of thumb. For delicious and pink-in-the-center steaks, grill on medium heat for about 6-8 minute or so per side (per one inch of thickness). Before you flip the steaks, close the grill for the last three minutes of the grilling process.

The Skinny on Salt

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Summer is here and that means heat and humidity, and heat and humidity means we are going to sweat.  Sweating is the body’s way of cooling off, but with that sweat you lose salt, an electrolyte that needs to be replenished, because the body cannot manufacture this element on its own.

Salt is basically sodium chloride-two essential minerals required by the body that helps communication between cells, and the regulation of fluid in our bodies.  Salt is naturally occurring-in any form, from Epsom salts to kosher, and is found in the sea and in minerals.  Salt helps regulate blood volume and blood pressure.  The relationship between salt and blood pressure can be traced back nearly 4000 years to the Chinese emperor Huang Ti, who wrote of the connections between salt and a “hardened pulse.”

As of today, the dietary guidelines for salt intake are 2300 milligrams per day.  The typical American diet ranges from 3000 to 5000 milligrams.  For our bodies to survive, we need about 500 milligrams.  A teaspoon of salt is about 2400 milligrams.

The salt shaker on the table is NOT the smoking gun.  The danger is in the convenience and frozen packages, and in fast food.

I recently did some research in the grocery store, going through the freezer section and stayed exclusively with what we use to call TV dinners.  I looked at the nutrition labels from about 8 or 9 of the big brand name labels and was shocked to see that the sodium in each serving was giving us anywhere from 28% to 45%  of the daily allowance of sodium we need per day.  In one meal!  Now think back on what you had for breakfast, lunch, possibly those snacks in between, and dessert and a late night snack you may eat after dinner.  We are exceeding our daily sodium intake by nearly 200%

Here are a few tips to lowering our salt intake:

-Be more concerned with the ratio of salt to potassium than the actual amount of salt in your diet.

-Do not try to eliminate salt from your diet-it is essential to the body-instead, try to reduce the excessive intake by eating whole, unprocessed foods, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, and whole grain breads without the butter.

-Drink plenty of water after you exercise, perspiring drains the salt out of your body, and needs to be replenished.

-When cooking, use herbs and spices instead of the salt shaker.  There are many good seasoning blends in the spice aisle of you grocery store.  Low sodium broths are also a good way to poach foods in order to give them better flavor.

-Whenever you buy canned foods such as beans or vegetables, always drain and rinse them well in a sieve, because they are soaking in brine that is loaded with salt.

We also like to dine out more than ever.  Be alert on the cooking styles of the chefs and ask your server how the foods are prepared.  Avoid anything pickled, cured or smoked.  Order your salad dressing on the side instead of mixed in.  Avoid the ketchup, mustard and pickles, or at least cut down the amount you use.  Opt for fruit instead of those salty appetizers.

Keeping in mind that we need salt, but not an excessive amount, and an insufficient amount can be detrimental to our health as well.  So drink plenty of fluids, watch your diet and prepare food wisely by limiting the amount of salt in recipes.

Pearldivers Need Love Too

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I have written about cooks, chefs, and wait staff, but have given no love to those who wash and scrub the dishes and mop the floors. 

So here is an ode to those with dish pan hands.

They come in all different shapes and sizes, all kinds of diverse backgrounds, many don’t stay in one place for a long time, and many use the dish room as a stepping stone onto the cook’s line, but there are individuals who strive to be professional dishwashers.

I know there are some of you out who are unfamiliar with the inner workings of a restaurant (thankfully  you have me to enlighten you), but if you can imagine 8 hours of washing plates, bowls, cups and silverware,  scrubbing pots and pans, washing everything the cook can find in the kitchen,  cleaning the restrooms, bussing tables, spraying down the rubber mats,  vacuuming the floor in the dining room, sweeping and mopping the kitchen, climbing up on the stoves to get the grease filters from the vents, and carrying bus tubs full of dishware all day;  all for minimum wage;  then you just imagined a day that the genius ponders and the insane laments.

They are called by many names-dish dogs, pearl divers, burros, dish rats and sanitation engineers, but whatever moniker we attach to their service, the restaurant, would not run efficiently without them.  They are the back bone of the industry, sometimes working harder and making less than everybody else.  Ask any self respecting chef about their dishwashers, and they will tell you they feed them well and they treat them with love and esteem, because if they walk out- guess who has to do the dishes?

Doing Your Best In Spite of Corporate Interference

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In the environment in which I work, we do our best to serve great food and provide excellent service to our guests, but sometimes problems come up in the service, cuisine or the way the dining room was left from the shift before.

I work in a senior living facility where we take care of senior citizens in an independent, assisted living and memory care environment, and our staff does an excellent job in providing the needs of this unique group of people.  The meals are tasty and well presented; the staff is trained to recognize the specific dietary requests of clientele (i.e. food allergies, sodium, diabetic and mechanically altered diets), serve the food professionally and to clean up and get ready for the next shift or go home.

Pretty simple stuff-prepare the food, cook the food, serve the food and clean up, because it is only food.

