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July 29, 2008
The joy of a good pan sauce
(All natural top sirloin and Yukon Gold potato, smothered in a Shiner Bock- balsamic reduction, with red onions and crimini mushrooms)
Well, Julie's out of town again, which means I catch up on eating some foods we generally don't eat together. Steak is one of them, and I really did this one up.
I always prefer to use some good demi-glace or stock in a pan sauce, but lacking that I collected whatever juices I could once I seared the steak while I reduced about half a bottle of Shiner Bock, loosening the fond from my cast iron skillet to get every bit of meaty flavor. I added the juices to the pan along with a glug of decent balsamic vinegar and some dijon mustard, then added my diced red onions and sliced crimini mushrooms. After giving it a saute, I added a generous pat of butter off the heat, then seasoned the sauce to taste.
It's kind of a mess, in terms of plating, but the sauce was so unbelievably good I didn't want to save the leftovers.
Update: I was only able to eat half of that last night, and just had the leftovers. A fall apart sirloin with a sauce packed with flavor. Amazing.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 11:55 AM | Comments (2)
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November 12, 2007
Ommegang... Ohmahgod, it's good!
This is a great beer, and it added a wonderful dimension to the pan sauce I put together last night.
I was determined to keep this as simple as possible, in terms of flavors, so I decided to create an utterly simple pan sauce. Fortunately, I still had some of the "semi-glace" that I try to keep on hand, and that's really all you need, but rather than crust my top sirloin with crushed black peppercorns, ala au poivre, I figured that I could just deglaze the pan with some butter, a few cubes of semi-glace, and some crushed peppercorns.
The steak was simple, too, I used some amazing Hawaiian sea salt on the steak before pan frying it in our Tibvrtini Novello organic olive oil, and some butter. Pulled it once it was medium rare, and let it rest on a plate.
Happily, as it turns out, I didn't have enough sauce to deglaze the size of the pan I used, so I needed to add some more liquid. I was planning on drinking the Ommegang Abbey Dubbel anyway, so I splashed a bit of it in the skillet, swirled to deglaze the fond, and reduced it until it was nappé.
Serving it with the rigatoni and cheese seemed like an unlikely match, but it was great, and the sauce worked really well with the pasta, too.
This was almost unbearably good, and pretty simple to put together. Here's another picture of the finished dish:
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:00 AM | Comments (5)
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September 12, 2007
Chilebrown's making... well, Chile.
(Photo: Paul Brown, of his Grilled Tri Tip)
The aptly named Paul "Chile" Brown has entered a chile cookoff:
Well I am waiting for my trial batch to finish. I made over a gallon of chili. I am going to use Survival Spice... I will spike it with a little salt. I hope you do not mind.
I don't mind at all! I spent a lot of time developing Survival Spice™ to be great all by itself, or as a base for whatever fresh flavors you'd like to add- lemon/orange zest, toasted cumin seeds, etc. I put as little kosher salt in the blend as I could, and people on reduced sodium diets have thanked me for that. Also, I think it's a ripoff that most blends have so much salt in them, I'd much prefer that you added extra salt 'to taste' as Paul does.
Sorry to hear about your partner flaking out, Chile. I'd have been proud to be your sous chef.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:53 AM | Comments (2)
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September 04, 2007
Chilebrown's in A World of Dumplings
(Photo: Paul "Chile" Brown)
Paul "Chile" Brown is excited about a new dish:
Man I am alive!!!!!!!!!!!!! Zukerman potatoes and Three Twisted Sister's Bacon from Chandler. Going to fire up the smoker with some beef ribs and beef loin. I got some applewood chunks off of E-bay. The kroppkakor is a Swedish Potato and Bacon Dumpling. I have a new book called "A World of Dumplings "
The book looks interesting, making dumplings is something I've had decent success with, but I've never really taken the time to really make the effort to perfect my technique.
