I think it’s good for you to eat something anachronistic on a regular basis. You don’t have to delve all the way into the Gallery of Regrettable Food, but baked ziti wouldn’t hurt.

That was my justification, at least for having steak and eggs for breakfast this morning.

After making the traditional Thanksgiving Cornish pasties, there was half a rib-eye steak left over. I know, cutting a rib-eye steak into chunks and cooking them well-done inside a pastry crust is wrong. It hurts me as much as it hurts you. But I’ve tried other cuts of meat and they don’t work as well, and it’s only once a year.

I seared the steak last night and reheated it this morning while I made the scrambled eggs. The best way to reheat steak, I’ve found, is the one I learned from reading Robert Wolke in the Washington Post. I sliced the steak and put it in a Ziploc bag, then ran hot water over it from the sink for a few minutes. It’s hot enough to warm the steak but not hot enough to cook it further.

Steak and eggs is notable for the way the eggs act as a buttery sauce. I think a steak and egg sandwich would be brilliant. Apparently it’s a menu item at Subway, which strikes me as less than brilliant. It’s also a former menu item at Dunkin’ Donuts–do you suppose it was served on a split glazed donut?

I stopped at Noah’s Bagels this morning for a snack. It would be easy to dismiss Noah’s “gourmet bagels,” which are bagels with lots of melted cheese on them, but I prefer to think of them as a form of pizza available at 9am. While I was waiting for my six-cheese bagel to heat, I noticed a sign above the coffee station:

> For generations, New York has been at the center of America’s love affair with coffee.

Right, and Milwaukee is at the center of America’s love affair with beer.

I expect protests.

Want to drop a subtle hint on your teenager? Try the new book Teens Cook Dessert, a collection of dessert recipes for teens written by two sisters and their mom. Only one of the sisters is an actual teen, and even she may have turned twenty by now, but I’m still fifteen at heart, too–except for my sense of humor, which, like the proverbial amp, goes to eleven but not beyond.

Jokes aside, this book (the sequel to Teens Cook) really is good. The recipes are generally simple and familiar, although one of the authors (Megan) has done some traveling in Europe and enjoys making somewhat fussy desserts like White Chocolate-Cherry Phyllo Triangles with Cherry Sauce. Fortunately, most of these are banished to a chapter entitled “Fancy Stuff.”

I’m curious: do any of my readers have kids who like to cook? The conventional wisdom is that the home-cooked meal is going the way of the home-saddled horse, and that’s probably true, but I’m always interested in the exceptions.

If you’re not up for a whole book, here’s a free eGullet class on cooking with kids.

Best Food Writing 2006 is out now, and the holidays are swiftly approaching. Here’s what people are saying:

* “In this excellent collection, Hughes brings together an eclectic mix of writing by restaurant reviewers, chefs, food writers and food lovers that succeeds in connecting distinctly different writing styles with a common thread of respect for and fascination with eating.” -*Publishers Weekly*

* Of the forty essays in this anthology, all but two are written in first person, a sad commentary on the narrow, incurious, self-centered state of food journalism at a time when eating is one of the few cultural activities to which everyone lustily relates. -*Booklist*

* “I nearly put this book away.” -BostonJen, Amazon review

* “I’m confused–how can this be the best food writing of 2006 if the book was only published in Oct 2006?” -McAuliflower, Powells.com

Featured contributors this year include Frank Bruni, Jeffrey Steingarten, Gabrielle Hamilton, and, uh, some guy from Seattle who writes about burgers. In the first person.