Beef Jerky

We have just had a crazy couple of weeks here in my world... I will go into some more of it later, but I wanted to share this with y'all in the interim.   I pulled a cooking magazine out of the stack a couple of nights ago and found an article about Beef Jerky...  Now I know that most of you have tried it before, the dried up icky stuff that you get next to the cheese curds at any number of gas stations.  I assure you that this is a little different, the flavors are more subtle and the meat can actually be chewed without too much effort.  Add to that, it was kind of fun to make.  The meat was just a Chuck Roast that I found on sale, the marinade was pantry ingredients that most of us have...

About a pound of Beef Chuck Cut into strips about 1/4 of an inch thick...  You can go pretty loosy goosy with the cuts.  I went with the grain, across the grain and every which way to get several strips of beef to marinade.

Ok I am not sure that this looks cool or like a clip from the X-Files

The Marinade:
3 TBS Soy Sauce
3 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
3 TBS Tomato Sauce
2 Cloves Garlic
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes


On the rack and ready to go.

 Soak strips of beef in marinated for about 6-8 hours.  When ready to dry heat oven to 200 degrees, lay the beef strips on rack and cook for about 2 hours.  The stuff that you get in the store will last basically forever in the cupboard not so with this.  Since there are no preservatives it needs to be refrigerated and lasts for about 3 months I hear anyway mine have never lasted more than several days.

Pasties

Pasties are a Cornish dish that are somewhat unique to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  When Cornish  settlers came to the area the Pasty was an important dish to the men working the iron and copper mines in the area.  It was a hearty compact lunch that could be wrapped in a towel and taken to work sometimes reheated on a shovel over a small fire.

This is a dish that Kris had been nervous about me attempting, it is a traditional meal that doesn’t need any messing around with.  To anyone from the Upper Peninsula a  Salmon and Poblano Pasty makes about as much sense as Fried Chicken Sushi, and I know that Kris has worried that I would try to put my own spin on the meal.  Since I have never had a real traditional dish I had to be respectful and have been holding back on making them until I could get a chance to spend the afternoon with the Pasty Master… Kris’ mom.    I have asked her for the recipe a couple of times but the answer has always been a bit blurry to me, usually consisting of “well you take the ingredients and  put them in a pasty crust, the one in the Scandinavian Cook Book that I gave you only with a little more flour and less water, the ingredients go in layers so every bite has everything.”   I didn’t really understand the process until this week when I had the time to actually make them, with appropriate guidance. We actually made 14 of these but the recipe below is for 7.

The Dough
3 Cups Flour
¾ Cup Shortening
½ Cup Cold Water
1 tsp (more or less) Salt

Cut flour and shortening together until it resembles coarse meal then add the cold water and blend.  If there are crumbly bits at the bottom of the bowl add some more water.  Divide the dough into 6 or 7 balls and refrigerate until ready to use.

Rutabaga diced up.

Adding the ingredients one layer at a time

The Filling
4-5 Potatoes peeled and cleaned diced (a little smaller than ¼ inch)
1 Rutabaga peeled and diced (same size as the potato)
1 ¼ pound of ground beef
1 large onion diced
Margarine
Salt an pepper to taste

To make pasties roll out the dough on a floured surface into about 7 inch circles then start filling.  Understand that all the amounts below are approximate add enough to fill the dough that you rolled out.  To the top half of the circle start building layers put ¼ cup potatoes, ¼ cup rutabaga then break up your ground beef to cover, top that with onions, then add  another layer of each.  Top with salt, pepper and about 2 tsp of butter.

Wet the edges of the circle then close and seal,  cut a few vents in the top and bake at 350 for about an hour.   I have heard that some people serve them with gravy but I have always had them with the traditional ketchup and lots of it.  These really are a whole mess of comfort food wrapped up in a flaky envelope.  This is one of the times I am jealous of people that have recipes handed down over generations.   I have never had that,  most of my family has kind of made them up on the fly. 

OK I had to add it... a gratuitous vacation photo.

