Living the Leuku Life

One of the best posts I've seen in a while my friend. Lots of action and drama (the good kind), lots of drinking (Louisianna folks love that stuff too), and then a helluva meal.

I have never seen anyone start a fire that way. Never even considered lighting one top down. In addition, I've never seen anyone cook a steak that way. Again, neato as hell.

Great post!
 
Thanks everyone for the kind words.

It was definitely a fun afternoon. Once I got over the shock of the box being torn open. And realized my knife was still in there. That part was very serious.

I have become quite fond of the upside down fire. It works well with dry wood when I want a good bed of coals for the meat. It is also nice because once you get it ready, it's light it and forget it. Allowing time for more important things like muscle relaxer. Or carving stuff. Or even sharpening knives.

It also works to help dry wet wood. If you have some dry, start it on top. And gradually add in some wetter stuff as you go down. Sort of a redneck kiln dry. Done right, it will yield a nice bed of coals for the morning too. One of my favorite things when camping, is just being able to throw a tinder bundle on top of the previous nights fire and getting fire again with no tools.


The steak in the coals, is something we have been doing up here forever. It works real well. Works best with a good bed of hardwood coals. Stir or rake 'em up a bit. Toss in the steak. Wait patiently until the blood starts to bubble out on top. Flip over and cook for another 5-9 minutes depending on the thickness. The most important part is letting it rest some after pulling it off. Like 15 minutes or so. If it's cold, I wrap them in foil when they come off. But it really pays to let them rest.

The two biggest mistakes I see when folks try this. Is yanking them off too soon, because they think they will be ruined. And slicing them up right away before the juces have had a chance to redistribute themselves.

It produces some of the best steak I've eaten anywhere. This was just a cheap bottom round roast that the bride picked up. I think it was $2.89/pound. I sliced it up into three steaks. But done this way, and sliced Fiddleback thin, it was nice and tender.

Another variation I have done is making up a thick paste with salt and water. Cover both sides of the meat with it. And set a damp paper towel on both sides, top and bottom. Then just do the same in the coals. You have to time it some, because you cant see the blood rise. Better than good.

You would think the salt paste would dry things out, but it doesn't. The paper towels are basically just there to keep the salt up close to the steak they burn off in the cooking process. It looks like a black charred mess when you pull it off. But let it rest, and it is awesome.

People who haven't seen this before, get a horrified look on their faces. But there is never any left for the dog once they see it sliced up.


I may try to keep this as a running thread of the Leuku doing things it likes to do. As long as I don't start to bore people. It does seem to be a thirsty little knife.

If you think about it, much of what we do with our knives is mundane. Necessary, but not exciting. I mean after tens of thousands of years, we aren't really doing much that hasn't already been done.

I am not much good at specs, steels, charts and graphs. I love reading them, I just hate writing about them. But perhaps I can contribute and show some actual woods time, and "Life with a Knife" I should probably Trademark that!

Maybe a knife only project here and there, some food, and yes an occasional "Relaxer"

This summer is starting out a lot more relaxed than last. No Jury duty, And no escaped prisoners running around in my woods. With no CERT Teams and all the Alphabet Departments stomping around looking for them. So hopefully I will get to work in some quality woods time with my new Leuku.

Thanks again for everyone's kind words.
LV,
 
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Funniest post I've read in a while. Thanks for sharing.

Will be giving your steak method a try this weekend. Better be good [emoji3]
 
Should be.
But in your hemisphere, you might have to put the meat under the coals,

Anxiously awaiting the results.
LV
 
I've done the salt paste method several times in the past. We used to put the steak in a shoebox and leave that on the coals with a layer of coals on the top. Basically, once the entire box was gone the steak was ready. The salt would make a kind of crystalized layer that would get scraped off. Absolutely delicious. Haven't done it in a while though because it's tough to find an un-dyed shoebox these days that isn't too thin.
 
Fantastic thread LV! After 6 days in Atlanta the pics and laughs were awesome, thanks! I lusted after that Leuku that Friday, I love the green on green, but I just couldn't swing it. I also love the Neanderthal steak cooking, my favorite way to cook steak is over a fire with it somewhat blackened and burned on the outside and nice and pink in the middle. Holes in the boxes aren't always about attempted thievery, sometimes it's just abuse. TOPS did a run of 125 of one of my small knife designs in 154CM last year. When the boxes arrived one had a hole in it the size of my fist, more than enough for some of them to have been taken out. But when I opened and counted the pieces they were all there. Two did then disappear in transit to their new owners, but that is a different story. I will never do a mass shipping during the Christmas season again.
 
Just an update.

The honeymoon is pretty much over and the newness has worn off. But I'm still lovin' the Leuku.

I set it down for a bit. Then picked it back up again. I went out on Monday and built myself a fire. Basically a one stick fire that I added to. From batoning, to feather sticks, the Leuku handled it all with style and grace.

As I sipped a muscle relaxer. I decided to strop it up a bit. Probably didn't need it. But I from the easier to keep it sharp, than to get it sharp camp. Nothing elaborate, just strolled down to the shop and grabbed my Green/Black strop.

As I almost always do. I ran the knife up my Carhartts a few dozen times when finishing. Then I had an idea. They always say the old guys knew what they were doing running their knives up and down their pants to finish off their sharpening. Of course back them some probably wore leather or deer skin pants.

It got me to thinking, so back down to the shop I went. Returning with a Bar of green strop paste. I rubbed some into the leg of my Carhartts.

I ran the knife up my arm first, so I had a baseline. Then as I sipped another MR. I gently worked the knife aginst my inpregnated pants. Nothing major just like you would normally run it back and forth. Been doing this since I was a kit. It's almost primordial muscle memory.

Then came the comparison swipe. I was a little surprised. On the first pass some hair came off, but some remained. On the second pass, there was nothing left. My arm looked like a hay field, with one cut made down through the middle. I was impressed.

I'll most likely experiment some more with this. I have rubbed compound on the back side of my belt for years, but this adds a new dimension.

This knife been a wonderful addition for me. I like that it can go from rough wood break down, to fine shaving tasks with equal results.

Still a happy camper, no photos.
LV,
 
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Nice. You can tack down a cutout of some old blue jeans to a board, run in some BR green or white compound and it makes a great finishing strop.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Keep using that Leuku. Its one of my favorites as well. I have a few of them.
 
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