Beer Cooler Sous Vide Steak

So obviously I read the Serious Eats article and had to try it out.  It worked out pretty well actually, very easy to do.  I started with a Prime Dry Aged Rib eye.  I popped that in the cooler with 140 degree water for about 45 minutes.  Water seemed to have dropped about 5 degrees when I took it out, but I was not very precise with my temperature readings either time. Then I hit it on a screaming hot cast iron skillet with some oil and butter for a minute or two on each side.  I served it with some barley, compound butter, and asparagus.

Verdict:  Damn fine steak, the texture was among the best I've ever had, very tender/unctuous, I used my fork to cut it, also the fat was very enjoyable because of this.  I had a clean beefy flavor, but left a little bit to be desired- I was missing that nice char on the outside.  Next time I will user a thicker steak as I think it will allow a little longer char without over cooking.  I might try a different char method next time.  Maybe using the chimney full of charcoal with the grill grate right on top, ya know, from Good Eats when he sears tuna that way.

Burgers

Title says it all.  Picked up a nice fatty piece of chuck from the butcher, ground it fresh, cast iron skillet, american cheese, sauted onions and peppers, burger sauce, lettuce tomato.  Oven fries.  Straight up chuck makes a great burger... it prolly won't win any best burger contests, but you could do much worse.  Enjoy the burger porn.  Bobcat Chow!

Tacos Al Pastor

Tacos Al Pastor

                Al Pastor Tacos are delicious.  Somewhat difficult to duplicate at home due to the cooking method.  Real deal Al Pastor tacos are cooked on a rotating spit (a la Gyros) with a chunk of pineapple on top.  I wouldn’t rule it out for the future, but for now I do not own a trompo, so I had to improvise. 

I used pork shoulder for the meat.  I cut it into half inch or so slices, then marinated it for about 4 hours.  After that, I stacked it, and cooked it over indirect head on the grill.  After it was cooked most of the way, over the coals it went to crisp up.  I also grilled up some onions and pineapple slices.  I was fresh out of olive oil so I had to brush them with lard, which was quite tasty.  After everything came off the grill it was chopped up and added to a hot cast iron pan with a pinch of salt and squeeze of lime to finish it off.  Severed with some roasted tomato and habanero salsa and chopped cilantro on yellow corn tortillas. 

Tacos turned out to be pretty tasty.  Marinade was good, I have some leftover that I think I’ll use on some fish or something.  Meat was tasty, but wasn’t as tender and juicy as I would have liked due my lack of trompo.  I know it’s not traditional, but a pulled pork type preparation could work really well here too.  Salsa was good with a nice slow burn.  I usually get my corn tortillas from the Mexican grocery.  The come in the refrigerated section and I think they’re way better than the ones from the Mexican isle and the grocery.  I’m already looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow. 

Marinade

1 cup pineapple juice

1 cup water

Juice of 1 lime

3 cloves garlic

2 pasillia chilis

2 guajilio chilis

3 chipotles in adobo

4 small packets of achiote

1 tbls Mexican oregano

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ oil

Dump everything in a blender and turn it on.  Success!  You made a marinade!

Roasted Tomato and Habanero Salsa

5 roma tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

Juice of ½ lime

½ habanero chili (seeds and membrane remove)

1 small handful of cilantro

Salt to taste

Place the tomatoes and garlic under the broiler until blackened.  Throw everything in the blender and turn it on.  Congratulations!  You made salsa!

Whenever You're Feeling Good and Hungry....

It's Skyline Time!

So, I figured that since I'm born and raised in Cincinnati and frikin love Cincinnati style chili that I should have my own secret recipe.  I think my chili pallet is pretty refined, so I should be able to come up with some pretty good stuff.  This first batch turned out ok.  Consistency was right on, but it was lacking in overall flavor, especially that deep earthy goodness flavor.  For the next batch I will add some beef base, increase the amount of chili powder, cocoa powder, and cinnamon, and decrease the amount of clove and allspice.  I think i'll also cook the next batch longer.  Here's the recipe and some chili porn.

1 large onion minced
1.5 Ground beef
1 tsp garlic powder
1.5 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground clove
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red (cayenne) pepper
2tbls Kosher salt
1 can tomato paste

1tsp cocoa powder

2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tbls black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 ½ Quarts of Water

Procedure

Not rocket science here- combine all ingredients and simmer for 1 hour.  

Homemade Red Wine Vinegar

Here it is ... my homemade red wine vinegar is done aging/fermenting. I read a couple articles/books on vinegar making a few months ago and wanted to give it a try. The hardest part is finding the bacteria you need (a.k.a. mother of vinegar) to turn the red wine into vinegar. I read that you could buy Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar from the store, which comes unfiltered - mother of vinegar and all - and use it instead of ordering the mother from an online store. I had my doubts, but turns out it worked!

