What's in a Name?: Dale's Minute Steaks

These days "Kevin" is, if not a common name, not unusual either. But it was unusual when my parents named me that. In fact I only knew of one other "Kevin" until I reached college. So where did my parents get it? From the funny papers.

There was a Prince Valiant-type comic strip in the newspaper named Kevin the Bold and so I was named after a comic strip character. But it gets worse. Neither of my parents were, nor are, religious so when they got married rather than have the wedding in a church (and deal with their respective parents arguing about which church) they got married in a restaurant. Dad was working there helping a friend of their's get it ready to open while Mom finished getting her Bachelors degree. So the night before the place opened they got married there.

They told the owner they were going to name their first son after him but he objected. He was Italian and his name was Josephe Daole and he said neither Josophe nor Daole went well with Weeks. He had a point, there. So instead my parents gave me the middle name of "Dale," which happened to be the name of the new restaurant: Dale's Cellar. Consequently I'm also named after a restaurant.

Joe Dale created a steak sauce for the restaurant and also called the sauce Dale's. I forget who bought rights to the sauce, but it can now be found all over the country. It's good stuff with a strong soy component.

I don’t ordinarily put steak sauce on good steak because it tends to hide rather than highlight the flavor of the beef, but I have no qualms about putting steak sauce on minute steaks or ground beef and the following is a case in point.

Dale's Minute Steaks

2 ea 6 oz minute steaks or hamburger patties
1/2 lb mushrooms -- sliced
1/2 ea onion -- sliced 1/4" thick
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp Dale's Steak Sauce
pepper to taste

Season minute steaks or patties with black pepper.

Heat oil in a large, covered skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onions and cook until mushrooms are browned. Remove to a plate. Add a bit more oil if needed and brown minute steaks on both sides. Return mushrooms and onions to skillet, add steak sauce, reduce heat to low, and cover. Cook covered for about 4 minutes until steak is completely done. Serves 2.

Kevin Weeks is a Gather food correspondent (Paisano), personal chef, cooking teacher, and writer in Knoxville, Tennessee who spends too many hours on his feet, cooking. "Paisano" is a column focused on peasant dishes from around the world. To read more of Kevin's writings or connect to him click here. His blog, Seriously Good, is read by 50,000 cooks a month.