seared steak with red wine

Ah, rice pudding, rich with raisins! Ah, spaghetti baked with honey and shaved almonds in a buttery dish! Ah, potatoes any way at all…

writes MFK Fisher in How to Cook a Wolf, her how-to on the cooking of larger canines and other obscure animals from World War II. I don’t believe I’ve ever had rice pudding, and spaghetti with honey and shaved almonds does not, perhaps, belong to this particular generation, but potatoes any way at all? Ah. I like them especially with bacon and with cream. And that with steak, which goes with the steak knives I received as a birthday gift not so long ago. Aren’t they pretty? (See below.)

Now, if you can afford to eat steak every now and again, you can also afford a bit of mental space for considerations of the environmental implications of your meal. We probably all know and giggle a little bit about cow farts. (Yes, cows expel a lot of methane, which has an astronomically higher warming potency than carbon dioxide. Between 25 and 72 times higher, to be precise, depending on the time frame used, as methane has a shorter half-life in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.) But a well-known report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2006 estimated that nearly one fifth of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is attributable to livestock production. And late last year, another paper (.pdf) published by the Worldwatch Institute argued that livestock production accounts not for a piddling 18 percent of GHGs, but rather for 51 percent of annual global GHG emissions. Over half of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions! Just so we can eat more meat! And so many Americans are overweight, and so much of this is due to overconsumption of animal products! What is wrong with this picture?

Enough exclamation. Even if you choose the smaller number (I’m inclined to buy the bigger one myself.), this is a big deal. And without breaking down the exact hows and whys, given the emissions intensity of meat production, it should be fairly evident (and it is true) that one of the single most effective ways of greening your life is to reduce your consumption of meat. So have meat with your potatoes, not potatoes with your meat. And have your potatoes any way at all. Happy Earth Day.

Seared steak with red wine

For dietary and environmental reasons, I strongly recommend a serving size of no more than 100 g/¼ pound per person. An American butcher will probably not want to do this for you, so buy the quantity you want for your entire group, and then portion it yourself at home.

Steaks (I used the tenderloin, or filet mignon) | salt and pepper | a neutral oil, like grapeseed or canola | butter, melted | red wine

Bring steaks to room temperature. Season liberally with salt + pepper.

Heat a skillet which will comfortably accommodate all the steaks over high heat for 5 minutes, or as long as you can stand it. (I once read a recipe that recommended 20.) Don’t worry if it smokes a little.

Rub the steaks with a small bit of oil, place in the skillet, and do not touch for at least 2 minutes. There will be a lot of sound and some smoke, so this is the time to open your windows. Then see if you can turn the steaks. If you can, do so, and if you can’t, wait another minute. Whenever you do turn them, baste with a little bit of the melted butter, and do this again when you take the steaks off the heat. For my ¼ pound steaks, they seared for 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the other. For medium rare, they will feel a little bit firm but still quite springy to the touch. If uncertain, use an instant read thermometer. The internal temperature of the meat will read about 125 or 130F (again, for medium rare). The steaks will need to rest at least 5 minutes before you can eat them.

After removing steaks from the pan, let it cool a bit, and then discard the excess grease. Use a bit of red wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the tasty brown bits in the bottom. Swirl in some butter or not (I do.), strain this or not (I don’t.), then serve.