When it's great to be a food blogger: delivery from Certified Steak and Seafood

Some days, being a food blogger is all about cursing the bad lighting, hating the new recipe that didn't work out, and finding typos after a new post has gone live.

Other days, you get an email from a company called Certified Steak and Seafood who offers to send food. And I'm talking about good stuff.

First, there was this:

That's a really pretty rib roast. It looks a little odd, because it's vacuum-sealed and frozen solid. They shipped it overnight in a styrofoam cooler along with some dry ice. I'll tell ya what - this thing didn't even have a chance to think about thawing. It was solid. Very solid.

Then this: 

Okay, you can't see what it is, but that's a giant porterhouse steak.

Here it is, thawed and waiting to be cooked. Look at that marbling. You know it's going to be tender. And it's big. That plate is a standard dinner plate.

I considered cooking it with sous vide, then searing it to finish, but I thought that would be a little bit unfair because most folks aren't going to cook with sous vide, and I wanted to cook it like anyone could cook it. I figured that would be a more fair test of the product.

So, I heated a cast iron pan until it was really really hot. I salted the steak before cooking, then put it in the pan and let it sit until one side had a nice crust, then flipped it and cooked it on the other side. And then I checked its temperature. Just a teeny bit longer and it was done.


And here it is in a cast iron pan after being seared.

Doesn't that look great? Okay, the lighting in my kitchen at dinnertime isn't great, but I think you get the idea.

As expected, the steak was tender and juicy and tasty and ... well, pretty much what you expect from a good steak.

So, the question is why you'd order steaks or seafood online. First, it's great for gifts, since you can ship to family and friends who don't live nearby. Second, you can get things that you might not be able to find in your area.

For example, the third item I got was dry jumbo wild-caught scallops. I don't think I've ever seen dry scallops in any store, so I'm pretty excited about trying them.

I'm planning on posting at least one (or more) recipes on Cookistry using the other two products, because I think they'll be fun to work with. I just need to come up with recipes that will showcase them the best. Watch for them. It'll be FUN!

Who's it for: Hungry people.

Pros: Really good quality.

Cons: Shipping is expensive, which affects the price.

Wishes: Wish someone would buy me a subscription!

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.