Nothing On This Earth Beats a Good Steak

 

Every family has their own traditions about the way they do things. My neighbours always put up their Christmas decorations on the 28th of November, every single year for some reason. My best friend’s family watches old school episodes of “The Simpson’s” every night at six thirty despite new episodes being aired just about every day. My grandmother cooks something for every time she goes to one of her families’ houses despite being asked not to. My family’s tradition is Friday night steak night.

 

Traditions are ingrained in society. They define what we wear, what time we wake up, where we work and how to live our lives. It is those small traditions, the ones that many people don’t think about, that often mean the most to the smallest parts of a community. But where did they come from? Who said that pants were a thing, that waking up at midday was socially unacceptable and that a teacher is not as well paid as an athlete? Those traditions were built upon other traditions that date back to before any of us were born.  The traditions of my family are no different.

 

Families are weird. Each household has their own set of rules, their own customs and their own traditions. Every Friday night at 7 o’clock on the dot, my brother, sister, mum and, dad sit down at the dining table and await a feast. A T-bone steak, crosshatched and medium rare, falling from the bone at the slightest tug of my knife and fork. The smell of the meat makes even those who don’t like steak’s mouth water. The first taste is as though I had never had this delicious meal that currently resides within my mouth, with the next bite and the next taste being needed rather than wanted. The steak is gone within minutes, one bite after another, wolfed down with barely any breathe between. The only questions anyone ever asks is whether there is a spare steak and why can’t the next Friday come around quicker.

 

My sister does not live at home any longer, though she still makes an effort to drive over to my parents house every Friday night, cutting through traffic in an effort to get the perfectly cooked steak. Even thought I currently live on the other side of the world as my family, my steak night begins at 7 o’clock on Friday nights, medium rare but un-crosshatched because barbeques are expensive. It is a tradition that is rooted in my family’s personal history, dating back to my grandparents.

 

Steak in Australia has always been expensive. On the few occasions that my grandparents were able to afford to buy it in addition to the chicken, lamb and pork that they usually bought for the other weekly meals, their Friday nights were reserved for steaks. My father told me of those nights, sitting around the dinner table staring across at his siblings and his parents awaiting the meal that was to come, much like he would do years later as a parent himself. Those nights developed my father’s appreciation for a good steak, perfectly cooked, seasoned just right and looking delicious as it is taken from the barbeque and delivered to the plate.

 

Seasoning the steak was a process that started on Friday mornings. It was our tradition to take the meat from the freezer located out in the garage, a hot summer’s day making the sun beat down upon the stones as though we were wandering through the desert, a cold winter morning leaving our feet sticking to the cold pavement if we were dumb enough not to wear shoes. The steaks were always located on the left of the freezer, above the chicken bones kept in old ice cream containers, but to the right of the lamb roast we would have at some point during the week. Upon making the trip back across the desert or the frozen wasteland that was the backyard, the steaks were placed gently upon the white countertop folded between two towels to defrost for the night’s meal. Left for several hours, when it was completely defrosted, the steak’s next step began.

 

Seasoning the steak was a delicate process, with the right ingredients need to be used. With only olive oil, salt, soy sauce, and garlic salt, the steak could be seasoned perfectly. Each steak requires a tablespoon of olive oil and a soy sauce and is placed into a bowl. They are mixed together with a spoon, the new concoction is placed on each side of the steak and smoothed out with a single finger to create a light coat. The salt and the garlic salt are lightly sprinkled on each side to create the right blending of flavours that is not too salty nor too sweet. My grandmother used to feed my uncles using this direction because they were incredibly picky eaters, only eating soy sauce with their meals. She adapted it into their diet became commonplace and became a tradition within my family. Seasoning the steaks was important, but according to my father, the Barbie was the key.

 

The Barbie or barbeque is the most important part of the meal as nothing is as important to the cooking of a perfectly good steak as the barbeque. A good Barbie will have three things. It will have a grill to cook the steak on, a lid to “smoke the crap out of it,” (according to my father) and be gas powered to give it that extra “zing.” I remember when my father gave me this advice as he taught me how to properly cook a steak, sitting outside in the cool night air, beer in one hand and a pair of tongs in the other, looking into the fire that lay beneath our intended meal. After turning on the barbeque, it is important that it is put up to its highest setting. I remember the look of glee at the sound of the steaks sizzling upon the grill, that first smell of that cooking slab of meat being the first true indication that steak night was about to begin.

 

Cooking the steak usually takes no time at all, perhaps only several minutes depending on the size of the steak. For each side, it is important that the size of the steak can affect the timing of it. My father always said that thicker steaks required more tender care and appreciation from the fire while the thinner steaks could be taken in and thrown out by it. The thicker steaks we always cooked for about a minute and a half both sides, while thinner ones were only cooked for a minute. He always insisted that you had to smoke them for an extra 30 seconds to lock in the flavour at the cooking because that was where the real flavour came from. It is important that at that point to close the lid to the Barbie because that was how you smoked them. By now the steaks tasted amazing, but there was one thing missing that took place earlier in the cooking process; the Crosshatch.

 

Crosshatching the steak makes my father feel like a real chef. It was something that his father used to do on his steaks and he always associated that with a perfectly cooked steak. By now, everyone reading this should know how to cook a perfectly seasoned steak, but now to give it that crosshatched look, it was important to rotate the steaks 45 degrees halfway through cooking a side. For example, if I was cooking the side of a steak for a minute, you would have to rotate it at thirty seconds. This process was repeated on the other side and would give the steak that perfect look that it otherwise wouldn’t have had.

 

Every family has its own traditions and the way they do things. I don’t think my family has any traditions for birthdays, anniversaries, school graduations, but we do have Friday night steak nights. The perfectly cooked steak is a metaphor for the love that my family has for each other, steeped in traditions that go back to my grandparents and continued by myself. Friday night steak nights are the memories I treasure the most not just because of the steak, but because it is a tradition I share with my family. The mouth-watering beast that is fought every Friday night at 7 o’clock and defeated time and time again, only to re-emerge the next week hungrier than ever. Come Friday, I know that back home the steaks will be defrosted, the barbie will be fired up and my family will sit around the dinner table awaiting the coming feast.

 

Recipe

Ingredients:

  • Steak
  • Salt – a pinch per steak
  • Olive Oil – a tablespoon per steak
  • Soy sauce – a tablespoon per steak
  • Garlic salt – a pinch per steak

Instructions:

  • Mix the olive oil and soy sauce together and drizzle onto each side of the steak.
  • Use a pinch of salt and garlic salt on each side of the steak.
  • Place onto a barbeque set on high heat.
  • For medium sized steaks, cook for a minute and a half on each side, rotating the steak 45 degrees to achieve the crosshatching mark. For smaller steaks, cook for a minute and rotate at 30 seconds.
  • When cooked, turn the heat to its lowest setting, close the lid to the barbeque and leave for 45 seconds.
  • Serve