Read Drink & Be Merry

Over the course of this long holiday weekend we managed a number of tasty tidbits. The first was to get the nasty taste of ‘gourmet’ cookies out of our mouths. To this end M made a batch of real homemade cookies. She searched high and low for macadamia nuts but couldn’t find any at Ukrops (perhaps the supply is being diverted for ethanol…). We settled for white and dark chocolate chips. A kind of black and white. Very tasty and welcome after the earlier fiasco.

Saturday night found us the proud owners of a couple of flat irons from Belmont Butchery. Salt and pepper, a quick trip to the grill, a rest, then thinly sliced. Quickly becoming my favourite meal. To avoid taste bud burnout on an oft-repeated meal I decided I wanted add something new to the mix. A recipe from pjpink from River City Cellars for onion rings that she had lifted from Emeril had caught my eye. It’s pretty simple and I did it without making Emeril’s essence or cheating and buying it:

Onion Rings -
2 Large Yellow Onions – Sliced into 1/8-1/4 inch rings
2 cups Spiced Flour – To taste add salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, garlic powder, and lots of paprika
2+ cups Buttermilk – Add to this hot sauce, paprika, cayenne

Slice the onions and cover with the buttermilk. Return to fridge and allow to soak for at least an hour. Add one inch of peanut oil to a heavy pan. Heat to 350. Remove onions from buttermilk and dredge in flour. Shake off excess and place in hot oil. Working in batches fry until golden brown on both sides (2-3 minutes per side). Drain. Can be kept in oven to keep warm as long as it is not a gas oven (gas ovens produce moisture and will make the rings soggy).

I had thought about putting some kind of sauce on the table for the rings but it turned out it wasn’t necessary. Very tasty! Thanks pj!

To end the weekend we ended up at a cookout hosted by T of Belmont Butchery. While the cookout had been planned in advance the menu wasn’t. Seems one of T’s customers had ordered a whole pig for their 4th of July festivities. Said customer ‘forgot’ to pick it up. Personally, I’m not buying it. Since the pig would have to be the centerpiece of your party you don’t ‘forget’ – You chicken out. How this customer shows his/her face at Belmont Butchery again is beyond me and if they ever try to pre-order something T should make them pay in advance. Not more than a few cracks were made about delivering the pig’s head to the customer’s house and leaving it on a spike in the yard…. People weren’t that drunk when I left but you never know how a night progresses. Regardless, the pig didn’t go to waste and after a night of smoking was tender and juicy. Wish I had the nerve to try cooking something that big.

On a fun note Bill Foster, of Zed’s, was there. I managed not so say anything (never got that drunk at the party) but we did have a whole circle of people having a general bitch session about the poor customer treatment at Zed’s. As a number of the people in the discussion were either current or former restaurant people so we got pretty vicious. Good fun but Zed’s really needs to work on their reputation if they are to succeed. No one had a single complaint about the food, it was all about the front of house.

All in all a good weekend and a shift out on my belt notch….

Last Saturday we had the Sketchy’s over for for a little infrared grilling. Up till now we had only been trying small cuts of meat and fish on the grill and I was dying to try a slightly bigger cut. I called my faithful butcher, T at Belmont Butchery, and put in an order for a 4lb leg of lamb, sirloin end. She came through and I picked up a beautiful piece of meat ready for the grill.

The evening arrived and so did the Sketchy’s. Actually it got off to a rather shaky start but you would need to read about that at Sketchy’s Kitchen for the full story. After repairing the damage and making the first round of martinis we tucked into the first course of the evening.

Purple Artichokes. I had found these at Fresh Market and they looked interesting. I thought about serving them slightly chilled with a garlic aioli to dip. Thinking back, while at the market, I remembered a slightly frustrating story by RVA Foodie and his attempt to make aioli. Erring on the side of caution I decided to pick up some organic garlic aioli at Fresh Market and save my first try at the substance when I might end up only killing my own family through a culinary mishap. Upon arriving home I noticed that the aioli had expired several days ago. Not a good thing for a mayonnaise containing uncooked eggs. Making the trek back from Battery Park to Fresh Market…. well, if you add up the time, energy, wasted gas, frustration. Should have tried to make it from scratch. Live and Learn.

Back to the artichokes. I steamed them for 45 minutes (a little longer than I would green ones as they seemed a bit tough) with water, wine, lemon and onion. Allowing them to cool for a bit they then went into the fridge to chill further. The result was ok. They were very pretty but, even after the 45 minute steam, were still a bit tough and a little stringy. The hearts were good but I am afraid that if I steamed them longer to make the leaves softer they would have been too mushy. Bottom line, looks good on a plate but not worth the premium over green artichokes.

