Villa Maria Argentinian Steakhouse, Leidseplein, Amsterdam:
In THE BATTLE OF THE CONDIMENTS, barbecue sauce and ketchup jointly won, with mayonnaise coming third in the poll. Barbecue sauce was also the winner of the battle of the cool saucy dips. It seems people here like barbecue sauce.
It's now the turn of steaks to do battle! I had intended to post this just before Steak and BJ Day, the 14th of March, but I got banned before I could!
A steak is simply a thick cut of meat usually cut across muscle fibres that may or not include bones. Vegetarians and vegans have expanded this definition to include thick slices of fried or grilled fruit and vegetables.
This poll is only concerned with beef steaks and not other steaks like barracuda, chicken, crocodile, horse, kangaroo, lamb, mutton, ostrich, pork, reindeer, shark, swordfish, tuna, turkey and venison steaks. My apologies particularly go out to vegetarians/vegans who may enjoy a portobello mushroom or a watermelon steak.
Steak seems popular all over the world, especially the richer world. Argentina seems the biggest steak-loving country. They like to cook their steaks on an asado, an Argentinian barbecue, and often eat their steaks with a green or red chimichurri sauce. In Amsterdam there are many great Argentinian (and Uruguayan) steakhouses especially in the Leidseplein district.
Japan also needs a mention as a steak-loving country. Its expensive wagyu steaks (aka Japanese black or Kobe steaks), derived from its prized Tajima cattle, are highly regarded inside and outside the country. Too marbled and therefore too fatty for me.
There is some overlap with the poll options. For example, minute steak is cubed or diced steak, whether chuck, fillet, rump or sirloin steak. A tri-tip steak can be a a rump or a sirloin steak. And there's not much difference between a flat iron steak and a hanger steak and between a porterhouse steak and a T-bone steak. But I've long stopped caring about these methodological niceties so long as 'other' doesn't win the poll.
Just to remind people, what I and other Brits call fillet steak is what Americans call tenderloin steak and what the French call filet mignon.
My favourite steaks are minute steak and rump steak, with fillet/tenderloin steak (aka filet mignon) being by far my best steak - see photo below.
Sous vide filet mignon:
My least favourite steaks are porterhouse steak, ribeye steak and tomahawk steak, with restructured/reconstituted steak being my worst steak - what's the point of that steak other than to con people?
What are your most and least favourite steaks?
How do you cook your steak - fried, grilled, barbecued, braised, stewed, smoked, etc?
How do you like your steak cooked - well done, medium well, medium, medium rare, rare, very rare (eg bleu/blue) or raw and uncooked (eg carpaccio, tartare)?
Have you ever celebrated Steak and BJ Day on the14th of March?
My steaks are usually fried at home and grilled at restaurants. I like my steak cooked at least well done - definitely no blood on the plate. If there was a new burnt/charred option offered by restaurants, I'd be quite tempted to opt for that how I want my steak cooked despite the sniff of waiters, especially waiters in French and Italian restaurants. I have not and nor would I eat steak very rare or raw and uncooked.
There was one time that my wife marked Steak and BJ Day. The problem was that there was a fillet steak but no blowjob! I was still a happy bunny as a steak, especially a well done fillet steak served with English mustard, is much better than a blowjob in my opinion.
Below is a poll where you can anonymously select your most favourite steak. Unfortunately only one pick is allowed in the poll.
A poll on this site can only have 20 answer options. As I was struggling to find 20 option or rather 19 options given the obligatory 'other' option, I'm smugly, perhaps too smugly, confident that I haven't left anything steak-wise out.
I think fillet/tenderloin steak will win the poll. But chuck, rump, sirloin, strip and T-bone steaks may figure in this poll.
Please see the first comment below to see what has won each battle of the food and drinks so far.
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