Here's Paul's finished dish, sadly he didn't invite me over... I got a lot of good emails, y'all have been cooking up a storm!!!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:49 AM | Comments (7)
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August 24, 2007
Lokkii here- Chilebrown's making Ribs
Looks like Paul's found himself a new BBQ toy to play with:
I saw it and said what the heck. I am always interested in new Barbeque products. The website http://lokkii.com/ says it is organic.(Whoopdiedoo). I think Mesquite charcoal is the same. I ordered a six pack. The shipping ended up the same as the product.I had a Corned Beef Brisket and some Beef Ribs. I rubbed them with Survival Spice™ and started cooking it with one brick. I wanted to cook low and slow. When you first light these suckers it smells like pine. Maybe that is there secret ingredient. Once it is lit the smell goes away. I had to light a second log after an hour. They claim it will cook for two hours. I had it in a Weber Kettle.
What do I think?. Can you trust a product from China? Do you want to pay shipping? I give it a thumbs down.!! I would only recommend it you were backpacking because of the convience. It had a Pine smell when you lit it. I do not trust that this was an organic lighting system. There was some chemicals. The only plus I found was convience.
Now to the Highlights of the Dinner. Corned Beef and Beef Ribs rubbed with Survival Spice. Creamed Corn with Bacon (A&B Market,Bend Or,) Tomatoe with Pt.Reyes Blue Cheese, and a whole lot of Lovvin!!!!! Peace, Paul.
I wonder if that smell was resins they probably add as a binder, to keep it from falling apart during shippping. Interesting idea, if wonder if they're selling a lot of them? It is a great idea for campers, and people using public grills that don't want to haul around a bag of charcoal. Chile said that they're about 4 1/2" across.
Man, those ribs look good enough to eat!!! Ribs + Survival Spice® = good times.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:03 AM | Comments (2)
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March 19, 2007
Chilebrown's Corned Beef w/ Survival Spice
Paul sent some pictures of his St. Patty's Day corned beef that he rubbed with Survival Spice™, which I've never tried, I'm ashamed to say!
He also made some amazing looking jalapeño cheese corn bread. I wonder if he used any of the Novello version of the Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgine di Oliva I see there?
Okay, Chile, give it up. How about a few recipes?
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 11:39 AM | Comments (2)
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March 09, 2007
Friday Flank Steak
Happy Friday, everyone! Forgive the alliteration in the title, and the infrequent posting this week. There's nothing funny about this London Broil steak, but it was really good.
If you recall, I stumbled on a marinade of Tibvrtini Extra Virgine di Oliva, organic Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco, and some Survival Spice™ that I thought would work with this flank steak, and it did. I rubbed the steak with Survival Spice®, and put in a one gallon baggie, and made a mix of 2 parts or so Tibvrtini olive oil, and one part white wine vinegar, and poured it in to the bag.
I let it marinade for about two days, than pulled it out of the marinade. I'll rub it with more Survival Spice® before I cook it next time, because what the beef didn't absorb basically got washed away, but hey, it was a first attempt! I let it come to room temperature while I got the fire going, then grilled it over a medium hot pecan fire. I let it rest a few minutes, then sliced it across the grain, to cut as much connective fiber as possible.
This is really good stuff, and really simple- no chopping onion or garlic or measuring stuff, just rub it and give it enough marinade it to get it wet, then turn it twice a day or so.
Have a great weekend! Cook something good, willya? Email me a picture of something you feel like sharing.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for your patronage of Desert Island Foods®.com.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)
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February 26, 2007
Steak Kebabs with Survival Vinagerette
I like kebabs, kabobs, however you like to spell it, (both are correct, actually) don't get me wrong. They're really party friendly, easy prep you can do well in advance, and the simplicity of plunking down a kebab or two on a plate and not have to have a lot of side dishes is great. The problem with mixed kebabs, however, is that generally you get a bunch of burned and raw stuff on the same skewer, because each individual item takes different times to cook.
