How important are expiration dates to you?  They’re intended to protect consumers from health risks, but also maintain quality of the product.  I almost think that not following dates becomes more wasteful of your time since you’re constantly evaluating the quality or the “edible level” rather than just drawing the line and moving on.  Efficiency of the use of your time or even protecting your own health comes in to play.  Is the risk of being and feeling sick worth the ~$1.60 of salad dressing left in the bottle?  I bet if you got sick, you’d be willing to pay more money to feel instantly better.  There a science in the decision making process we could get into, but I’ll just ask the question.

Today, we’re going to talk about tri-tip.  It’s a popular cut of steak in the Central California area.  It was originally prepared with “Santa Maria Seasoning” (of Santa Maria, Ca), but it’s basically just a great streak to use on grills.  The popular use now is in a tri-tip sandwich covered in barbecue sauce.

Kallie has been talking about it a lot since I’ve met her, but I got to try an authentic sandwich at Firestone Grill in San Luis Obispo, Ca.  It truly was a unique sandwich and definitely worthy of praise.  Something about it was very familiar though, and I’m fairly certain i’ve had *something* similar to it here on the east coast.  I’ve head some other possible names for the cut, like “tip steak”, so maybe it’s just known by something else here, but I haven’t been able to find a restaurant in the area where you can get a tri-tip sandwich.  If you can, let me know!

Is it rude to cut steak all up before you eat it?