I should have asked my aunt (Amelita) about this but asking someone where they got their beef is not a question that pops up in your head everyday, so….Anyhow, when I studied at the UP, I stayed at my aunt’s house in the weekends and the meals she made, same as my dad’s, were amazing- restaurant quality.

One day, she made what I remember to be beefsteak Tagalog- beef strips cooked in garlic and soy-sauce with a tangy tinge of sourness from kalamansi.

But this beef was different- it came from Australia, brought to the house by my aunt's former household help who married an Australian. It was tender, not from cooking, but from the quality of the beef itself. And it was buttery but not in a way that was cloyingly rich.

I don’t think we’ve ever had that beef dish ever again and to this day, I still keep looking for it. I’ve been to Australia of course and had steak from the usual best places in Sydney and Melbourne, but nope- not the same. New Zealand boasts some of the best beef in the world as well, but nope- haven’t found anything that came close and I’ve tried every cut and every specialist type from angus to wagyu (though not anything above a marble score of 5 of course).

I’ve suspected that maybe, the secret was the way that it was cooked- that I probably haven’t mastered the best way to cook beef, or worse, I’ve been cooking my beef wrong- it’s possible.

Anyhow, the beef cut above is a boneless rib roast or something and it’s just from the supermarket. It looks small-ish in the photo but it’s about 1.5kilos which is good enough for two meals. Like I said, having had more than my usual allotment of beef during the lockdown contributed to my higher cholesterol reading so I shouldn’t really be having it, but I’m lessening my portions.

It’s a tough cut so one portion would go into a usual beef stew and the other portion might be a slow-cooker pulled beef one for a tortilla night.