Deep Fried...Something

Mini Meatloaf

After my buffaloaf last week, Isaac started asking me to go to the store to buy ingredients to just make a regular meatloaf, like the kind they have at school.  Never one to shy away from a challenge, especially when it comes from a 4-year-old, I gladly accepted.  This evening, we made mini meatloaf together.  It has far fewer ingredients, takes about 3 minutes of prep time, and Isaac and Aaron (9 months old) both devoured it for dinner.  And to be honest, so did we.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I still prefer buffaloaf, but this is a fantastic recipe for something quick that kids can help you cook. 

Mini Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 1½ pounds lean ground beef (90/10)
• ¾ cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• ⅓ cup ketchup, plus extra for glaze
• Generous dash of garlic powder
• Generous dash of onion powder
• Generous dash of Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients until just combined.
3. Grease a muffin pan and fill each cup with just enough meatloaf mix to almost reach the top.
4. Flatten the top of each mini-loaf and then squirt a little ketchup on each one.  Spread ketchup to cover the top of each mini-loaf.
5. Cook for 30-40 minutes, until meatloaf pulls away from the side of the cups.
6. Serve and enjoy!

Notes:
I based this on this recipe, but replaced the onion soup mix with the spices and Worcestershire sauce and replaced the cracker crumbs with bread crumbs.

Buffaloaf (Buffalo and Pancetta Meatloaf)

It's been a busy couple of weeks in my kitchen.  I got a pressure cooker and a chef's knife for my birthday, so I've been playing with both of them and thoroughly enjoying them.  I've made a couple of new recipes...one was really not very good (chocolate hummus, don't ask) and the other will be getting posted when I have a chance to take pictures (dulce de leche).  In the meantime, we couldn't believe that this recipe wasn't on my blog.  It's one of our favorite meatloafs, and apparently I haven't made it since I started posting recipes here.  Today, that changes!  I present buffaloaf, in all of its glory.

Buffaloaf

Ingredients:

• ¾ pound sliced pancetta (Italian unsmoked cured bacon)
• 2 medium onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 celery ribs
• 1 carrot
• ½ cup + ½ cup ketchup (separated)
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups fine fresh bread crumbs
• 2 pounds ground buffalo (or lean ground beef)
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup loosely packed brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Coarsely chop pancetta and cook in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat until crisp and golden, transferring to paper towels to drain. Cool pancetta and reserve fat in skillet. Finely chop cooked pancetta. Finely chop onions and mince garlic. Cut celery and carrot into ¼–inch dice.
2. In skillet cook onions, garlic, celery, and carrots in reserved fat over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened.
3. In a large bowl stir together chopped pancetta, onion mixture, ½ cup ketchup, salt, and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, bread crumbs, buffalo, and eggs until just combined (do not overmix). In a shallow 13- by 9-inch baking pan, form mixture into a 10- by 5-inch oval loaf.
4. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, vinegar, and ½ cup ketchup.  Brush half of the mixture over the loaf.
5. Bake meat loaf in middle of oven for 40 minutes.  Brush the rest of the glaze on the loaf.  Cook an additional 15 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted 2 inches into center registers 160°F. Turn oven to broil, and cook until glaze begins to bubble, about 2 minutes.  Remove from oven and let meat loaf stand 10 minutes before serving.

 

Notes:
This recipe is a combination of the best parts of 3 different meatloaf recipes I found several years ago.  Don't skip broiling for the last 2 minutes, it makes the glaze ten times better!

Japchae (잡채)

A friend of mine posted a link to this recipe recently, and it sounded simple and tasty so I decided to give it a try.  I'll make a few more minor modifications the next time I make it, but it was simple and tasty so it accomplished the goal for today!

Japchae (잡채)

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces dangmyeon (clear sweet potato noodles)
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoon rice wine
• 5 ounces beef, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup water
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 small bag shredded carrots
• 4 ounces fresh pyogo (shiitake) mushrooms, sliced
• 3 ounces spinach, cut into 1” lengths
• 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Soak the dangmyeon in hot tap water until it’s fully rehydrated (20-30 minutes).
2. Mix the soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine in a bowl to combine, then take 2 tablespoons of this sauce and add it to the beef, letting it marinate while the noodles rehydrate and you prepare the rest of the vegetables. Add 1/4 cup of water to the remaining sauce.
3. When the noodles are rehydrated, drain them, and then use scissors to cut the noodles into 6” lengths.
4. In a large frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and fry until fragrant. Add the marinated beef and stir-fry until the meat is fully cooked, and then transfer the beef to a bowl.
5. Add another tablespoon of sesame oil to the pan, and then add the onions and carrots. Stir-fry until the carrots are almost cooked, then add the pyogo. Continue stir-frying until the carrots are fully cooked.
6. Add the dangmyeon and spinach, and then pour the sauce over everything. Stir-fry until the noodles are tender and all the liquid has been absorbed. Return the beef to the pan, sprinkle with the sesame seeds, and then toss everything together. Serve immediately.

