The Charr love their big lumps of meat, so it's no surprise that this recipe for "celebratory steak" stems from their culture. This specific recipe can be traced back to Vaastas Meatslayer (an apt name) who developed not just the recipe but a special way of aging the beef as well. He was very particular and would only work with beef from Bovarin Estate cattle. He insisted that the flavour of their flesh was without parallel, especially when his special aging and seasoning process was applied.

Unfortunately no one was ever able to convince him to give up the secret to his special aging process, but he did share his recipe for cooking the steaks with a few lucky travellers and, while I did not get this recipe directly from him, I have compared notes with several such travellers and am convinced that what I am sharing below is an accurate representation of his famous dish. There's not much to it. But sometimes that's the trick with good food. You start with top-notch ingredients and then just resist the urge to mess with it too much and let the food sing.

Unfortunately I have yet to find a Terran supplier of Bovarin Estate beef. And, as noted, I was not able to dig up Vaastas's secret aging process. In light of that, I recommend you try to find yourself a high-quality, dry-aged steak for this recipe. You don't necessarily need to splash out on getting the most expensive cut, but try for something high-quality and relatively tender. I used a large sirloin steak for my rendition of this beloved recipe, but I think porterhouse, T-bone, striploin, or club steak would also fit the bill.

Celebratory Steak

Ingredients

• very good quality steak(s)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt per kg of steak
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns per kg of steak, ground
• 4 cloves of garlic per kg of steak, minced
• 1-2 fresh serano, jalapeño, or finger chilies per kg of steak, minced

Directions

1. Light your grill and let it preheat while you prep the meat.
2. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the surface of the steak(s). Make sure to get both sides.
3. If you have a molcaljete or mortar and pestle capable of mashing the garlic and chilies, do this now (or use commercial garlic paste)¹.
4. Spread the garlic and chilies as evenly as possible over both sides of the steak(s).
5. Sear the steak over direct heat, flipping to cook the other side once the first side has some good colour on it.
6. If your steak is very thick and you like it more well done, you may need to move it to indirect heat to finish cooking. Usually I find that by the time the outside is coloured the way I like the inside is cooked enough for my preference though.
7. Serve fresh off the grill with your favourite sides. (Or, if you're a Charr, with more meat!)

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¹ Mashing the garlic and chilies into a paste makes it easier to spread them evenly over the surface of the steak, but is not strictly necessary. ^Back