More Kitchen Adventures

Like any food lover/cook, I can never settle with only making the recipes I know I like and come out successfully. How boring would that be? I am always finding new ideas and recipes that I want to try and i mix them in with my standbys.

One thing I decided to try to learn to cook recently is steak. Around Valentine's Day I saw lots of recipes for romantic steak dinners for two. And even though I'm just a one, I studied them and thought- "I could do this."

Next trip to Costco, I found a 4-pack of Filet Mignon for $21.49. That is just $0.50 more than the small Victoria's Filet at Outback, which I will admit I have ordered for delivery when I was really craving a steak dinner.

So I thought, I have 4 tries to cook this steak correctly and it is equal to the price of eating just one steak at a relatively inexpensive steakhouse (by NYC standards at least).

Attempt number 1 didn't go very well. I combined about 4 different recipes and had a plan to make the meat and some sauce. Well...the meat didn't cook enough and the sauce smoked up really badly and basically evaporated in the pan. But lessons learned; more cooking time, no sauce.

Attempt number 2 was better.....but the meat turned out a bit overcooked. I like a medium rare steak and I think after the frustration of having to keep cooking the meat after my sides were ready the first time, I was generous in cooking time. It was also a slightly thinner filet.

Attempt number 3 should have been a success; in theory, all I had to do was combine the lessons learned from 1 and 2. Yeah....still ended up with slightly undercooked meat. And this time, I felt like it was under seasoned as well.

So, the infamous 4th filet is in my freezer and I'm torn. Do I aim to make the perfect steak OR do I try an awesome sounding beef wellington with Gorgonzola cheese recipe? And even more importantly, do I buy more steak on my next Costco trip or do I regale it to restaurant-only food? (and yes, I actually do have "restaurant-only" foods like hamburgers and buffalo wings).