There are two ways to solve this: either make your kebabs seperately, entire skewers made up of the same ingredient, which I prefer; or par cook items to the same state of doneness, then make up mixed skewers. This was how I made these- I cut an onion in half and zapped it on the microwave for about 2 minutes, then cut it into wedges. The beef and the red bell pepper needed no pre-cooking, I knew they'd both be done in about 15 minutes.
I lucked into an amazing marinade for this, that I can't wait to try on flank steak. I combined our Tibvrtini Extra Virgine di Oliva, organic Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco, and some Survival Spice™, and was blown away by how good it was. It might even make a quick Italian-type salad dressing- I'll be playing with that soon.
These got about 15 minutes over a medium charcoal fire, and I served them on some brown rice. I'm going to be making these again, soon, and a flank steak is definitely on my shopping list.
Do any cooking this weekend? I got some great pictures in over the weekend that I'll be posting soon.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:16 AM | Comments (5)
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January 23, 2007
Jack Bauer loves Meatball Sandwiches
Okay, I have no idea if Jack loves them or not, since no one on that show ever eats, but that's what I made last night. There are lots of varieties of meatballs, along with meat choices- beef, veal or pork, but for a meatball sandwich I like straight 100% beef. I mixed the beef with some homemade bread crumbs, eggs, fresh parsley, lots of garlic, and enough salt that it doesn't taste bland.
I browned these off on a sheet pan while I buzzed up some crushed tomatoes with an immersion blender, then added uber amounts of garlic, some parsley, and seasoned it with dry thyme, kosher salt, and copious amounts of crushed red pepper and Survival Spice™, which adds a lot of flavor to tomato sauces, while keeping it recognizable as an Italian sauce. I added the meatballs to the sauce, and let it simmer for a few hours.
Got some good rolls from the bakery, and sliced them, along with some pepper jack cheese, making sure that the sandwich would sit flat on the sizzle plate. If you line the sides of the roll with cheese, the sandwich won't soak through as quickly, and don't overdo the sauce if you don't want to wear it! I topped it with a little greated parm cheese, got it hot in the oven, then turned on the broiler for a few minutes at the end.
Jack would be proud. I hope he wouldn't kill me for it.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 07:10 AM | Comments (4)
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January 15, 2007
Chilebrown's Beef Brisket
(Photo: Paul "Chile" Brown, of his beef brisket)
Chilebrown is a patient man:
I woke up at 3:30 am to put this baby in. It is only up to 152. I got the hardly can waits.
I'll bet it took a while. Brisket has lots of connective tissue, and it's not uncommon to cook one at low heat for 8 hours or more to fully break down the fibers. Follow the link to learn more, or just scroll down to drool over the finished dish...
I emailed him to ask him what rub he used on it:
Yours, of course. Man it was the bomb.
Pretty serious looking brisket, Chile, I'll bet it was worth the wait. How long did you end up cooking it for? Let's hear some details!
(Photo: Chilebrown's Smoked Beef Brisket)
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:47 AM | Comments (4)
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January 09, 2007
Survival Tip with Onion, Portabello and thyme oil
(Crazy plating, I know, but ya gotta try stuff...)
I just had to have a steak for the Florida/Ohio State (blowout, as it turned out) game last night, so I grilled off a nice strip of tri-tip, rubbed with our Survival Spice™ barbecue rub. I've mentioned this before, but grilling tri-tip, even a strip like this where you're tempted to sear it off, is much better cooked over medium heat so you've got time to break down the connective tissue instead of tightening it up.
I was going to just grill the red onions and portabellos, too, but then I had a bit of inspiration. I sauteed them instead with a bit of thyme, using more oil than I normally would. What did I do with the oil after the veggies were done? Poured it over the steak, of course. You've got all this lovely infused mushroom, thyme and onion flavor going on, why waste it?
It was awesome. Survival Spice™ by itself is all you need, of course, but the extra flavor wallop from the oil was a nice change.
