Tag: steak

Beef 101: Any way you slice it

You may not be one to 'go against the grain' but when it comes to slicing beef that's exactly what you want to do. Slicing against the grain means a shorter distance between muscle fibers for a better bite. Chef Michael Ollier gets to the meat of the matter in this quick video:  Continue Reading

Make steaks even when the sun won’t shine

Worry no more, fair weather friends. You CAN serve satisfying sizzle in the midst of the downpour thanks to several cooking techniques that deliver mouthwatering steaks in minutes. They may not have the smoky, charred fresh-off-the-grill flavor, but they'll certainly please your taste buds and be good to the last tender bite!  Continue Reading

Surf and Turf – classic, elegant, simple

In my mind, surf and turf — that classic pairing of steak and lobster — is reserved for a restaurant. (A swanky one, with an old-school cool factor.) It’s definitely not the kind of thing I’d whip up on a Thursday night for the kiddos before soccer and basketball practice. But Valentine’s Day or another special occasion with my better half? Hmmmm… bring on the cattle and crustaceans!  Continue Reading

Ribeyes with Classic Steak Butter

Forced to choose one cut of beef, ribeye would be my steak of choice. It’s flavorful but not fussy. It’s one of the most tender cuts. A well-marbled ribeye is incredibly juicy. And let’s not forget that tasty morsel of meat at the end — the spinalis. When you’re looking at a traditional ribeye steak the spinalis, or ribeye cap, is the …   Continue Reading

Seeing RED this Valentine’s Day

For the latter half of the last decade, diners around East Fourth Street in downtown Cleveland have enjoyed an embarrassment of riches when it came to their restaurant options. With one James Beard award winner and Iron Chef, another multiple-time James Beard finalist and a Food & Wine Best New Chef finalist all within a …   Continue Reading

Step-by-step Steak Au Poivre

I love dining out: the elegant surroundings, courteous servers and of course, no dish duty. The thing is it’s cold — really cold! — here in Ohio and the thought of venturing out into the frigid, dark night on Valentine’s Day has me shivering in my wool sweater. So I thought this year we could …   Continue Reading

Fine dining at Seattle’s El Gaucho

Celebrate love at first bite and join us on a journey to exquisite taste. Step inside the best restaurants in the country. Sharpen your chef knife and prepare an amazing meal at home. Whether your sweetheart prefers fine dining or homemade extravagance, you can make it a Valentine's Day to remember!   Continue Reading

When less is more

So you’re looking to reduce some things in the new year … perhaps it’s your waistline, your coffee consumption, even your phone bill. I understand. New Year’s resolutions are a just cause but they can get the best, and worst, of us. I’ve found that success depends on my ability to maintain my strength and soldier …   Continue Reading

Flank Steak Roulade

We’re celebrating the holidays with sizzle! Join us for the 12 roasts of Christmas — our favorite cuts, greatest tips and step-by-step instructions from our kitchens to yours. Preheat your oven, get out your carving knife and join us as we toast the roast! Chef Michael’s Flank Steak Roulade is an exceptionally tasty and fanciful …   Continue Reading

Flank steak two-step

When it comes to enjoying a great steak, I’m an avid member of the strip club. However, my favorite cut of beef has long been flank steak — I salivate over its unique texture and bold, beautiful beefiness! I ascribe to enhancing the flavor and tenderness of the flank with a marinade, and over the …   Continue Reading

Tasty Travels: boast-worthy bites

I’m always on a quest for beautiful food and I found it at the grand opening celebration of Hobart’s Steakhouse in Ontario, Canada. Guests at the restaurant’s new, second location enjoyed a grand opening affair of appetizers and main dishes that had mouths watering. And speaking of grand fare, check out these lip smacking dishes! …   Continue Reading