Notes:
The original recipe called for bell peppers as well, but neither of us particularly likes them so I removed them and added more carrots.  I'll add more beef next time and probably increase the amount of sauce as well.  Overall though, while we were talking about how it was semi-bland, we both ended up eating a second serving. :)

Fred Steak?

Several years ago, I went on a trip to Vancouver Island with a bunch of friends.  One of them brought steaks with him, and he was raving about how good they were.  He went on and on and we thought he must be exaggerating a bit.  After all, it was just steak.  Then he took them out to cook them, and they were BLACK.  I've never seen a steak quite that color before, and my doubt grew even stronger.  The smell of them cooking got rid of most of my doubts, and the first bite I took got rid of the rest of them (and then some).  The steak was Fred's Steak from Schaub's Meat Fish and Poultry in Palo Alto, CA.  It's always been a fond food memory for me.

Last week, another friend sent me a link to a "reverse engineered Fred Steak" marinade.  I decided I absolutely had to try it, so I went out to buy the ingredients.  I ran into two problems.  The first one was finding Marmite.  It's not the most common ingredient, but luckily one of the fancier grocery stores around me had it.  The second problem was much harder.  Nobody in Maryland seems to know what tri-tip is.  I called 6 different places before I talked to a butcher who knew what it was, and he seemed shocked that I would want it.  When I went to pick it up (at Safeway, of all places), he brought it out to show me to make sure I understood what I was asking for.  For those who live in places where tri-tip is not commonly on display, here's what you need to ask for: "The tri-tip is cut from the bottom sirloin butt.  The BSB is typically separated into the ball tip, the tri-tip, and the flap.  For ordering purposes you can ask for NAMP/IMPS 185C (trimmed) or 185D (untrimmed)."  I was so excited that he had it that I asked him to cut me two of them. 

I cooked them two different ways after marinating both for 48 hours.  The first one was a more traditional method: throw it in the oven at 375°F for 20 minutes per pound or so, remove and enjoy.  The second one I cooked sous vide at 135°F for 48 hours.  I left the marinade in the bag and then removed the juices + marinade at the end and reduced them down to a nice thick gravy.  Both were good, but the sous vide one was simply amazing.  The meat was falling apart it was so tender, and the flavor was to die for. 

Fred(ish) Steak

Ingredients:

• 1½ cup brewed coffee
• 1 cup red wine
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ cup molasses
• ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar
• ⅓ cup Tamari sauce(gluten-free soy sauce)
• ⅓ cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tablespoons chili powder
• 2 Tablespoons onion powder
• 2 Tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon Marmite (or Vegemite, in a pinch)
• 1 tri-tip roast

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a blender until well mixed.
2. Pour over tri-tip in a Ziploc bag.  Seal and refrigerate, turning occasionally, for 3-4 days.
3. Remove meat from marinade and cook (grill, bake, or sous vide). 
4. Pour marinade into a small pot and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to a thick gravy consistency.  Add up to 1 Tablespoon flour if needed to thicken.
5. Pour sauce over meat and serve!

Notes:
While this recipe isn't quite the same as an actual Fred Steak, it's close enough for me.  It's not nearly as dark, but it's very salty and full of flavors that I never in a million years would have thought to combine.  One other note: this recipe makes almost 5 cups of marinade.  It's a good amount if you're marinating 2 tri-tips, but you might want to cut it in half if you're only making one.

Belgian Pot Roast with Onions and Mushrooms

I went looking for a stew recipe, and ended up finding this pot roast recipe instead.  I'm not generally a big fan of mushrooms, and I don't drink beer at all, so it might seem odd that I picked a recipe that relies heavily on both.  For some reason though, when this is all cooked together, it comes out as something amazing.  I've made this twice in the last two weeks (I forgot to post it the first time because I was too busy eating it), and it's a definite winner.  As the original post says, make sure you don't go with a cheap beer for this recipe.  Because of the relatively small number of ingredients, a cheap beer would be fairly obvious in the end result.

