Since watching the anime Food Wars (Shokugeki no Soma) and loving it, there was an episode where Sōma Yukihira makes what is known as Chaliapin steak, a piece of meat that has been tenderised by the enzymes. I read up on this and it was a dish made in 1936 for the Russian opera singer Feodor Chaliapin when he visited Japan. At the time, he was suffering from toothaches and said, "I want to eat a tender steak." This dish was devised to answer to his request.

So, I grabbed a piece of round steak, a tough piece of meat and chopped up some onions and left them on top for an hour. I didn't have a meat pounder either, so I used my fists like a man. I'm also going to smoke some tomato, potato and carrot.

At 12:34pm, I lit the fire and 15 minutes later, I put the meat and veggies on. I got this wonderful smell of smoke coming from old plum wood chunk from the last cook, as it hadn't burnt all the way through. I then went off and played some Star Wars Battlefront and at 1:15pm, it was smelling awesome. I just had a quick little peek and onions were cooking nicely on top of the steak.

So, how did it turn out ? Well, the steak was tenderer than normal, but nothing special. It was Round steak, which is a tough piece of meat. Maybe next time I'll leave the onions on longer or try a different cut of meat.