Been cooking? Email me what you've been making!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:18 AM | Comments (4)
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December 29, 2006
Pepper Jack Basil Burger
Happy Friday, everyone! I'm traveling this week in the wonderful MIdwest, but here's a shot of a burger I made recently. The basil really added a lot of flavor, and worked with the cheese and the Survival Spice really well.
Another 'made up' meal, but sometimes those are the best ones...
Sorry for the light posting, but it's been a fun and busy week. Enjoy the weekend, and cook something good, willya?
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:33 AM | Comments (4)
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November 16, 2006
Tri-tip burrito
Here's a thrown together meal that turned out pretty well, another of my "crap, it's dinner time what do we have in the fridge and what can i make out of it" situations, which sadly have become the norm.
I had some tri-tip cut into strips on hand, so I hit them with Survival Spice™ barbecue rub, and grilled them off with some onion, while I heated up some black beans, and sliced some Colby cheese. Threw some large tortillas on the grill after I removed the beef and onions, and made some quick burritos.
The trick with tri-tip cooked this way is to not overdo the heat, just a nice medium fire until they're medium rare.
The photo's not that good, I know, but the burrito was!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:19 AM | Comments (4)
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November 06, 2006
Easy Meat Loaf
I've made meat loaf a lot of different ways, but this is the easiest yet so far! As much as I like meat loaf with chopped onion, or celery, or carrots, or even pine nuts, after getting home from work late one night I knew none of that was going to happen, and the results were still terrific.
This is so simple, but packed with flavor. A couple pounds of 80/20 ground beef- don't use that stuff packed in a cylinder so you can't see what you're getting, get something you can look at, or grind it yourself. Add an egg, a good glug of dijon mustard, a handful or two of parmesan bread crumbs I always keep on hand in the freezer, and of course plenty of our Survival Spice™ barbecue rub. Mix it well together by hand, but don't pack the heck out of it, you don't want a brick, this stuff is dense enough as it is!
Pack lightly into a loaf pan, and bake at around 350º for 40 minutes, then take it out and pour off the released grease and juices, so it can brown and not boil. Top it generously with ketchup and more Survival Spice, then bake at 375 until the loaf is done and the ketchup/SS mixture is browned nicely. Let it rest for 5 minutes, slice and serve.
This stuff makes amazing sandwiches, if you've got any left over. Which is unlikely, so make two, just in case...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 07:17 AM | Comments (0)
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August 23, 2006
How to cook a hamburger- or Survival Burgers, my way.
Who wants a burger? We had a cookout at a friend's house recently, and I whipped these Survival Burgers up. And yes, the way that I see it, a cookout is plain grilling- burgers, dogs, brats, etc. No smoke, no low and slow, that's barbecue, thankyouverymuch. Gas grills work fine for cookouts, but a handful of soaked wood chips makes a world of difference, try it. These were grilled by my buddy Tim, who did a great job of making sure everybody got the burger that they wanted, the way that they liked them cooked.
For these burgers, I started with 5 pounds of USDA Choice 22% fat beef, and about 2/3 of a tin of our Survival Spice™ barbecue rub, mixing it in with the beef. Nothing wrong with just sprinkling it on top, mind you, but if you're doing it ahead of time, it'll give it time to add some great flavors.
I like a fair amount of fat in my burger meat, because they basically become self-basting, the fat dripping through the meat on its way out. You end up with a moist, flavorful burger that really doesn't have much more fat that it would it you started with the 7% uber-lean beef that is remarkably similar to a hockey puck once cooked, especially if you proceed with the utterly charming "smash-the-crap-outta-it" technique with your turner.
Don't do that! What the hail's wrong with you?
Sorry. I'm sure there's some logic to pressing all the flavor out of a piece of meat that you paid good money for, but it eludes me. Want it crispy? Make it thinner. As you pat it out, let there be some gaps in the edges, then use a super hot fire. The thinner bits will have a nice crunch to them, but you'll still have a moist patty where it counts.
