Don:
>But despite how
>Stefansson had his meat prepared in his Bellevue experiment, I think all
>agree that raw meat is better. So yesterday I went to the butcher and had
>then cut me a very thick piece of sirloin steak, and then had them cut it
>into 6 oz pieces and wrapped individually. I'm only briefly searing the
>outer edges, the only place the bacteria could be, and eating them almost
>entirely raw. I do think tenderloin would be nicer, but no doubt much more
>expensive.
>Maybe I could experiment with lamb the same way?

Your method of briefly searing the outer edges is one that we have
experimented with as well. It sure makes one realize how cooked an "extra
rare" steak is in a resturant. Pink inside? Ours are redddddd inside.
Looking at a cross-section it could be argued that the meat is almost 90%
raw, depending on the thickness of the cut. Sounds like your onto that same
thing, eh?

Two ideas for you if you want to eat some totally raw meat for comparison:

1] Cut fatty strips of meat thinly and lay on a wire mesh in front of a fan
overnight. The resulting jerky is raw and a heck of a lot easier to make
than pemmican, though it doesn't last as long--especially of made from
non-pastured animals--but it usually gets eaten long before it goes bad.
Brisket is a very cheap cut with which to do this; it has a fine coating of
tasty belly fat and can be easily cut across the grain to make a raw jerky
which is surprisingly melting. This can be a good option for lunch at work
where one isn't likely going to fry up a steak or eat it rare/raw ;)

2] Hang a thick steak (like a New York strip or a lamb chop) from one of
the shelves in the fridge. You could use fishing line or even a paper
clip--unless you have a huge cut which would be too heavy. You'll find that
within a couple days the outside of the meat will dry and crust over while
the inside continues to age. Kind of nature's way to sear a steak, eh? The
lack of moisture pretty much takes away the medium for the bacteria to grow
in. Indeed, hanging steaks in the fridge might be better than storing in
butcher wrapping which almost seems made to taint meat (and fish) after a
few days of becoming moister and moister as it leaks precious juices from
the interior. You can even hang meat in room temperature in front of a fan
and it will age much faster (for this it is probably more important to get
pastured meat; commercial meat, in my experience, rots much faster than
pastured or wild meats). Probably best to avoid any cuts with visible blood
vessels in them since the moisture inside will cause bacterial off-flavors.
(This meat could also be lightly cooked I suppose.)

The to-die-for tenderness of a marbled porterhouse can be mimiced (not
completely, of course ;)) by simple aging of cheaper cuts (but not,
obviously, hamburger). In the old days, sides of beef were often hung as
long as thirty days to improve flavor/texture, and it is still done with
certain game.  One butcher I found brags that he hangs everything 14 days
and he doesn't know anyone who still doing that (unless you want to
mail-order some aged Angus for $30 per steak). Fortunately it is easy
enough to hang smaller portions on our own in the fridge. Every day meat is
aged it is more tender and deeply-flavored. Same for fish fillets...

Cheers,
Kirt