Short Ribs

Spring is officially here, but the weather in March is insane, a few days of almost summer then days of icy cold drizzle, snow and freezing winds.  I cleaned off the grill this weekend, planned my first grilled out meal of the season then we were struck by icy cold wind and rain... did I still grill out?  of course... I just laugh at myself that this time of year I tend to pick the wrong meal for whatever the weather.  Yes yesterday I was trying to turn my grill away from the wind and still keep myself out of the rain for long enough to get my chorizo laced burgers done.

The day before was just as out of place... as all of my neighbors were firing up their grills I was inside on a warm sunny day slow brazing Short Ribs.  These guys rocked by the way!  The recipe was adapted from epicurious.com (by adapted I mean that I didn't have all the ingredients on hand)

1/2 ounce dried morel mushrooms
1  cup boiling water

For the dry rub
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 pounds meaty short ribs
2 tablespoons olive oil

To braise  the meat
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup red wine
1cup canned low-salt chicken broth
3/4 cup liquid that the mushrooms soaked in
1 bay leaf

For the crumbs
2 TBS butter, room temperature
1 cup bread crumbs
3 of the above mentioned mushrooms chopped
2 TBS Dijon mustard

Start by soaking your mushrooms in a cup of boiling water I let mind go for about 3 hours...

 Pre heat the oven to 325.  Mix the thyme, salt and pepper together and rub on all sides of your short ribs then heat olive oil in a large pan  and sear on all sides until brown (took about 10 minutes).

Take the meat out and set aside for for the next step, add the onions, garlic and carrot to the pan and saute for about 10 minutes until soft then deglaze the pan with the red wine.  Scrape any of the yummy brown bits off the bottom of the pan then put your ribs back in and add the chicken broth and mushroom water (being careful not to spill any of the sediment into your pan).  Rinse your mushrooms well then add them to the pot and finally the bay leaf.  Cover tightly put in the oven... Cook until these are very tender (3 of my 5 fell off the bone when I picked them up) these took about 2 hours.

Somewhere while the short ribs are braising start your bread crumb mixture, I know you will find the time.  mix the butter and breadcrumbs together and set aside.  When your meat is done pull it out of the oven then turn it up to 425, let the meat cool until cool enough to touch.  While it is cooling pull out 3 large mushrooms, chop them up and mix them into the breadcrumb stuff.  Smear about a teaspoon of mustard on each rib then pack the crumb mixture on them.  Put them on a baking sheet and put them back into the oven to brown (this part took about 10 minutes).  While that is going cook your drippings over medium high heat until it thickens a bit.

Here it is with the sauce, very tasty, not as photogenic.

These are served over mashed potatoes.

How was it?  Mixed reviews... 

Bryan, "It rocked!  what a perfect mixture of flavors and textures.  The meat was just falling off the bone and tasted wonderful"

Kris, "It tasted fine but looks like barbarian food."

Miss Lu, "It smells good but I'll just have grilled cheese."

I was OK with the leftovers here it is for lunch the next day!

Beef Tenderloin a Holiday Classic

But er... for what Holiday?

For most people there are normal holiday food equations for example:
Thanksgiving = Turkey
Christmas = Beef
Easter = Ham

Our house is a little different our equations are:
Thanksgiving = Beef Tenderloin
Christmas = Ham

Kris can't stand turkey, me being the foodie nut that I am I tried everything to get her to agree that she liked the bird when we met... one year I brined a turkey in honey, garlic and tarragon; another year I slathered one in cranberry chutney and baked it in a bag.  After about three years and eating most of a turkey myself I realized that maybe my wife knows exactly how turkey tastes, she just doesn't like it.  Now we have come to enjoy our non traditional food equations.  It also gives me the advantage of posting my Thanksgiving recipe in time for you to see it before Christmas.

If you read my blog you will see the recurring theme... I can work a recipe to death to get exactly what I want; this one has been done five or six times with some setbacks.  This Thanksgiving we got it right!

Beef Tenderloin in Red Wine Reduction:

The Sauce:
2 TBS vegetable oil
2 small onions
3 cloves fresh garlic
2 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
1 750 ml bottle of Merlot
1 cup chicken broth
1 14 oz can beef broth
2 sprigs fresh thyme
10-12 peppercorns
1 bay leaf

1 TBS Flour

1 TBS Butter

Heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan then add onions and garlic sauté until tender (about 10 minutes).  Add the brown sugar and sauté for about 4 more minutes, until it is deep brown.  Add vinegar and stir for about a minute more until it is almost evaporated.  Then add your bottle of wine (minus a sip or two... you are the cook you get a little extra) simmer until reduced by half...

