A Year in Steer
The Portable Chef and friends bought an entire grass-fed steer and are cataloguing it, bite by bite.
5/14/11
27. Uri, filet mignon, homemade crouton, wilted spinach with lime, hulled barley with adzuki beans
3/22/11
26. Maamoun, Top sirloin steak
3/22/11.
25. Tanvi, New York strip steak with sauteed spinach
3/22/11
24. Tanvi, beef and mushroom lasagna (ground beef)
3/15/11
23. Jeremy, T-bone steak pan-roasted with butter and herbs
3/12/11
22. Tanvi, Spaghetti Bolognese (ground beef)
3/8/11
21. Maamoun, steak sandwich (sandwich steak)
3/7/11
20. Tara, goulash (stew meat), with spaetzle with brown butter and roasted carrots and a bottle of Anton Paul Zweigelt, Blaufrankisch, and Merlot blend
3/5/11
19. Jeremy, cheeseburger (ground beef) with the works
3/4/11
18. Uri, sauteed beef with coconut milk (sandwich steak)
3/3/11
17. Jeremy, meat loaf (ground beef)
2/11/11
16. Uri, salad with ground beef, baby greens, almonds, cranberries, and blood orange vinaigrette
2/9/11
16. Jesse, burger
2/8/11
14. Uri, Ground beef with penang curry and cranberries, shredded broccoli and carrots
2/4/11
13. Uri, chuck steak braised in ale with mushrooms, onions, and bacon
2/3/11
12. Jesse and Liz, top sirloin, pan-seared and roasted, squash, broccoli
2/2/11
11. Maamoun and Andy, pan-seared ribeye steak with mashed potatoes
1/31/11
10. Jonathan and Carleen, homemade pasta Bolognese (ground beef)
1/28/11
9. Uri, salad of baby greens with ground beef, almonds, and truffle salt
1/27/11
8. Andy and Maamoun, Beef Bourguignon (chuck steak), baby lettuce salad
1/25/11
7. Lasagne al forno con sugo di Eduardo Pazzo
1/24/11
6. New York strip steak
1/23/11
5. Mongolian beef with cabbage and peppers (ground beef)
1/22/11
4. Ground beef. Fusilli with meat sauce
1/21/11
Lots of ground beef in the early going. But we do have a ways to go.
3. Meatballs from the Frankie Spuntino Cookbook (ground beef)
1/20/11
2. Cincinnati Chili (ground beef)
1/19/11
After completing the 2010 Beef Draft, the first thing I made was a burger.
I started thinking about the enormity of our purchase relative to the size of my burger, which was providing an entirely filling and memorable meal. If my quarter-poundish burger was an average serving size, and we had 550 pounds of beef (the 600 lbs. shipping weight minus some for bones and packaging), then there were 2,200 individual meals to be had from our one steer – in hundreds of separate preparations.
And I thought, wouldn’t it be great to record those meals?
Fortunately, these thoughts occurred to me just seconds before what would have been a concept-killing last bite:
1. Burger. Ground beef, Food for Life sprouted grain muffin, special sauce
My draftmates are game. This blog post will be continually updated with new photos of meals from Crazy Eddie beef.
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Dear Portable Chef,
The steaks from my grass-fed, farmer-sourced red angus totally suck. The meat is inadequately firm and the fat/sinew tastes a little like marrow. In contrast, the ground beef and roasts are obscenely good. Is this because my steaks haven’t been aged? Was it poorly butchered? Have you had similar experiences?
I’m afraid to eat and my meat is flaccid,
— Chicken of DC