Made steak to enjoy red wine to bring balance back to the cellar.

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To clarify, most of the logs involving drinking are not written on the day of the event. So no, I was not having tipsy moment on Monday night. Although i would like to…

I believe this happened last Friday night, where i did not have the usually virtual happy hour with my coworkers. I was a little sad but decided to still have my planned Friday day dinner. Steak dinner have to be planned because steak need to sit outside the fridge beforehand so it is at room temperature when grilling start. This step is very important because a steak too cold will lower the frying pan’s temperature too severely that grill mark is not achievable to seal the juiciness in. In extreme case where defrost was not done properly, a steak charred outward and undercooked inside might happen. I did not achieve the desired grill surface this time because i forgot to disable the temperature safety setting on my stove and the fire kept going small or off. My mistake.

I always pre-season the steak with salt, preferred rock salt, and pepper before grilling. Then drop in a spoon of butter for basting with a few cloves of garlic for more flavor. Cook it until the preferred level. How do i know if it reached the wanted level? I don’t, i just guess. Or poke at it.

Resting the meat before serving or cutting does make a difference. Resting will allow the meat to retain its juice properly and also achieved proper texture. I found that a surface with low heat conductivity like wooden board or a warm plate is recommended for best result. Putting it on a cold plate create extreme temperature difference and more meat leak out of the meat, and at serving it is no longer warm at all.

The oil left over from the steak is perfect for grilling vegetables. I grilled tomato, sweet potato, potato and mushrooms in it, seasoned with freshly chopped parsley and salt. These looked awesome when plated.

Going with the steak was my bottle of Chateau Couronneau Bordeaux Superieur from Southern France. It had very nice rose and cherry tone, with strong but not offensive tannin taste and long finish. Beautiful.

I had to stop myself from finishing the whole bottle in one go because i will definitely regret it the next day. It seems that I have higher tolerance for white wine in comparison to red ones so i need to be careful around reds, even if it is a lovely Friday night. If not, i will not be able to have tipsy Saturday due to hangover. Self control, and have twice the fun.