Beef – Grow. Cook. Eat.

March 4, 2010

Finishing School (Seared Steak with Red Wine Reduction

Thanks to David for taking photos.

I was browsing the spice aisle at a local gourmet shop and noticed all the different varieties of salt – sea salt, pink salt, black salt, smoked salt. Even Himalayan salt that’s purported to be thousands of years old. And they had Maldon Smoked Sea Salt. Salt? Smoke? Could anything be better?

I discovered Maldon Sea Salt when I was working at Biba restaurant. The salt hails from Essex England, but can be found in stores throughout the US. I’ve always loved the pyramid shaped crystals, with its wonderful texture, and clean, almost sweet, mineral flavor. The makers claim its unique flavor comes from the relatively low rainfall and environmental conditions of the local estuaries. The sea water is collected during high tide and then evaporated in clay pots leaving the crystals behind. I could practically snack on it like popcorn. And, in fact, as the kitchen manager at Biba would walk by my station, he’d take a pinch of salt and pop it in his mouth.

The crystals are immediately recognizable when served. At Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo, if you ask for salt, they will bring a small dish of Maldon’s.

As much as I love this salt, it’s not the best choice for cooking. First, it’s expensive, $15/pound as opposed to $2/pound for Diamond Kosher Salt. And even if I had unlimited funds, I still wouldn’t cook with it. What makes the texture so special and wonderful also prevents it from dissolving easily.

Unlike most other spices, salt reacts chemically with food, and is absorbed in a way that is critical for seasoning. For example, when grilling steak, you want to season it with salt before you cook it. Before the proteins have coagulated in the cooking process, they can absorb the salt and the meat will be seasoned through. If the steak is salted after, it will just taste salty as opposed to well-seasoned. Grain for grain, the steak will taste better if seasoned with salt before cooking, rather than after.

Because Maldon’s crystals are so large, they do not dissolve easily, and as such is better used as a finishing ingredient – a little sprinkle on top of steak or fish before serving. Not only will it bring extra flavor to your dishes, you will have extra texture from the crunchy flakes.

Seared Steak with Red Wine Reduction

2 rib eye steaks
1 tbs. plain oil
1 small shallot, peeled and diced fine
1 cup red wine
1 cup veal or chicken stock
3 tbs. butter
salt, pepper and lemon juice
Maldon Sea Salt

1. Season steak generously with salt and pepper. Let sit for 5 minutes to give the steak a chance to dissolve and absorb the salt.

2. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Sear steak on both sides.

3. Continue roasting in 375F oven for 5 minutes, or until desired doneness.
4. Let meat rest.
5. To the pan the steak was cooking in, pour off any excess fat. Add the shallots and deglaze the pan with the red wine. When the red wine has reduced by 3/4 (so that 1/4 cup is left) add the stock. Let reduce again by 3/4. Remove pan from heat, and let bubbling subside. Swirl in butter. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
6. Serve steak with potatoes, spinach and sauce. Sprinkle sea salt on top.

January 15, 2010

The Economics of Cooking

If I recall correctly from my micro-economics class, pricing in a competitive marketplace is set by “supply and demand”. A greater demand for a product will command a higher price. And by contrast, a greater supply will lower the price. The supply and demand model finds the equilibrium between these two forces to set the price. Whole Foods is defying all models by selling beef tenderloin for $28 (!!) a pound. How could there possibly be any demand at that price??

Certainly no demand from me, despite a craving for the buttery texture and flavor from this prime cut.

Instead, I found an alternative source for beef tenderloin (a local place like Costco). The only hitch is that I have to purchase the full cut and trim it myself. At $10.50 per pound, it seemed worth the “extra” effort. It doesn’t take much to trim a beef tenderloin – I need to pull of the chain (a side muscle that is not as tender, but plenty flavorful), and trim off the silver skin – a thin, shiny membrane that covers the muscle. When it’s cleaned, I cut it into individual portions. And now that I’ve cleaned out the freezer a bit, I have room for more “leftovers.”

photo credit: Scott Phillips

The silver skin goes into the dog-bowl, and the chain goes into the meat grinder. In the end, it cost me $15 per pound for fully trimmed beef tenderloin, with a bonus pound of ground beef.

The beef tenderloin was used for the Beef En Rollo. I added the ground beef to a jar of tomato sauce for a quick Bolognese.

If you look closely at the photo, you may notice two kinds of pasta in the bowl – fusilli and orecchiette. I had about a half serving of pasta in each box. In the spirit of using up leftovers, I combined the two. Of course, they didn’t cook at the same rate… the orecchiette required 14 minutes, and the fusilli 12. So I put the orecchiette in the boiling water, set the timer for 2 minutes, and then added the fusilli. From there, I cooked it 11 minutes more. Yes, that’s one minute less than the recommended cooking time. I like to finish cooking the pasta in its destination sauce – I find the pasta absorbs more of the flavor and the sauce clings better.

