If Ina Garten's domain is the posh enclave of East Hampton, Ree Drummond's is the vast plains of Oklahoma. Here, a pioneer woman prepares hearty, feel-good meals for her family on the ranch—meals that often look delicious enough to make you want to switch up your city life and become a true cowgirl.
However, one of Drummond's recipes went viral on TikTok, and for a surprising reason. TikTok user @cliff_secord recently shared a clip from the 2017 Food Network show The Pioneer Woman titled "Driving a Fence Post," in which Drummond prepares a meal for her husband, Ladd, and kids while they repair their huge fence on property. Bag lunches include mini pecan pies, veggies and dips, as well as a steak sandwich she calls “the steak sandwich to end all steak sandwiches.”
The TikToker had a somewhat different take on the dish, though - calling it the "worst steak sandwich ever," adding in the caption that it was a "total fail." So what's the problem? First, as @cliff_secord politely pointed out, the onion slices Drummond uses are very thick. "She chars them and they leave a char mark, but when she chars them they're still basically raw onions." Several commenters agreed, with one commenting that the dish The description is "Three Mickeys with Onions and Steak." Another couldn't help but laugh: "Everything was overcooked except the onions."
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In the video, which has more than 1 million views and more than 130,000 likes, the narrator wonders why Drummond puts the entire steak on a baguette. "I don't know if you've ever tried eating a steak without a knife and fork, but unless you have sharp teeth, it's really hard."
One commenter worried that "the roof of their mouth would be ripped off" if they tried the sandwich. The steak was also too big for the baguette container, which seemed to make it difficult for Ladd and the kids to bite into it. "They work hard out there and then work even more for lunch," one commenter joked. (All is not lost, though: Ladd did comment on the show that the meat was "very tender." So, he Be a fan!)
It's unclear if Drummond saw the comment, but she is active on TikTok — she was even inspired by the app's own Emily Mariko. But if the Food Network personality did stumble upon this video, you'd probably expect her to be nice about it. After all, she's admitted to mistakes in the kitchen before. According to Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Drummond once revealed to Pioneer Woman magazine that she regretted the chicken strip pizza recipe on the show "because the finished product wasn't what she imagined." What went wrong?
“My vision was big, beautiful homemade fried chicken with thick-cut pickles, drizzled with honey,” Drummond continued. "But because of the timing of the episode, I ended up using frozen chicken strips - and they didn't win any chicken strip beauty contests. Then we put the coleslaw in and it was a mess. I wish I could undo (and watch less than!) it.”
