[Recipe] Bacon + Steak + onions/balasmic vinegar = goodness

Occasionally, I’m going to share a recipe here. With plenty of drool inducing pictures. These recipes will usually be the product of years of culinary training and world travel….wait, no, that’s not true. They will be concoctions that I’ve come up with while slaving away at the gym. Or they will be from various websites – Allrecipies.com, foodnetwork.com, or epicurious.com. I’ll be sure to indicate my source as they arise.

So, since the weather is beginning to warm up, and the family wants to grill some steaks, here is a recipe that I’ve created and served previously.

Bacon Wrapped Steak w/ Balsamic Onion relish

Ingredients:
• Steak (I used filet mignon since there was plenty of fat from the bacon) – about 2 pounds, cut into 4 halves
• Bacon – 1 strip per half steak
• Onion - 2, sliced as thin as possible
• Half cup of Balsamic Vinegar
• ¼ cup of Sugar
• salt, pepper, vegetable oil, toothpicks

Prep info
• Slice onions, as thinly as you’d like – thinner is better I think, allows the onions to caramelize faster
• Bring steaks to room temp
• Wrap bacon around the steaks and secure with a toothpick, salt and pepper to taste
• Pre-heat oven to 450

Cooking guidelines
Onion Relish
• In a large pan heat vegetable oil over high heat. Add the onions and lower the heat to medium. Add salt and pepper and mix
• Sweat the onions down for 15 minutes and stir occasionally. By the time you’re ready for the next step, the onions must be very soft, if not, cook for a few more minutes
• Add the sugar and reduce heat to low. Cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed. – about 5-10 minutes
• Add the balsamic vinegar. Cook until the onion relish practically turns into a thick mixture, almost syrup-like. This will take up to 40 minutes

Bacon wrapped steak
• Heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in an over proof, or cast iron skillet if you have one
• .Sear each side of the steak for about 2 minutes. (This creates a nice brown crust due to Maillard reactions – science yay!) Place the pan into the oven and cook for 10 minutes. The steaks will be medium rare. (So cook longer if you like your steaks more done, don't know WHY you'd want them beyond medium...)
• Remove the steak medallions from the skillet and allow them to rest for 2 minutes. Remove the toothpicks Top with the relish on the top or side and serve.

**Recipe source unknown. I'm pretty sure this was off a website somewhere. At least the onion relish part. And since I'm not positive that this was my own creation. I'm not taking credit for it. Let's say it came from simplefoodie.com because that's where I found the following picture.

Cheers!

The effect of the gym on a Closet Fatty.

The funny thing about the gym, for me at least, is that as soon as I step trough the doors that separates the real world from the sweat and testosterone filled haven for those seeking their idea of physical perfection is that I conjure up images of the food I was to be intimately involved with.

Near pornographic scenes begin playing through my head – an oral orgy of sweet and savory with saltiness bringing up the rear.

Brownies. Cookies. Ice Cream. Huge quivering slabs of red meat. Racks of ribs. Succulent pork loins and juicy chicken breasts. Cakes of all shapes and sizes. Buttery filets of fish from all over the sea. Conglomeration of macaroni, cheese, and hot sauce.


Can you imagine the kind of hell I’m in during my workouts? The entire time, the though of food running rampant through my head. It’s like a crack whore thinking of the score she’s going to buy with the money she’s going to get while doing her thang. Eyah, actually, I’m sure that’s exactly what she’s thinking about and it really doesn’t apply at all.

Hmmm….
Ok, better analogy.

[insert analogy of having perverse thoughts of food while performing an activity who’s sole purpose is to negate the effects of butter and fat and sugar]

Yea, you guys can do all of the thinking.


I’ve suddenly gotten the urge to masticate a hotdog or two.

Ice cold .... soup?

What foods come to mind on a hot balmy night?

Something cold, something sweet, possibly made of milk or the juice of fruits. Not for this guy. This guy thinks of...(insert drum roll please)...





Naeng Myun!

Or Cold Buckwheat Noodle soup as it has been so eloquently translated.


This concoction is vegetable broth based soup, served cold, with buckwheat noodles, some cucumbers, a few slices of brisket, a hardboiled egg, and kimchee. It’s typically a dish served in the hot and humid summer months. But with the sudden onset of heat, I got this in early spring.

Now I’ll be honest here, I wasn’t thinking of food prior to writing this, oh no. I was more concerned with the horrible sunburn I obtained over the weekend. Slaving over a hot hot grill + sunshine for more than a couple hours – sunblock = a very red David.

Joy.

But this delicious noodle soup that I’m currently eating while typing away is amazing.

Almost wish it came in paste form so I could rub in on my sunburn.

It’s that good.

Maybe.

Finger Licking Good!

Picture found on web...not mine.


Barbequing. The perennial man-skill. It is according to the highly accurate and widely accepted mathematical proof shown below, if you are male, you know how to handle the all powerful grill.

The Highly Accurate Proof
1. If Man = 1
2. If Grill Master= 1
3. And 1=1
4. Thus, Man=Grill Master



+



=




If you try to debunk this, the universe will implode. So don’t try it. Accept it. Just like you accept that you need air to live.

Continuing on, while this is a universal truth, I have found subjects that are statistical anomalies to this.

Just this past weekend, as I slaved away over a mess of hot charcoal, keeping a careful eye on the color and done-ness of various meats. I had the pleasure of meeting a few gents that were in awe over the fact that I was using a grill so big (it was pretty big I must admit, but I did have to help serve a lot of people) and with the fact that I knew how to grill. And not just getting the charcoal ready, and just throwing the meat until it’s black on one side and then flipping it to repeat the process on the otherside. I’m talking - rotation of meats by degree of doneness, selection of initial placement and type of meat, and knowing when to remove said meat.

The guys had no clue, and I was in shock.

And since, I don’t want to continue on about my utter confusion at their lack of general bbq-rules. I’ll end it with a couple things. One, I gave then some sausage. And Two, they asked me how much I bench.


How does the latter matter in any of this?

It doesn’t.

I just like to gloat whenever someone asks me that stupid question.

(Oh, btw, "it doesn’t matter what" I bench is my standard answer)

Welcome!

So, you're probably wondering what the word is in the title of the blog. F and 6 more letters. Foodies? Fatties? F*&@ers? Flowers? Females?

Take your pick, I don't care. Just read on, and you'll understand.

But, I'll be nice. This is a collection of pictures, rants and raves, possible "scholarly essays" penned by yours truely, random quotes from random people. All about one topic...FOOD.


And now, on to the good stuff!

Cheers.

PS. I personally think the F word stands for Fatties. Not that I'm fat. I once was. And I secretly wish i could stuff my face with food without regard to the fact that I was probably eating enough to feed a small African village for a week in a single day. Yeah. I was much happier when I was eating and not exercising. Now, I'm just a disgruntled wanna be "foodie" who hits the gym doubly hard in order to allow myself to indulge in the act of enjoying delicious (read: fattening) foods.