HOLYCRAPDELICIOUS STEAK!!

I am a firm believer in the time-honored, two-step method for cooking steak:

1. Get the best quality meat that you can.
2. Don't Fuck It Up.

I believe I successfully followed this code of ethics this evening.  

I fulfilled Step One by buying a quarter cow (~125lbs split into a variety of cuts) from Haiwick Heritage Ranch (www.haiwickheritageranch.com).  They sell hormone free, pasture raised, grain finished Angus.  No feedlots, no stress, no unnecessary antibiotics.  Plus, it is dry aged for several weeks, which I haven't seen from any other grass fed beef suppliers online.  Awesome.  The quarter cow arrived today, and of course we had to try it immediately.  We decided to thaw out a pack of two New York Strip steaks and give them a shot.  

I fulfilled Step Two by treating the steaks with simple care.  First, I sprinkled a little salt and pepper, then put them on a very hot grill.  I cooked them for a total of about 8.5 minutes, 5 on the first side and 3.5 on the second side, rotating them 90 degrees halfway through each side.  Then, they rested for about 5 or 6 minutes in foil (normally I would let them rest longer, but I was hungry!).  Then, we ate it with a side of salad.  

Resulting Deliciousness:

The steaks were a perfect medium to medium rare throughout, with a respectable crust.  This might have been the juiciest steak I've ever made.  The high quality of the meat was fully on display.  The strip of fat was perfectly done and just melted in your mouth.  This steak was easily on par with any I've had in high end steakhouses (and yes, I've been to Keens and Peter Luger's in NYC).  The dry aging and high quality grass fed meat is definitely the key.  Luckily, I was able to pull off Step Two and didn't overcook it or, worse, cover up the meat's inherent taste with a bunch of seasoning or sauce. 

This is the first time I've bought meat in bulk and so far have zero regrets.  Quite the opposite.  If you don't have a chest freezer full of awesome meat, you should seriously re-examine your priorities in life.  

Bacon!

This was my second attempt at making bacon.  It turned out very, very good.  This might be my new favorite thing to do.  We decided to invite some friends over to watch Game of Thrones the night I smoked the bacon, so I cut off a few slices to grill and put on burgers.  It was fantastic!  Enjoy!

Album with captions at https://plus.google.com/photos/114710096003730109118/albums/5864673173534066881

Ingredients:

Bacon:

• ~4 lbs pork belly from www.forestfed.com
• 1/3 cup kosher salt
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• ~2 Tbs fresh ground black pepper

Burgers:

• 1 lb grass fed ground beef from www.polyfacefarms.com
• gluten free buns from www.happytartbakery.com
• 1/4 of a white onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• ~2 Tbs worcestershire sauce
• ~2 Tbs dried oregano
• salt
• black pepper
• swiss cheese

Asparagus:

• 2 bunches of asparagus
• ~1 Tbs lemon salt (we have some salt with lemon peel)
• ~2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• ~1 Tbs roasted garlic olive oil

Salad

• I need to get the ingredients from Carlyn, who makes awesome salads, but she is asleep!

Sweet potato fries

• store bought and made in the oven

Angry Orchard cider was also an invaluable ingredient, if not directly used in food preparation.

Procedure:

Bacon:

Bacon is simple and elegant.  I used a gorgeous slab of forest fed pork belly from www.forestfed.com.  I rinsed it off, patted it dry, then gently rubbed on a cure of half salt and half brown sugar, plus some black pepper.  Then I wrapped the belly in plastic and sealed it in a ziploc bag and put it in the fridge to cure for 6 days, flipping it over every day for even curing.  When it was ready, I rinsed off the excess cure, and was pleasantly surprised that most of the black pepper stayed on while the extra salt and sugar dissolved off.  I did not rinse my first batch of bacon and it turned out too salty.  Rinsing is a critical step!  After rinsing, I patted it dry.  Next came smoking.  When smoking bacon, you are not cooking it, you are further curing it by drying it out, and adding the smoke flavor.  So you want the smoker to be at a low temperature, around 140-180.  As you can see in the pictures, I added a second thermometer to my smoker, the stock Warm/Ideal/Hot indicator is not good enough for keeping a specific temperature.  This cost about $10 and is absolutely worth it.  I smoked the bacon for about 4.5 hours, adding apple wood chips regularly.  Dinner was a little earlier than 4.5 hours, so I took it out and sliced a few pieces off early to grill and put on the burgers.

