Eddie’s food pet peeves: eating things you’re not supposed to eat
Adeline (nickname: Eddie) loves eating, a lot and often, both at home and out. Usually that goes well, but sometimes it doesn’t. In the series Eddie’s food pet peeves you can read about the latter. This time: suddenly I saw a steak with gold leaf and I didn’t get it.
It suddenly appeared on Instagram. I scrolled back once more to check whether I had really seen it correctly, and sure enough. There was a large grilled steak surrounded by a glittering golden layer, as if it had briefly been put through a body-paint session. Only the cow in question probably didn’t have an active memory of that, because the gold had been wrapped around the charred exterior.
Glitter steak
It looked pretty fancy, I have to admit, but I didn’t quite understand the purpose of all that gold on that piece of meat. So, like a true millennial, I immediately Googled what gold leaf tastes like. Go ahead, take three guesses. It tastes like: nothing, nothing, and even more nothing. And that’s where the chef behind this glitter steak completely lost me. Why wrap something in gold—or any other substance—if it doesn’t add anything to the flavor?
Tastes like nothing
I understand brushstrokes of beetroot on a plate; I understand little flowers made from forgotten vegetables. Damn, I’m even into edible flowers. But I do like everything on my plate to have some kind of edible function. Now, the creator of this golden steak could argue that you can indeed eat gold, which is technically true, because it isn’t toxic. Only… it. Tastes. Like. Nothing.
No tender price tag
If there’s one thing I was taught growing up, it’s that you should take the time to taste your food. With a bite of this gold-leafed creation, I would presumably notice a vague hint of metal. Which, according to chemistry, is exactly what it is—and therefore what it automatically tastes like to me. The chef has had his way after all. I don’t know when you last licked a piece of metal, but it tastes, well: metallic. And I haven’t even mentioned that this steak surely doesn’t come with a tender price tag.
No added value
Of course, you could drag me into the world of molecular cuisine, but I see that as fundamentally different. Even if it remains complicated and a bit of a hassle. In the molecular world, they still cook with edible products; only the preparation method changes. Ha, so that still isn’t about eating things that add no value to the food.
I suggest we simply use gold for wearing and for expressing the value of money, that we let steak be steak, and that we don’t take it quite so literally when something is described as tasting ‘golden’.
Read also:
- Eddie’s food pet peeves: having a hangover when you’re not supposed to have one
- If you’re horrified by chunks in your food
- The grossest dining scene in a restaurant ever
Image: 24-Karat Gold Leaf Steak Burger/Hard Rock Cafe
