Saturday Steaks: Gordon Ramsay

Ok, I know a lot of you out there may be surprised at what I'm about to say, but I really like Gordon Ramsay.  That is, I like him for more than his cooking.  I like his on-air personality.  I like his passion.  I think, that while he may have a tendency for swearing and he may be rather unreasonable at times, he's actually kind of sweet!  He always has the best intentions and regardless of what you may think of him, there's no doubt that he loves cooking and the man makes some tasty food.  To see what I mean, watch the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares.  It's on Netflix and it really gives you a taste of Gordon's personality and his true cooking expertise. 

And now, after that warm introduction, this week's steak comes to you from Gordon Ramsay!  Notice how fast he talks - No time to waste!  He's like the polar opposite of Jamie Oliver. 

I really enjoyed this steak.  The crust was a delicious, it had a rich full flavor, and it was ready so fast!  Gordon Ramsay doesn't mess around.  This steak certainly surpassed Jamie's and it actually was a bit more my style than Hestons.  Well done, Ramsay!  

Saturday Steaks - Jamie Oliver

This week's steak was inspired by Jamie Oliver's recipe for the "perfect steak."  And it was good but takes much longer. However, this technique did produce a more caramelized, sweet, crunchy top layer on the steak which I liked.  It's the pepper I think.  Burnt pepper.  Mmmm.  

I like Jamie Oliver's food, but his manner on television kind of gets under my skin.  Not exactly sure why, but it does.  I think he talks an awful lot with his hands and I guess I find that distracting and mildly annoying.  

Anyway, the steak was good.  Had a much more traditional flavor, and was a bit more cooked than the Heston one, and I liked that.  Though, it wasn't as memorable.  

Here's the video showing how it's done...

Happy Saturday!

Saturday Steaks

The boy really enjoys cooking.  And it's a good thing too, because I do NOT.  You can read more about that here.    But I do enjoy eating good food and our food is becoming nicer and nicer the more he cooks.  But he's decided to set himself a little challenge (we do love our challenges in this house.)  He is going to try several different chef's recipes for cooking the "perfect steak."  We will then try one each weekend and decide which technique truly turns out the best steak.  

Now I know what you must be thinking.  We are already consuming more burgers than we should on a regular basis, how can we possibly add a weekly steak to the mix too?  Well to ease your mind, I think I should explain that we will be sharing one steak between us and we already share one burger when we go out on the quest...Except for on a few occasions when I was so ravenous I refused to share and made the boy get his own burger.  It's still quite a bit of red meat, but we're trying our best to keep it as healthy as possible.  And it's all in the name of blogging, so that makes it ok, right?  Right!

So, on to the first specimen.  For this gorgeous steak, the boy followed this incredibly straight-forward recipe by British kitchen wizard Heston Blumenthal.  If you haven't ever seen what this man can do with food, I highly recommend you watch a few of his shows from Britain.  There are tons of clips on youtube and I promise it's worth the search.  He creates magical feasts that bring in all the senses.  It's really interesting.  Here's the how-to the boy followed:

And the finished product?  I have to say it was delicious.  I would have preferred it to be a bit more cooked in the middle (still getting used to eating meat rare.)  But it really was so flavorful and juicy!  I loved the rocket salad as well.  Again it was so simple, but really was incredibly delicious!  A superb steak!