A New Method for Cooking Steak, and the Best Bottle of Red Wine I've had in Months.

A friend who is particularly fond of grass fed beef was at the Union Square Farmer's Market recently and asked his favorite cattle farmer for advice on cooking techniques. He had splurged on a couple of grass fed strip steaks, an expensive cut of beef so tender that it can be served rare and still sliced thick. Here is what the farmer advised:

Bring the steaks up to room temperature - take them out of the fridge a solid two hours before cooking. Do not salt or season them in any way until right before cooking. Put the steaks in a 275 degree oven for 25 minutes (the steaks were about an inch and a half thick), and then sear them in a hot pan on the stove top for just moments per side, only for color.

My friend was skeptical - he thought the steaks would be overcooked. But he followed this advice and said the results were great. So the other night when I had a hankering for a good steak, I decided to try this method of cooking. I went to the food coop and grabbed a pound of beautiful strip steak by Slope Farms, without question my favorite source for grass fed, no antibiotic, no hormone, free range, yoga practicing beef. I did this at about 4:30 and since BrooklynLady and I would eat at about 7:30 after our daughters were (hopefully) in a deep sleep and would not hear the clanging of cooking pans, I left the steak out on the counter to come to room temperature.

I followed the instructions exactly - seasoned the meat just before putting it in the oven at 275 degrees for 25 minutes. Potatoes finished roasting, a simple green salad composed, and after 25 minutes I took the steak out of the oven. Nothing had happened - it looked as though it hadn't cooked at all. It was deep purple and still marbled with fat. Okay, to the pan and we'll eat in 10 minutes. But touching the steak, it was clear that it had, in fact, cooked a bit, and the side touching the rack was a bit gray. It felt essentially the way steak feels when it's cooked rare to medium-rare. Weird. So I continued with the plan and seared it for a moment or two on each side, and let it rest on a cutting board for a few minutes.Can I tell you that this steak was fantastic? The inside was perfectly rosy and meltingly tender, and the outside was seared for that caramelized complexity and great texture, but there was no gray layer of overcooked meat between the outer char and the rosy interior, as I usually get when I pan-fry a steak. This one was just perfect, and I'm totally sold on this method.What wine with this simple but still decadent feast? BrooklynLady requested a Rhône red, but the only bottle I had in the house turned out to be corked, an Ardeche Syrah by Joseph Gonon. We decided to open a special bottle, a 1999 Chateau Musar, $36, Imported by Broadbent Selections. I've had this famous wine from Lebanon on several occasions and enjoyed it each time, but this was far and away the finest bottle I've had. It was simply stunning wine, and we savored every drop. It was a perfect pairing with our meal, which may in turn have elevated the wine a bit, but it was perfect nonetheless. Can you imagine spending $450 for a top left bank Bordeaux when you can buy this wine for about $40? Okay, not exaclty the same thing, but similar style of wine that pairs with the same types of food.

This iconic wine is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Cinsault and Carignan, all old vines, and all grown at high elevation where there are cool breezes and the grapes can retain lots of acid. Gaston Hochar, the proprietor of the estate, holds wine until he feels it is ready for release, and 2000 is the current vintage on retail shelves.

The nose was vibrant with sweet fresh berries and cassis, and refined leathery and herbal undertones. There was not even a hint of the volatile acidity that sometimes plagues this wine. The palate was energetic and alive, a very complex marriage of fruit, soil, acidity, and secondary herbal notes, beautifully balanced with a tender mouth feel. This is a deep and powerful wine, and there is still great structure - it could probably age indefinitely, although if I could be assured that all bottles would be this perfectly resolved, I would happily drink what I have this year. Why not? It's absolutely fantastic wine. And you know what they say about a bird in the hand...

I Learned that I Know Nothing About Wine

The more I learn about wine, the more I realize that I don't know.

This was also true when I played a lot of chess, when I was getting into economics courses in grad school, basically anytime I've undertaken anything of any import. Even within the wine regions I know, I don't really know anything. I guess it requires some degree of experience and knowledge to understand how much there is that I don't know. For example, it's impossible to understand the vastness of chess until you study the game for a while. Same is true with wine, I would say. Exciting and frustrating at the same time, isn't it?