Belgian Pot Roast with Onions and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 3 to 4 medium yellow onions
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons flour
• ½ cup chicken broth
• 12 ounces Belgian-style pale ale
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pound sliced mushrooms
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300ºF.
2. Pat chuck roast dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
3. Heat a large lidded ovenproof skillet over medium-high flame. Add one tablespoon each of canola oil and butter and swirl to combine.
4. Brown roast thoroughly on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. About halfway through browning of second side, reduce heat to medium. Transfer roast to plate.
5. While roast is browning, peel onions, halve lengthwise and cut into ¼-inch slices. You want about 6 or 7 cups of sliced onions total.
6. Add 2 more tablespoons of butter to pan in chunks and swirl to melt.
7. Add onions and toss to coat with butter/oil mixture. Season with a little salt and pepper (use a light hand). Cook until slightly browned, stirring often, about 4 minutes.
8. Stir thyme into onions and cook until fragrant, about 45 seconds.
9. Sprinkle flour over onions and toss to coat. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
10. Add broth to pan and stir, scraping up any browned bits.
11. Add beer to pan, stirring to combine.
12. Add bay leaves. Return meat and any accumulated juices to pan, nestling the roast among the onions. Cover pan and transfer to oven.
13. Roast meat in oven for about 1¼ hours. Nearing the end of this time, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium flame.
14. Swirl last tablespoon each of canola oil and butter together in pan.
15. Sauté mushrooms, stirring frequently, until they release their moisture and begin to brown, about 7 to 10 minutes.
16. Remove roast from oven and turn meat in pan. Spoon mushrooms around roast, cover pan and return to oven. Roast until meat is very tender, about 1¼ hours more.
17. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the roast to a cutting board and tent with foil. If the sauce is too liquid, simmer it on the stovetop until it’s reduced to the thickness you like. Conversely, if it’s too thick, whisk in a little water.
18. Just before serving, whisk in the Dijon mustard. Taste sauce and adjust seasonings.
19. Slice roast into ½-inch slices (it will shred some - that’s okay). Plate and top with onion mushroom sauce. Serve.

Notes:
I used one sweet yellow onion and two white onions to add a little variety.  I used Ommegang Belgian Pale Ale the first time I made it and Hoegaarden White Ale the second time.  Both came out great!

Drunken Irish Stew

I'm not really a fan of beer or wine, so of course I decided to make a beef stew that involved both.  It might seem silly to make a giant pot of stew for two adults and a toddler, but the leftovers are so good that they won't be going to waste.  The only thing I'll probably change the next time I make this will be to increase the meat to two pounds.  Otherwise, this recipe doesn't need much tweaking!

Drunken Irish Stew

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1¼ pounds stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 7 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup Guinness
• 6 cups beef stock (or broth)
• 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1½ tablespoons white sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon dried thyme
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 pound russet potatoes, cut into ½-inch pieces (peeled or unpeeled, gentleman’s choice)
• 1 pound baby red potatoes, cut into ½-inch pieces (again, gentleman’s choice)
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 cups carrots, peeled, cut into ½-inch pieces
• 1 large yellow or white onion, roughly chopped
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch + 1 Tablespoon water
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy, large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add the beef stew meat and sauté until brown on all sides, about 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Add garlic cloves and sauté another minute, until fragrant.
4. Add the beef stock, red wine, Guinness, tomato paste, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and bay leaves. Stir to combine and bring the mixture to a boil.
5. When boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for one hour. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
6. In another large pot, melt the butter over medium heat until slightly foaming.
7. Add the potatoes, celery, onion and carrots, sautéing until golden, about 15 minutes. Set aside until the stew has simmered for one hour.
8. Add vegetables to beef stew and simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.
9. Mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon cold water until combined. Add slowly to the stew, stirring for 1 minute until thickened.
10. Discard the bay leaves and remove any fat that may have accumulated on top. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:
Getting the right amount of salt is key in the last step.  The wine and beer make this stew require a little more salt than you might think.  Add it slowly, taste frequently, and enjoy!

Sous Vide Chuck Steaks

The biggest challenge yet for the sous vide machine: could it turn $2.99 pound chuck roast steaks into delicious and tender medium-rare steaks?  I bought a couple of big chuck roasts at Costco, cut one of them into quarters, and decided to give it a try.  I cooked them for about 20 hours at 138F, turning the temperature down to 135F after 12 hours or so.  They came out remarkably tender, but I'll probably cook them a LITTLE bit lower next time.  Overall, the experiment was a success.  I'm pretty confident that with a little bit of tweaking, a cheap cut of chuck can be every bit as tender as a much more expensive cut of meat when cooked this way.

Sous Vide Chuck Steaks

Ingredients:
4 chuck steaks, about 1/2 pound each
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
1-2 Tablespoons Olive oil

Directions:

• Season each steak with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Seal individually and place in sous vide machine for 18-24 hours.
• Remove from bags, pat dry and sear in hot skillet with olive oil for about 45 seconds per side.  Reserve liquids from each bag.
• Pour oil out of skillet and return to heat.  Pour in reserved liquid from sous vide bags.  Cook for 2-3 minutes, until reduced to a syrupy consistency.
• Spoon liquid over steaks and enjoy!

