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Taste Greg Atkinson

Manly Meal?

A sizzling steak sets the standard

When "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche," the satirical best-seller by Bruce Feirstein, was published in 1982, I learned that I cooked and ate like a girl. I was not only a "quiche-eater," I was a quiche cooker. As a young chef, I had recently perfected my all-butter crust and my savory cheese filling, and I took some pride in my perfect quiche. I found redemption a few years later in 1985 when a manly James Bond cooked and ate quiche in "A View to Kill."

We may laugh it off, but as Carole Counihan writes in "The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning and Power," "behaviors and beliefs surrounding the production, distribution and consumption of food reveals much about power relations and conceptions of sex and gender, for every coherent social group has its own unique foodways. Class, caste, race and gender hierarchies are maintained, in part, through differential control over and access to food. One's place in the social system is revealed by what, how much, and with whom one eats."

So if they don't eat quiche, what exactly do "real men" eat? If they're American men, and they subscribe to that particular brand of maleness, they eat steak. And so among our various types of eateries, America boasts that bastion of maleness known as the steakhouse. And in an industry where novelty and innovation are highly valued and routinely sought, this particular genre is unusually consistent and reliable. In fact, steakhouse chains pride themselves on being predictable.

"When guests walk into Morton's Steakhouse," writes Klaus Fritsch in "Morton's Steak Bible" (Clarkson Potter, $30), "they know what they will get — no surprises, no fad-driven innovation, just perfectly cooked steaks or chops, well-poured drinks, etc." Maybe that's a clue into the psyche of the stereotypical American male. "No surprises, Ma'am, I'll just have a steak and some whiskey."

Maybe it's why stereotypical American men love steakhouses, why steakhouses are packed on Father's Day, and why, if you were thinking of taking your father out for steak this Father's Day, it's probably too late to get a reservation.

If so, don't worry; you can re-create the essential elements of a steakhouse experience at home. The secret formula to serving a great steak dinner prepared chez vous is revealed in "Morton's Steak Bible, Recipes and Lore from the Legendary Steakhouse." Ever since I came into a copy of this book, I have been perusing it with more fascination than it logically warrants.

Seldom is restaurant fare so well adapted to recipes for home cooks. Co-author Mary Goodbody, a veteran cookbook author and editor with more than 60 books to her credit, has rendered the recipes so perfectly that they could serve as textbook examples for how to write a recipe. The collection is punctuated with bizarre and strangely compelling "Celebrity Clips" that afford the reader insight into some of the steakhouse chain's better-known clients like Michael Eisner, Muhammad Ali, Calvin Klein, David Letterman and Seattle's own Bill Gates. It's also well illustrated with sharp — if predictable and not very flashy — photos of almost every dish.

I must have picked the book up and thumbed through it a dozen times; I have cooked several recipes with happy results; and by now, I think I have read it cover-to-cover. I'm not sure if the book is really that interesting, or if I'm still figuring out how to be a "real man." Maybe I've never recovered from the sting of that business about the quiche.

Greg Atkinson is author of "West Coast Cooking." He can be reached at greg@northwestessentials.com.

Morton's Cajun Ribeye Steak

Serves 2 hungry lumberjacks or 4 people with normal appetites

The steaks are rubbed with the seasoning, covered in oil, then marinated for several hours in the refrigerator before grilling. I found that one hour at room temperature still made for a killer steak, juicy and delicious.

For the seasoning blend

½ cup paprika

1/3 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup garlic powder

1/3 cup onion powder

2 ½ tablespoons dried thyme leaves

2 ½ tablespoons dried oregano

1/3 cup freshly ground white pepper

2 ½ tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

2 ½ tablespoons cayenne pepper

For the steaks

2 16-ounce aged ribeye steaks, each about 1 ½ inches thick

1 cup corn oil or canola oil

1. Combine the paprika, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, oregano and peppers to make the seasoning blend and put 1/3 cup of the mixture in a shallow baking dish, just large enough to accommodate the steaks. Store any unused seasoning in a cool place for up to three months. Press each side of the steaks into the seasoning to completely cover the surface. Transfer the steaks to a countertop covered with baker's parchment and lightly pound each steak four or five times with a meat mallet or a small, heavy skillet to soften but not flatten.

2. Discard the excess seasoning left in the pan and pour the oil in the pan. Lay the steaks in the oil and turn them over to coat them completely. Allow the steaks to marinate in the oil, refrigerated for 8 hours or overnight, or leave the steaks in the oil at room temperature for one hour.

3. Thirty minutes before you plan to grill the steaks, build a fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill on high. If the steaks were in the refrigerator, take them out and let them come to room temperature before grilling.

4. Grill the steaks for about 8 minutes, then turn and grill 8 minutes more for medium rare, or until the steaks reach the doneness desired. Allow the steaks to stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before cutting into them; this will allow the juices to be reabsorbed into the fibers of the meat.

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