Here is the process in a nutshell. (1) Combine mother of vinegar and equal amounts of red wine and water in a large vessel of some sort, (2) bound said vessel with cheesecloth, (3) place the vessel in a warm spot to age, (4) age for approximately 3 to 4 months. To finish, strain the liquid through a cheesecloth or a coffee filter and bottle. To try, place on a spoon and ingest. Wait an hour. If you do not die, you have successfully made red wine vinegar! Congrats...

Chili Cook Off

So Findlay Market had it's 5th annual chili cookoff this past weekend.  I've consider entering in the past so I thought I'd give it a whirl this year.  Sadly, I was not ordained chili meister, so sweet old lady with some rather pedestrian ground beef chili was.  Not to toot my own horn, but there were quite a few people let me know that they really enjoyed my chili, a few came back for seconds, and a couple told me it was the best of the bunch.  So I decided to declare myself the unofficial people's champion.  I did make it on TV though :)

Jeff’s Famous Chili

(All fame is implied, Chili has no actual fame. )

Makes app. 4 quarts

Ingredients

4 lbs of Beef Brisket, cubed

½ Cup dry pinto beans (soaked overnight)

½ Cup dry black beans (soaked overnight)

1 Large onion- chopped

3 Cloves garlic- chopped

2 Poblano peppers- roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 Small can Tomato Paste

1 Can (28oz) 6-in-1 brand crushed tomatoes

3 Tbls Lard

2 Ancho Chilies

2 Pasillia Chilies

4 New Mexican Chilies

5 Chile de Arbols

½ tbls Cayenne

1 Tbls Cumin (from whole seeds, toasted and ground fresh)

1 bay leaf

Water

Kosher salt to taste (app. 3 tbls)

Procedure

1.      Lightly toast dried chilies and cumin seeds in cast iron pan over medium heat, let cool and grind into powder. 

2.      Heat 2 tlbs of lard over high heat in large dutch oven, brown the cubed beef in batches, remove from pan and set aside.

3.      Add chopped onion to dutch oven and sauté for app. 5 minutes.

4.      Add garlic, tomato paste, cumin, and ½ of chili powder, sauté for 1 minute.

5.      Add 1 cup of water, use a wooden spoon to scrape up brown bits from bottom of pan.

6.      Add crushed tomato, chopped poblanos, browned beef, 2 tbls salt to pot, cover with water and allow chili to simmer over medium heat for 2 hours.

7.      While chili is simmering use a separate pot to prepare the beans.  Add the soaked beans, bay leaf, and 1 tbls of lard, cover with water and simmer, uncovered for app. 1.5 hours or until tender.  Season beans with salt after they have softened (app. 1 tbls)

8.      Add cooked beans and remaining chili powder to dutch oven along with enough of the bean water to cover the mixture.

9.      Continue cooking for an additional 2 hours or until chili reaches desired consistency.

10.  Taste and adjust salt if needed.

11.  Enjoy!

Cassoulet

So a couple weeks ago I saw an episode of “No Reservations,” where they made a cassoulet and then there was a recipe on Serious eats as well so I just had to give it a shot.  This is a very hearty, savory, rich dish.  I served mine with some salad with vinaigrette on the side so you can have something bright and acidic to break up the richness of the cassoulet.  This makes a lot, probably about 6 servings.  If I were to make it again, which I will, I’d cook it in the oven without the lid, there was a lot of liquid left when I added my breadcrumbs and they were a little soggy.  There are all kinds of variations on the recipe, a lot call for duck confit to be added as well, but I was fresh out.

Ingredients

¼ lb of Thick cut bacon

1.5 lbs of Pork shoulder (cubed) I actually used a roast, but shoulder would have been better.

4 Sage Bangers (wasn’t the biggest fan of these)

1 large onion

2 stalks celery

3 carrots

4 cloves garlic

2 Tomatoes

1 cup white wine

Chicken Stock

Water

1 lb of Great Northern beans (soaked overnight)

Bouquet Garni

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

Oil

Butter

Salt and pepper

Procedure

1.       Dice the bacon and render the fat in a large dutch oven.  Remove

2.       Brown the sausages, then the cubed pork shoulder.  Remove

3.       Add The Onion, carrot, and celery.  Cook about 5 minutes then add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.

4.       Deglaze with the white wine, and scrape up the goodies.

5.       Add the meat and beans to the pan, cover with chicken stock and or water.   Toss in the bouqet garni.  You could also add the diced tomato here, but added it after the beans cooked for an hour to make sure the softened.  Bring dutch oven to a simmer.

6.       Add the covered dutch oven to a 350-375 degree oven and cook about 2 hours or until the meat is tender and the liquid is mostly absorbed. 

7.       Top the mixture with the bread crumbs and butter, raise the oven to 500 and bake until golden brown. 

8.       Serve with crusty bread and salad.