Steak time
I was arranging with a friend to go to a restaurant for lunch. I suggested him the Djerdan restaurant, because it is located close to where I live and I could only guarantee that the food would be of good quality for that restaurant, because I am a regular guest at that restaurant (and that I will manage to arrive at a normal time during the working week).
When we ordered drinks and looked at the menu, he asked me if I eat steaks and if I had tried them in this restaurant.
I haven't often had the opportunity to have steaks on my plate in restaurants.
Once they prepared them too bloody for me (Rare), because they convinced me that this is how steak should be eaten.
The red liquid that spilled on my plate was not pleasing to my eye, and neither was the texture of the almost raw meat, killing my desire to eat them.
In order not to find myself in a similar situation again, the next time (years later), I decided to repeat the steak (Well done) longer cooked version and then I got pieces of meat as hard as shoe soles.
Bites of that well done, I chewed for a long, long time to be able to swallow them...
I would probably try steak in the coming years, but it's a terrible feeling when you're in a restaurant and you know that by choosing any other meat you'd enjoy the meal, and you order a steak that's very expensive, and you're left unsatisfied with the taste and hungry.
For this reason, I told him that I am not a fan of...
However, when he told me that he heard from an acquaintance that the steak in Djerdan is better than in some restaurants with much better names in Belgrade, I agreed with him to try it.
I left it up to him to choose the duration of the preparation, because I told him about the beginning of my "steak journey", with Rare and then with Well done.
Together we went through all stages of baking:
Blue rare (almost raw): 30 to 45 seconds per side.
Rare: about 1 to 2 minutes per side.
Medium rare (the most popular): about 2 to 2.5 minutes per side, with an additional 3 minutes in a 200掳C oven if needed.
Medium: about 3 minutes per side
Medium well: about 3.5 minutes per side
Well done: about 5 to 6 minutes per side.
And after we called the waiter over, I accepted my friend's suggestion that we order Medium (although I originally went for Medium well).
Steak in black truffle sauce and steak in pepper sauce were two choices, and when the waiter recommended steak in oil, a friend (otherwise very hungry) suggested that we take that portion as well, without canceling any of the choices.
Three portions of steak for the two of us with salads and hot roasted peppers. Hell 馃槄
The choice of Medium turned out to be excellent.
The explosion of flavors that overwhelmed our palates, the softness of the meat, along with the delicious toppings, contributed to the perfection that we prepared for ourselves.
The red center of the piece of meat, which was thermally treated at a temperature of 60-65掳C, was not bloody. Medium is the recipe for such color and texture.
Olive oil with lots of spices (steak that I didn't take a picture of), sauce dressing with pieces of black truffle and a sauce made of finely ground pepper, greatly contributed to the taste of each bite of meat.
When we analyzed them after successfully mastering all three portions, my ranking list looked like this:
The best taste of meat: steak in oil, probably because the steak was aged in oil for 72 hours before preparation.
The meat from the portion with steak sauce was in second place, while the first place for the taste of the sauce went to the black truffle.
The reason why steaks are not in my choice of dishes in restaurants is the price.
I knew that this meal would cost us a lot, even though it was just the two of us and even though we didn't drink expensive wines.
When the bill arrived, I remembered a post by 
I can't remember if I've paid a higher bill per person for food before (maybe I paid more when we had a lot of drinks), but this bill is certainly the most expensive in the last three years, for a restaurant in the city I live in - more expensive even than the restaurant I wrote about in the previous post, however, unlike Jamie, we now went home completely full and satisfied.
If you find yourself in Belgrade and want to enjoy food, visit Djerdan, it is not necessary to eat steaks, any meal at their place is perfect.
And if you're a steak lover, you won't regret it, because this friend of mine, a connoisseur of steak and a world traveler, commented "Perfect! I wonder if I've ever eaten a steak that's tastier and this cheap" 馃ぃ