However, problems do arise.  The meal was not perfect, the waitress didn’t get my ice cream fast enough, you ran out of pie, or the soup was too salty.  This happens and a little understanding and diplomacy goes a long way in alleviating the problem, and you can usually make things ok if you listen and show sincere empathy.  But sometimes you just hire people who are not suitable for the position they are in.

But then somehow the powers that be get involved and things get blown out of proportion and paperwork needs to be filed and policy and procedures need to be re-written and the wheel needs to be re-invented.

Meetings are scheduled and new”action plans” are implemented instead of addressing the mistakes and keeping the employees in the department aware that these mistakes cannot be made and there will be consequence if you continually repeat them. 

We are so afraid of litigation and are so driven by being politically correct, that our hands are tied when trying to produce a good group of employees to do the job.  You need four reams of paperwork in a personnel file before you can terminate bad employees.

My favorite example of idiocy was when the corporate geniuses changed the whole dining concept to be more competitive. Our company already has a high profile for excellence in the community so my first thought was “why do we need to change? Maybe the competition is trying to be like us.” My concept of this industry is to do something great, and do it right consistently.  Everything else will fall into place.  But let’s spend thousands of dollars and invaluable time with consultants instead of tapping the never ending well of expertise and knowledge coming out of our own dining staff.

But I digress.

 We see logic being pushed aside in favor of drinking the corporate Kool-aid.  The people who should be making the decisions for their departments are being advised by out of touch HR people who have never stepped into a kitchen or dining room and performed the duties of a chef or wait staff (and I don’t mean for one day or a shift). We see impractical use of critical thinking to solve an issue when five minutes of common sense could have worked.

I love what I do and the people I serve and work with, but I get irritated when over-reaction occurs to the wrong thing and complacency happens when real issues need to be addressed.

Because in my world it is relatively easy-you prepare the food, cook the food, serve the food and clean up after wards.

It is that simple.

 

Good Cook or Great Chef?

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I knew when I decided to write about this topic I would probably offend a whole lot of people and have death threats made against me.  But in my endless drive to educate the unenlightened proletariat on the truth and madness of the restaurant/ foodservice industry, I had to express myself on this subject.  Please bear in mind I literally have 34 years of blood, sweat, and tears invested in this business, with a myriad of observations, and in no way am I trying to demean anyone, I am just pointing out the truth after interviewing many people like myself in the trade, and drawing from my own humble experience.

It seems the term “chef” is given out like candy to anyone who can lift a knife and cut a vegetable.  Someone who graduates from culinary school with no previous experience is called a chef and enters the work force expecting a huge salary and an executive title without paying the dues.  I decided a long time ago I would rather be a good cook than a great chef. I have worked and run the 4-star hotels and resorts and I know how to make the fancy French cuisine that impresses the ostentatious crowd of gastronomic snobs. But by choice, most of my career has been getting down and dirty making burgers, sandwiches and chicken wings for the everyday people who just want a good meal at a good price.  Fancy food is exciting, but no one eats like that all the time.

Now don’t get me wrong, if you graduated culinary school and cook for your family and friends that is great, I am happy for you and wish you the best.  But if you are looking for a job as the executive chef or kitchen manager position on a line filled with people who have worked their way up from the bottom of the kitchen food chain (bus boy or dish washer), you had better be prepared to work 60 or more hours a week, sweep and mop the floors, wash the pots and pans if needed, and scrub down the kitchen like the rest of them.  You can’t sit on your laurels and write the menu and spend all day at the organic produce market and then expect everyone else to sweat to make your recipe and menu ideas come to life.  You will never get the reverence you think you deserve.  I am sure you have great recipes and menu ideas, but I hope you are prepared to make them 40 times a day for 7 days in a row, 365 a year.  This isn’t a dinner party you are doing once, with 12 people showing up, and sitting at the table with their place cards and a glass of the flavor of the month.  And the dish needs to taste the same every time you make it, or when someone else is making it if you aren’t there.

For all of us who work and toil in the industry, we applaud the fact that you went to school, and we pray for your success.  My research has shown that a few things are not mentioned to the students.  There are long hours for low pay and you will have to work holidays. You have to cover when someone calls in sick or hung-over (believe me it happens all the time, especially after payday). You will be the only cook on a busy night and you will have to do dishes or wait on customers. You will have to put the deliveries away and you may get your chef coat dirty.  You might actually have to stock the kitchen yourself, do the prep work and cook all at once. Food you think is perfect is going to get sent back to be prepared correctly (gasp!).  It isn’t an easy life, and that is why we take exception to those who walk into the kitchen with big ideas and no understanding.  I am not bitter or resentful because I never went to school.  I learned a long time ago to keep my mouth shut and listen to those who have been around the block.  School is great, but this is an industry where you never learn everything. It is also an industry that will chew you up and spit you out if you let it.  You could spend a lifetime just learning the food of one culture.  So if you ever get the opportunity to run a brigade, make sure you tell them “great job” after every service, and buy them a round of drinks after you help them clean up.