Had my Captain celebrate his promotion to Battalion Chief yesterday and in celebration, we went with the time-honored meat and potatoes meal. It's customary in the fire service that when one makes a promotion that they honor all those that helped them along the way with a steak dinner. As we subtly shift away from beef in the fire service and towards a more balanced, plant friendly diet, we are still carnivores and enjoy a well prepared cut of steak as much as the rest of them. But what to do when serving 20 firefighters ribeyes all at once and limited grill/stovetop space?
The answer lies in a slow approach and the oven. After aggressively seasoning the steaks with salt (the sooner the better), place them uncovered in the fridge on a rack up until just prior to placing in the oven. Set the oven to between 225-275 degrees F and for anywhere up to 30-60 minutes. Why such a large range you ask? It all depends on the amount of time you have till the dinner bell rings and the thickness of the cut. Use a thermometer and place it into the center of the thickest cut and let it gently come up to temperature, usually between 110-120 degrees F. Carry over heat will bring it just to rare as they rest for their final treatment on either the grill of the stovetop. Flip continuously a few minutes a side to achieve a good sear/color till the intended doneness (medium rare for this guy, 125-135 degrees F). And lastly, let them rest! 10-15 minutes is usual or until it drops 5 degrees F internal temp. They will be awesome, trust me...
We also continued our work on our joint patio area for our firehouse with all three shifts contributing. Our latest project was updating the old, worn out patio table. We sanded, primed and painted it bring it back to life. The love is in the details which are represented in the station numbers which still reflect the old look while embracing our present. It was a great crew building adventure and continues to show the pride and ownership that has made our firehouse famous.
Hope everything is well.
R.