Burgers:

For burgers, I did my normal procedure.  Whisk 1 egg per pound of meat, add the seasonings and mix in with the egg.  Add the meat and mix thoroughly by hand.  Make patties, thin in the middle so you end up with burgers, not meatballs.  The grass fed beef was from Polyface farms (www.polyfacefarms.com), and it was fantastic.  Usually, I eat burgers with no bun, but this time we got buns from our local gluten free bakery, the Happy Tart (www.happytartbakery.com).  I toasted them on the grill (in the same spot I had cooked the bacon...) and they were awesome!  I also made Sriracha mayo by, you guessed it, mixing Sriracha and mayo until the heat was where I wanted it.  This went on the buns and was used to dip the sweet potato fries.

Asparagus:

The asparagus was simply tossed with oil, salt, and pepper, and grilled.  I got it off the grill at exactly the right time, when it still has a good snap to it.  It was by far the best asparagus I’ve ever made.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This was a great meal with great friends.  I don’t think I’d change a single thing about it.  It was a perfect pre- Game of Thrones hangout!  The bacon turned out fantastic, I can’t wait to eat the other 3.75 pounds of it!

Green Pork (Chile Verde)

It’s been a quite a while, but here is a new post!  This was inspired after seeing green pork on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  I looked up several recipes online and made my own version.  Unfortunately, it is the wrong time of year for tomatillo, so I had to use canned ones.  As usual, I used forest fed pork from www.forestfed.com, by far the best pork I’ve ever found.  Enjoy!  

Ingredients:

• Boston Butt, about 5 pounds
• 5 cans tomatillos
• 1 white onion
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 poblano pepper
• Cilantro
• Limes
• Salt
• Pepper

Procedure:

This is a very simple dish that turned out great.  First, I made the tomatillo salsa.  If I was using fresh tomatillos, I would have needed to boil them, but since I used canned, that wasn’t necessary.  I just combined the tomatillos, about half of the onion, a large bunch of cilantro, a few cloves of garlic, and the juice from a lime in a blender, then pulsed until smooth.  This made a full blender full of salsa.  Next, I prepared the slow cooker by placing the rest of the chopped up onion, a poblano pepper sliced into strips, and some cilantro in the bottom.  I placed the pork butt, chopped in 2 inch cubes on top of this base.  I then added salt and pepper, some more cilantro, and poured a little over half of the salsa onto the pork, and stirred it in.  The rest of the salsa was reserved for use as a dip or garnish. The slow cooker was set on low for about 12 hours.  I served the pork with rice and beans, and homemade tortillas courtesy of my wife.  

The beautiful boston butt from www.forestfed.com

The pork in the slow cooker,with onion, poblano pepper, garlic, and cilantro below.

Added salt, pepper, garlic, onion, cilantro on top of the pork

Poured the tomatillo salsa over everything

And mixed it in a little.  Slow cookers are awesome! 12 hours later....

Resulting Deliciousness:

I was a little worried about using the canned tomatillos, but this came out great!  This is a great example of why pork shoulder is my favorite type of meat.  You can add some simple seasoning, put it on a low source of heat, just leave it alone, and come back to something delicious!  Carlyn’s homemade tortillas were great, as always, and the rice and beans were a fitting side.

The final product, with homemade tortillas and some rice and beans.  A simple, hearty meal.

Even better with some extra salsa

Caprese Pizza with Bresaola

Over the last 6 months or so Udi's brand gluten free items have started showing up in grocery stores in my area.  If you are gf and haven't tried their stuff, you definitely should.  They make the only gf bread I have found that doesn't need to be toasted.  One of their products is a frozen pizza crust.  Here is my first test with the crust, enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Pizza
• Udi's frozen pizza crust
• Fresh Basil
• Bresaola (awesome, like prosciutto made with beef tenderloin!)
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
• Black Pepper
• Garlic Salt
• Olive Oil
• Soup
• Amy's Tomato Bisque
• Black Pepper
• Fresh Basil

Procedure:

This pizza was really easy.  I used no sauce and just layered the ingredients from in the order they are listed above, except for the olive oil which was drizzled on just before serving.  I followed the baking instructions on the Udi's package, total time to make was about 10-15 minutes.  While it was baking I heated up some Amy's tomato soup as a side, so the dinner was kind of de-constructed since the pizza had no sauce.  The soup was garnished with black pepper and fresh basil.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This was a really quick, easy, and delicious meal.  Using a pre-made crust and soup is certainly not cooking from scratch, which I think is the most fun.  But for a quick light meal after work, this can't really be beat.  Bresaola can be found at specialty cheese and charcuterie shops, delis, and some grocery stores.  It is a delicious cured meat, very similar to prosciutto, but made from lean beef tenderloin instead of pork.  It crisped up while baking on the pizza and added a huge amount of flavor.