When you’re preparing steaks for a crowd, one of the toughest things to master is the art of getting the food on the table in a timely manner while making sure the meat is still hot and at its tastiest.

This article at AllRecipes.com gives us great advice on how to cook your steaks in stages so that they aren’t too rare or too well done by the time it’s chow time.

For instance, did you know that many chefs sprinkle sugar on their steaks to speed up the browning or searing process? Then, they put the steaks (browned only on the outside) in a warming oven until they are ready to be served. The warming oven then cooks the inside slowly at just the right pace.

The steaks are cooked and warm when YOU decide it’s time to serve them. Sugar! Who knew?

This sounds like a great way to do a filet mignon. Its rich thickness will do well slowly cooking in the oven. And the seared sugar process? Oh, yum!

Read more tips for being the BEST PARTY HOST EVER right here:

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Great-Steak—How-to-Cook-for-a-Crowd/Detail.aspx

Have a happy weekend!

Few things get me as choked up as stories about our men and women who are fighting for our freedom.

And I’ve just read about a book that shines a light on our Marines and their grilling ability — “Command of the Grill:  A Salute to Steak.”

Our soldiers and their favorite steaks? This has got to be good.

The Marines have a “Command of the Grill” contest and the book features winning recipes from this contest’s semi-finals and finals.

Some of these recipes were perfected while these heroes were serving overseas. What a testament to the determination of our soldiers! Does it get any more American than that?

Here’s an excerpt from a blog posting about this book on pleasurecooker.com:

The book showcases the winning recipes, honorable mentions, profiles of the Marine competitors, celebrity Marine recipes and a rigorous “Steak Boot Camp.” Capt. Eric Dominijanni’s Disco’s Hot and Tangy New York Strip Steaks is one of the recipes covered in the book. “Capt. D” has been cooking since he was a child. While stationed in Iraq, he was known to make paella for his troops in the back of his Assault Amphibian Vehicle. “I may have had to fight like a barbarian, but I didn’t have to eat like one,” Dominijanni said.

Here’s a link to the entire story on this book over at pleasurecooker.com. Sounds like a good investment to me.

http://pleasurecooker.com/pc/2006/05/26/us-marines-killin-grillin-since-1775/