Smokin' Steaks

When Damien and I were in Baghdad, our security advisor would secure us all some t-bone steaks at the PX and on Saturdays we'd have steak night. We'd set the table outside (despite the crazy temperatures) and the cooks would light up the grill and we'd all sit around enjoying our red meat along with some bad red wine and assorted side dishes like potato salad and tabouli. Dinners at the bureau were always pretty entertaining, but steak nights were fun and something I fondly remember.

It's a tradition that Damien and I brought back with us (along with the need for the Gaggia espresso maker we purchased after becoming addicted to it in Baggers.) Especially since we've had Balthazar, we've been recreating steak night mostly on Friday evenings after a long week of work. Some nights we make t-bones, other nights, filet mignon. Whatever cut we make, we pair it with a much nicer bottle of wine than we had at the bureau. This time I bought us some nice looking New York strip steaks and a bottle of Chilean cabarnet sauvignon.

Well, things turned out a little bit more like Baghdad than I had hoped. See, I decided to try and cook our New York strip steaks on our cast iron pan. Not recommended in an apartment with a bad ventilation system and sensitive smoke alarms.

I usually use our double-sided teflon coated grill, but I noticed when I made those banana pancakes last week that it was in pretty bad shape. So after I seasoned my steaks and made my wasabi mashed potatoes, I heated her up over high heat. I put a little bit of olive oil on there just to ensure the steaks wouldn't stick.

I had seasoned the steaks by coating them with a thin coat of olive oil. Then I pressed two garlic cloves on them and rub it into the meat. Then I sprinkled a good coat of salt, pepper and a lighter coat of cumin on each side and rub them all in.

The key to a good steak is a really hot grill or pan. To test the heat, I sprinkled a little bit of water on the pan and watched it immediately sizzle away. I turned on our sucky stove ventilation system. I thought I was ready to go.

But, as soon as I put the steaks on the cast iron, the pan started to smoke...and I mean a lot. I quickly opened the sliding glass door and then opened our front door into our apartment building hallway to get some cross-ventilation. Damien had just put Baz to sleep so I really didn't want our smoke alarm to go off. Phew. I thought I was in the clear.

Then I flipped the steaks over after 5 minutes. (I am very disciplined about how I cook my steaks. 5 minutes each side, one flip.) And there was some more smoke. I went out to the hallway and opened the sliding glass door out there. I really thought that would take care of it. I mean there was some smoke, but it wasn't that bad.

But just a minute or two later, the fire alarm for the whole building went off. There were sirens and a computerized voice exclaiming, "There is a fire in the building. Please evacuate the building. There is a fire in the building. Please evacuate the building." Oh no!! It totally reminded me of the warnings we used to hear across the Tigris in the Green Zone when a mortar attack was imminent!!!

Damien rushed down to the lobby to alert the doorman that it was a false alarm. I ran out onto the balcony to tell my panicked neighbors that it was just me cooking steak. I was probably more panicked than most of them. In fact, one guy even said, "That just means you did a good job!"

But, I was horrified. Some of the neighbors on my floor were rushing around trying to determine what was going on. I kept apologizing. And the alarm continued to go off for at least another 20 minutes.

Despite the loud sound, we did sit down and eat our beautiful steaks. And I have to say, the cast iron really made them turn out perfectly. A little charred on the outside and pink on the inside.

Too bad I can't do that again.