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What are you going to do for Valentine's Day to make sure you get all the love that's coming to you? I don't know about you but I am not going to sit around waiting for a table at some fancy restaurant. And with Valentine's falling on a Saturday this year, you know those waits are going to be outrageous. Who needs it?!
Here's what I'm going to do: I'm making a nice dinner at home instead. Whole Foods Market did a survey and it looks like I'll have lots of company in my plans. Over 80% of the people said they would prefer to have a nice dinner at home with their partner instead of going out to eat. You can read more about why and how here.
I think we are all getting more cautious with our spending and that makes sense. The good news is that it doesn't take a trained chef to turn out a great Valentine dinner at home. Since I'm the "meat guy" around here, I'm going to make a really nice steak dinner - two 12-ounce dry-aged steaks with sides can be served for much less than the cost of two meals at a steakhouse. You can, of course, get a lot of other great cuts from our in-store butchers - just ask them what they recommend.
Here are my tips for cooking steak:
- Choose well-marbled steaks to maximize flavor and tenderness
- Heat the grill to peak temperature before grilling
- To lock in moisture, bring steak to room-temperature before cooking
- Keep the flavor natural - dry-aged cuts have such naturally robust flavor, there's no need to add seasoning
- Never slice meat to check if done - check meat's firmness instead - very soft meat is rare; slightly firm meat is medium to well-done; and very firm meat is well-done
- Let steak rest five minutes after grilling to allow juices to redistribute and flavors to mature.