Thursday, January 6, 2011

Now That’s A Steak & Our Christmas Gift

Remember a while back I was prepping the Christmas rib roast and I cut some thick steaks, we cooked one and froze the others.

Here it is after Bev seasoned it with S&P, Tiger Seasoning and Montreal Steak Seasoning – 1 ¾ inch thick.

I seared it on the gas grill for a few minutes per side then popped it into a 300* oven to an internal temp of 122*. Here it is just before slicing.

We had eaten some potato skins an hour or so before the steak, so we weren’t super hungry and didn’t eat the entire steak, so we cut off the amount we wanted – here it is after removing Bev’s piece.

Note it has more well done around the outside than did the Christmas rib roast (header photo), but not as much as if it had been cooked over direct heat the entire time.  The best part - it was delicious.

Bev and I have long since stopped giving each other Christmas gifts, preferring instead to take each other on a vacation or something like that - when you're old and retired, you pretty well have all the stuff you need. As I've posted several times, we buy meat in bulk, when it's on sale, cut it the way we want it, and store in the freezer - to accomplish this, we've been using a vacuum sealer for years. We wore out a Foodsaver, bought a new one a year or so ago and it's already not doing a good job, so we bought ourselves a new one for Christmas.

I read lots of BBQ forums and interact with folks who are in the meat business and the overwhelming choice seems to be a Cabela's Commercial Grade Vaccuum Sealer, which is what we bought. We used it for the first time today, and while I can't yet speak about it's reliability, it is a serious vaccuum sealing machine - more powerful, sturdier, wider bags, better sealing system. Here's a shot of the old one, the new one, and the two of them.
This is one toy that definitely saves us money and should pay for itself - this is a couple of pork loins, bought on sale for $1.98/lb and cut into roasts for us and our BBQ customers.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

16 comments:

  1. You certainly know how to prepare a steak to my liking Larry.

    I've always wanted one of those sealers. I'm going to show the boss this and maybe he'll get one.
    Sam

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  2. That looks awesome Larry!
    We need a better sealer...we
    only have the wimpy one. :)

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  3. I've always wanted one of the sealers. :::heading over to Cabela's to take a looks.

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  4. Holy moly, that's a big steak!! YUM!! Cooked perfectly too!
    And, that's some food saver too. I need to start buying more meat in bulk and using mine more often!

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  5. I had a vacuum sealer when my kids were little - wore the darned thing out! This one looks like a serious Christmas toy, Larry. Now you've got me wanting another one.

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  6. Hi Larry, Nice to know about the good vacuum sealer. We have the FoodSaver --and so far, it's worked well for us. There's just nothing worse than freezer burn --so the vacuum sealers are SO important to have.

    Thanks.
    Betsy

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  7. That looks like an awesome sealer, Larry. And that steak is pretty awesome as well!!!!

    I've looked through your posts for suggestions on cooking a tri tip but didn't find anything. How would you do it?

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  8. Cathy - I'm a total novice with tri-tip, having only done one. I'm sending you an email with some links and comments.

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  9. That is one beautifully cooked piece of meat!

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  10. Larry, You're killing me! First the Blog Site photo of the Prime Rib and the Twice Baked Potato...now this terrific looking steak! Drooling... Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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  11. Love the steak! That's a great new sealer, too. Enjoy it!

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  12. I could not imagine not having one of these with all the meat you cook. I think it will definitely be worth its weight in gold for you!!

    Richard and I are the same way - we exchange a few small gifts but nothing major. I'm with ya on that. I would just assume stop the Christmas gifts between us altogether myself, but he always cheats and buys me a few things.

    That steak looks to die for!

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  13. I really need to get a vacuum sealer...we waste too much food.

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  14. Your old model is the one we use. You just might make me have to go buy a new one, that new machine is a hoss.

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