Hungry carnivores may undergo a real quest before they find tasty steaks in Bulgaria.

Vanya Rainova

Growing up in Bulgaria, I had not tasted a beef steak until the age of 19. Here's what constituted a steak in my childhood. You select a fine cut of pork (best from the neck), and tenderise it mercilessly. Then you rub each steak with a mix of salt, black pepper and paprika. You stack the steaks, generously sprinkling chopped onion between layers and you set them aside in the fridge, preferably overnight. The next day you roast them medium to well-done. This meal marked festive family dinners and weekends at my parents, thrilling (for an undiscerning child) breaks from the cooking of the grandmother who raised me, one of those prodigious matriarchs who cooked daily warm meals from scratch and reserved utmost disdain for canned foods.

So I still remember the day when I first sunk my teeth into a juicy, rare piece of beef, skirt steak this in my case, and thought it tasted heavenly. Like a true Berkeleyan, I must have been getting in touch with my inner self (they should incorporate the yoga mat into the Berkeley seal) but who knew that a bloodthirsty carnivore lived there. For years to follow, I tasted every cut of beef steak there is and spent plenty of time ensuring that waiters understood that my rare is rare, not pinkish inside. Now you'll understand why, when I moved back to Sofia two years ago, I let go of most of my personal belongings, save for my books and my 10-plus kg cast iron pan, in which I’d cooked my first extra-rare Kobe beef steak.

Suffice it to say that since then I have made more crиpes than steaks in this pan. I quickly discovered that for some reason beef steak in Bulgaria simply did not taste the same and making it tender without the use of special marinades (and I am a purist when it comes to my steaks) was near-impossible. And it wasn't just me. The chefs at some of Sofia's elite restaurants were obviously having the same problem.

The reason for the disappointing taste of beef in Bulgaria is that most cows are bred for milk, not meat. There were 354 200 cows in Bulgaria in May last year, according to Ministry of Agriculture data. Only 11 700 of them, or less than three per cent, were bred for meat. Only about 7000 such cattle are slaughtered annually, and they never reach the average consumer. In addition, much of the beef on sale in Bulgaria comes from aged cows whose owners have given up milk production.

Still, every once in a while, I come across a good steak in town. The last time I enjoyed a piece of beef was at Chйfs in Pasarel. It turned out they buy their beef from Metro, which imports it from Argentina. Argentinean and Brazilian supposedly free-range beef is available in some supermarkets, such as Billa and Metro. But there are downsides. Brazilian beef producers have been accused of cutting down rainforests to clear space for farms, exploiting workers and risking exposure to foot-and-mouth disease. In addition, often the meat has been frozen before sale. Freezing and defrosting meat, however, strips it of some of its taste and valuable nutrients. Occasionally, one could find chilled imported meat, which has not been frozen, but must be willing to pay double the price of other beef. As an alternative, try the venison fillet at L'etranger on Tsar Simeon Str. – it was the best-tasting meat I've had in Sofia.

Finally, here is how to choose your beef. Buy it from a reliable source. A high turnover will indicate fresh stock. Look for good butchering techniques – joints should follow the contours of the muscle and bone; cuts should be neat and well trimmed with little sinew. And any bones should be smooth with no sign of splinters. Smooth fine-grained flesh that is creamy white with a pale greyish-pink tinge is best. Any outer fat should be firm and white. An even marbling of fat in the meat is a good indication of high quality. The outer layer of fat should be creamy white and smooth, not yellowish.

Source: Month2Come