The WonderMill ground corn really, really well. One of the easiest things I was able to grind so far.
On the coarse setting: cornmeal! Perfect for baking–or making steak?
Cornmeal Crusted Steak
- 1 T ground cumin
- 1 T ground chili powder
- 1/4 t cinnamon
- 1/4 t black pepper
- 1/2 t salt
- 2 T coarse ground cornmeal
Pat the steak dry with a paper towel and combine all the spices. I probably used half of this recipe on my steak, and if you want to save the rest, make sure you don’t contaminate it with raw meat.
Heat a heavy skillet with 2 T canola oil until it’s hot and shimmery over medium-high heat.
Rub the cornmeal mixture into the steak, covering it generously.
As an aside, you could probably go the whole chicken-fried steak route with this mixture as well, with flour and egg first to make a more substantial crust. That’s not really what I was going for here, but I’m sure it’d be good too.
Pan-fry the steak to the desired doneness. I probably did six or seven minutes on each side, then covered it in foil and let it rest for ten minutes. I wanted the steak rare, since I knew I’d only eat a little bit of it today and end up cooking it again during the next few days (fajitas, etc).
The cornmeal gave the steak just a bit of a crunch that a regular dry rub doesn’t. It was a really nice and easy way to dress up a boring steak.
And since we’re talking about steak, I do have to get on my food blogger soapbox and talk about slicing the steak.
- Slice against the grain. Here’s a nice tutorial if you haven’t a clue what that means. For the types of steak I usually buy (we aren’t talking filet mignon here), it can seriously make the difference between an enjoyable steak and an inedible one.
- Use a nice sharp knife. My husband and my mom both bought me knives for Christmas, and it is so nice finally not having to saw through everything tougher than butter. Why did I wait this long?
Grain mills aren’t just for baking!