For the lamb, I decided to get some professional advice and went to Brown, Alton Brown. So he gets the credit for the paste and the basics, slightly altered for my grill, of cooking. I had T at Belmont Butchery prep the lamb for me. Basically debone and butterfly so it was a large flat piece. The next step was to make the rub. In a small food processor I added:

8 mint leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
5 tablespoons dijon mustard

Blend into a paste. Rub the paste on one side of the lamb, roll it up and tie with butcher’s string. To help the flavours even out I did all this the day before. I removed the lamb from the refrigerator about an hour before cooking. When it came time to grill Alton was no longer any help as he used charcoal so I was using educated guesses after that.

I started the heat out at the sear (700+) level. About 5 minutes on each side got the lamb going well. Next I dropped the heat level to the middle of the grill range which should put the temp at around 350. I did 20 minutes on each side (rotating 180 degrees to avoid cool spots) and then checked with a meat thermometer. Honestly, I am hopeless when it comes to meat thermometers. It kept coming up at 150 but I knew that was wrong. I laid down a piece of foil to avoid flare ups and put it on the coolest part of the grill for another 10 minutes. Removed from the grill and then covered for a 15 minutes rest. When sliced it was medium rare, except for a couple of rare slices towards the center. Perfect.

I had a hankering for some sort of reduction to go with it but couldn’t find a recipe for what I wanted. Made one up off the cuff with the idea that it would go in the trash if it failed. Took 1 quart of lamb stock (from Belmont Butchery), 2 cups medium dry sherry, mint leaves and rosemary. Placed in a sauce pan, brought to a boil, and then lowered the heat and allowed to reduce to about a cup and a half. It came out pretty good and it took only a little bit to add the flavour I was looking for.

Of course every dinner needs some sort of activity. What could be more fun than drinking and catching cats. So we put out the traps baited with oil infused mackerel. Quickly we had three cats in the traps and safely away into the basement. The next morning they were sent off for their visit with the vet and then returned in the afternoon. Sadly, that evening when I took them a post-op meal one of the cats had expired. A call to the vet at Operation Cat Nip and the consensus was a heart defect, the result of inbreeding in the feral cat colony in our ‘hood. The expired cat was also lactating so I checked around the house and in the bushes for any kittens but couldn’t locate any.

The tally, if your keeping track, so far:

4 female/2 males – Trapped Fixed and Released
1 male – Not Healthy or Injured – Euthanized
1 female – Didn’t Learn Lesson & Trapped Again
1 female – Didn’t Survive Procedure

Come back next month for Round #4 of the Feral Feline Hunt!

It all started with dinner one night with Mr & Ms In Vino Veritas with the thought of grilling ‘big ol’ honkin’ pieces o’ meat’. Compounded by an email from Veron about her Hungry Hubby having grill envy. The idea was simple. Fire up the new infrared grill and throw open the doors to a few foodies and allow them to bask in the 700+ degree heat with whatever food stuff they cared to play with. Emails flew back and forth for a few days and then the preparations began and the players arrived. Joining us were Mr & Ms In Vino Veritas, the Sketchy’s with little Aidan, Veron & Hungry Hubby, as well as our non-blogger friends Cy-n-Ide (with C4 still on board – so to speak). RVA Foodie was invited but decided to blow a gasket in a futile attempt at aioli instead.

Once everyone arrived, and Finn greeted Aidan (see above picture), martini’s were made and the grill fired up. To get things rolling I threw some fillets of grouper (marinated in a Japanese inspired liquid) on the grill. For this dish I used my grilling basket to avoid the fish sticking to the grill. Four minutes later we had juicy grouper for people to nosh on.

Next up to the grill was Hungry Hubby. After a few minutes instruction on the grill itself, HH pulled out a sword and measured the grill. Off to the kitchen he went threading sword after sword with chunks of meat daubing them with some sort of melted butter concoction. The smells that came off the grill were heavenly. The meat came out moist and juicy, the extreme heat having seared all the juices inside. After years of dry, overcooked kebab meat this dish has ruined all other possible attempts at kebab making. HH decided then and there that he was getting an infrared grill and Veron, after tasting the results did not seem inclined to argue.