And if you're making burgers for a gang, take the time to carmelize some onions, or saute some mushrooms and sweet peppers, and seek out fresh tomatoes and lettuce. Nothing wrong with a basic burger, but don't let the condiments be an afterthought.
Burgers. I love 'em. You?
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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August 17, 2006
Biggles does Tri Tip
(Photo: Dr. Biggles)
Biggles, the Bay Area's foremost meaticologist, sent me an email the other day that he was nice enough to let me share:
Hay,Got my dinner meez in to place and at the last moment found a
fresh tritip in the fridge I'd forgotten about. Today okay,
tomorrow it would have been tossed. It was huge too, so I
couldn't let it go or freeze it. So, I swapped out the other
beef ball-tip roast (tough life, I know) and Survival Spiced
(TM) the sob.From drab to badass in a few moments.
Thank you sir.
Guy didn't mention how he cooked it, but you get the idea. I love tri tip, and our Survival Spice™ barbecue rub does a great job of adding awesome flavor and creating a great crust on grilled meats.
Thanks, Biggles!!! You da man.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
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August 14, 2006
Pot Roast with Carrot, Green Chile and Mushroom Gravy
(The gravy is unusual looking, I'll admit, but tasty...)
Sometimes, I just like to make dishes up. Okay, I do it a lot, actually.
Part of what I love about cooking, other than the eating (of course), is starting a dish without a clear idea of how it's going to end. Having a clear idea of what you're making is naturally more efficient, and there's a certain comfort to knowing that you're going to have predictable results. This is particularly true when you've got company coming over.
There was none of that involved with last night's dinner, so why not 'take the gloves off' and make it up?
Continue reading "Pot Roast with Carrot, Green Chile and Mushroom Gravy"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:36 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
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August 10, 2006
Grilled Ribeye and Corn
I took this picture in front of the chiminea by the pool. Chiminea's are a sort of ceramic outdoor fireplace, great for taking the chill out of the nighttime Arizona air during the winter. I'm looking forward to firing it up again soon!
Ribeye's are one of my favorite steaks- packed with flavor, and incredibly tender and juicy when cooked properly. I marinated this in worcestershire sauce, Colman's mustard, and tons of freshly ground black pepper, which enhances the flavor of the beef while adding a nice zip and depth of flavor. I grilled it, along with an ear of corn, over mesquite until medium rare.
I cook corn in different ways, depending on my mood and how many ears I'm grilling. Often I'll flavor the finished ears with butter and Survival Spice™, which does a great job of bringing out the natural sweetness. This time, though, I just peeled back the husk and removed the silk, removing the outermost husks. I then wrapped the corn up with one of the husks, tying a clove hitch to hold it together. Geeky, but effective...
A small green salad, and a nice bottle of Burgundy on the side. Big flavors, good times.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:26 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
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March 17, 2006
Guinness braised Corned Beef
Top of the mornin' to ya! Drink what you will today, personally I don't go for green beer, but another distinctly American tradition is Corned Beef and Cabbage. Not sure where the custom started because you really don't see a lot of corned beef in Ireland, so it's anybody's guess, really.
I started this post a year ago in response to an email I got on how to cook corned beef. I don't really have a recipe, but I'll try to pay attention to how much of everything I use today, so I update this next year.
Corned beef is almost always made from beef brisket, which as I've noted before, is a trick cut to work with. Check out the link for more information on why, but there are a few different ways to prepare it, plus a method that combines the two.
Update: The corned beef has been in the oven for 4 hours at this point. I started it off at 425º until it browned up a bit, then added the Guinnesses and water. Once it was boiling, I turned the heat down to 275º. I just put the potatoes, onions, and carrots into the oven in another baking dish, raised the oven to 325º, and it's smelling really good in here.
Me? Dipping into the Guinness already? Perish the thought...
BTW, our friend and Food Fight 4 pal Matt has a cool article about the myths of St. Patty's Day in his local paper. Check it out here. Thanks to Gail for the tip!!!
