So anyway, I thought I'd take the plunge and give it a go. I spoke to the lady on the Butchers stall at the local market to ask her what it was like and how it ought to be cooked. It is a very lean meat and so either needs very quick cooking (for the sirloin/hufte steaks I cooked) or slow pot-roasting. It's a good strong dark coloured meat and ours had been well hung to make the most of it's flavour. Taste-wise, it's not dissimilar to beef - indeed I think you could get away with calling it beef and most people probably wouldn't think it wasn't.
So, wanting something quick and easy to cook and eat with a forbidden salad (that's another story), I opted for two hufte steaks which I think is the equivalent to a sirloin. I lightly seasoned them with salt and pepper and quickly griddled them to medium-rare.
So - how did they turn out? Surprisingly well - not tough or chewy as I was led to believe by some, not too gamey either - but good tender, juicy steaks - and better in terms of impact on both my health (they're low fat, low cholesterol) and my wallet (significantly cheaper than the equivalent cut of beef) - an all round winner!
So what to accompany the steak? I was looking for something robust, which would stand up to a strong flavoured meat - I had a choice of Tempranillo or Carignan. We plumped for the Tempranillo which worked well - full enough to hold its own and smooth enough not to out run the steak so to speak! On the plate, I didn't plump for salad - we've been off the raw foods here due to E-Coli concerns, but suffering from a distinct lack of vegetables, I cooked up a large bowl of Ratatouille - all in all a very yummy meal and one I'd be happy to give another ride to....