Next up to the plate was Mr Vino. The Vino’s are on a cleansing diet for a short time so they were consuming no animal products. This made for a few adjustments for the evening. I had decided to make my faux mashed potatoes (actually made with cauliflower) for the evening so I had to adjust to make it vegan. Substitute Veggie Stock for Chicken, Soy Milk for cream, Smart Balance for butter, and I actually found a vegan parmesan substitute. The result was pretty good, I think I under salted but no one seemed to agree with me, so there you go. The Vino’s had also brought kebab’s, but of the veggie variety. We lowered the heat on the grill a bit, didn’t want the skewers to burn (they did anyway), spritzed with a bit of olive oil and on to the heat. While this was cooking I added a piece of cedar board and threw on a hunk of salmon with a bit of white wine and dill. Once again all came out well (except for the burned skewers). The veggies stayed moist and, since we kept them moving on the grill, they cooked all the way through without getting too charred.

The next guest chef was Sketchy. He had brought some skirt steaks. The heat on the grill went back up and wrapped pieces of corn added to the upper rack. As skirt steak is so thin these had to be cooked quickly but with lots of contact with the grill to encourage proper charring. Sketchy’s steak was a success. Perfect MR, juicy, and lots of flavour. The Sketchy’s had also brought tow kinds of homemade marshmallows. One was infused with lavender, the other peach. Great snacking items. Stopped eating marshmallows years ago because they were too sweet and just really didn’t taste of much. These were wonderful, especially the lavender. Sketchy mentioned maybe posting the recipe on his blog….

To finish on the grill I had planned a NY Strip tasting. I had got 4 NY Strips – One from Fresh Market and from Belmont Butchery a regular CAB, an organic CAB, and a Wagyu. All were cut basically the same, allowed to come to room temperature and sea salt applied. While they all cooked the same amount of time the Wagyu may have got a little more heat as the amount of marbling caused the grill to flare up a bit. Once cooked they were allowed to rest and then sliced thin. The results? The cheap one from Fresh Market was ok flavour, nothing special, but was a bit tough and had some gristle. The organic had really good flavour but had so much gristle that it was tough to cut and to chew. The regular CAB from Belmont Butchery was a winner, great taste, tender, and no tough spots. The Wagyu was excellent, buttery, tender, melt in your mouth. I would, however, give the ribbon the regular CAB based on the relative little damage it did to my pocketbook compared to the Wagyu.

Veron stepped up to the plate for desserts. Cupcakes, Financiers (little teacakes), and, of course, her macarons. All were delicious and the way we attacked them would make one think we were a bunch of 19th century orphans in London. Yum!

Of course with all this we had copious amounts of adults beverages. Martini’s, too many different kinds of wine to count, and akvavit. As the liquor flowed so did the volume on the side porch. My favourite neighbours across the street, the ones with the dead body a few weeks ago, seemed to have their illegal activities interrupted by all the noise and activity. Although there has been change. The drug dealers seemed to have been moved out by the owners and new people moved in. The new profession is not dealing but prostitution. Oh joy.

I’ve had my eye on the new infrared grills for a while now. The thought of cooking at over 700 degrees was intriguing. The problem, the price. One company held the patent and was milking it for every dime. Over the past year the patent quietly expired and the free market went to work. While still not cheap these wonders of technology have become much more affordable, so last week I decided to become an early adopter.

Note – I’m not a scientist, I’ve tried to research so any flaws are due to misinterpretation on my part or just plain bad assumptions.

Infrared grills a bit different than your normal grill. Instead of cooking with direct heat the gas jets are encased and heat up porcelain tiles (think space shuttle tiles). These tiles start heating up and at the higher temperatures actually glow red. What ends up cooking your grilling items ends up being closer to light, infrared light and radiant heat. This is the same type of cooking that is used in high-end steak houses where the grills can get up to1500 degrees.

I selected the Char-Broil Red, 3-Zone, grill and made my purchase (already assembled) at Home Depot. The price was still high enough for me to get a grill cover to get a few more years of use and for a chain and lock so it makes it to next weekend. A $19.99 truck rental got the new toy home. Make sure you inspect your assembled grill before you leave. Turns out mine is missing the side burner, not something I use too often, but hey, I paid for it so I’ll be swinging by there today to speak with them about it.

For our first attempt at taking excellent cuts of meat and turning them into charcoal we selected two items: flat-iron steaks, and various sausages. Flat Iron’s, from Belmont Butchery, are a cut similar to flank steak but I think they are much more tender and flavourful. They are great cooked rare to medium rare with a bit of char. M’s birthday was coming up so she got to choose and she wanted them in my special marinade. So the steaks took a bath for a few days in:

Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Worsteshire Sauce
Soy Sauce
Balsamic Vinegar
Minced Garlic
Crushed Ginger
EV Olive Oil

That’s my basic marinade, don’t ask me proportions, it’s a touchy feely thing but go light on the soy sauce or it overpowers everything else. The ginger is great for meats, especially if they are tough, as the enzymes in the ginger break down the meat making it more tender. It’s also very important to take your meats out of the fridge and allow to get to room temperature. You will find this allows your meats to cook evenly and avoid the burnt on the outside and fridge raw on the inside disaster.

