Beef

I can smell neighbors starting charcoal.... Of course I still live in circumstances that make grilling largely unworkable personally, but hey, I can vicariously enjoy it.

In the meantime, I did discover something kind of neat. TJ's sells this thin sliced raw beef in one pound packs. I'd guess it's probably sirloin given its consistency. You could do quite a number of things with it, but here's what I did:

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/04/dry-vs-wet-a-butchers-gu... has a nice explanation.

I've read in various sources that it's possible to approximate aging at home by wrapping your beef in cheesecloth and putting it low in the back of the refrigerator for a few days, but haven't ever tried it. Anyone?

It turns out the specialty butcher near me has honest to goodness dry-aged prime beef for a not-ridiculous price (@$20/lb for rib roast or ribeye steaks). Dry-aging involves, well, leaving the meat out for a while in a cold environment. This eliminates lots of water and intensifies the beef flavor. If you've eaten in a good steak house (i.e., not Sizzler), that's dry-aged beef:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_aged_beef

If you want Alton's take on it, watch: