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Friday, June 05, 2009

meet the meat


My camera has been officially sent off to repair, the problem was not the battery so I am still borrowing a camera and I am subject to the schedule of said camera - what does this mean? Gone is my flexibility and freewheeling je ne sais quoi. Enough about my malady lets talk beef. The 'beef its whats for dinner' people had a little lunch gathering to impress upon us the value of beef, as if that was something that needed to be done. I can see if we were a bunch of vegans and vegetarians and they were trying to pull us back into the coven but dang I can eat that stuff raw so you dont need to tell me twice.



Middle of a rainy day in midtown at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) we put our name tags on and got down to the business of beef.



We learned how to cut steaks from a whole tenderloin, and I dont know about you but that is some valuable information, as it turns out I was doing it right all along.



Giff from Constables Larder volunteered to show off and he did a stellar job. It may look easy but dont let his panache fool you there is a definite technique - push down, pull back.



The grumbling stomachs made it difficult to hear Dave, the fantastic beef chef, give us any more pointers so it was time to nosh. First up came a pistachio-herb cheese & carmelized onion topped beef tenderloin crostini, and if I could possibly add more words on to this I would. It was a'ight, no seriously it was pretty tasty.



It then got uncomfortably quiet as we were standing around so they said we could sit down and enjoy the next dish and this one got ripped off in the description department - steak and tomato salad - told you nothing verbose going on with that one. This one was nice - the steak was cooked exactly to my liking and the dressing on the arugula added just the right bite.



Eat some 'beef its whats for dinner' - everyone is on the grass fed tip and its not just a marketing thing or natural thing its a 'makes sense' thing. Grass and pastures require little to no maintenance making them a very cost effective way to raise cattle - the cattle graze longer before they are brought in to fatten up on grains and corn resulting in leaner beef. So there you go.

34 comments:

Angel said...

um...you go to school? I thought you already knew everything?

Jenn said...

I would do anything to get a diagram of that on my wall. Or at least stuck to the fridge.

lisaiscooking said...

I think I'd like that pistachio herb cheese caramelized onion topping on some poultry! ;) Sounds like you had fun.

teresa said...

It all looks so good! Looks like a fun, meat filled time!

Ken said...

yum yum yum yum, yum yum yum yum, yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum.

Beef!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chef Fresco said...

Yum! I'm jealous! Looks like so much fun!

pinknest said...

a bounty of beef!! i am not god at slicing beef properly. i must practice my beef skills.

The Blonde Duck said...

Meat!!!

The Duo Dishes said...

We'll go anywhere for free food. Can't turn it down for anything!

Sweta (My Indian Dietitian) said...

So now are you studying hard or hardly studying?

Marjie said...

Dammit, I'm hungry! And I'm only cooking pasta for dinner, because it's my "night off". Send Beef!

Kitt said...

My kind of school, the school of meat.

Christo Gonzales said...

beth: I didnt go 'to' school I went to 'a' school...

jenn: I have s small one I will mail it to you - e mail me

lisa: it would be so good on poultry - it would be good by itself on the crostini with the meat on the side

teresa: meat filled fun...

micky-t: that about sums it up...

chef fresco: no need to be jealous theres enough beef to go around

pinknest: push down and pull back

tbd: no bbq though....

duo: hey thats MY mantra...

sweta: it wasnt educational like that - it was so I would write about it...

marjie: I would but I think you need a half a steer dont you?

kitt: meat-ucation

Reeni said...

Both beef dishes look awesome! Especially the salad!

Reeni said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tangled Noodle said...

No fancy cuttin' for me - just hand over that hunka tenderloin, please.

giz said...

What a cool experience. Now you have to share the technique of cutting the tenderloin into steaks. I never know if I'm doing it right.

snugs said...

where's the beef you dog!

Christo Gonzales said...

reeni: I would have liked to have had a lot more..

tangled: thats what I was thinking..

giz: push down and pull back

snugs: what beef? my beef?

Sara said...

It sounds like a great class, wish I could have gone. I haven't started buying grass fed beef yet, but I should.

pigpigscorner said...

Sounds like fun and very informative. I need to know my meat better.

buffalodick said...

Timely post! I just bought a whole beef tenderloin yesterday at a one day only meat sale! I'll be cutting it up today, and vaccuum packing it....Price? 3.99 a lb.! I have never seen it cheaper- and it looks pretty good...

Donna-FFW said...

How sweet, red meat.

Creative Classroom Core said...

For some sick reason, whennever I see those posters, I imagine a group of cannibals somewhere with a human version of one...
Disturbing!

Jason said...

Dude, new camera or not, I was salivating at those pics, thank God for medium-rare! Delish! I've been on a pork & fowl kick recently, might have to go butcher a cow after reading your post!

Jeanne Estridge said...

My favorite restaurant to visit when we're heading west is a place on the Indiana/Illinois border called "The Beef House."

They have a refrigerator case as you come in the door, so you can select your own cut.

Mmmmm.

Hornsfan said...

wow - i'm jealous, how is it that i'm living in beef central (texas) and have no beef school?!?!

Heather S-G said...

Oh, I love taking culinary classes for fun and more learnin'!! I definitely would have enjoyed this one...been a long time since I've had a butchery refresher. Plus, beef...mmmmmm.

Anonymous said...

Right on, grass-fed beef! It's the way cows were meant to eat.

Pooja said...

Sounds like you had great fun and learnt quite a bit from the chefs! I would certainly grab for such an oppurtunity given a chance!

Angel said...

Dog, I am cracking up over here!!! I've got my Gays...you've got Mermayd...she was ALL OVER me for calling you short! HA!!!!! she said she knows you WAYYYYYYY better than I do....I guess she told me, huh?

if they only knew...that's what's so great about our friendship...we can call each other out and still be friends....

(shorty) no caps this time! ;)

Stacey Snacks said...

Big mushrooms, Meat and Golf.......do I detect a man theme going on here?
Sorry I missed the beefarino thing.

Jackie @PhamFatale.com said...

Quick question: Is there any way to get this poster delivered. I want this on my wall

Anonymous said...

There are Beef Councils all over the country where you can get a copy of that poster and some wonderful tips about buying, storing, and cooking beef. If you would like, go to www.calbeef.org and ask them for a copy.

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