Once we had the grill set up on the side porch we fired her up. The handy thermometer on the lid told the tale, this puppy was getting rocket hot, fast. As it approached 700 degrees I prepared the first of the three flat irons. Normally, for R/MR I cook these inch-thick steaks for 4 minutes per side. Today I did 2 minutes per side. The result was a bit of a char with the steak completely seared. After a 5 minute rest I sliced the steak against the grain with a slight bias. A touch past MR but the juiciness of a rare cook. Success declared.

While I was cutting the flat iron I had placed a dozen sausages (6 brats, 3 sweet Italian, 3 hot Italian) on the upper rack of the grill. When I had nearly finished slicing the steak the people on the side porch were requesting my presence with a bit of urgency. My arrival was greeted by flames shooting out of the sides of my new toy. I turned off the gas and requested the hose I had prepped in case of such an emergency. Slowly the flames died down and I surveyed the remains of the sausages. I decided not to waste the food. Into the kitchen for an inspection under brighter lights. Not too bad, but were they cooked all the way through? They had spent less than 6 minutes on the grill…. I sharpened one of my larger knives and attacked. Cutting at an extreme angle to minimize the meat to charcoal ratio we found they were indeed fully cooked. A few brave souls, and myself, tasted and…. not too bad. While the skin was blackened it didn’t have the burnt flavour one would expect and the sausages were perfect on the inside and extremely juicy. Within a half hour all the sausage was gone. Success grasped from the jaws of a Fire Marshall lecture…

This summer will bring additional posts as we try out this new grill and the successes and failures we may have. One of my questions is what is the propane consumption and will I decide to use the converter option and hook it up to our natural gas line. If it’s stolen will my insurance cover it? We will also invite a few guests chefs over to showcase their particular cooking styles. RVAFoodie and vegetarian grilling? What could Veron bake on a grill? If Brandon cooks on my grill can I bill Style Weekly for part of the cost?….

This last Sunday morning was gray and rainy. It had been a busy weekend and while we were up early to run a time specific errand we were exhausted and were considering a very quiet day at home. The problem was that we couldn’t even be bothered to make a decent breakfast and knew Finn would soon start agitating for something to munch on. I was wrapped up in a comforter multi-tasking – watching TV and randomly surfing the web – when my laptop informed me I had a new piece of mail. Seems the Foodies had gotten a late start to the day and were lamenting that it was probably too late to get together for brunch. Not so, I replied, we’re moving in slow motion as well. Foodies suggested Bacchus after they went to a craft show. We replied, cool. This conversation actually took place over short emails and took nearly 2 hours, the rain had turned us all to slugs.

So, pushing the edge of Bacchus’ closing time we arrive around 2. At first I felt bad for the staff but they seated two tables after us so we weren’t going to be the lone table holding up the staff. We arrived a bit before the Foodies and ordered some coffee. Coffee and water arrived. M sent hers back as, once again, the lipstick on the rim did not match hers. This has been happening a lot lately. Someone really needs to invent a lipstick that sticks to the lady and not everything else and servers really need to look before they bring you a glass.

The Foodies arrived with little Jasper in tow. We greeted and settled in for some food.

Foodie and I tried to be on our best behavior under the watchful eyes of our wives but it was not to be. We must be reading each others blogs as Foodie noted the lack of butter arriving with the bread and commented on the service being slow, normally areas where I am most vocal. I took up his mantra of affordable noting a clam entree for $10 but add pasta and it goes up to $16. A while later our food arrived….

M had a Mushroom Fritatta. It was large and a bit heavy. Light on mushrooms and eggs but heavy with potatoes. Personally, I didn’t think the description matched the dish. M said it was good but would have liked more mushrooms. I tasted it, not too bad, but more fungus would have made it much better. If you wander into Bacchus hungover this may be the dish for you.

Mrs Foodie had the Shrimp Scampi. She was happy with the garlic levels and Mr Foodie said he never complained when she had garlic breath. Sounded like a winner to me.

I threw Foodie for a loop and ordered the Seared Scallops with Spinach & Bacon. He was thinking I would go for the Saffron Eggs, a dish that had caused some discussion a while back. My dish ended up being a mixed bag. The scallops, 6 or 7 medium sea scallops, were seared and seasoned perfectly, a very nice treat. The spinach could not have been sauteed any better. Just a hint a vinegar to flavour but not enough to pollute the scallops sitting on the spinach. The bacon made no sense. I assumed it would have been minced and in the spinach. Instead it was two slices laid over the dish. It looked and tasted a bit like the bacon you get at Denny’s. Added nothing to the dish.