Here is the cool way to check that, put a rubber band around the handle of a wooden spoon then dip that into your sauce.  Roll the band down to the line left by the liquid then you know where you started... when your sauce pan has half of the liquid you know you are done.

Add the rest of your ingredients and simmer on low heat for about half an hour.  Strain through a fine strainer into a large bowl and set aside. Give your saucepan a quick rinse then mix your butter and flour to make a roux.  Put your sauce back in and cook for 5-10 more minutes.  This can be done a day ahead and reheated.

The Beef
2 1/2 to 3 pound Tenderloin trimmed

Salt, pepper

1-2 TBS Olive oil

Sprinkle salt and pepper on beef then let it set on the counter (covered with an upside down pan if you are the owner of one or more cats) for about half an hour until it is room temp.  Then heat up the oil in your pan and sear beef on all sides then transfer to the oven and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes until done the way you like.  I did mine in the Iron skillet so I only used one pan for this part. 

When the meat is just slightly under done pull it out and let stand at room temp for a few minutes.  Doing that lets the juices settle so they stay in your beef and not all over the counter.  When it is done slice and serve with the red wine reduction!  At the top if this page it is pictured with

 

The Experiment

Last fall I bought a gas grill, I wanted to get it before another Chicago winter set in.  Kris, the kiddos and I packed up one afternoon to head across what seemed like a never ending trek of suburbs surrounded by corn fields to pick up the grill she found for me on craigslist.  I wanted it for the ease of cooking out in the winter, because I miss cooking out and the charcoal grill... well it isn't so much fun to light in a blizzard even if there isn't a blizzard it is hard to light in the dark, you know after the 3:45 sunset.  I do have to say that I was a little nervous about a couple of things.

1. Would I be able to get the same depth of flavor from propane as I did charcoal or charwood?

2. Would I be able to slow cook anything?

The answers are"pretty much" and "YES!"  I found that the flavors I get are just fine, maybe a little bit is lost from not cooking over actual burning wood but I think I have the ability to make up for that by seasoning and cooking food well.  As for slow cooking I was very happy!  this weekend I made a smoked beef brisket.  I started by going out a buying a "smoker box" which is a metal box with holes in it.  Imagine how much fun Mr. Man had while I was looking at metal boxes for all of 25 minutes.  Anyway I picked the $15.00 model  to put in my grill that I wouldn't pay more than $30.00 for.  Really this stuff all makes sense in my head, but looks funny written down.

I was lucky to find 2 pound Brisket at my normal store it had about a 1/4 inch thick layer of fat on it, you want about that much... if you can't find one with that you can add a few strips of bacon to the top,  yeah Bryan is back on the health food kick.  I did the simplest of rubs on the meat just Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder and set it on the counter to temper for about half an hour.  While that was waiting I soaked cheery wood chips in water and Tequila for the same time. While those were resting and soaking I made my mop sauce, the ingredients

1/2 cup Tequila

1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce

1 TBS Stone Ground Mustard

Juice from one Lime

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

Put the Brisket into a shallow pan (I used a disposable pie tin, because throwing that away is so much easier than washing it).  Fill the smoker box with wet wood chips and put under the grate on low heat.  Set the meat in your pan on top of the grate so it only gets indirect heat..  You want to spent about 3 hours cooking this 2 pounds of meat, cooked too quickly and brisket is UN-Chewable!  So give it time.  Every half hour go out and spread some of your Mop Sauce on top, after a while use mop sauce and pan drippings.

You can only tell if it is done by poking it

If it feels like you are trying to poke a hole in a monster truck tire with a fork,  it is going to take a while.

If it feels like you are trying to poke through the steaks that you ate in college, you are getting there

If the meet feels like it is about to fall apart on your fork... done!