January 8, 2010

Cooking for Great Friends (Recipe: Beef en Rollo)

I went into Chez Henri looking for a part-time job, something to supplement my income while I started my own business. I walked out with the position of sous-chef (and a temporary distraction from my entrepreneurial dreams). This was back in 1996, and Chez Henri had just opened to national praise for its inventive French-Cuban cuisine. I knew nothing of Cuban cuisine — not even the now très-trendy Cuban sandwiches or mint mojitos.

I had to get smart fast! My first week on the job was writing the new spring menu with the chef de cuisine. I borrowed cookbooks from friends and scoured them for interesting recipes and general themes about the style of cooking.

I had fun playing with ideas – black rice with white beans, duck pate with pickled pineapple and plantain crusted halibut with mango coulis.

One dish that never made it to the menu, but became a staple on my Interactive Cuisine menus, was the Biste en Rollo. The idea came from Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz, but I quickly modified it to be my own. Typically, I prepare it with flank steak but the other night, I spiffed it up using beef tenderloin instead.

A few years ago, I contributed this recipe to a cookbook called “Great Chefs Cooking for Great Friends.” The book was published by Friends of Dana-Farber and all proceeds go to support cancer research. You can buy the book by clicking here. And if you live in the Boston-area, you can support the “Friends” by attending their annual fundraiser, “Chefs Cooking for Hope.”

Grilled Flank Steak and Red Pepper Roulade with Cilantro Mojo and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

2 lb. flank steak or beef tenderloin butterflied
1 red pepper, quartered, seeds removed
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 stalks thyme
1/2 tsp. cayenne or chili flakes
1 tsp. fresh oregano
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic
1 lime, juiced
2 sweet potatoes
2 slices ginger
¼ cup cream
1/2 stick butter
salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

1. In a large sauce pot, add red peppers, thyme, 3 garlic cloves smashed and cayenne. Cover with olive oil. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, or until peppers are tender. Let cool.

2. Season steak with salt, pepper, oregano and lime juice. Rub meat with garlic. Lay out steak, and place red peppers and carrots on top. Dot with butter. Roll steak with the grain, and tie with kitchen string.

3. Peel and quarter sweet potatoes. Put in a pot of salted water with ginger and bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking until potatoes are tender. Drain water and puree potatoes with cream. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Brown meat on all sides, and finish cooking in the oven for 10 minutes for medium rare. Let meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Remove strings, and slice meat as thin as possible. Garnish with watercress, sweet potatoes and cilantro Mojo.

Cilantro Mojo

½ cup olive oil
¼ cup chopped garlic
½ cup chopped onion
2 tsp. cumin
1 tbs. fresh oregano
2 tsp. pepper
1 tbs. salt
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 ½ cup cilantro, leaves and stems

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onions, cumin and oregano. Cook for 3 minutes, or until garlic becomes aromatic.
2. Strain olive oil and reserve. Puree garlic onion mixture with remaining ingredients. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Adjust seasoning to taste

December 6, 2009

A Chinese Christmas (Recipe: Five Spice Beef)

It’s really no surprise that Jews and Chinese food are synonymous. When typically thriving urban centers shut down for Christmas, us non-Christian folk have little to do… volunteering is out as most non-profits are already inundated with caring Christians. TV programming focuses on Christmas specials and football. And every store or restaurant is either closed or Christmas-centric.

The only open restaurants not featuring a Christmas special are the Chinese. So the Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas.

By now its tradition – I host (or go to) two holiday parties a year – a latke party and a “Chinese” Christmas party.

This year, I decided to blend the two cultures and will prepare Chinese brisket. Brisket is actually the cut of meat just below the breast.

The muscle, not surprising given its location, is quite active. Active muscle = flavorful meat, and also very tough meat. The only way to cook brisket is to slowly simmer it covered in liquid. This breaks down the meat into meltingly tender deliciousness. The Jews usurped the name to refer to the braised meat dish prepared with this cut.

For Chinese inspired brisket, I turn to my favorite Chinese authority Eileen Yin Fei Lo for Five-Spice Beef.

She suggests serving the dish cold. I serve it hot as part of a larger banquet/buffet.

My favorite four-year old proclaimed that my house “stinked” upon walking in and smelling the brisket in the oven. He changed his opinion quickly.

Five Spice Beef Brisket
Adapted from The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

4 cup water
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup shao-hsing wine
4 garlic cloves, smashed
2 slices ginger, smashed
3 star anise
½ tsp. Sichuan peppercorns
½ tsp. salt
1 cinnamon stick (I used a piece of Vietnamese)
½ tsp. five-spice powder
¼ cup mushroom soy sauce
¼ cup regular soy sauce
¼ cup rice or black vinegar
2 lb. beef brisket

1. Combine ingredients (except beef) in a large pyrex dish. Stir to dissolve sugar.

2. Add beef. Cover dish with foil. Put in a 325 oven.
3. Every hour or so, turn meat over.
4. Cook for 4 hours or until meat is tender.

5. Slice meat thin. Drizzle braising liquid on top. Garnish with scallions if you like.

April 2, 2009

Inspiration from the Blogosphere: Alosha’s Kitchen

Since I started blogging almost a year ago, I've discovered a whole world of food writers and talented home cooks. I stumbled across Melissa's blog, Alosha's Kitchen after she posted a rant about Cook's County (a sibling of Cooks Illustrated).

