Steak Paradises: A Second Helping: On the Travel Channel
February 25, 2009
Every time I see the program Steak Paradises: A Second Helping, on the Travel Channel, I scratch my head.
They did a nice profile on Gene and Georgetti.
Some of the quotes include:
Narrator: "The steak world is divided into two major categories: those who dry-age, and those who wet-age"
Tony Georgetti, an owner, adds: "We use wet-aged beef, instead of a dry-aged. The difference is dry-aged is hung, by itself, and then it gets crusty on both ends, it gets very, it's just dry-aged, it looks dried-out when it's ready to be cut. Wet-aging, it's in its own juices, and there's no waste to it."
Head chef (as he's showing the primal): "The wet-aged, look at how beautiful, how fresh, how red."
Head chef (as he's sticking the steaks with a big ol' fork whilst they're cooking): "This [the fork] is the best...the secret is to use the fork...never pinch [pierce?] in the center [of the steak], always at the tail."
I can appreciate that programs are edited together, and I'd never take direct quotes as meaningful. But I can't help but see some silliness in not only the defense of their wet aging process, but also how they handle the steaks when they're being cooked...stabbing it with a fork. I can also appreciate that Luger's cooks use forks, but I've never seen them defend that fact.
Chicago, you know I love you, and you know I think your pizza is silly, but this piece makes me wonder: have you ever eaten at Peter Luger's?
On a related note, I picked up an 8 ounce dry-aged strip from a New Jersey Whole Foods yesterday, and just as I was about to write off their dry-aged steaks, it blew me away. At 15 bucks, a good steak for sure.