The steak

Sorry for the long silence. I haven't been steaking for a while; I suppose that will be a plus in my "grade book" of health when I face my maker in the end. Well, the drinking won't help, but the minus-red meat might.

Anyway, a comment on how it all went, this Kobe deal, and why I am totally disillusioned: number one, fuck Kobe steak. It's all a fucking myth. People, in all my explorations, I've found that the so-called Kobe steak is probably a wholly fabricated article, like "Genuine" Pacific salmon or whatever you wish to insert in the blanks. These assholes can invent whatever they want to describe the product. Genuine Kobe beef is not only not from Kobe, but the whole story about how it got to your plate is a labyrinthine mystery worthy of Agatha Christie. Chances are, it's not Japanese, it wasn't massaged with beer, and it's an entire crock of shit.

So never, NEVER, trust anyone when they say it's genuine Kobe beef. I've been there, baby, and it wasn't from Kobe, and it is doubtful that the entire appellation has any meaning at all.

For the record, the "Kobe beef" that I paid 200 fucking dollars for at Atlantique was absolutely terrible, riddled with inedible gouts of fat and just a vast pool of regret that I live with to this day.

Enough with the Kobe beef experiments; having gone directly to the source in Japan, I can safely say that it's all a bunch of fucking hype.

Atlantique Kobes

Well, I must say I'm disappointed. No, that's not strong enough. Pissed off? Maybe. I went in to get my Kobe steaks at Atlantique today. They were part of a large (3.8 kg/8.3 lbs) chunk of meat that had been vacuum packed. Werner the counter guy informed me that he would be charging $120/kg. That is about CDN$54/lb. Mighty steep. Upon looking at the cut, I immediately noticed that, unlike the cuts I'd seen in Japan, this wasn't heavily marbled — no, all the fat was in two huge veins running throught the entire cut.

I asked him to make me three one-inch steaks and then trim them. Of course, he acted offended, and told me that the fat was the best part and most of it would render off. Well, to him, the fat was just as golden as the rest of the steaks, obviously. I, not being a confrontationalist, kept it to myself and let him slice it up.

The three steaks came to — get this — $200. Upon looking at them — judge for youyrself — I calculate fully one third of them is just a big slab of inedible fat. Umm, that's $66 worth of fat . . . a new record.

The most expensive fat I've ever bought.

I'll let you know how they were, but they'd better be good. Very, very good.

Holy Grail, Cracked

Sorry for the delay on this posting, but I guess I was too blown away to tackle it right away. Here is the infamous $45 steak that I tracked down at Kintetsu department store in Nara.


It can't weigh much more than 8 oz., so that easily makes it the most expensive steak I have ever eaten at $90/lb. Remember that this is not a steak ordered in a restaurant, where they'd easily mark it up by a third, if not a half, to make the price $60 or almost $70.

It was a Matsuzaka steak. Matsuzaka beef is grown in Mie prefecture, which is very close to Hyogo prefecture (where Kobe is situated.) The cattle — Tajima — is the same breed.

How was this monster of monster steaks? Well, the small size alone was disappointing. I would have preferred to have had it grilled over charcoal but that option wasn't available; I cooked it simply on a gas stove in butter with some shaved garlic to rare, no sauce.

It was indeed melt-in-your-mouth tender, but I've had lots of steaks like that. Bottom line is that the Holy Grail was a bust — and that the most expensive steak on Earth is not necessarily the best one.

Whole Side of Kobe From The Germans

Okay, I keep calling them Germans and they're Austrian so I know that's not fair, but I have placed on order with Werner at Atlantique in Cote des Neiges a large slab of Kobe beef for next Friday. I have no idea what it is going to cost, but I know that it will be frighteningly expensive, probably more so than in California — but not as expensive as Japan.

The End is Near

Jack Sprat would not be a great meat eater here in Japan. Take a look at these specimens found at the local supermarket; “marbled” is not an appropriate term for these babies. There’s almost less meat than fat on them. This one (below) at 1,968 yen, is about US$18. You’ll note that it’s only about a third of an inch thick—one minute on both sides and it’d be medium rare. It’s called a “Kuro-ge” (“Black hair,” referring to the color of the cattle) “Roast steak” and comes from Kagoshima, which is all the way in the south of Japan.



These specimens below are also from Kagoshima and are called “Roast Slices.” It’s anyone’s guess as to how you’re supposed to prepare them. I’m not going to find out, since I didn’t buy them.


