There's little point in asking my husband what he wants to eat on his birthday, the answer is always the same - steak, and cheesecake. The query usually only extends to 'Where?' and 'What kind of cheesecake'.
Being that we are still in lockdown we couldn't go to his usual favourite, El Gaucho, for steak so I decided to push the boat out and order a prime rib from the Ginger Pig - a well known butcher in London. I first encountered the Ginger Pig on a trip to Borough Market with my dad, several years ago. We were both entranced by a large rib of beef. It was blackened with age I remember a woman stood next to us saying how it was disgusting that they could have mouldy meat on display and that they were going to give someone food poisoning. I can only assume it is people like her who are why when you get supermarket steak it is still bright red and bloody looking (sorry vegetarians)
If I am honest I can't remember how good the steak we bought that day was, this was probably 8 or 9 years ago. But I do remember the overall quality of the meat on their stall every time I've been past it since so they were my first thought when trying to source something special to be delivered. So that was the steak sorted - 1.1kg of prime rib, or a Cote du Boef to give it it's French name, to share, because even he can't eat a whole one that size on his own. Though he'd give it a bloody good try.
Then there was the cheesecake. I have made a variety for him over the years and for a few years Apple Crumble Cheesecake was the favourite (one year morphing into Cherry Crumble). This year, however, a declaration was made that he wanted to combine two of his desserts of choice - and so Banoffee Cheesecake it was.
