Fred's Steaks

Some time ago I told my friend Ralph about Fred's Steaks. 

He had some personal business near Stanford and I told him he would be near the Stanford Mall and he should stop off and get some. 

He did so.

He tried them, he was hooked. What are Fred's Steaks you ask? Good question. 

Fred's Steaks are a sirloin or tri tip tradition from the Bay Area that is sold in a black marinade that resembles 30 weight motor oil or an enormous rhino turd, take your pick.

It is a proprietary "top secret" formula but some have surmised that it might contain either or both coffee and squid ink. Who knows?

I got turned on to them about thirty years ago. You can only buy them at Schaub's Meat, Fish and Poultry in the mall off Sand Hill Rd. in Palo Alto. 

They are a fourth generation butcher that started in Los Gatos.

The weird looking steaks are incredibly delicious and I believe that they have been sold by the Schaubs since the 1950's. 

Really there is nothing else like it. You can read a little more about them here. Or here. Forever imitated, never duplicated. Cooked, the beef gets a beautiful bark or crust.

Ralph was hooked. He had further business up there and brought us a sirloin slab this week gratis, which I cooked tonight after Leslie came home from Las Vegas. 

You roast them at 375 degrees for twenty minutes a pound. 

This amounted to 31 minutes tonight. 

Someone advised that you should trust your thermometer rather than the clock, pulling the carnage at about 122 degrees, so it actually took me 28 minutes to find beef perfection.

Yum. I know they look strange but this is about as good as it gets. 

Thank you, Ralph!

If you are in Palo Alto, do yourself a favor and check them out.