No, I didn’t buy them. Instead, I bought quite possibly the most expensive steak I have ever seen in the entire world, today; a fairly small piece of meat that cost exactly US$44.45. I videoed the whole thing and will provide photos upon my return to Montreal.

I’m going to have to eat it here, as they don’t seem to understand freezing and vacuum-packing, but perhaps it’s for the best, as it’s a long, long way home.

Report to follow.

Kobe in Montreal

Werner at Atlantique in Cote des Neiges has informed me that he will soon be able to get Kobe beef. "Now that there's an embargo on Canadian beef because of Mad Cow, the stuff destined for Japan (read: the "Kobe" steak that's actually raised here, then sent to Japan for finishing) has been rerouted to distributors here in Canada."

He warned me that it will be expensive. $50 a pound? Maybe, he said. "You'd be better off buying a whole cut — say, half a loin, which we could cut into steaks and then vacuum-pack. Then you could freeze them. I could give you a lower price because I'm getting rid of them so quickly."

But he was defiant about his own steaks. "I trim them to perfection, then dry-age them for five weeks. You just can't get a better steak in Montreal." The Steakathon seemed to prove he was partially correct.

I'm off to Japan on Thursday. I'm not sure I can actually get some Kobe steaks but I'll film everything and do my damndest to return with something. Let's see if I can pull off yet another trip in First Class!

Stir-Fried Thai-Style Beef with Chiles and Shallots

with Spicy Marinated Cucumber Salad and Jasmine Rice

The key to this dish is twofold: first, get Thai basil. It is a cross between mint and fennel — the taste is indescribable. Second, get tamarind concentrate (or paste.) It gives an authentic touch that is difficult to duplicate with substitutes. Palm sugar is good, but brown will do. Piquin chiles are good, but serrano or even jalapeños are okay.

Serves 4 with rice

Beef and Marinade

1 T tamarind concentrate
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper 
1 tsp. palm sugar 
2 T fish sauce (Nam Pla)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 T minced garlic
2 T lime juice
2 pounds Boston or New York steak , trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips

Stir-Fry
2 T Nam Pla 
2 T rice vinegar 
2 T water 
1 T palm sugar 
1 T Asian chili-garlic paste 
4 medium cloves garlic , minced (about 2 tablespoons)
3 T vegetable oil 
10 Thai bird chiles (piquin), halved, seeds and ribs removed, chiles cut crosswise 1/8 inch thick
3 medium shallots , trimmed of ends, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and layers separated
1/2 cup Thai purple basil, in chiffonade
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped coarsely
1/3 cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts 

Lime wedges for serving

1. For the beef and marinade: Combine marinade ingredients in large bowl. Add beef, toss well to combine; marinate as long as possible. Overnight is good, minimum is one hour.

2. For the stir-fry: In small bowl, stir together fish sauce, vinegar, water, palm sugar, and chili-garlic paste until sugar dissolves; set aside. In small bowl, mix garlic with 1 tsp. oil; set aside. Heat 2 tsp. oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until smoking; add one-third of beef to skillet in even layer. Cook, without stirring, until well browned, about 2 minutes, then stir and continue cooking until beef is browned around edges and no longer pink in the center, about 30 seconds. Transfer beef to medium bowl. Repeat with additional oil and remaining meat in 2 more batches.

3. After transferring last batch of beef to bowl, reduce heat to medium; add remaining 2 tsp. oil to now-empty skillet and swirl to coat. Add chiles and shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until beginning to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Push chile-shallot mixture to sides of skillet to clear center; add garlic to clearing and cook, mashing mixture with spoon, until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir to combine garlic with chile-shallot mixture. Add fish sauce mixture to skillet; increase heat to high and cook until slightly reduced and thickened, about 30 seconds. Return beef and any accumulated juices to skillet, toss well to combine and coat with sauce, stir in half of mint and cilantro; serve immediately, sprinkling individual servings with portion of peanuts and remaining herbs, and passing lime wedges separately.

Spicy Cucumber Salad

1/2 cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. sambal oelek, sriracha or garlic-chile paste
dash lime juice

Combine thoroughly, marinate for a couple of hours in refrigerator. Serve.

