Monday, November 12, 2007

Anatomy of a cow

I just got back from a lovely dinner with my brother. We went to a fancy Chicago steakhouse, one with ambient lighting and fancy table settings and decorated with fresh flowers and tons of artwork.

There was one weird thing, though. All throughout the restaurant, they had sculptures of cows. Some of the sculptures showed the various cuts of beef.



Maybe this appeals to some people: People who like to know that the flank steak comes from the underbelly, and the round comes from the rear end. These are the same people that probably want to know what the cow was fed and how it was treated and whether it had a name.

Not me. I just want my steak to be cooked medium rare.


4 comments:

anne said...

i've heard before that americans, unlike europeans, do not like to know or even care to know where their food comes from.

Paige Jennifer said...

Amen to medium rare! I cringe whenever I hit a steak joint and hear someone order the meat well done. Especially when said someone is a guy I'm dating. Might as well go chew on a boot if well done is your idea of properly prepared steak.

What? Me opinionated? Never!

Andy said...

You'd be surprised how many times I get asked where on the cow a different piece of meat comes from. I feel like a steak house putting that up in pictures takes away an important dinner conversation for steak knowledgeable individuals with little other conversational skills such as myself.

dara said...

e.b.: I should be more clear. I like to know where my food comes from -- I like to know that my vegetables are pesticide free, my fish is wild-caught, and my dairy comes from horomone-free cows. What I don't want to see is a diagram of what part of the animal my meat came from while I am eating it.

pj: My father says that ordering your steak any more cooked than medium rare is a sign of a poor upbringing. But I'll admit that there was a time in the mid-90's where my germaphobe tendencies had me ordering my meat more well done. Then I remembered that I like the taste of meat.

Basically what all that boils down to is that if you don't like the taste of meat rare or medium-rare, you might as well order the chicken.

Andy: You are just fine at dinner conversation. Plus you like to share dessert, which makes you all right in my book.