I really don't know why I do these things. I know they are going to be bad, but I have to check.
Lately, a number of the local supermarkets have been stocking these vacuum packed and frozen "steaks" in boxes. Sirloin, fillet etc.
Now, please remember, this is not a country that does steaks. Anyway, like a fool I pick one up. That one!
I open the package to find
A round meaty looking thing, a portion of unsalted butter and a sachet of the dreaded pepper sauce. China is convinced that it is morally reprehensible, sacrilegious and medically dangerous to eat any kind of western food without smothering it in badly cooked black pepper sauce. My sachet goes straight into the waste bin.
Closer inspection of the round thing reveals that it resembles a form of beef, cut from a badly deformed example of a bovine.
It certainly looks like no sirloin steak I've ever seen before. But undaunted I press on. I prepare some chips (fries), some shiitake mushrooms etc and set to cooking. The steak is so thin it is cooked almost as soon as it sees the pan. But I manage to get it to the degree of pinkness I prefer.
Dinner is served. The beef is incredible, but not in a good way. It looks beefy if somewhat anorexic, yet manages to taste of absolutely nothing. It also has a peculiar mealy texture. It is inoffensive but takes bland to a whole new low.
Never again (he says again!)