Jasmine Rice

2 cups jasmine rice
2 1/3 cups chicken broth
Stick cinnamon
3 cloves
3 cardamom pods
Ghee (clarified butter)

Wash rice until water runs clear. Soak in water for 2 hours, drain. In large sauté pan on medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil. Fry spices for a couple of minutes. Add drained rice. Stirring constantly, fry for about five minutes, or until glassy. Add hot chicken broth, stir to combine, reduce heat to minimum, cover with aluminum foil and pan lid. Let steam for 18 minutes or so, remove from heat and let rest for 10 more minutes. Remove lid. Remove whole spices and fluff up. Serve.

Mission Statement: Burgers

I originally started this off as a steak blog, but now I realise I will have to fold hamburgers into it. After all, what is a hamburger but chopped steak?

But there are hundreds of dedicated burger blogs, and Montreal is not a burger paradise, so the entries will be far fewer. But to get you started, here's the biggest burger in the universe.

Also, a great burger blog to visit is A Hamburger Today.

And I promise that long-awaited Burger Shoot is coming up . . .

Supper of the Steaks by Barry Lazar

The cow, so I do believe,
offers us her roast of beef,
the chuck for stew, the head for cheese,
the lung to do with as I please;
but when need comes to truly dine,
the eye of rib and loin are mine.

Last night we ate the best of meats
Two sirloin strips of Kobe beef
Alberta ribs air-dried six weeks
And filet mignon to sink our teeth

Beneath the grill I laid a fire
and seared these cuts till they perspired
bleeding slightly red and (this too matters)
I let them rest on heated platters.

The edges charred, they sat warm and rare
Nick served twice-baked potatoes previously prepared;
Sonya thickened a port and shallot sauce with cream
Josh open a Graves to share with the team

And then I brought out these succulent three
mignon, rib steaks, and the Kobe
No pepper, no salt, no virgin oil
We bit into each slice, letting flavours roil

The filet was tender but needed the sauce,
The Alberta beef had a mineral gloss
which filled the mouth with an excellent savour
but the Kobe beef had the most marvellous flavour

Image a steak, that first beefy taste behind
then buttery overtones, the tongue starts to unwind
There is a hint of grass, and my mouth is awake.
Kobe brings Alberta steel to mignon's tenderest flake.

The final results, once the voting was in,
The women chose ribs
But it was Kobe for men
Although Celina did mention that she could relate
To a Kobe-bred air-dried inch-thick rib steak.

The night unravelled as, with full compliance,
we ate with gusto, not just in the interests of science.
We opened more wine, and with each piece we did chew
I thanked the gods we're not Hindu.

At Last: The Steakathon

The Great Montrealfood Steak Challenge came and went last night. I wanted to see how the Kobe steaks I bought in California held up against the presumably "best-of-the-best" local fare.

It was conducted at Barry's house, he being the only one of this little montrealfood band to possess an actual grill. Josh brought along two filets "tres mignon" (meaning "very cute") from Metro Boucher in N.D.G. and I brought the two Kobe NY steaks purchased in California, along with two dry-aged "rib steaks" from Atlantique, a highly-regarded butcher in Côte-des-Neiges.

There was other food going on: Barry baked a fantastic sourdough "boule," a round, crusty country-style loaf that can't be bought at a store.

There were 1/4-inch-thick slices of great grilled salami. Josh brought a sinfully-rich triple-cream brie cheese called Brillat Savarin (after the famed gastronaut) and there was wine from the dot.com era and all sorts of good times to be had in Barry's rambling N.D.G. home.

The big question was, how would these steaks fare in competition? Would the famed Kobes trounce the hallowed dry-aged and mignons? (It must be noted that all participants of this feast are avowed steak lovers, and all prefer their meat medium-rare to blue, leaning towards the blue, so the proving grounds were all at the same level.)

Barry's house is cool, even for Montreal, and especially for a food lover. His cookbook sconce alone is worth the price of a visit. Who among you stocks a cookbook of recipes for medieval cookery? I rest my case. So it's hard to explain his choice of a grill. No 12,000 BTU Viking grill for Barry. Nope, it's a bomb-shaped thingamajig from a dust heap, as far as I can tell. But he has this beast well trained. For example, to keep the lid half-off, he runs a broom handle through the lid holder and suspends it on the corner rails of his balcony.



Josh brought two robust reds, a Chateau de Callac Graves 2000 and a "black" wine from Cahors. The Savarin cheese with Barry's crusty loaf were brilliant appetizers, but I really didn't want the preliminaries to interfere with the finals, so I kept the noshing to a minimum.

Barry piled all the contenders on the grill at the same time, with some nice blocks of home-made applewood charcoal. It was amusing that his little stone-knives-and-bearskins contraption cooked up steaks as well as a $4,779 Lynx Professional, but I'll take Barry's any time (it also makes a mean burger.)