Since I went for the seafood Foodie went for the Saffron Eggs. I tasted them and they weren’t bad. I am guessing the saffron wasn’t blended with the eggs correctly as Mr Foodie gave Mrs Foodie a taste and asked if she could detect the saffron. The eggs were good, and Foodie liked the price ($5), but they fall under my category of ‘items that you can make at home and shouldn’t order out’. For those of you wanting to make this at home here’s how as this would be a great dish if you have guests for brunch:

Eggs (get local fresh organic at Belmont Butchery)
Saffron
Kosher Salt
White Pepper
Half & Half
A few drops white wine vinegar

Beat it all together and let ’steep’ in the fridge while you entertain you guests. This will allow the saffron to infuse a little better through the eggs. Cook until think they are congealed but not quite, remove from the heat and put in a warm serving bowl. The residual heat of the eggs will finish the cooking. If you scramble until fully cooked they will keep cooking after you remove them (that pesky residual heat) and they will release all the captured moisture into your serving bowl or on your plate leaving you with dry eggs and wet toast. I haven’t listed actual portions as that is dependent on how many people you are feeding. Try it on yourself at home first and figure it out.

Both Foodies dish and mine contained potatoes. They were OK but Foodie needed to add hot sauce and I needed to add pepper but the mill on the table wasn’t functional. Not very well seasoned. A couple of bites in and, well, if you were polite you would call the potato ‘firm’. I called it undercooked. I asked Foodie if he had the same problem. He replied no and then a couple of bites later changed his answer. The consensus at the table was that, in future, order the polenta as a side instead.

Restaurants typically break even or even lose money on brunches or lunch. The dining window is too short and people don’t order many of the high profit items like cocktails and wine. It is, however, a way to showcase their strengths by getting people to come in at lower price points and lure them back for the real show, dinner. Bacchus did well enough for me to consider them for another try at brunch but I’m not quite ready to make that dinner investment.

Jasper was a perfect gentleman through the meal. OK, he was asleep. As we wrapped up he made it known that he was ready for his brunch. Finn had hit his expiration as well and was dancing through the restaurant. As a note to that I can say that I have been happy with Richmond restauranteurs treatment of us with Finn with only a couple of exceptions. He is typically well-behaved, less so when we go out with friends, but they have made him feel welcome and indulged him. That’s a good way to get parents back.

With my sister in town the plan for Saturday had been for our mother, whose birthday it was, to come down from C’ville to join us for dinner. Sadly, she came down quite ill. A last minute invite went out and Mr & Mrs RVA Foodie joined us for our feast.

The festivities started around 6 as the Foodies, Cy-n-Ide, and my paint splattered sister arrived. As it had been a very rough week I was desperate for a martini so Cy attacked a lime and I retrieved my Tanq 10 from the deep freeze. Foodie eyed my Talisker single malt and a dram or two was extracted for him. Both Mrs Foodie and Ide are expecting so it was sparkling water and lemonade for the ladies.

We settled into our new kitchen and laid out a bit to nosh. Olives and pickled herring as well as a rather large shrimp cocktail with M’s increasingly famous sweet Thai chili cocktail sauce.

A little before 8 the activity in the kitchen increased markedly. For the entree a pork shoulder had been braising all afternoon and my faux mashed potatoes (suitable for people like me on South Beach and Mrs Foodie who is also avoiding carbs).

BRAISED PORK SHOULDER

7lb boneless shoulder of pork (provided by Belmont Butchery)
Several cloves garlic
4 lbs sweet onion
2 cups apple cider
1 can Boddington Ale

Preheat oven to 300. Salt and pepper pork. Sliced garlic into thin slices, cut pockets into pork and slid slices in. Olive oil in braising dish, heat, sear pork. Remove to a plate. Add sliced onions and caramelize. Return pork to dish add cider and beer. Cover tightly and place in oven for 4 hours or until fork tender.

Problems – An hour or so into cooking the pork unexpectedly expanded blowing the lid off. Not good for braising. Transfered to a roasting pan and covered tightly with foil. Added 1/2 hour cooking time due to transfer. Onions didn’t add a whole lot and the jus would have been better without. Next time will caramelize onions as a side (better colour and flavour) and add more cider to the braise.

