Cooking Adventures - Failure

I had to write this post to prove that I'm not always a genius in the kitchen. This weekend I wanted to make Lomo Saltado, because for some reason I have been craving it all week. Lomo Saltado is a Peruvian dish that is essentially a stir fry with steak, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and french fries. Yes, french fries! I used to eat it the Inka Grill, a restaurant in California that I went to quite a few times. I thought, how hard could it be to make it myself, after all, it's just a bunch of ingredients thrown together.

I looked online for some recipes and got the general idea of what was in it and how to cook it. So I went to the store, bought all the ingredients, and started cooking. I first marinaded the meat in some soy sauce, garlic, cumin, pepper, and a bit of salt. Then I started cook and it immediately started to go wrong. I probably put to much oil in the pan in the first place, but then the fat in the steak started to release all of their juices. So, instead of searing and sauteing the steak, it stared to stew because there was too much oil and fat in the pan. It probably would have been great if I were making stew or chili, but I wasn't. I poured out some of the fat, but I think it was too late, so I just had to keep cooking. I added the onions and peppers, then the tomatoes, and some cilantro. I added some more salt, pepper, and a bit too much cumin.

When I finished cooking, I tossed it with some french fries, and ate it with some cilantro-lime rice. The dish looked great and the flavor was pretty good, but something didn't quite set right with me. I think it was too much cumin. Also, the meat was as tough as leather. Part of the problem might have been how I cooked it, but maybe I also bought the wrong type of steak. I bought skirt steak because one of the recipes I read suggested that. Even as I was cutting it up before marinading it, I could tell that it felt tough. Something just didn't feel right. Also, it's been such a long time since I've cooked any kind of steak for myself that I'm a little out of practice. With the exception of beef stroganoff, which I cook with ground beef, I haven't cooked much beef/steak for the past eight years or so. In an effort to be a bit healthier, I have been cooking mostly chicken, turkey, pork, and tofu. So I think that if I'm going to make this dish again, I need to pick a better cut of steak or maybe try it with chicken.