So what was the verdict? Josh, Barry and I preferred the Kobe for its unbelievable flavor. "I think it has something to do with all the massages, beer and women," Josh quipped, "Very 1950's experience." The ladies preferred the ribsteak from Atlantique; no reasons given. The filet was great, but it was like all filets: buttery, tender and with absolutely not a proton of flavor.

See the video here. (Warning, 90MB file)

Bavette with Mustard-cream Pan Sauce & Mushrooms, Oven-Roasted New Potatoes

Okay, so this picture doesn't do it justice. It looks like a mess, but it was delicious. I went to the French butcher (from France) at Boucherie de Paris on Gatineau. He's a tiny operation opposite the park and Université de Montreal. I never knew how he survived, being on a side street like that, until one day I saw the students. I was going there to get some steak and there was no room to get in the door, with a line outside.

Seems the U of M students like his sandwiches. "Sometimes we make 300 a day," he says. I tried one once. It was good, nothing spectacular, but it's made right in front of you from stacks of ingredients on the wall, cut fresh daily.

Anyway, he is the one I go to when I want some mystery meat. I only call it that because everything goes by some arbitrary French name. I'm not sure if it's a French name from Montreal or from France. There's "Steak Boston." To this day I have no idea what cut that is, but it sure is great for melt-in-your-mouth stews and curries, as well as grinding for hamburgers. Then there's the Onglet, but now I think I've confused that with Bavette, because when I went in there to get some, he said he didn't have any Onglet, which leads me to believe I was buying Bavette all along, thinking it was Onglet. And then there is the Faux-filet, which I take to be the ribeye, but I can't be sure, since he doesn't speak English and doesn't know the English terms.

In any case, Bavette (I've seen it called an unappetizing "Flap steak" but I suspect it hangs around with the Onglet quite often and maybe messes around with a Strip or two occasionally) is a somewhat stringy-looking, striated slab with no marbling, really not very tasty-looking at all, but it cooks up really well. You just have to make sure it never gets past medium-rare. It's a peasant cut with really no class, but it rewards with an exceptional beefy flavor and melting interior.

It was about 3/4 of an inch at the thickest part, so I pan-fried it with shallot-butter and olive oil for about 4 minutes per side, and it turned out just lovely. It goes well with a starch or two, so I did some oven-roasted potatoes with thyme and some leftover fried rice. Here's the sauce recipe. It still isn't what I wanted, so you may have to do some tinkering.

Mustard-cream Sauce with White Wine and Mushrooms

1 large shallot , minced (1/4 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 or 6 large mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/2 C dry white wine
1/2 C cup chicken broth
1/2 C heavy cream
3 tablespoons whole-grain Dijon mustard
4 T shallot butter
2 T olive oil
Table salt and ground black pepper

While steak is coming to room temperature, melt 2 T of the butter and the 2 T olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots, cook until glassy (about 5 minutes.) Add mushrooms. At first they will dry up the pan completely, but after about 5 minutes they will start to release liquid. Add the garlic, cook another 5 minutes or so. Set all pan contents aside in bowl. Add the wine. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes. Add broth. Simmer another ten minutes or so until noticeably reduced. Add back mushroom mixture; cover and set aside off heat.

Cook steak (see above) in skillet. Remove steak from skillet to rest. Add all ingredients from the sauce pan, stir with steak juices to combine and bring up to heat. Add cream and slowly whisk in mustard. At last moment, add in last 2 T butter. Stir to combine and bring to boil, adding pepper and salt to taste. Simmer 2 minutes, remove from heat and serve atop sliced steak.

The Denouement

This is the video of the incredible Wagyu experience.

As you may have already seen, the sandwich was pretty damn good. But nothing beats a steak on its own.

Next up: the Kobe/Atlantique World Cup. Much fine Cabernet will be quaffed and many anecdotes will thrill across the grill but the steaks — err, stakes — are high.

Look for it around the middle of next week.

Sir of Loin

I defrosted the beast over the weekend in the refrigerator. I boasted to my friends at Atlantique that it cost US$40/lb., so they wanted to see it. So after it was defrosted, I brought it over (they didn't want to see it frozen.)

They hmmed and muttered and all were generally in agreement that it was a great-looking steak. "Are you going to put in an order for some?" I asked, but was greeted with a resounding "No."

