I’ve Tri Tip and Flat Iron here in Australia, but only on restaurant menus. Do enjoy the Tri Tip for sure.
Also, Great blog post @T3hPwnisher , really enjoyed that one this morning!
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The only way I’ve eaten it with any success is by cooking it in the oven with tomatoes on top. I think it’s common to pour a can of diced tomatoes on top. The acid from the tomatoes helps tenderize the steak so you can actually chew it.
It’s not bad when done right but it’s definitely not going to land on a steakhouse menu.
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We ate it as a kid growing up. Swiss refers to the method of tenderizing, typically round steak. It’s then braised because, well, round steak. When we got round steak it would be on special and we would also have “steak sandwiches.” If you can imagine trying to bite into round steak between a roll dipped in beef stock - the entire hunk of meat would come out.
There were a few other doozies in my mother’s arsenal. One was beef rollups - shredded beef (possibly the aforementioned round steak) layered on biscuit dough, rolled up, cut in rolls and baked, then smothered in gravy. My father called that one Turkish Prison Surprise.
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Always plenty of traffic when the topic is food, haha.
@antiquity I grew up in San Diego, and I honestly had no idea about Tri Tip until I was living in Santa Maria, and had it not been for that I doubt I’d have any awareness of it, outside of the fact that I like watching BBQ competition shows and it’s occasionally featured on there. But my time living in Santa Maria definitely gave me an appreciation for it, and prepared correctly it’s absolutely divine, and I now use it as a point of pride, telling BBQers from around the country “Tri Tip is California’s gift to BBQ: you’re welcome”. All that said, I didn’t go out of my way to pick up a tri tip this week: it just happened to be on sale at Sam’s club. BUT, BECAUSE I knew what a tri tip WAS, I was able to leap on the opportunity and turn it into something pretty magical.
@Frank_C Regarding that swiss steak, you may really appreciate this video
All the tricks to take a terrible cut (in this case, eye round) and make it delicious. Regarding the orange: pineapple and asian pears are known to contain the enzyme bromelain, which is also what is found in meat tenderizing powder, which is why it’s used in marinades for tough meats. Oranges don’t contain it, but I wonder if there’s a similar thought process there.
@wiseman83 Appreciate you reading the blog dude! I really enjoyed writing that one.
@OyAmPipMayo I’m starting to wonder if ya’ll are referring that I knew as “cube steak” growing up
Because I remember cube steak sandwiches being exactly as you described. That, and London Broil, which SOUNDS really exotic when you’re a kid, and then you grow up and realize it’s just cheap tough meat, haha.
Speaking of food…
I don’t normally do nutrition recaps on Sunday, but today was kinda interesting. We got home late from the concert, so I got up and did a McDonald’s breakfast run for the family while I just had some coffee. I waited until lunch, wherein we went out to Culver’s and I realized that an awesome way to sum up this nutritional approach is “Red meat & Black Coffee”, which may actually be the name of a future book or T-shirt. But either way, I got 5 burger patties, 2 pads of butter, and black coffee.
Dinner was a family meal: we did cheesy tuna casserole, using a block of shredded grassfed mild cheddar, alongside some sourdough toasted in Amish butter. Enjoyed a small slice of homemade peppermint cheesecake and 3 of the Valkyrie’s chocolate chip vanilla pudding cookies with some local raw honey.
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Swiss Steak (according to Google) is a recipe that uses a steak (usually round) that has been “swissed,” which is a tenderizing method. The recipe is a braise with tomatoes.
Cube steak is a tough cut of meat that has been tenderized by “swissing” it. It can then be used in a dish like Swiss Steak.
I often use London Broil with chimichurri - fast cook, very rare, slice thin against the grain, add chimichurri.
Diction rules.
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@OyAmPipMayo Discussion like this are why I always chuckle when I hear “carnivore is boring”. There are like a jillion cuts of beef alone, and thousands of ways to prepare it. I’ve discovered a passion for what I call “cooking”, but it’s legit ONLY preparing animal proteins. Like, I haven’t prepared a potato since 2014, and back then it was microwaving a sweet potato. Yet I am STILL constantly finding new recipes and ideas to try. It’s such a fascinating world to explore.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm, rough night of sleep)
TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 4, Workout 1
MAIN WORK
SSB Front Squats
5x5x230
ALTERNATE w/
Axle Strict Press from rack
5x5x161+1 push press rep per set
Chins between sets
CONDITIONING
3 rounds of 150lb sandbag medley
ASSISTANCE
GHR sit ups
3x10
Notes:
- Really wasn’t super jazzed to train this morning: had some restless sleep. However, knowing I had an awesome breakfast waiting for me motivated me. One of the perks of this coffee fasting strategy: it makes the weight training sessions worth waking up for. I, historically, struggle with motivating during non-gaining training blocks, because I don’t feel like I’m “building” anything with the training compared to when I’m actually growing.
- Squats moved very smooth, and each day my knee gets better and less pain. I’ve noticed that my cycles with front squats tend to go this way, so I’m curious if it will continue when I get on back squats during Mass Protocol.
- I was moving slow on the conditioning toward the end, but focused on fast feet during the early rounds.
- Weighed in at 84.9kg. Good showing on a post-carb up weigh in.
- Got in a 1:18 hold last night. I have to start singing different songs in my head now, because I was learning how to pace myself off the old one, and it was preventing me from really digging deep.