Faux Mashed Potatoes (Mashed Cauliflower)

2 heads cualiflower
Garlic
Stock (Veggie or Chicken)
Onion
Pine Nuts
Parmesan Cheese
Cream
Butter

Cut cauliflower into florets and place in stockpot with 2 table spoons minced garlic. Cover with stock (I typically use chicken but as one of the guests was a vegetarian I subbed veggie stock) and boil over medium high heat until tender. Mash. Add a large pat of butter and a half cup cream. Salt and pepper to taste (white pepper works best if you have it). Reduce heat to low and allow moisture to reduce, 2-3 hours.

Yeah, I know, sounds like a long time. The key here is not just taste but mouth feel. The mashed cauliflower ends up very moist and while the taste is good it just isn’t enjoyable to eat, kinda mushy. The slow cook to reduce the moisture makes it much more enjoyable. I tried high heat once and the result was pretty bad.

Just before serving you can add a number of things. Parmesan cheese, fresh grated, helps with the textures issues. Chopped caramelized onions go great as well as toasted pine nuts. Other items can be chopped chives and sour cream. Remember, this is low carb not low fat.

As Mr RVA Foodie is a vegetarian, of the meat is murder but fish is justifiable homicide sort, we had a nice piece of Rockfish for him.

On The Fly Rockfish Almandine -

Fillet Rockfish
Sliced Almonds
Butter
Olive Oil
White Wine
Lemon

Toast almonds lightly in a pan with butter and a little olive oil. Add white wine and cook off alcohol. Squeeze in one lemon. Reserve sauce.

Salt fish. Sear top in pan with butter and olive oil, flip to sear skin side. Pour sauce over seared fish trying to keep almonds on top. Place in 400 degree oven to roast off (8-10 minutes).

I cooked it to the rare side and warned Mr Foodie, easier to cook longer than deal with dry overdone fish. It was either good or he is very polite as no fish remained at the end.

M had made a chocolate cake for the occasion. Very tasty.

After dinner we settled into some heavy beverage consumption. Cy and I introduced Mr Foodie to the joys of Aalborg Akvavit. Silliness ensued and in the grand tradition of gatherings at our house the upstairs toilet broke. Unlike some other incidents, like the collapse of a bathroom ceiling a few years ago, no person was involved in this, it just spontaneously happened. Ah well, we wanted a new toilet for that bathroom anyway and it’s a good excuse to get Cy over for beverages later this week.

Things threatened to get really silly when I came across a bottle of Patron in the freezer and people started looking for salt and such. Fortunately we got sidetracked and the tequila was forgotten.

Initial thoughts were that a good time was had by all until we realized we were missing a cat. She turned up the next morning, happy that relative quiet had returned to our house.

Actually, they weren’t that pretty to start with…

Had made my usual Saturday stop at Belmont Butchery but with no real idea of what I wanted to cook this Sunday. I wasn’t going to stop anywhere else so I was limited to what was already at the house and whatever I got from T. Flipping through my mental file of what was in the fridge, and what really needed to be used soon, I came across some fresh sage.

T suggested chicken, I declined, not in the mood.

T suggested pork cheeks, I paused.

Discussion ensued. I soon left, the proud owner of five pounds of pork cheeks and a few cooking tips.

The next afternoon I opened the cryovac bags and placed in a colander to rinse off the liquids. T had wisely warned me that it might smell a bit funky. It did. After they drained I spread out these various chunks and salted with sea salt. M came into the kitchen, looked at the cheeks and gave me a look that screamed ‘your not expecting me to eat that are you?’. In all fairness, it didn’t look very appetizing but I had faith in T so I soldiered forward.

Mise en place for cooking included these roughly chopped items: sage, onion, celery, carrot, garlic and parsnip. (Will check with Val at RVANews to ensure this colon was used properly) 2 cups white wine 1 cup veggie stock rounded the ingredients.

Heated my paella pan on the stove top and the oven to 300. Once the pan was warm I browned the pretty little cheeks with a bit of grapeseed oil then added all the other ingredients. Brought it all to a low boil, covered, then threw in the oven for 2 hours.

Basically served in bowls with a bit of the liquids. A little crusty bread on the side. Pretty simple. Would have been great on a snowy afternoon (may have to move farther north for that). I was concerned that meat such as this can be tough sometimes. Not this. Didn’t need a knife, fell apart with a fork. Nice rich flavour and good sopping was to be had.

I had cooked this with leftovers in mind (on T’s suggestion). The next night we shredded the pork (with a fork), heated it up with a little marinara (store bought I’m afraid) and served over little elbow pasta. Liked it better than the first night.

So don’t be afraid of the initial appearance of pork cheeks. They’re mighty tasty. M liked it so much she’s considering some sort of BBQ with them next time (and you can’t beat the price).