You probability want some BBQ sauce for this you can use your favorite from the store, if you are feeling all fancy try this one:

1 cup Ketchup

1 Heavy TBS of Molasses

1/4  cup Bourbon

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

Heat over medium stirring occasionally until sauce starts to thicken, maybe 20 minutes or so.  you do have three hours so unless you are catching up on your soap you have the time.  In the picture I am serving with my Grandma's baked beans, (I came across a family cookbook a couple of weeks ago).

So how was it, well I am happy and sad to say it was wonderful, smokey and subtle with a depth that I didn't expect.  Happy because it worked so well, sad... well I really did like the old kettle grill but maybe it is time for the rusty old guy to go...

There it is, my new toy "smoker box" seems like

a fancy way to say metal box to me but it worked!

Tenderloin with Black Pepper Cream Sauce

It is one of those things that I do sometimes, it was a Thursday evening, nothing special but I made some Beef Tenderloin. Yes, on an average Thursday evening I made some good old Filet Mignon with a Black Pepper Cream Sauce. It is the kind of sacrifice that my family and I are willing to make for you, my loyal readers.

Ingredients:
2 cups of Beef Broth
3 TBS Butter

1 pound of Beef Tenderloin this was actually medallions so I cut 4 Steaks about 3 inches around and 1 inch thick from the tail end of a well trimmed tenderloin

1 small Onion diced
2 cloves of Garlic minced
1 cup heavy cream
3 TBS Brandy
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Salt to taste

This was actually pretty easy, I started by simmering some beef stock for about half an hour (yes it was a store bought stock, low sodium... I need control of the salt) until the two cups reduced by half. When that was almost done I melted the butter in a saucepan then sauteed the Onions and Garlic then I put the Steaks into the hot pan and cooked for about 3 minutes on each side when they were RARE I took them off tented with foil and put then in a plate in the warm oven while I made the sauce.
Deglaze the pan that the steak was cooked in, to do that poor the cup of hot beef broth into the pan and use that liquid to get all the yummy crumbly bits off the bottom of the pan. Then add the Heavy Cream, Brandy and a good amount of Black pepper, how much? I don't know... how much do you like pepper? and a little salt. Let that cook in the skillet over medium heat until it thickens to a nice sauce consistency I think it took a 7-8 minutes; stir very often so that it doesn't burn. When it is as thick as you want poor through a strainer, to get all of the bits of stuff out. This is like liquid silk put a little on your plate then add the steaks. In the background is a stuffed baby artichoke.

Thanksgiving at our house pt 1

I may have mentioned before that my wonderful wife Kris is a bit picky about what she will eat, while we were dating she told me some of the foods that she just doesn't like; all seafood (smells bad) most pork (too dry and not much flavor) most casserole dishes (too many things in one pan) turkey (too dry, too gamey) were all on the list. I am a pretty good cook so I have convinced her to try some new things or old things prepared well and she has changed her mind about some of them. Still on the list; all seafood (I usually cook any fish outside, I have to admit it does have an odor) and Turkey. I have tried Turkey in every way shape and form and she just doesn't like it.

Add to the fact that Kris isn't a big fan of Turkey, Thanksgiving is usually the Holiday I have to work so Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will be getting up at 3:15 so that I can be on the South Side of Chicago by 4:45 to open up. We decided to do two things different than most. First, Thanksgiving took place on Wednesday in our house. Second, this year Turkey and Stuffing were off the menu completely they were replaced by Beef and Polenta. I recently read a statistic that suggests 90% of Americans eat Turkey on Thanksgiving day, really I don't know how that statistic was arrived at or if it was just made up but I am going to run with it for now. If you figure 90% of us are eating Turkey on Thanksgiving then take into account that about 5% of Americans are Vegetarians that puts me and my family in the small 5% of us that forsake the bird on this day. So the Thanksgiving menu in our house was:

Beef Tenderloin with a Red Wine Reduction

Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans

Grilled Polenta

Brown Sugar and Bourbon Cranberries

The Sauce:

1 TBL Vegetable Oil

6 Green Onions Coarsely Chopped

2 Portobello Mushrooms Diced

1 TBS Brown Sugar

2 TBS Balsamic Vinegar

2 Cups Red Wine

1 Cup Beef Broth

1 Cup Chicken Broth

2 sprigs Fresh Thyme

2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary

1 tsp Peppercorns

1 tsp Flour

1 tsp Butter

Heat oil in sauce pan the add the Onions and Mushrooms and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes then add the Brown Sugar stir until that has melted then add the Balsamic Vinegar and Saute until all the liquid has evaporated (a minute or two).