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This is me. When I went to a meditation retreat where we meditated for ten or more hours per day, I needed to find a way to measure time. I figured out that I breathe eight times per minute when meditating so I would count my breaths. I would keep track of the minutes by adding the minute to the breath - first breath was eleven, second twelve, first breath of the second minute was 21, second 22 and so on.
I’ve recently been diagnosed with AuDHD.
Just saying 
.
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I am more than certain I could be diagnosed with some manner of disorder in a similar manner. Obsession runs amongst the males in my bloodline, and I’ve frequently felt like my ability to rapidly metabolize caffeine is most likely indicative of me self-medicating AHDH with stimulants.
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My dad calls these minute steaks because that’s how long it takes to cook one on the grill. These are the snacks we eat while grilling something better. Throw a t-bone or ribeye on a charcoal grill and a couple of these and you have instant meat snacks.
The way you describe it makes it sound kind of good. Shredded tells me I can still bite and chew it. And then you really had me at biscuit and gravy.
This loving family name reminds me of my family recipe with a loving name - Shit on a Shingle. I don’t even think that’s special to my family. It’s chipped beef in gravy served over a slice of bread. We were really living large back then.
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I don’t even think that’s special to my family.
It’s an old military name for that dish: the kind of depravity that can only come from soldier in a foxhole, haha.
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We had this too. My dad was a military man so I guess that’s where it came from. I really did like it as a kid though.
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According to my grandfather (RIP), who was the Chief Petty Officer on the USS Enterprise during WWII, Shit on a Shingle is generally considered ground beef in white sauce on toast.
Chip beef, a family favorite as well, is properly known as Creamed Foreskins on Toast.
You’re welcome.
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This was ours. Not chipped beef.
Thank you for that. Now it’s in my head.
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Ah, yes, The foreskins removed from your slain enemies. The ultimate flex.
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Man, coming back from a long break so scrolling from newest up to catch up… I see this line and already know EXACTLY what the reference was haha
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Would buy both.
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@atlas13 Somethings transcend branches and generations, haha.
@burien_top_team I may have to get good with AI and come up with a t-shirt design for it. I do wanna release some “Chaos is the Plan” gear at some point as well.
Nutrition Recap
Breakfast is simple again: 14.5oz of airfried grassfed lamb leg alongside beef liver and 3 whole eggs/5 whites. This was lamb from Aldi rather than Costco, and I gotta say I enjoyed it quite a bit more. Breakfasts are going to be awesome this week.
Dinner was pork chops for the family. I had 2 of the bigger ones for myself, and the fat cut off the Valkyrie and Kiddos (they take care of me). Alongside 3 whole eggs and 5 whites. This was a sous vide experiment, because the Valkyrie likes well done pork chops, and I was hoping cooking them in the sous vide would have them turn out juicy and flavorful. …turns out a sous vide isn’t magic, but this was BETTER than they’ve been. Finished off with a butter baste with garlic cloves in my cast iron, but I think in the future I’m just going to sous vide for the Valkyrie and pan fry/sear for myself so I can have mine on the medium rare side. Still, it’s been fun playing around in the kitchen.
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And now that is in my head too. Thanks.
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@antiquity I realized I never answered your question regarding beef bacon. It’s effectively thinly sliced brisket, cut from the same part of the cow. I prefer it to pork, because along with not being high in Omega-6s, I prefer the flavor and texture to it.
AM WORKOUT (0515 wake up via Valkyrie’s Alarm)
TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 4, Workout 2
“SPEED/ENDURANCE LADDERS” on rower
- 400m row
- 40 seconds rest
- 300
- 30
- 200
- 20
- 100
- 10
- 100
- 20
- 200
- 30
- 300
- 40
- 400
- and back down to 100 again
Notes:
- This is the “advanced” version, where you just keep doing ladders. I like it. I need to really have the discipline to give it my all and not dog it on the rowing, but the skillset it is developing is valuable.
- Got in a 1:15 hold last night. My average is improving.
- Coffee fasting this morning. Nice to come back to it. I’m enjoying the time away from eating to have a break from digesting.
- Weighed in at 84.9: same as yesterday. Good sign. My clothes are fitting better, to include my weight belt.
- Tang Soo Do tonight. It’s basics week, and our chance to get our final stripe so we can test for new belts in Mar. Doing so will put the Valkyrie and I 2 belts away from testing for black, and the kiddo 3 away. Our instructor keeps talking about WHEN we test, rather than if. It’s pretty awesome how far we’ve come.
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I’ve enjoyed the writing lately man, both the “humanity” blogpost and the “eat like an obese person” reddit post. I admire your tenacity in trying to spread the good word even though so many people come out the woodwork with negative feedback. The internet is not a place for level-headed discussion, haha.
It’s really not hard to make a connection between the 2 posts either. So many replies on the reddit post were along the lines of “LOL whatever, I just put 1500 calories in a blender and it worked for me”. But that’s such a weird way to live. And I fell for it too, believe me. But who wants to be the strong, jacked guy who is living out of his blender bottle? It’s like the cartoon meme of the guy at the party sulking in the corner going “I bet they don’t even lift”. Chase Karnes still had the best article on the subject; people need to get back to eating the kind of meals they serve at diners and BBQ joints.
It’s funny to me, I now understand the reason John McCallum put the “get big drink” as one of the first few articles in the Keys to Progress, and the Vitamin B bread and muffins (along with the other nutrition-based articles) at the end. He knew you had to hook the lowest common denominator first…
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