Notes:
I served this with quinoa asian slaw, roasted baby yukon gold potatoes, and sourdough bread with roasted garlic.  I made the potatoes and garlic in my rotisserie and the total prep time for the entire dinner was about 15 minutes.  As I told Sarah, it took longer to serve the food up than it did to prepare it.  I love dinners like this.

Sous Vide Short Ribs

While I was starting to read up on sous vide cooking, someone on a message board asked for people's best recipe for ribs.  I did a quick search and found several people raving about short ribs cooked this way.  Most short rib recipes involve low slow cooking for a long time, either braising or smoking, resulting in fall-off-the-bone tender meat that doesn't have a bit of pink in it.  Sous vide gave me the opportunity to make medium-rare short ribs that are still fall-off-the-bone tender.  A little bit of salt and pepper, a few vacuum bags, and I was off to the races.  These cooked for 48 hours and still came out medium-rare at the end.  It's still a little mind boggling to me, but I'm loving every minute of it.

Sous Vide Short Ribs

Ingredients:

• 2-3 pounds beef short ribs
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Splash of Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Heat sous vide cooker to 138F.
2. Season all sides of the ribs with salt and pepper.  Seal in vacuum bags and put in sous vide cooker.

   

3. Cook for 48 hours.
4. Just before removing ribs from sous vide cooker, heat 1 Tablespoon oil in cast iron skillet until nearly smoking.
5. Remove ribs from cooker, remove from bags, and sear in cast iron skillet for 45 seconds per side.
6. Remove ribs from skillet and pour off any excess oil.  Pour juices from the bags into skillet and add a splash of Worcestershire sauce.  Cook for about 60 seconds, stirring regularly.
7. Pour pan sauce over ribs and enjoy!

   

Notes:
I'll probably cook these around 134F next time.  They were good, but a little more rare would have been even better.  I'll also probably use less salt, and add it to the pan sauce later.  The ribs were delicious but tasted a little like corned beef.  This, of course, didn't stop us from demolishing them in just a couple of minutes.

Is it ready yet?!?

I'm mainly posting this to test the Facebook integration, but here's a picture of the short ribs inside the sous vide machine.  They've been in there for about 36 hours, and they will be dinner tonight.  More to come once I take them out. :)

Sous Vide Filet Mignon

Sous what?  If you don't watch Top Chef and you're not a bigtime foodie, you might not have ever heard of sous vide before.  Without going into long and boring detail, sous vide is essentially a technique where you vacuum seal the food you're cooking, then immerse it in very carefully temperature controlled water that's at the temperature you want your food to be when it's done.  Until recently, it was a technique that was primarily done in very fancy kitchens, because the equipment to keep water so carefully controlled (the temperature varies less than 1 degree F) was extremely expensive.  There have been some ways to do it with less expensive gear, but it usually involved several pieces of equipment or didn't quite give the right level of temperature control.

In March of this year, the first consumer-targeted sous vide machine hit the market.  It's not particularly inexpensive, but we decided it would be my 10th anniversary/33rd birthday/Father's Day gift this year.  I have all sorts of ideas of things I want to cook in it, but the first thing I wanted to make was filet mignon.  We had a couple frozen filets from Omaha Steaks in the freezer, and since the only difference between frozen and thawed in this technique is how long you cook them, I decided to go for it.

I don't have a fancy vacuum sealer, and based on today's results, I'm pretty sure I don't need one.  I bought a Ziploc pump and vacuum seal bags at the grocery store, and both the vacuum and the seal were great.  The steaks stayed under water the whole time, which is extremely important to get the temperature exactly right. 

When the steak came out of the sous vide cooker, it didn't have the nice crust that you'd get from grilling/broiling/pan-frying it.  This is fixed with a quick sear, about 45 seconds per side, on a hot cast iron skillet.  The end result: the best steak I've ever made, hands down.  It was super tender and perfectly cooked all the way through.  Next up: medium rare short ribs, cooked for 48 hours.

Sous Vide Filet Mignon

Ingredients:

• 2 6-ounce filet mignons
• Salt
• Pepper
• Extra-light olive oil

Directions:

1. Lightly coat the filets with oil, then rub salt and pepper on both sides.
2. Place filets individually in vacuum bags, seal them, and suck out all the air.
3. Cook at 138F for 1-2 hours.
4. Just before removing from sous vide machine, heat oil in a cast iron skillet until almost smoking.
5. Remove meat from sous vide machine, take it out of the bags, and sear for approximately 45 seconds on each side.

Notes:
While it's basically impossible to overcook something with the sous vide technique, it's not recommended to cook tender cuts for longer than 4 hours.  If you want to finish the food at a different time than you prep it, take the bags out of the sous vide machine and put them in an ice bath until chilled, then move to the refrigerator or freezer.  When you're ready to serve, remove from fridge/freezer and bring back up to heat in the sous vide machine, then sear.