Cy-n-Ide came over for playoffs and dinner on Sunday and, well, I went a bit overboard on dinner. Actually it was planned that way. All this slow roasting I have been doing got me in the mood for a standing rib roast or prime rib. A call to T at Belmont Butchery ensured the appropriate slab ‘o beef would be waiting on Saturday and the research began. Sadly, nowhere could I find the right balance of rub or marinade or cooking time or, quite frankly, easy and tasty. Decided to wing it.

The first surprise was from T at BB. When I’ve ordered something in the past it has been ready on my arrival. This time she wanted to ‘talk’. I had initially planned on some sort of bone-in cut with the eye cut away then retied to the bone. She had that, if I wanted, at a choice grade. There was also prime, no bone, and there was something else…

She brought me into the back and showed to a sheet pan with several large and quite ugly pieces of meat. Dry and leathery with a couple of growths of mold. Well, I started to worry a bit. These were prime pieces of meat that had been allowed to dry age for over 14 days. Now I had read about dry aged and have even had it in the past from the European Market in the Fan. The theory was good but the result, not so much. Dry and chewy was my last experience. Was this something I wanted to try? T hadn’t steered me wrong before but there is always a chance for the first time. She prepped me for the sticker shock to come and awaited my response. Christmas bills be damned, let’s try the dry aged. I selected the piece and she threw it onto the scale.

Ten and a half pounds… – Pause here, guess the cost per pound, multiply, gasp, repeat.

My house payment then made it’s way to the band saw. After the most bacterial offending pieces were removed the real knife work began. Dry, leathery pieces fell away revealing an amazingly marbled, firm piece of meat. The crowd in the butcher shop watching us behind the counter were strangely quiet. I looked and realized these people were coveting my meat. T’s commentary while cutting and my questions on cooking made the show into an educational episode worthy of Ina or Alton Brown.

A little over 8 pounds remained at the end and were wrapped for travel. Extra cuts of fat for the roasting pan, farm fresh eggs and BB’s house cured bacon were added to my pile and, after melting down a credit card and the jokes from the other customers about me needing a Brink’s guard out to my car I went.

First thing Sunday morning I made my rub. I had selected a garlic-horseradish recipe and altered it slightly. Basing each ingredient at one part equals 1/2 cup for a 5 pound piece of meat. As I had 8, I used one and a half parts of the main ingredients.

1 part sea salt
1 part extra virgin olive oil
1 part prepared horseradish
1/2 part fresh ground black pepper
1/2 part melted butter

Mixed together and placed in the fridge for 2 hours for the flavours to mix. I also added the leaves from several twigs of thyme but they didn’t add a whole lot to the party. An hour and a half before cooking I removed the beef from the fridge and placed on a roasting rack and then liberally applied the rub to both sides making sure to leave the fat side facing up when I was finished. The roast was then left on the counter for the temperature to stabilize with a close eye kept for curious cats.

According to my probe thermometer the beef got all the way up to 50. Perfect starting temp. Oven temp set to 450. Roasting rinsed to remove any dripping rub and replaced with carrots, onions, parsnips, celery, red wine, beef stock, and the extra fat from the butcher. Into the oven for 20 minutes and then the temp dropped to 200 for the remainder.

Here’s the tricky part. I hate thermometers. Every time I cook with a probe something goes horribly wrong. Over done or under done, no correlation to the temp on the probe. T had warned me the cooking times (original est for 200 at 30 minutes per pound) would be off as the aged beef had such a low water content. So, I basically sat by the oven. Probe set for 120 and the timer set for 2:20 (20 minutes per pound). With a steadily raising level of anxiety I watched the temp move much quicker then I thought it should throwing off all my calculations for the sides. Time to start drinking and consider pizza places in case of disaster.

After an hour we hit 120 degrees. This was way too quick for a 200 degree oven. Something didn’t feel right. Was I prepared to remove the meat and risk a dangerously rare piece of meat (Half of Cy-n-Ide is expecting so meat temp is a consideration more than usual) or leave in and risk feeding the horde of feral cats in our ‘hood the best meal they’ve ever had. Split the difference and reset the probe for 125. Twenty minutes later the fun began.

Removed the meat to a cutting board and covered with foil and a tea towel. Placed the roasting pan on the stove top and cranked up the heat. Let reduce a bit and then strained out the veg and other bits into a fat separator.

Oven cranked up to 450 for the Yorkshire pudding. Earlier I had made a batter of:

1 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

and left it in the fridge for at least two hours.

