Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Kaylah's Exploration 3

One of my favorite foods is steak, specifically ribeye.  Ever since I was a little girl, I always made sure that we went somewhere where I could order steak for my birthday.  Whether it was Outback or Texas Roadhouse, it was all about the steak.  My eyes were always bigger than my belly, though.  My favorite was when my dad would grill out at home.  On a hot summer day my mom would come home with a bag of fresh cut meat from Carfagna's and then her and my dad would cook together.  As soon as I saw that there were steaks, I would drop whatever I was doing and sit and watch them cook.  First, my dad would lay them out on a piece of tinfoil and season both sides.  Now, anyone who is a steak fanatic like me knows that a good steak really only needs two thing; salt and pepper.  After applying an appropriate amount of sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, my dad would add pressure to ensure it stuck.  Next, he would let the steaks sit at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes while the grill preheated.  When ready, my dad put the steaks on the grill, only flipping them once, allowing them to sear.  After two to three minutes on each side, the heat is turned down a little bit and the steaks finish cooking.  When they were done, my dad always made us wait at least five minutes while the steaks sat under a piece of tinfoil so the juices could "redistribute."

In my family, plantains are a cultural tradition.  According to Google, a  plantain is a fruit of one of the cultivated varieties of the genus Musa intended to be consumed only after cooking or other processing, rather than being eaten raw.  So in other words, it is a banana that is bigger, more angular, and is meant for cooking.  When my family makes plantains, we usually cook them in a frying pan.  The key to making the perfect plantain is to wait until it is ripe.  This usually means when the outside has a yellowish color with black spots (similar to a banana).  In Colombia, which is where my mom is from, plantains are an important part of the human diet.  They are a huge food staple, mainly because of their nutrients and because they are very affordable.  They are also culturally significant because they can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner as a main meal or as a side.  My mom grew up eating plantains almost every day, and therefore I think it is important that we have them every so often as well.

3 comments:

  1. I love steak too! It sounds like both our dads are masters at cooking steak. Steak is probably one of my favorite foods, and I like to get it on special occasions too. I prefer filet mignon, but as long as its steak I will eat it.

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  2. Steak is one of my favorite foods too! I love eating it with mashed potatoes as a side. Your tradition with the plantains is cool too I bet they're good!

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  3. Steak is great I tried to eat steak to gain weight, but realized that it was too expensive. So this lead to me being broke, and depressed because I couldn't have steak for a while.

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