a t-bone steak, cheese, eggs, and welch’s grape

After another month long hiatus, I’m back! Apologies for disappearing after my last post from Taiwan, but with my work load and the nerd-dooming release of Starcraft 2 over the past month, I have had little time for writing.

If you listen to any hip-hop during the 90′s, you will probably recognize this line. “plans to leave, throw the keys to lil cease, pull the truck up front and roll up the next blunt, so we can steam on the way to the telly come feel my belly, a t-bone steak, cheese, eggs, and welch’s grape“. Name that song!

And that last line, ladies and gentlemen, is the inspiration for this post and my lunch this sunny afternoon in Southern California.

You may be telling yourself, “well this is really random”. It may seem random, but if you have known me for a few years now, you’ll know, this is something I’ve strangely never had the chance to make. But today, since I was down in LA for my buddy’s birthday, we were thinking of what to eat for lunch and it suddenly came to us. Why not take this perfect opportunity, and use the excuse of my buddy’s birthday, to eat something completely unhealthy, but oh-so-tasty and a “classic” American meal?

Even I don’t understand why a steak, eggs w/ cheese, and Welch’s grape juice taste so good complimenting each other. But it just does. T-bone steak is richer in flavor than de-boned cuts of meats. The bone gives the steak more flavor, and makes it so delicious. I’m drooling just from the thought of it. Anyways, eggs and a good, medium cheddar cheese provides a nice tasty side and grape juice washes it all down. How can you not like this combo?

I don’t claim or pretend to be a great cook, but I feel that I am pretty good at it regardless, especially when it comes to grilling meat. So here’s my recipe for this meal:

1 twelve ounce t-bone steak
2 eggs
half (1/2) cup of grated medium-cheddar cheese, preferably tilamook
1/2 teaspoon Lawry’s seasoned salt per side
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper per side
a glass of Welch’s brand grape juice

Season the t-bone steak with Lawry’s seasoned salt (regular salt if you don’t have the Lawry’s one) and ground black pepper. Make sure you season each side sparingly, as to not overpower the flavor of the meat. You’ll need about 1/2 a teaspoon of each for each side. Let the steak marinate for about 20-30 minutes.
While waiting for the steak to marinate, crack open 2 eggs (I like the extra large AA white eggs) into a open and beat well until the eggs have lots of air mixed in. You can tell by the bubbles that appear in the egg mixture. season with a pinch of salt. Set the eggs aside. Also, grate about a half (1/2) cup of medium-cheddar cheese. I like to use Tillamook because of the flavor, but you can use any kind. If you don’t want to grate the cheese yourself, buy shredded cheese. I prefer anything other than Kraft or generic brand cheese. Kraft cheese is full of preservatives and all kinds of stuff I can’t pronounce.
Fire up your grill, and make sure your grill is very, very hot. We’re talking, fires of hell hot here. Remember, if the grill is not hot, your food will end up… not good. Enough said. Put your steak on the grill and DO NOT MOVE IT. Let each side cook for about 5 minutes for medium. take off 1 minute for medium rare. Use your best judgment when trying to figure out if your steak is cooked to your liking.
After grilling your steak, put it onto a plate and let it rest. During this time, cook your eggs. I like to make scrambled eggs because it’s easier to eat with the steak. Heat a skillet on high heat with about a table spoon of vegetable oil until the skillet is hot. Then add your egg mixture and stir the eggs until they solidify but are still soft and slightly wet. Then add half of your half cup of cheese and fold the cheese into the eggs. After the eggs become more dry to your liking, put it onto a separate clean plate. Then add additional cheese as you like on top of your eggs.
Your steak should have rested enough so that some of the juices have seeped out. Move your steak onto the plate with the eggs and pour the steak juices on top of your steak.
Pour yourself an ice cold glass of Welch’s grape juice and enjoy!

Here’s a picture of the final product for you to be jealous of until you decide to get off your ass and make it yourself! mmm… steak…