A Slice of Heaven

I’ve often said I have the palate of a 12-year-old. “Fancy” food is not my forte. Give me simple, flavorful and wholesome — yes, first and foremost simple — meals any day. I don’t want a million ingredients. I’m not a culinary trail-blazer. What appeals to me most are dishes that deliver great quality, great …   Continue Reading

Celebrate with a big bang of flavor

It’s party time! If you’re like many of us, you’re planning an outdoor meal that includes steaks, burgers and/or frankfurters. Ribeyes, strips or sirloin steaks are the perfect option for a Saturday night backyard soiree, but these pricier cuts are not always an option for feeding an Independence Day party crowd. Never fear. Chef Michael …   Continue Reading

Secrets to great steaks {part 1}

Independence Day is just around the corner and if you’re like millions of Americans (and me!), you will celebrate with fireworks and something flavorful from the grill. When it comes to steaks, one of the most common questions is: “How long should I cook it?” There’s no easy answer, but there is good news. Learn …   Continue Reading

Serving sizzle RingSide

As executive chef at one of the premier steakhouses in the country, Chris Turke deals with hundreds of huge cuts of succulent, tender beef on a daily basis. But ask the chef from Portland, Oregon’s acclaimed RingSide Steakhouse Eastside location about the best steak he’s ever eaten, and he’ll respond without hesitation. “It was last …   Continue Reading

Steak in, not stirred, with a twist

Cheers to you on National Martini Day, because we know sometimes, you’re not as thirsty as you are hungry. You’re not as ready to unwind as you are to celebrate with a hearty hoorah. Sometimes you want a glass that is neither half empty, nor half full. You want a glass that is — quite simply —overflowing …   Continue Reading

Action + Reaction = Satisfaction

We were watching a cooking show one evening when my seven-year-old blurted out, “Hey! Why don’t I ever get ‘perfect diamond grill marks’ on my steak?!” Touché, son. I hereby swear to work on my grilling technique. After laughing at his perfectly reasonable but unexpected question, I started to wonder: “Why DO chefs sear those …   Continue Reading

Small town, big flavors

Wooster, Ohio isn’t a ‘bright lights, big city’ sort of place, but it offers an abundance of hometown hospitality that welcomes visitors and locals with a charming Main Street and downtown area, fantastic public library and unique shopping opportunities. There’s a thriving arts scene including The Ohio Light Opera, and a burgeoning culinary community with specialty …   Continue Reading

Great flavor, by land and by sea

Surf and Turf. You might think this dish’s glory days are past, but the idea is solid: a robust steak, paired with succulent lobster — twice the protein, twice the flavor, and twice the bounty of the land and the sea. It evokes abundance, celebration and even indulgence.  Continue Reading

Behold the trend-setting strip steak

One strip. Two strip. Dry strip. Rare strip. Wet strip. Grilled strip. Split strip. Bare strip. This one is a little nutty. This tender one is smooth as putty. This one’s raw and finely chopped. This one wee steak she’ll like a lot. Pan fry it in your neighbor’s house. Plate it next to boiled grouse. …   Continue Reading

Dinner for your dearest

After years of research, I have determined the ideal Valentine's Day offering is not a box of chocolates, nor a perfectly composed poem — or even a new power tool. My beloved would be over the moon if, instead of platitudes, I served him a sizzling hunk o' boeuf.  Continue Reading

Snacks, apps & steaks for a SUPER game

I could make that mighty fine sandwich … I’ll need great buns, of course … and olive oil for sauteing slices of onion and pepper, maybe minced garlic, too. When the veggies are tender I’ll drop slices of roast beef into the skillet and season with salt, pepper and spicy heat. Toast the bun and …   Continue Reading

Keep calm and eat beef

Keep calm and write a blog … says the sign on my desk. Now that the frenetic — but always energizing — activities of the holidays are officially over, I am set to write about what is on my horizon in 2013. My doctor told me yesterday that my BMI makes me borderline obese. I …   Continue Reading

