Five things you need to know today, and how do you make your steak?

Business Journals

24-04-2025

Good morning, Cincinnati. Here are the five things you need to know before starting your busy business day.
Good morning, Cincinnati. Here are the five things you need to know before you start your busy business day:
1) Towne Properties plans 76-unit apartment complex in Columbia Tusculum
The longtime Cincinnati developer is planning 76 market-rate apartments and a ground-floor commercial space at the intersection of Eastern Avenue on McCullough Street.
2) University of Cincinnati approves $47 million for Crosley Tower demolition project
UC's board approved $47.3 million for the remediation and demolition of Crosley Tower and the Clifton Court Garage in its next step in constructing a new STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) facility.
3) Drees to build 25 luxury homes in long-targeted Clermont County development
Fort Mitchell-based Drees is self-developing and building 25 home sites in Clermont County's Miami Township, located at 890 Wards Corner Road, to be known as Miami Reserve.
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4) Local insurance company partners with industry giant Integrity to fuel growth
The Modern Insurance Store, based in the Clermont County town of Bethel, has teamed with Dallas-based Integrity Marketing Group, a distributor of life and health insurance that also provides wealth management and retirement planning services, to expand services and fuel growth.
5) Sparkling beverage studio billing itself as first-of-its-kind opening in Deerfield Township
Jukebox, a new beverage bar billing itself as the country's first-ever custom sparkling drink studio, is opening in Deerfield Township near Mason this summer.
Today in history
1916: The Easter Rising, a rebellion in Ireland, begins in an attempt to proclaim an Irish Republic and overthrow British rule.
What I'm watching
'Severance' on Apple TV+
Good stuff on Spotify
'Hazy Morning' by Blitzen Trapper
Steak Szn
The weather is finally warming up, which means it's finally outdoor grilling weather. One of my longtime cooking goals is to get a restaurant-quality steak at home. I define it as one with a good crust, medium rare-to-medium interior with as little gray band as possible.
A few years ago, I got a sous vide immersion circulator as a gift. If you're not familiar with this wondrous device, basically you cook your food, whether it's meat or vegetables, in a ziptop or vacuum sealed bag in a water bath warmed to the temperature at which you want your food to end up.
Sous vide works great for a steak, but the only pitfall is getting a sear after it's finished cooking in the water bath. To do so, you've got to get the surface area dry, so when you throw it onto the flames of a grill or a ripping-hot cast iron pan, it quickly browns without increasing the internal temperature too much. Moisture is the enemy of browning and the Maillard reaction.
I usually set the sous vide at 125 degrees, cook prime-grade New York strips I get from Costco for two hours, wipe off the moisture with a clean kitchen towel, then sear.
If you're not grilling other stuff, Alton Brown has an interesting method that uses a bit less charcoal where he fills a chimney starter halfway with charcoal, skewers the steaks and sits them on top of the starter for a few minutes on each side.
These techniques work most of the time, but sometimes I cannot get the surface area dry enough to get the meat as crusty as I like. It's a tradeoff, I suppose, between a near-perfect interior temperature and a good crust that also has a gray band.
What's your preferred method?