As I was paying for some cheese, Wolfgang the register guy leaned over conspiratorially and said "You know, we have steak that's just as good. It's dry aged six weeks. It'll knock your socks off."

Well, if that wasn't a slap on the face with a wet glove, I don't know what is. Therefore, with the two remaining steaks, I will march over to Barry's house, where there is a real grill, and also purchase a couple of these fabled Atlantique thingies, and see which is the better sir of loin.

The report: I let the steak reach room temperature for about 40 minutes. I rubbed it with olive oil and coarse pepper. Applied garlic salt just before I put it in the grill pan. Did one side for five minutes, the other side for three, foiled it and let it rest for about seven minutes. Served it with a twice-baked potato (recipes and video to follow) and basmati pilaf.

The verdict: This was a very good steak. It turned out somewhere between rare and medium-rare, which is exactly the way I wanted it (there really should be 12 degrees of doneness rather than just six. Then again, there should only be six, ending at medium. Anything past that and it is no longer a steak.)

It had a robust, beefy flavor and the shallot-garlic-parsley butter topping really enhanced the whole taste experience. Tomorrow I will either make a steak salad of some sort — I'm angling towards an Asian version — or cop out and make a steak sandwich. But what a sandwich that would be! I'm already hungry again.

Steak Paradise

There is a very well-written treatise about steak in possibly the nation with the most steak-eaters in the world here. This guy is a fantastic writer. When is the next plane?

That Elusive Beer-Massaged Bastard at Last

I finally managed to track down some Kobe beef. I went to an upscale joint in an upmarket town called Walnut Creek here in Northern California. Since it was a Friday, apparently I was just in time.

"We don't have many left," one of the butchers said. "We're shipping a whole loin to the Philippines"—(I could see them cutting them as he spoke)—" . . . and a football player just came in and bought five of those New Yorks. Football players have a lot of money, y'know."

I didn't know until he told me what three of the New Yorks would cost me: a cool ninety US bucks. That's as much as they charge for a filet mignon in an upscale steakhouse around here (why do I get the feeling "upscale" will be a frequent term around this blog?) That's $103 Canadian and 51 British pounds, for the curious.
I had them shrinkwrap them immediately and they went in the freezer the moment they got home. They aren't as well marbled as the ones I saw in Japan—those were almost more white than red—but they look pretty damned good, don't you think? (The price marked for the beef in the photo works out to about US $25/lb.—less than the $39/lb. I paid for these.) They're about an inch thick and 15 oz. each. Certainly more than I'll ever be able to eat at one sitting.

One of the countermen handed me his card and told me to email him if I ever wanted him to send me some to Montreal. His folks live in Ontario.

If you're interested, contact Dan Brant at dbrant@andronicos.com.

Can't wait till I get these bastards home and in that pan.

The Quest

Do not despair, steak fans! I did not abandon you. But it's been a tough couple of days, if I may use a steak-grading term.

I had lunch at a place in San Francisco calling itself "Cafe Bastille," which has pretensions to being a "bistro." But the steak-frites I had there was tired and expensive.


My god, where is L'Express when you need it.

On the Kobe beef front, things are even more depressing. The shop that I expected to carry it, Enzo's, suddenly backed down and said they didn't have it, even after brandishing a frozen 1-2 pound frozen morsel the other day which they told me would cost $160. (I turned it down, but only in the hopes that they would be getting more in.)

So I put the feelers out and it looks like there might be some at an outfit called Andronico's, which I will visit maybe Thursday.

This is proving more difficult than I had anticipated! We might all have to wait until I go back to Japan in June.

Kobe Beef: At Last!

I will be flying to California on Thursday on an urgent mission: secure some Wagyu (Kobe Beef), freeze it if it isn't already (it should be--Kobe Beef is like ice cream), vacuum-pack it and bring it back to Montreal for a grand experiment.

I'm already salivating. How should I do it? Sauce or no sauce? Just salt and pepper and olive oil, or a nice pat of herbed butter on top? A dijon-wine reduction?

Serve it with garlic mashed potatoes? Rice? Caesar salad?

I cannot wait.

Why not start the steak blog with the best available on the planet?

I will video the whole thing.

What's A(t) Steak

I love steak. I don't eat it enough, but when I do I think it is a crime if it has been badly cooked or otherwise mishandled. It's not so bad if you're at your brother's house for a barbeque and you get a plate of Sole of Filet Mignon, but it's different when you pay $45 for it at an upscale steakhouse.

So perhaps here I will educate myself about steak and perhaps you will come along for the ride.