Mr. B,

Beautiful, charred out, deep blush of red inside, I can taste the funky mineraly goodness of properly dry aged beef just looking at the picture.

Enjoy,
Gary

I don't think God himself is eating steak that looks that sexy. I absolutely love your pictures.

It's been a long time but I finally made it into downtown Stockholm to swing by Willy's for a steak.

They had a stack of 4-week, dry-aged entrecotes but none of them caught my eye. But, a little arm-twisting from the guy helping me (I've got an old football injury that I've got to watch out for...) had me looking at the 8 week-old entrecotes.

I came home with over a pound of:



The market was clean sold-out of Swedish-grown asparagus but a visit to another nearby market (at the NK department store) netted me a few stalks of the season's first Swedish (Gotland)-grown asparagus (at a little over 2 bucks per spear!).

Of course, I rushed home and got some charcoal burning.

Grill shots:







Served (with the asparagus, homemade bernaise sauce and confit-fat fried potatoes):





FWIW - Willy's is still batting 1000. The flavor of the steak was powerful and intense while the texture was tender and smooth. For me, the perfect example of dry-aged beef.

Oh Bridgestone -- how much I've missed your posts!!!!

Such luscious meat....!

Shannon

Must be getting close to Summer up in the Euro-north: Bridgestone is back at the grill, doing his darndest to drive us crazy with that fabulous Stockholm steak! Love to see it Bridgestone, and greets from the Amero-North!

Geo

Thanks you two!

Happy friday!

Drool...

Gorgeous stuff, Bridgestone! Your shots are breathtaking, and at 8 weeks, those steaks must taste even better than they look.

=R=

Must be spring in Scandinavia!

30-day dry-aged beef, Gotlandish asparagus and pan-fried potatoes:









Perhaps due to all of the recent oyster talk on LTH, I picked up some fantastic bivalves:



That's 2 Swedish "belon" (on the right. The word "belon", I was told, is reserved for French-grown oysters. Therefore, these are really "Plattostron" in Sweden), 2 Pousee en Claire (middle) and 2 Speciales Gillardeau (left).

Opened:



Hard to miss the distinctive green of the Marennes Pousse en Claire:



Plump, too (although they are honestly fatter in colder months...):




Served with a cool Kwak...



... they were an appetizer tough to beat!

Happy Spring, everyone!

Yay, a Bridgestone post! I was wondering if there were going to be any beautiful food pictures from Sweden anytime soon as I followed your bread recipe this weekend. Gorgeous meal! Glad you are getting some nice asparagus in Sweden, too.

Bridgestone, I was wondering where you've been! Sigh - on a diet....and I'm certain those photos are fattening, I can feel my waistline grow as I look at them...

Ah Bridgestone, Bridgestone, Bridgestone! You've done it again: slammed my gustatory apparatus into a Highly Desirious state! (Luckily, I've just returned from the market with two very nice Québec rib steaks for this evening...)

I must say, those are big, fat, beautiful asparagus spears! Doesn't Sweden follow along the other Northern countries in preferring white asparagus?

And the 'belons'.... ouf. I've made 2 pilgrimages to the source at Riec sur Belon, just to get them right. Haven't seen any of that genre here in Canada.

Oh very Bien Fait, Bridgestone! (Do NOT let jimswside see those oyster pics, he'll collapse in desire!)

Geo

Thank you, friends!

Geo - I've never seen any locally-grown white asparagus. Sure, I can buy white spears from Germany that are as thick as a baby's arm but I simply love the green Swedish stuff. It simply can't be beat!

I still feel that oysters are our most reasonable luxury. Six world-class oysters for 20 bucks. (And by world-class, the majority of the Speciales Gillardeau seem to show up on Parisian 3-star restaurant menus...). 20 bucks, sadly, doesn't buy too many sturgeon eggs these days.

Bridgestone wrote:Sure, I can buy white spears from Germany that are as thick as a baby's arm but I simply love the green Swedish stuff. It simply can't be beat!

I have to agree that I'm a much bigger fan of green than white, especially when it's at the peak of the season. Those spears look fantastic and incidentally, the steak and oysters don't look too bad, either.

Thanks, for the especially tantalizing post.

=R=

Bridgestone,

What we get here in Montréal are malpeque oysters from Prince Edward Island. They aren't spectacular (esp. compared to yours!), but they're a good, servicable, and refreshing bite with a local brew. One of the fish mongers in Marché Jean-Talon trucks them in every weekend so they're nice and fresh. We can usually get them for c. 1$CAN each.

I agree with you in preferring green to white asparagus: much more flavor. But the size and freshness of yours in the pictures is just wonderful!

Geo

Dear LORD - why have I waited so long to see this?!
I am SO making bernaise next grill session!

Bridgestone -- your posts always make me sigh...

I am decidely anti-oyster but your pictures of them actually make me want to eat one. Or all of them.

You complete me, Bridgestone...<smile>

Happy Spring!

Shannon

Not much I can say about the beef itself, as I didn't have a kitchen where I could buy a piece and cook it, but thought I'd add a few more tasty beef photos to the thread:

Dry-aged ribeye


Selection of beef

(This particular shot is from the vendor next door to Ohlsson's)

-Dan

The selection from Willy's next door neighbor has gotten stronger and stronger (looking) over the past few years. I'm unlikely to be unfaithful, though.

dansch - You did have a kitchen to cook in... You just didn't ask!

Glad to see you had a good Stockholm visit!

Bridgestone, you live in an absolutely beautiful city. It was our favorite city on our Baltic trip. Moscow and St. Pete were fascinating with it's history and wealth and intrigue with the old Soviet empire but nothing had the combination of food and beauty and friendly people and livability as Stockholm(except for the prices and cost of living).

We stayed at the Victory Hotel in Gamla Stan, which was a bit disappointing. The rooms were tiny, and not inexpensive. I loved the area though.

Food was terrific. We had 3 great dinners at Pontus by the Sea, Wedholms Fisk, and Den Gyldene Freden. I recommend them all, but bring extra credit cards.

Our biggest surprise was the farm raised Norwegian salmon. I never order that here. It is tasteless and I'm not thrilled eating fish that is living in it's own crap being raised in small pens and fed food pellets. I had to try it once (when in Rome) and it was totally different. Darker color, much fattier like toro- tuna belly, and amazingly deep, rich flavor. What gives? Are they exporting a different fish?

RevrendAndy wrote:...nothing had the combination of food and beauty and friendly people and livability as Stockholm(except for the prices and cost of living).

Amen. Copenhagen had better beer and more bicycles, but Stockholm had stunning food, friendly people and a great overall vibe.

-Dan

dansch wrote:

RevrendAndy wrote:...nothing had the combination of food and beauty and friendly people and livability as Stockholm(except for the prices and cost of living).

Amen. Copenhagen had better beer and more bicycles, but Stockholm had stunning food, friendly people and a great overall vibe.

-Dan

I'll add my vote. If I had a do-over in life I would have been a Swede.