Sometimes beef prices get kind of high, especially if you care about getting grass-fed, hormone free beef. You can avoid this problem by buying beef by the cow. A lot of farmers are quite happy to sell you one of those bovines out grazing a field, or you can buy them at auction before they have been grain-fed. Also, a surprising number of hunters have not desire to eat the elk or deer they hunt, and would just as soon have some money to buy equipment.

But even if you have to buy retail, steak can be cheaper than those processed foods you used to eat. One person typically only eats about 6 oz of steak, even if more is available. And my favorite steak is chuck, which is usually the cheapest too. When you cook meat rare, it doesn't get tough, so you don't have to worry about getting the "best" cuts.

Anyway, the trick to cooking a good steak is: don't overcook it. Get a good pan that will take a high heat, or use a broiler. My favorite pan is a cheap cast iron pan with ridges in it. I have a little cotton handle to protect my fingers. Heat up the pan HOT, then toss the steak on it. Personally I've done this when the steak is frozen, which works fine for me because I like it seared on the outside and really rare in the middle.

Sprinkle the steak with some seasoning. My favorite is Montreal Steak Seasoning or something like it, which is mostly a simple mix of salt, granulated garlic, and pepper. If the steak is very lean, you can drizzle some olive oil or Un-Butter over it.

Leave the steak in one place so it gets those nice grill marks on it. Don't mess with it much. You'll be able to tell, with a little practice, how done it is by how it acts when you press down on it with a fork.

To serve a big steak, I cut it into sections with kitchen shears. If we don't have guests, we've gotten in the habit of cutting our own slices with those shears too. Actually I think it's better to serve steak already sliced in neat, bite-sized slices, with a dish of sauce, and rice, on the side, like they would in an Asian restaurant ("chopstick ready"). But to serve it American-style, just put it on a plate with a nice baked potato and some peas.

 

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