Melissa just started cooking a few years ago, and I've enjoyed reading about her adventures in the kitchen and how she's developed her own "voice" — learning how to take other people's recipes and make them her own.

And I've been drawing inspiration from her recipes. Most recently, she posted a recipe for mustard and tarragon rubbed chicken with braised leeks. Everything about this sounded delicious… but as I started to organize myself, I began imprinting my own style on the recipe.

First, I used pork instead of chicken. I decided to serve the bread crumbs on the side so they'd stay crispy. And I opted to cooked the leeks separately in butter so that I could better time the individual components. Since the final dish looked a little drab, color-wise, I fried the only thing that had color in my pantry: carrots. I cut them into threads, dusted them with corn starch and fried them with parsley leaves in canola oil [[ the colors are still a bit drab, but they had a wonderful textural contrast to the rest of the dish]]. Here's Melissa's recipe.

This is what I did:
1 pork tenderloin
1 tablespoon each: scallions, parsley tarragon
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 tablespoon butter
3 leeks, white and light green parts, washed and diced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 small shallot, peeled and finely diced
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon
2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup chicken stock

Marinate pork with herbs, spices and olive oil for at least one hour or over night.

Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet. Add leeks. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the leeks are soft and start to brown. About 15 minutes.

In another skillet, melt remaining butter over medium high heat. Add garlic. When garlic starts to brown add bread crumbs. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until bread crumbs begin to toast. Add parsley and cook for 3 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn oven to 400F. Heat an oven-proof skillet over high heat. Remove pork from marinade and pat dry. Add oil to pan and then pork. Sear on both sides, about 5 minutes. Put in the oven and continue cooking for about 5-10 minutes depending on the degree of doneness you desire

Remove pork from pan and let rest. To the pork pan, drain off any excess fat and add shallots. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half. Add mustard, tarragon, honey and chicken stock and continue cooking until sauce is thick and reduced by half. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
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That week, I also craved a steak and cheese sub after reading this post. I ended up making burgers with roasted peppers instead. As simple and delicious as these were, it was so far out of my normal cooking habits (I rarely roast peppers) and I thank Melissa for inspiring another delicious dinner.

February 2, 2009

Resilient Recipes: Beef Stew

One of the biggest challenges in entertaining at home is timing everything. First, one must assume that the guests will arrive on time, and then as host, you need to create a time-line of when the meal must go in and out of the oven so that everything’s ready and hot at the same time. Yeah, right!

As I get away from professional cooking, and focus more on recreational cooking, my style of entertaining has evolved. After all these years of being in the kitchen for the party, I want to spend time with the guests. While the food is still important, I value other aspects of a dinner party – a relaxed and convivial atmosphere that encourages lively conversation. The food becomes the backdrop for the evening.

Part of my success, or so my friends tell me, is that I’m a calm hostess (I think it’s that I serve copious amounts of wine). I’m not anxious about the meal, nor am I racing around when the guests arrive trying to put the finishing touches on a recipe. Much of this is my professional training. But a lot has to do with the menu. I opt for resilient recipes – These could be dishes that don’t suffer from pre-cooking and last minute reheating. Or recipes that have a large window of “doneness” – think chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. Better yet, during the winter, I make stews that actually get better the longer they cook.

Such is the recommendation I offered my friend R who just got engaged. She’s hosting her parents and future in-laws for dinner – the first meeting for the two sets of parents. One can never predict how the evening will go… will the conversation be lively during the hors d’oeuvres and delay dinner? Will the silence be deafening and encourage an earlier start to the meal? For sure, let’s hope for the former. And with a stew gently staying warm in the oven, she can enjoy the company and know that the meal will be even better.

Beef Stew
(serves 4-6 guests)

2 pounds cubed beef stew meat
1/4 cup flour
3 slices smoked bacon
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 large shallot, peeled and chopped.
1 celery rib, chopped
1/4 lb. mushrooms, quartered
1 cup chicken broth
1 – 10 oz. can tomatoes
1/2 bottle red wine
1/2 cup brandy
2 sprigs thyme
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tbs. plain oil.
salt and pepper to taste

1. Season beef with salt and pepper. Dust with flour. Dice bacon, and put in a large skillet with high sides. Brown bacon over high heat. Remove bacon and set aside

2. Add oil and beef, and brown beef (on high heat) for about 4 minutes on each side. Add onions, shallots, carrot, celery, and cook for about 5 minutes more.

3. Turn heat off, and deglaze pan with brandy and red wine. Scrap all of the browned bits off the bottom, this is good stuff. Add chicken stock, thyme and cumin. Turn heat back to high, and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover pot. Put in 325 oven. After about 1 1/2 hour, add mushrooms. Cook covered for another hour or until meat is tender.

4. Serve stew over egg noodles or with grilled bread.

If you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance, you can omit the flour. Potatoes would make a great side dish as well.

Here are some other resilient recipes from Grow. Cook. Eat.
Vietnamese Crepes with Salmon and Radish Salad
End of the Season Cannellonis
Moroccan Style Chicken Stew