Continue reading "Guinness braised Corned Beef"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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February 10, 2006
Diana's Bison Teriyaki
(Photo: Diana's Bison Teriyaki)
Diana was nice enough to send some more information about her bison purveyor and why she likes bison so much:
Canadian "regulations" have eliminated the term "Porterhouse" ... it must be "T-Bone", 'cause ... that's what the bone says. However, I still call it a Porterhouse 'cause it has the filet still attached. "T-Bone", to me, is the steak without the filet. My butcher, Saslove's Meat Market, provides an amazing array of organic, anti-biotic free product and other delights.There's not much of a "game" taste to bison. Much more like "pure" beef. It always leaves one wanting more. You don't know "tender" 'til you've tasted this.
Now, what to do with that leftover "Survival" bison steak that I happened to cook at the same time ;P
Diane has provided an example of how dovetailing your weekly home menus is a fun and great way to get a number of dishes out of one basic ingredient, in this case, the organic bison she bought and used previously for the Bison Steaks she made with Survival Spice™ the other day.
This really looks wonderful, Diana. I thought her comment about calling a porterhouse a T-bone was interesting, too. The porterhouse cut is the large end of the loin, and it does have more of the filet than the T-bone end, which is the tail end of the tenderloin.
Continue reading "Diana's Bison Teriyaki"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:39 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
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February 07, 2006
Diana's Organic Bison Steaks
(Photo: Diana's Organic Bison steak with rice pilaf and sauteed carrots)
Another terrific email from our North of the Border foodie friend, Diana. Who could forget her Everyman's Edible Slider w/homemade Chili Sauce, or the Puffy Corn Omelet that she entered in Food Fight Four?
Diana's lucky enough to have a local butcher that has organic bison steaks, so she grabbed what looks like a porterhouse cut and the Survival Spice™ and went to work. Served with a rice pilaf and some sauteed carrots, I have to say it's a great meal, even if she was rooting for the Seahawks...
What did you have for dinner last night? Email me a picture with a description!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:20 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
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January 06, 2006
Standing Rib Roast in Salt Crust
Here's the standing rib roast we had for Christmas dinner. I posted some pictures and the marinade here, in case you missed the original post.
It turned out really well, the extra day I spent marinating it was well worth the effort. This was pulled from the oven at 130º, rested for a few minutes, then I carved it into indiviual portions. My family doesn't care for medium rare beef for the most part, so I've had good luck placing individual slices onto a sheet pan and putting it back into the oven for a few minutes. This also creates a nice bit of au jus as well, so everyone's happy.
Continue reading "Standing Rib Roast in Salt Crust"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:20 AM
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December 23, 2005
TPC's Not-quite Prime Rib Roast prep
Update: The finished dish can be seen here.
I'm making a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner this year. Normally, our family goes the turkey route, but after I made a full 7 bone roast right after Thanksgiving last year for visiting family members, I got the request from everybody that had tried it.
This is a good sized 4 bone small end cut. It's a choice grade, so technically I can't call it prime rib, though that technicality gets overlooked by the vast majority of restaurants that serve it. I'm going to marinate it for two days, and roast it packed in kosher salt. It's a great presentation, and the wow factor as you crack open the hardened salt shell in front of everyone is well worth the effort.
For those of you who have never seen it done, it's a traditional technique that can also be done with pork or even fish as well, as long as whatever you're cooking is at least 5 pounds or so. Much smaller than that, and it will cook too quickly. There's a recipe outlining the technique on the back of a Morton's Kosher Salt box, so I won't belabor that part of it here, but I do vary the technique from theirs as far as cooking time. I've found that cooking it at the lower temp (350º) causes the beef to steam, rather than roast, so I've had better results at around 425º. 350º may be okay for the smaller portions in their recipe, but it didn't give me the nice crust that I wanted. Surprisingly, for all the salt involved, it doesn't become salty, so I like to serve a small chunk of the crust with every portion.