Creating traditions with Chef Michael Ollier

Editor’s note: this post submitted by Chef Michael Ollier We all have ideas of what Christmastime should be. Some of you probably spend the season baking and shopping for presents. Others may decorate with strands of colorful lights, attend church services, or deliver goodies to friends and neighbors. My wife, Anne Marie, was a professional …   Continue Reading

A Thanksgiving Two-Step

Let’s talk turkey beef for Thanksgiving. We all know the classic holiday table includes a fowl centerpiece that has been lovingly roasted for hours and hours by Grandma, or perhaps you. Uncle [insert name here] has perfected the art of bird carving. Aunts arrive with steaming pans of stuffing, green bean casserole, baked corn and sweet …   Continue Reading

Buckeye Barbecue

Last night my family and I celebrated my father’s birthday with  Certified Angus Beef ® brand filet of rib. While preparing the delectable celebratory meal, I couldn’t help but think of The Ohio State University students in a first-of-its-kind undergraduate barbecue course. They earn college credit while learning how to grill delicious dinners. I can’t think …   Continue Reading

Bone in or out?

To be or not to be, that is the question. And though I’m sure Hamlet wasn’t pondering beef at the time, Shakespeare’s famous line applies to today’s topic and Dr. Phil Bass, meat scientist. Dr. Phil is in our proverbial hot seat fielding questions from readers. A gentleman named Cesar has a bone to pick with …   Continue Reading

Magical Mushrooms

It’s National Mushroom Day and while I love a good pie topped with — among other delights, mushrooms — these tasty fungi possess much more than pizza-topping properties. They’re good in almost every dish, especially those with tender, juicy beef! Whether you saute them in bourbon and butter to top your steak, add them to …   Continue Reading

The Doctor Is In

As promised, our very own meat therapist scientist, Dr. Phil, answered some of the questions you asked us on Facebook and Twitter. Austin writes to us on Facebook to ask … Say it does rain again one of these days and I’m forced into the kitchen with my steak, what is the best way to …   Continue Reading

Labor of Love

Beer-marinated Flank Steak … makes for a luscious Labor Day picnic recipe. Trust me. You will not be disappointed. Flank steak is a lean, extremely flavorful cut of beef. It’s often used for fajitas, but it can easily become the star of the show if you marinate, then grill. Flank steak should be sliced thin against the …   Continue Reading

Two Rivers in Baltimore

Chef Mark Morgan has been around the culinary world long enough to recognize a good piece of meat when he cuts into it. But then he received a phone call from a farmer — nearly 1,000 miles away — who happened to be standing in the middle of his field. That’s when the culinary head and …   Continue Reading

Flavor on the side

To get this … A perfectly grilled, tender and juicy, bursting-with-flavor cowboy-cut ribeye steak, you have to cut a steak from the finest Angus beef — beef that offers premium quality and loads of marbling. You’d have to choose a raw steak that looked a lot like this … A shipment of fresh Certified Angus …   Continue Reading

Spring into flavor with fresh herbs

Today is the first day of spring! It’s officially here … and here in Ohio, spring has most definitely arrived (though you never know when snow flurries will fly!). There are buds, blooms and vibrant daffodils every which way I turn, and I’m itching to get my fingers in the dirt. Time to plant the …   Continue Reading

Big award in the Little Apple

Just imagine, if you will, how many restaurants across the nation serve beef. It’s got to be a pretty enormous list, ranging between every fast-food outpost with a 99-cent burger on the menu, to the finest white tablecloth venues in the swankiest resorts — and everything in between. Now, imagine what it must feel like …   Continue Reading

Good to the bone

Look but don’t eat. A few days ago I teased you with a Cayman Cookout photo of tomahawk steaks ready for grilling. It made my mouth water, too. Truth is, that cut is nearly impossible to find. But why? I asked Chef Michael and our in-house meat scientist, Dr. Phil. As it turns out, the old …   Continue Reading