The Attraction to Steak
It’s not hard to understand steak’s role in sexy meals. Steak is the visceral, naughty taste equivalent to a good, hard fuck.
Eating Up The Foreplay
Considered decadent and expensive, steak’s reputation has withstood the whims of culinary culture and shows no sign of losing its sex-symbol status.
is as good for food as it is for sex. Be sure that anytime you handle raw meat, you wash your hands thoroughly before touching anything else. I use the “raise your hand” trick: I handle raw meat only with one hand, then hold it up over my head until I wash it. This gives me the other hand to do anything time-sensitive before I get to scrub, and it’s hard to accidentally touch something with my contaminated hand.
•Heat and lube are as important for steak as it is for your love life. Start with a hot pan. Your steak does not require foreplay! While the pan heats, rub your meat with olive, vegetable or canola oil. This will help keep the steak from sticking to the pan and will help keep the seasonings stuck to the steak.
•Salt and pepper are steak’s unsung heroes. Sprinkle both liberally onto your lubed-up meat. I recommend kosher salt the chef’s salt of choice. Kosher salt (or sea salt) has larger granules than table salt, but is less “salty” to the tongue. This means that kosher salt flakes cling to the steak better, and end up more evenly distributed. Freshly cracked black pepper, of course, is the best accompaniment.
• Knowledge is key. Learning how to cook a steak to a specific doneness can’t be learned from reading an article. Practice and an excellent cookbook (okay, or the Food Network, if you must) are your friend. All of this will be of no use, though, unless you know how your lover likes his or her meat. Most people are as picky about their steaks as they are about their sex. A slab of beef that’s overdone and tough, or so rare you can still hear the moo, can be quite the mood-killer, depending on your sweetie’s tastebuds.]
We should all be so lucky!
Steak is a heavy, rich meat, and the last thing you want is to complete your sexy dinner with a need to sprawl out on the couch like a beached whale for a couple of hours to recover.
Light side dishes are a must, and fortunately, with a big star like steak as the main attraction, they’re all you’ll need. Steamed veggies spruced up with a little butter and sliced almonds can do the trick, or a salad heavy on the greens and light on the dressing can bring the calorie count down.
No Meat? No Problem!
Believe it or not, Portobello mushrooms are the steak of the vegetable world. Their meaty heft and flavor make them an easy substitute. Portobellos take up sexy grill marks nicely, and if you happen to serve a mixture of veggie-eaters and carnivores, you can use the same marinades and gravies (provided that they’re not meat-based themselves, of course) on meats and mushrooms alike.
Just be aware that Portobellos aren’t as filling as steak, and so you may want to opt for a heftier side dish to make sure your sweetie has the fuel to last the night.
Veggie-friendly appetizers are another great option, particularly if they’re finger food or easily fed to one another—think marinated veggies on toothpicks or mini phyllo pastry cups baked with cheese inside.
From The Plate To The Pillow
Be sure to give yourself and your dining companion(s) enough time to digest a little before you hit the mattress. A light dessert of fruits and sweet cream can give you the time to settle your stomach even as you engage in a little oral foreplay. An after-dinner drink (alcoholic or not) mixed with a little dirty talk can ease your way from the table to the bed, too.
In the end, a sexy steak dinner is sexy because you think of it that way. Treat the meal planning, the cooking, the presentation on the plate, and the eating itself as a form of culinary foreplay.
Learn what you need to know about cooking steak the same way you’d pick up an extra sexy technique or two to wow your lover. Think of food as sex for your mouth, and you’ll start to understand why steak remains in the realm of the carnal after all this time.
Filet Mignon. Mmm, juicy!