Meat, meat, meat!

"During WWII, as rationing made it more difficult for families to find beef, American butchers across the country sold horse meat, and consumers literally ate it up. Republican leaders, eager to use the new equine diet to embarrass President Truman, took to derogatively calling him “Horsemeat Harry.” As this 1942 Pittsburgh Press article suggests, Philadelphians were denied the pleasure of eating horse due to a state law. At roughly half the cost of beef, horse was served as a protein supplement until well after the war in some places, though. Time reported that during the inflationary years of the early 1970s, a butcher shop in Connecticut was wholesaling about 6,000 pounds of horse meat every day." (found in Philly Magazine 02/21/2013, more fun facts on horse meat there!)  

Anyways, I love it, so does Gordon Ramsay and many chefs nowadays here in Belgium nowadays. 

So here's my Horse Steak Country Style; the (poorly lighted) picture says it all, the sauce is more or less Pete's style: some shallots finely chopped and sautéed along with some fresh green peppercorns, some stock added, mustard (a must!) and cream until a smooth thick sauce. Horse meat should never be cooked "bleu" (very rare) -then it has a too bitter aftertaste- but rare to medium rare. It has a slightly sweet taste reminiscent of a combination of beef and venison.

While we're at it I've got another steak:

Steak Ratatouille Bistro style. Jamie Oliver has a nice version of this great combination with saffron rice but I've kept it simple, main thing is that your ratatouille is up to taste (peppery) and make sure you have a fine piece of beef (here rump-steak, my favorite, price/quality wise). On the fries I can be short, I need new frying oil and/or a professional deep-fryer.