Yes, I know Father’s Day is a few days away, but here is a great wine and food pairing, which you could offer to your father or husband, on an IOU, if it takes too long to order both items.
The Steaks
I received two 1″ thick Strip Loin steaks from Fuego Diablo Premium Steaks, via courier, to review. Shipped in a very masculine looking black box, surrounded by dry ice, and that all packed inside a styrofoam box and then a cardboard box. The steaks were well frozen when they reached my door. Fuego Diablo is serious about their steaks, and they provide you with a sheet describing how to properly thaw the steaks, lightly spice (they don’t really think it’s needed), and then to grill them.
I followed the instructions exactly as outlined, but did apply two light spices to the steaks. One I sprinkled a garlic scape salt, and the other a light Cajun blend of spices (which I bought in New Orleans). Applied to only one side of the steaks.
They mentioned that the steaks contain a high degree of marbling (which you can see in the picture below) so can be prone to flare ups. I kept my flame on the grill to low, and this minimized the amount of flames from the drippings from the steaks. How long did it take to cook these perfectly thawed steaks? Instructions from the box and from a search on the Internet keep pointing you to using a thermometer to detect when the steak reaches a certain internal temperature. But what if you don’t have a thermometer? I found a website that described how many minutes a steak needs to be grilled to reach rare/medium/well/ etc, taking into account steak thickness. For my 1″ thick steaks, the website, Lobel’s Guide to Cooking the Perfect Steak, is 18 minutes in total for medium well. They were correct!
Enjoy these pictures of the process of going from raw to grilled steak, then read on about the wine that I paired with the steaks. Please rest your steak a few minutes after grilling to allow the juices to settle in the steak.
The Wine
I decided to try a bottle of BC’s TIME Estate Syrah 2012, that I had received from the winery a few months ago, which I thought would be a perfect pairing. This is a big, juicy wine. Deep to opaque ruby in the glass. Pronounced nose with cassis, dark fruit, leather, blueberries, sweet spices and chocolate aromas. On the palate you get a full bodied, round wine that is very silky. Lots of ripe cassis, followed with ripe raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Hints of sweet spices. The tannins are quite fine for this wine. It ends with vanilla and a lot of pepperiness. A really vibrant wine. You can tell that it feels like it comes from a hot region. It does in fact come from Harry McWatter’s Sundial Vineyard on the acclaimed Black Sage Bench in the South Okanagan. I rate it 
.
For more information on this wine and where to buy it, please check their website:
www.timewinery.com
The Pairing
The Fuego Diablo steaks were very tender and juicy. The spices that I added were not really needed, but added to the overall enjoyment. The garlic scape salt from Cawston I used, with the large grains of salt really made the flavour of the steak pop. The steak was very tender to the chew. To this a sip from the full-bodied, silky, TIME Estate Syrah, worked so well because the fine tannins softened even more when in contact with the protein in the steak and made the fruit in the wine even more prominent. Each sip and bite together was true enjoyment. I highly recommend this pairing, for Father’s Day, or any day that you want to have a special time with family or friends. Enjoy!
If you would like to try the Fuego Diablo steaks I wrote about, you can get a 15% discount till July 31, 2015. Use Promo Code MyWinePal