Continue reading "TPC's Not-quite Prime Rib Roast prep"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:33 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
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November 01, 2005
Biggles' Survival Teriyaki Beef with Onion Gravy
(Photos: Dr. Biggles)
Dr. Biggles, M.A.L. (Meaticologist At Large) over at Meathenge, sent this in recently. It's a simple weekday dinner, done ala Biggles. He bought a really great looking beef roast that had been marinated in teriyaki sauce, added some onions, topped it off with Survival Spice™, and threw it in the oven. The onion gravy came together quickly, and I'm seriously bummed I didn't get a chance to taste it.
More below the fold...
Continue reading "Biggles' Survival Teriyaki Beef with Onion Gravy"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:40 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
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October 19, 2005
Beef Brisket- by John
A great email from John in Chicago:
got off early and what the heck, a brisket is in order! I'm slow roasting it @ 250 degrees slathered in survival spice, rockin. jb
John seared it on a large grill pan before he put it in the oven. This is a great technique when you don't have an outdoor grill, it's too frickin' cold to grill outside (perish the thought!), or you just want something different. Survival Spice™ works really well, indoors and out. More pics in the extended entry.
Continue reading "Beef Brisket- by John"
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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September 27, 2005
Megan's "Elk Salad"
Wow, an Elk Salad? After a brief flashback to "Anne Elk", the Monty Python bit, I decided that I'm game!
Meg substituted elk for venison, with great results, in her interpretation of Matt's "Melonhead's Venison Salad". I really dug the way she noticed that her sauce wasn't working, and the way she worked her way out of it.
Her post at I heart Bacon is here, and her blog and terrific recipe section are daily surfing for me.
Continue reading "Megan's "Elk Salad""
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 07:18 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
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July 24, 2005
Cowboy Ribeye au Poivre with South of the Border-laise Sauce
I did quite a bit of cooking this weekend because I'm working on a few recipes for a party at the end of the month and I'm updating some content on the Desert Island Foods™.com site. The first version of the 'Survival Fries' I made are here.
Dinner Saturday night was my quick Franco-Phoenix version of a classic- Steak au Poivre with a Bordelaise sauce. I've been thinking about it since Dr. Biggles had made a cool version from an old cookbook last week, so I thought I'd see if I could do a quick version of one of my favorite sauces without an important ingredient, veal demi-glace.
It turned out really well and was an interesting experiment. I'll do a quick summary here and I'll do a more comprehensive recipe later if enough of you are interested.
With the impending storm on the horizon and not having any demi-glace, I decided to make it indoors so I could maximize the use of pan juices. I rubbed the steak with whole-grain mustard and a quick rub of smashed black peppercorns, brown sugar, coffee and kosher salt while my cast iron skillet was heating up. In a bit of oil and butter I cooked the steak to rare, knowing that carry over heat would bring it to medium-rare, then removed it from the skillet and wrapped it in foil while I made the pan sauce.
I added enough flour to the skillet to soak up the juices, then added a bit more oil and butter and sweated a few minced shallots until translucent. I deglazed with a cup or so of good red wine (a Penfold's Shiraz) and reduced it 50%, whisking to incorporate the roux and pan drippings. For a Southwestern touch, I added a teaspoon of adobo sauce for some extra depth of flavor and some background heat. The resting beef at this point had released some juice, so that went in as well.
After adding a few sprigs of fresh thyme, I added a can of chicken stock. A good beef stock would been my preference, but you use what you've got and it worked out fine because of all the beef flavor in the cast iron and from the steak. I cranked up the heat and reduced this 50%, until it was starting to thicken up a bit. I turned off the heat, whisked in a few pats of butter and some chopped parsley.
Meanwhile, I did a quick sauté of Asparagus, Crimini Mushrooms, and Pine Nuts.
Good stuff.
What did you cook this weekend? Leave it in the comments and email me a dish you're particularly proud of.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 12:00 PM | Comments (2)