A Word In Your Ear - June 29, 2017

We were trying out a new steakhouse in St Annes the other evening and it reminded me how eating out and lifestyles had changed over years.
Roy EdmondsRoy Edmonds
Roy Edmonds

The first time I saw a steak served up from the grill was in the 1950s, as a young lad on a family holiday outing to New Brighton.

A well-dressed, single man ordered it on a nearby table at a seaside café come restaurant. We were on fish and chips and the only steak we ate at home was stewed or braised – if we were lucky.

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When it was served up to him, the diner, to everyone else’s embarrassment, complained his luxury choice was too small and overcooked.

“Must be a Yank,” my dad commented. Now we all eat choice steak, meticulously choosing weight, cooking time and accompanying sauce with practised style.

In St Annes steaks came with ‘parsley butter, seasoned fries, (deep-fried) onion loaf, balsamic-glazed tomato and choice of lettuce wedge and steak sauces’.

Fortunately, our steaks are still not as huge as those served up in America – where I had to settle for the unmanly choice of ‘Ladies’ Rib’ (still almost a pound in weight).

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On Saturday, waitress Debbie (we were introduced - American style) took our order on a hand-held computer with lots of attentive questioning. I struggled to choose between my usual sirloin or a more tender fillet, both matured over 30 days (or ‘well-hung’ as we used to say).

In the end, I went for the fillet but later agreed my wife’s ‘50-day-aged, grain-fed and finely marbled’ American-style ribeye was tastier; while my classic Bérnaise dressing paled against the latest version of ‘beef-dripping sauce’.

Other patrons, I couldn’t help noticing, were bigger, louder and more demanding than we English used to be. I fear it’s all that ‘marbling’ (fat) in modern-day food.

What next – ‘Cattleman T-bones’?

• For Roy’s books visit royedmonds-blackpool.com, Amazon or stores.

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