Into a popover pan I placed a tablespoon of canola oil and allowed to heat up in the oven. When I had separated the fat from the roast I added a bit to each of the tins and then poured equal parts of the batter into each. Back to the oven for 20-30 minutes.

The remaining juices went into a saucepan for further reduction.

About 40 minutes after removing from the oven the moment of truth arrived. Would we be feasting or ordering from 8 1/2? Carving knife sharpened and the first cut was made. The pregnant half of Cy-n-Ide got the end piece and it was perfect. MR all the way through without a large band of MW or, god forbid, W. The next cuts yielded all perfectly rare pieces. Gravy boat of jus and dish or horseradish sourcream joined us at the table and the feast began.

Things I would do different… The rub was made based on the assumption of a thick layer of fat on one side and bone on the other. The fat here was thick enough but the direct application on the meat side left it a tad too salty for me, although no one seemed to complain. For a boneless piece I would cut the salt to 1/2 part and perhaps still add the fresh thyme leaves. A 5 pound boneless piece for the 4 of us would have been sufficient. We had left overs last night and will finish it tonight. The 8+ pound boneless piece yielded 10 cuts of a little over an inch. I’ll need to experiment more on yields for bone-in and fresh pieces.

And yes, I am looking forward to one more night of leftovers!

Just wanted to say thanks to some of the people who helped make our holiday a yummy one…

T and C at Belmont Butchery. From the leg of lamb, the steaks, even the home made bacon and fresh local eggs, they were present at nearly every meal in one way or another.

Yellow Umbrella Seafood. For quite possibly the best side of salmon I have cured, ever.

Fresh Market. Great fresh veggies, mushrooms, breads. Where else can you get three pounds of very nice cooked and peeled shrimp at 10 on a Sunday morning.

P and J from River City Cellars. We were considering a wine of the month club for M’s sister, L, until we saw how much would be eaten up in shipping charges. A phone call to P at RCC and they put together a case of wine (3 sets of 3 and 3 singles) with handwritten tips and commentary. Can’t get that kind of service at Total Wine.

Ikea. No, really. My sister, K, used some of the lingonberry concentrate to make some very tasty lingonberry martinis/cosmos.

Thanks to all. Hope the new year is prosperous for you all!

The food fest that was Christmas is over.

The eve before was our new family developing our traditional evening meal. M made a crab and cream soup. A recipe of her mother’s, we tried it last year and decided it would stick. Served with crusty bread it makes for a very nice meal. Perhaps she will post the recipe.

To add a bit I made a traditional steak au poivre. Small filet’s coated with fresh crushed black peppercorns then seared in very hot butter. Reserved in a warm oven while the sauce is made. Add a fresh pat of butter then (CAREFULLY) add a shot or two of brandy. Once the excitement has died down add a cup of cream and reduce. When the desired thickness has been achieved return the steaks to the pan and flip to coat. Steak Au Poivre. Done.

For the big meal on Christmas day we had leg of lamb. T at Belmont Butchery deboned and set up a really nice leg for me. Coated/Stuffed with a mint pesto (mint, toasted pine nuts, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, cream sherry) then tied back together. Let it sit out on the counter for an hour prior to placing in a roaster rack cooking at 450 (convection roast mode) for 20 minutes then an hour at 300. Let rest covered for 20 minutes prior to carving.

I wanted to keep the cooking simple so to go with I cut up fingerling potatoes (please note the heart shaped potato we found!), added pearl onions then tossed with grapeseed oil, salt, white pepper, and fresh rosemary. Tossed in a heavy dish and tossed in the oven when the lamb had half an hour to go. For veg we had brussel sprout. Stole a recipe from Ina. Tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper, spread out on a sheet pan and added to the oven when the lamb had 15 minutes to go. Once the lamb was removed I cranked the heat back up to 425 and didn’t remove until the lamb was ready to go to the table.

While the lamb was resting made a gravy in the roasting pan. Threw in a cup of shallots and got them sizzling. One cup red wine and two cups stock as well as mint and rosemary went in next. Got all four burners going and reduced the liquid. Transfered to a bowl and hit it with my stick blender.

What I did wrong… The lamb came out a little too rare. Not dangerous rare, but close. I hadn’t used the convection roast setting on something quite so large (7.5 pounds) before and was worried I would overcook. Should have let the temp stabilize for an hour and a half before cooking, add 5 minutes to the sear temp, then change the cooking temp to 310 and add 20 minutes. That should take a leg that size from rare to medium rare. Let you know after the next attempt.

When the next morning rolled around, well, I was bushed. Actually played hookey. First time I have not opened the store in two years. Don’t feel a bit bad about it.