The other night I was lucky enough to go to Keith Levenberg's Wine-fest and BBQ, and I had one of those "I am clueless" experiences with wine. I tasted so many wines that are new to me. There were about 20 people present, most knew each other already, and everyone came with at least two bottles. I had never met any of these folks. They know each other from the E-Bob message boards, NYC wine dinners, and other wine-geek events. Very nice people in general, and lots of interesting wine. And Keith grilled up some delicious food too - lamb meatballs, several kinds of steak, watermelon and feta salad, and minty wheat bulgur salad.

I didn't even try to take any notes, so I cannot share the specifics of some of the wines. There was everything from Grand Cru Burgundy to Barolo to Sancerre rosé. Although no Bordeaux, if I am not mistaken. I drank my first Raveneau Chablis, my first Produttori del Barbaresco, and my first Musar. There was a Savennières, a Santaney, a Blagny, and all sorts of other good stuff. And drinking these wines, listening to others talk about them, thinking about them myself...I realized how little I really understand about wine, how limited are my experiences. There was a moment of hopelessness, but then acceptance, and then happiness thinking about all of the learning still to come. Okay, well maybe the happiness was in part due to the distinct lack of any sort of spit bucket.

Here are some of the wines that stood out for me:

1992 Edmunds St John Syrah Grand Heritage. Incredibly delicious wine. So pure, so layered, so satisfying. Out of all these amazing wines, who would guess that one of the most memorable would come from...California?

1991 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard. Smooth as silk, plush, just delicious. Another excellent California wine. Who knew. Do they still make 'em like this?

1999 Chateau Musar. What an amazing wine! Incredibly acidic, but in a good way. Spicy, fruity, vibrant and alive. The light and translucent color completely belies the wine's intensity. This is the one that I must buy for my own cellar.

2000 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Raveneau...I get it now. Crystalline mineral deliciousness, and with such great depth and focus. I want more, but these wines are over $100 a bottle now. M. Levenberg says that there is great Grand Cru Chablis for under $40, so I might stick with whatever that is instead.

2004 Produttori del Barbaresco. Didn't realize that there are about 10 possible wines this could be - sorry, didn't get the specifics. Whatever it was, it was so juicy and delicious, with very nice acidity. And supposedly ages very well too.

2001 Baumard Savennières Clos de Papillon. This is excellent wine, very mineral, some tropical notes to the nose. Well balanced and just delicious. I wound up taking what was left of the bottle home, and it was even better the next day.

2002 Domaine du Closel Savennières Clos de Papillon. Delicious, especially after an hour open. But it clearly will not improve for the next 20 years, something that it is supposed to do. Several tastes commented on the change in style at Closel. Be that as it may, the wine is, utterly beautiful right now. Full of honeyed minerals, nice mellow acids, something herbal running underneath. I should pull the few bottles I have out of the cellar and drink them over the next year or two.

1992 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese **. Pure and lovely with nice orchard fruit flavors, a clean finish that lingers with a bit of spice. I thought it was just great, but my favorite part was watching the experienced Riesling folk in the crowd drink it with this ho-hum reaction. "Good, not great" they said.

The Burgundies were not so impressive, on the whole. For example, there was a 1992 Roty Charmes-Chambertin Très Vielle Vignes, and it just didn't move me. A 1995 Blagny was fine but not distinctive. The only one that seemed promising to me was a 1999 Geantet-Pansiot Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru, but even that did not have the same captivating factor as some of the other reds. Maybe mature Burgundy doesn't show as well when surrounded by bigger, more obvious wines.

You might be wondering what I brought to this event. I waffled on this. Champagne was my immediate thought, but in the end I went with wine that I assumed would be unique at the tasting, and that might even be new to a few people. 2005 Puzelat Touraine La Tesnière, a lovely smoky and funky white made of Menu Pineau, and the 2004 Puzelat Touraine La Tesnière, a red made of Pineau D'Aunis. I love these wines, but let me tell you - they definitely got a mixed reception from this crowd. Some looked at the label, asked about the grape, talked about buying bottles. Others said "I hate Pineau D'Aunis. It leaves my mouth before it gets halfway down my throat." To each their own, right?