Dude's Night In.

Tough times call for bargains in the kitchen. Take the often overlook Top Round Roast. Some call it a London Broil; which is a snootier sounding name because it's Euro and Broiled..... I, on the other hand just call it a roast. This was a clearance roast from Food Lion I threw in the freezer until Sat Morning..... thawed it in the sink along with some other bacon scraps i dug out of the freezer. The Rub It. Any Dry Rub..... I used some of Uncle John's spices--- it was a mix of your standard rubbing spices: salt, garlic, onion, pepper, cayenne, and something called chardex which J pIe thinks is a product of something charred. Just to be sure the rub didn't fall off, i slapped some of those bacon strips on it.... then i wrapped it in saran and threw it in the fridge for an hour or so......

Bake at 400, uncovered in a roasting pan... if you've got a rack (and not the female kind) you could use that but i don't and i didn't. Flip it after 25 minutes..... roast another 20 and check it.... My meat thermometer read 125 which is what i read online somewhere was for medium.... this was a little more done than medium but not terribly so...... Tent with foil for 15 mins or long enough to bake some steak fries---again a bargain from Food Lion. Oh I should mention this was for a 2.5 lb roast. J-Pie's tiny hand is shown here for size comparisons.

Someone (i.e. the interwebs) once told me the trick to London Broil was the way you slice it.... I'm not certain I got it down yet but i cut across the grain into strips.... this is where you discern the roast from the steak.... sliced on your plate when its time to eat, as opposed to delivering it to you with a steak knife.

Some other side dishes that came out of this endeavor:

1. the tasty oven roasted and beef juice marinated bacon strips.... J-pie couldn't help himself......

2. Meat shots. All that delicious meaty juice shouldn't go to waste. However, it was a little too much for us up there on 2 legs. Jake on the other hand was very appreciative.

The best part---- I've got tasty roast beef strips for sandwiches all week..... Today I nuked 4 strips and put it on a sammy with CoJack, romaine and spicy mustard...... daily heaven.

Fiscally Responsible Friday Nights

After a week with the kiddies, (despite a shredding band practice) I really needed a beer. So did J-Pie. And what better ivory to the ebony of this malted beverage than fire and animal. Inspired by salty's CLUCKFEST of last week, we set out to procure chicken and beer. (and a little guac for good measure but we ate that so fast no photo exists). However, when T-Bones are on sale for $4.99 a pound, and in these economically tough times, we did the fiscally responsible thing and forgot all about chicken. Brought em home, cracked that beer and dry rubbed some amazing spice mixes into that red flesh (Pork Chop Spice and some BBQ seasoning. (Note: when your gay uncle sends you some custom blended spice mixes from the snobbiest shoppes in Denver, you USE them... liberally) A mere six minutes a side, pull em off and drop some mixed organic greens next to it to roughage up the intestines before assaulting the colon with that rare T-BONE.

(Above left you will see my steak, and on the right the meat that now resides in J-Pie's colon for the next year)

Fud off you chic-fil-a cows, we are more YOU.