the butcher's bill

We have a meat seller downstairs in the building where I work, and he ain't cheap. I guess one could call him a butcher insofar as he slices and packages meat, but I've never seen a full animal carcass being broken down at his place, so I tend to think of him more as a mere meat seller. Anyway, he was my go-to guy for filet mignon a few years back, and I went to him again today for more filet. The price was ridiculous for 2 kilograms: I paid nearly W400,000 (about $67/pound; in the US, it's currently around $35/pound). It's therefore incumbent upon me not to fuck these steaks up. The meat guy did do me the favor of cutting the filet up into 300-gram steaks (one steak, of course, came out small: 2 kilos will yield six 300-gram steaks and one 200-gram steak, with which I will do my experiment once I master my new equipment).

Anyway, despite the crippling cost, I'm excited. I reread a Serious Eats article on the sous-vide-and-sear method for steaks, and it sounds easy enough. I'm all about easy. You can even sous vide your steaks from a frozen state, but you need to add an hour to the cook time. Season the steaks well and add aromatics before bagging them up for the sous vide bath; allow to cook the requisite amount of time (about 1.5-2 hours at 130°F for medium-rare, 300-gram steaks), take out right before serving, pat very dry, then sear in a ripping-hot pan about one minute per side while bathing the steak in a bath of butter, garlic, and rosemary. Serve with a tiny dipping dish of sea salt (filets tend to be cut very thick, so their insides aren't going to be seasoned; you'll need the salt). In my case, I'll also have shrimp, mashed potatoes, and maybe some asparagus purée as part of the presentation. And chimichurri, of course, so maybe the salt won't be necessary.

Gonna be a busy weekend. Next week is gonna be busy, too. Lots to do.