So, it’s Monday . . . and this Friday my hunk-o-beef of a husband and I are traveling to NYC for a long weekend.

We need it.

Guess what we’re frantically searching for before we get there.

The best steak in town.

I know, it’s hard to believe.

Since we know we won’t be able to grill up our own T-bones in the hotel room, a steakhouse will have to do.

But where to go?

We’ve done Sparks. Check out our experience here.

And Peter Luger’s only had a 3:45 or 9:45 reservation time available.

Neither sounds like “dinnertime” to me.

So, we’re up a creek. In Manhattan. And that’s hard to do.

It should be an interesting journey trolling the streets of Midtown in search of a steak without reservations. But we’re crazy like that.

You know that thing called a “recession” we’re supposedly in? The steakhouses in the tri-borough area apparently never got that memo. They’re booked solid.

Score one for the beef industry.

Now, if I could just score a steak . . .

Illustration courtesy of iabeef.org.

Looking for something to work into your diet? Here’s a steak recipe idea packed with protein from our British friend Kerry over at GroupRecipes.com.

Take note that the measurements are geared toward her homeland (and some of her spelling, too —  i.e. “flavour”).

Enjoy, love!

Healthy Steak and Kidney Pie Recipe

452 calories per serving. This recipe is light, aromatic and utterly wonderful. I promise that it won’t clobber you over the head with the flavour of the kidneys, so you will want to eat it all year round. This is what you might call a ‘blonde’ take on a masculine old classic. …

Ingredients

90g ready-rolled puff pastry (preferably a brand made with butter)

A little milk, to brush over the pastry

4 free-range lamb’s kidneys, trimmed by the butcher

1 tablespoon buckwheat flour (you could use plain)

1kg good-quality lean free-range braising steak, cut into chunks

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

800g shallots, peeled and quartered

1 star anise

1 stick of cinnamon

1 bay leaf

150ml vermouth

700ml good-quality beef stock

Directions

Preheat a conventional oven to 200ºC or a fan-assisted one to 180ºC.

Roll out the sheet of puff pastry and divide into six triangles of roughly the same size (or cut out fun shapes of whatever you fancy – for the show, we used a cow-shaped pastry cutter and some stars!).

Brush the tops with a little milk and set onto a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until puffed up and golden. Set aside for later.

If you haven’t already got the butcher to do this for you, slice the kidneys widthways with a sharp knife.

With the help of a small pair of scissors, carefully snip around the lighter centre core and discard. Then chop the livers into cubes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the buckwheat flour, the steak, the kidneys and white pepper until evenly coated.

In a really large saucepan, fry half the meat in half the olive oil until it is well-browned, then set aside. Repeat the process for the other half until all the meat is well-coloured.

Replace the meat into the pan, along with the shallots, star anise, cinnamon, the vermouth and stock.

Bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down and place a lid over the top. Simmer super-duper gently for two hours before removing the lid and tasting.

The meat may not need the last half an hour or it may want slightly more (it all depends on the steak that you are using, the size of the chunks and the pan). What you are looking for is meat that has surrendered most of its tension without shredding into a mess.

Season well and top with a crisp of golden puff pastry on the top of each serving.

Photo and excerpt courtesy of GroupRecipes.com.

Today, class, we will be discussing a form of the word “steak” that does not get its fair share of airtime out here in the real world.

Apparently, “steaky” is actually a word that has meaning to people other than obsessive bloggers who spend hours pontificating about steak.

I, myself, have used the word “steaky” to describe something that is totally awesome. (See aforementioned obsessive blogger reference.) But I did not know the word was making the rounds in society outside of the steak community.

“Steaky” now has its own entry in the Urban Dictionary. And I am so proud I have tears welling up in my eyes.

Here’s what it says:

Steaky 

 Adjective.

1. Steak-like. In reference to steak.

2. Generally a positive comment of approval or recognition.

Steaky is derived from the word steak. Steak being a tasty piece of meat of high quality. Things that are steaky thus possess steak-like qualities without actually having any implied reference to the meat.

A: I just aced the test!

B: Steaky! 

A: A love this band, their music is so steaky.

B: Their steakiness is unmatched.

cool awesome alright right-on neat

by Famous James Splinter

Notice the words I have highlighted in red above. Those are synonyms for “steaky.” And by the looks of them, “steaky” has been around since the ’70s. I don’t think I’ve used “right-on” or “neat” for decades.

So there you have it. Steak’s impact has moved BEYOND the world of food and has infiltrated the American lexicon.

Well done, steak. Well done.

Definition excerpt courtesy of UrbanDictionary.com.