Rib-eye and Costco

I enjoy our Costco shopping days. There is something about bulk shopping that is comforting, some sort of security I get from knowing the cupboards will be full a while longer. I have some theories about why this is true for me, but they are deeply personal, and I'm not sure I want to write about them here, at least not at this time. Aside from the philosophical and visceral reasons, there is a simple reason as well; coming home with a bargain on good meats. Sure, I'd prefer some carefully aged beef from Fox & Obel downtown, but it isn't the most convenient place to get to. And while well worth the price, it isn't the sort of indulgence I feel we can afford for an ordinary weekend meal. I was thrilled to see some well-marbled rib eye steaks today at Costco, and in a reasonably-sized 4 pack to boot!

Too often, butchers these days cut away too much of the fat from rib-eyes. To make matters worse (and less tasty), cattle are bred to be leaner for the American market for a variety of reasons. (I will take a pass on writing about food supply chains and large-scale farming for now). The cuts we bought today were good, and I knew they would yield some nice, juicy results.

But I had a bonus surprise waiting for me later in our shopping trip today. The folks from Smoke Daddy were sampling some of their BBQ sauce today, and they were selling the bottles in a buy-one-get-one promotion for today as well. As often as not, I make my own BBQ sauce, and I delight in experimenting with a core formula that has come to serve me well. But I also delight in the results of others' experiments, and this sauce was damn good. I decided to pair it up with our rib-eyes tonight, and it sure was tasty.

On the side - some boiled red-skinned potatoes with a bit of cheddar, chive and bacon along with some corn rounded things out for us. The bacon is another Costco favorite of mine. They sell bags of pre-cooked crumbled bacon, and it is incredibly handy to have on hand for any number of uses. We also popped open a bottle of Malbec (from France; usually we drink Argentinian Malbecs), and it was decent, if uncomplicated.

The verdict

It is almost never a bad night when the grill is involved. We were lucky the rain kept to the mid afternoon. The sauce worked. Solid, tasty, and a nice enhancement for the meat. I kept mine to a perfect medium-rare, and served my wife a less-marbled cut cooked to an equally perfect medium. The fat did its job; the meat was juicy and succulent throughout. The smoky hints from the bacon in the potatoes were a plus as well, but I may have been just the slightest bit overzealous with the chives.

The wine was not a disappointment, but it was not as great a pairing with the beef that our usual suspects from Argentina would have been. Argentines most definitely have great wines for beef, as do the French, but given my choice, at this point in time, I'll stick with the South Americans. If anything, this bottle of wine was too earthy and lacked complexity to really enhance the meal.

Still, it was a great dinner, and the larder is again replete. Thanks, Costco, for the security of bulk buying.

We will probably be enjoying a few nights of leftovers now. I'll write about them if they prove worth the effort.