It’s fun how inspiring a good dinner can be.
Like many dinners in this house, Mister Jupiter and I had a plan and we exceeded our own expectations. For the record, Mister and I are both very comfortable in the kitchen and we don’t mind a little effort, but we really enjoy spending minimal time on something that tasted like much more work. And so happened an amazing steak night; a perfect intersection of delicious conveniences that required little guidance to be perfect.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links; I may earn a tiny commission from purchases.
My and Mister Jupiter’s ideal steak night is a combination of
- Sous Vide
- Bullshit Seasoning
- Butcher Box Steaks
- Bormioli Glassware
- Hilmy Cellars Viognier
— SOUS VIDE
We finally joined the sous vide club, and I can’t believe that we joined so late; we’re naturals!
Anybody is a natural with sous vide cooking really. If you’re unfamiliar, this cooking appliance is basically a heated rod with a heater and tiny fan. You set the time and temperature and the sous vide wand heats and circulates water for you, thus cooking your food slowly, evenly, and without any moisture loss because your food is cooking in a bag in the water. A brief Google search will give you the time and temperature range for almost anything. We cooked these frozen steaks for two hours at 128 degrees Fahrenheit.
Our steaks were cooked with seasoning (detailed below) and shallots. When we were almost ready to plate, Mister Jupiter gave the steaks a quick sear in a hot cast iron skillet. C’est magnifique. The outsides were perfectly firm and flavorful, the interior was juicy and cooked to perfection. We’re generally a medium-rare house, and sous vide cooking keeps us there!
— BULLSHIT SEASONING
This was a gift that we just love!
It’s silly to talk about when little ears aren’t around, and tastes good. We were given a set of seasonings and the suggested uses really match up; “bullshit” is great on steaks, “chickenshit” is great on chicken, and so on.
For great steaks with little effort, bullshit is the way to go. We pat the steaks dry, then rubbed some bullshit on, then topped with fresh shallots before sealing into our sous vide bags. Mmm. For the record – the photo shows frozen steaks!
— BUTCHER BOX STEAKS
We just love Butcher Box.
We thought about getting a subscription for a while, but when the corona virus pandemic really gained momentum in March 2020 we went for it because I was having issues buying meat at my favorite grocery store. We love the variety, but we’re in it for the high quality grass-fed beef.
I typically buy all-organic meats anyway, so the price wasn’t a deterrent. We did have to slightly change our freezer-goods purchasing habits because the meat arrives frozen and we only thaw out 2-3 pieces each week. We don’t need a lot of freezer pizzas anyway, so our lives didn’t change that much (but enough to know not to buy a bunch of frozen pizzas when a Butcher Box is coming up).
This dinner featured two ribeyes. I’m not a beef connoisseur by any means, but I do like a nice steak once in a while. And Butcher Box’s grass fed & grass finished steaks are worth it.
- If you’re ready for a freezer full of quality meats, here’s a discount code for $15 off of your first box.
— BORMIOLI GLASSWARE
I’ve always adored simple Italian glassware.
For most of my life, wine was always served in wine glasses because it was maybe fancy. I’ve since learned that wine is just a nice everyday drink…especially the boxed fare that I happily purchase. Since my own wine intake has become more casual, I felt that my glassware needed to loosen up too – and luckily the Italian glassmaker Bormioli Rocco had this idea first.
These 7.5oz bodega glasses are used daily in the Jupiter House. I do drink wine from them, but also I make little breve lattes, or enjoy a nice chai. I love and use them so often that we were given the next size up! The 12oz bodega glasses are perfect for sharing beer cocktails or just have handy when the 7.5oz tumblers are too small, but a pint glass is too large.
These glasses are also excellent for sharing dessert nibbles. I’m a huge fan of affogato (ice cream with a shot of espresso), and these glasses make the perfect portion.
- 7.5oz bodega glasses (pictured below)
- 12oz bodega glasses for beer cocktails, etc.
— HILMY CELLARS VIOGNIER
I know what some of you are thinking; “red meat = red wine.”
Well…I’m here to say “not here!” Sure we’ll match our meats and wines sometimes, but it’s not a hard fast rule for us (remember earlier when I said that wines are casual drinks?). The point of bringing up a Texas Viognier (pronounced “vee-on-yay) for steak night is that it tastes good. Your steak night should include drinks that just taste good – matching wine color to protein type isn’t enforceable.
I sampled this one in Fredericksburg and bought a bottle to share with Mister Jupiter. He generally prefers white wines…in wine-land. But he isn’t really a wine guy at all; he’s a beer guy. Hilmy’s viognier seemed like a good middle ground for him – neither tart nor too sweet, generally crisp. As usual he enjoyed a glass before switching to beer, and I enjoyed the rest.
If you have the opportunity to taste wines in and around Fredericksburg, Texas I highly recommend it. Hilmy Cellars was a wonderful visit and I look forward to buying their viognier again. If I had more I would certainly pair it with citrus-forward meal like a lemony pasta or ceviche.
- Pending Fredericksburg post
- Hilmy Cellars on Facebook
And that’s it for my Five Favorites on Steak Night! Feel free to share your steak night favorites with me in the comments below – I’ll probably podcast about it!
Lady Jupiter 
I concur with everything here and as any good family relation, I’m thrilled to see some of my participation in several items! This is my favorite post so far!
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