Add wine, both broths, herbs and peppercorn and cook over medium/low heat for about 45 minutes. When the sauce is done put the butter and flour in another saucepan and make a roux then strain the sauce into that pan cook until thickened (maybe another 1o-15 minutes)

The Beef

1 1/2 pounds of Beef Tenderloin

2 TBS Olive Oil

2 Cloves minced Garlic

1 very small Onion diced

Salt

Pepper

a little bit of Butter

Preheat oven to 350 then heat the olive oil, saute the garlic and onions for a couple of minutes then brown the beef on all sides (I deglazed the pan with chicken broth and cooked my green beans in that liquid) Place beef on baking pan and top with salt, pepper and about 3 pats of butter then put in the oven for about 35 minutes. Until it registers 120-125 on a thermometer for medium rare, or if your daughter "looks at" your thermometer for only a few seconds and returns it broken into several pieces, guess. Let it rest on a cutting board for about 10 minutes then slice 3/4 of an inch thick and top with a little sauce. You can see in the picture that we were having a little fun with edible flowers

Smoked Brisket

July forth was just around the corner and I wanted to come up with a menu that accomplished a couple of things I wanted to cook something outside, it was a perfect cookout holiday and I didn't mind spending a few hours doing it. We were all going to be home from the time that the parade ended until the fireworks began. Slow cooking something on the grill was perfect.

I had never smoked a brisket before, I have made them a few times in the winter when slow cooking is great inside but on the grill in early July isn't something that I have ever done. I had to find a Brisket that was usable for my family, we were all a lttle tired and there was no way to have guests. I wanted about 2 1/2 pounds of Brisket with about 1/4 inch of fat on the top. You need enough fat to keep the meat moist plus the pan drippings make a great addition to the meat and the sauce later. Because I went to the grocery store after work on July 3rd (at about 8:00pm) I had to take what I could get. What I found was 3 pounds of meat with a very thin fat cap. Because of the way my luck runs sometimes the brisket I wanted was the only one in the case without a price. I had to call a store manager to figure out the price for me. Later I thought about how much he must love me, the annoying guy that needs a particular cut of meat at 8:20 the day before a holiday. Anyway he did take care of me and I picked up some bay scallops while I was there, they turned out well. I decided to do a spice rub similar to what I did on the smoked ribs a few weeks ago, since the meat would cook for a much longer time and absorb more of the flavor from the smoke I simplified it a bit, this one had:

2 tsp Kosher Salt

2 tsp Chili Powder

2 tsp Brown Sugar

1 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper

1 tsp Cumin

That couldn't have been easier... I mixed the spices together before we went to the parade the next morning (about 7:00 am) and wrapped the brisket in plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator to rest for a few hours. To prepare I wrapped a shallow pan with foil (I am still cleaning up the pan that I used as a drip pan for the ribs) then took the brisket out of the wrap and set a couple of slices of bacon on top... I wanted to make up for the small amount of fat on the meat its self. About noon I lit the grill and got it ready to smoke, spread the coals to the sides and put about a cup of wet wood chips on each side, I used cherry smoking chips for this. When it was going I pored about 1/2 a bottle of beer into the pan for added moisture. I closed the lid and checked it every hour after that.

As I checked it every 45 minutes to hour I checked the heat of the closed grill and tried to keep it the temperature of an oven, maybe 325. I basted the meat with the drippings to make sure that it stayed moist. I also added about 8-10 coals to each side of the grill and maybe a cup of wet woodchips. and once I added some more beer to the tray. A little after 5 it was done, yes a little more than 5 hours of cooking time, that time would vary depending on heat of the grill and the size of the meat. I just knew this was perfectly done, but could also tell when the meat was tender when I poked it with a fork.

After it came off the grill I set the meat to rest for about 20 minutes and pored the silky pan drippings into a bowl with some commercial bbq sauce to make that beautiful sauce that you see above. We served this with a little pasta salad and some slaw.