2011 Resolution...completed!!

Its official...I have finally baked meat in the oven.

It seems strange, even an hour after digestion has set in but I did it. I've never really been confident enough for cooking meat in the oven. Recipes always call for sauces and toppings but I like to see my meat. I mean, I have a real fear about under-cooked meat, who's with me??

Maybe I'm slightly paranoid but when some people say 300 degrees for 1 hour and others say 350 degrees for 45 minutes...well, quite frankly...I become worried. I'm a novice cook so there's still a very real fear that I may cause food poisoning.

But tonight...I was fearless. I picked a meat I've never worked with and ventured into the kitchen with uninhibited ambition (plus it's been in the freezer for over a year so either way it was going to get thrown out).

Here's what I did:

1) Let the meat unthaw on the counter for most the afternoon (usually this would mean in the fridge the night before)

2) Pre-heated the oven to 325 degrees (now the recipe said 300 but again, baking meat fear...that's an actual diagnosis, right?)

3) Heated some olive oil in a sauce pan (this is where I started to go wrong, should've moved this to step 5)

4) Poured two bowls for mixing, one with egg and milk mixture...the second with flour and whatever seasonings float your boat, I chose Lowry's, pepper and some steak dry rub

5) Dipped each piece of meat in each mixture (milk and egg first of course)

6) Toss the meat into the (now smoking heavily b/c I heated it too early) sauce pan and slightly sear each side of the meat

7) Put seared meat into baking dish, I used 9x13

8) Pour one can (16 oz) of french onion soup over the meat, cover with foil

9) Bake for 1 hour and voila

And you know what it actually worked. Cooked through, tasted delicious and Captain Safety like it. Russian Roomie didn't care for the french onion, but after some slight scraping thought it was delish.