How To Cook Meat Well Every Time!

"Was this well done of your lady, Charmion?" "Extremely well," she answered, "and as became the descendant of so many kings" – Plutarch

My friend Chris Taylor, proprietor of the Roaming Buffalo food truck, once commented that cooking an item to well done is hard. Not to call Chris wrong, but he is. Happens often. Cooking an item well done is relatively easy if done by the proper technique, and for a special occasion it is well worth any extra effort.

For me no food item says “special occasion” more than the center cut of the beef tenderloin commonly known as Filet Mignon or Châteaubriand. A whole beef tenderloin, commonly known as NAMP 189(A), for NAMP Industries – the nation’s largest producer of packaged meat products and toiletries, is easy to find at your local butcher, wholesale club or bodega.

But, as this is for a special event might I humbly suggest investing in a pasture raised, all-natural slab of meat, such as those offered by D'Artagnan. It is well worth the extra cost.

My Mommys Brisket - Redux

No matter how much you revisit the past...there’s nothing new to see. -Robert Tew

One of the most important lessons that any cook, particularly a self-taught cook, has to learn is that a recipe is just somebody’s opinion. As James Beard put it, “it’s always a good idea to follow the directions exactly the first time you try a recipe. But from then on, you’re on your own.” Inspiration, improvisation and even whimsy are the hallmarks of a good cook, and what makes cooking something fun to do.

Even my mommy’s brisket recipe, a hallmark of our family holiday celebrations, has gone through some changes at my hand. But, this year’s brisket was cooked in a really cool way.

I cooked it sous vide.

My Mommys* Brisket

Get Brisket from Lipman's, put on foil, top with a sliced onion and a bottle Kraft Catalina Dressing. Seal foil and bake at 325° until tender.

This is Mommy’s* Brisket recipe, or at least it would be if a copy had been handed down to me. It’s the only specific meal of hers I remember. Sweet, moist and delicious. Served with a bit of horseradish. It is permanently connected in my mind with Jewish holidays and it appears frequently on my table at such times. The leftovers in a sandwich, particularly on challah – da bomb.

Lipman's is a kosher butcher in Brighton, New York, the town near Rochester where I spent my childhood. It is still very much in existence. In fact, by a strange coincidence, the current owner is married to my oldest and best friend Kathye. I like him – not just because he markets beef jerky based on my recipe. To my knowledge Lipman’s is the only independent kosher butcher left in Western New York.

Cooking with Kids IV - Do The Jerk(y)

There are few things simpler than beef jerky, and Ron Popiel was right - it is loads cheaper than the store-bought pieces of flavored rubber. It's also a perfect task to involve my nine year old Chef Saucier, Ellie. Of course it helps that the two of us love the results, to the extent that Mommy has to hide the finished product or it disappears. Rapidly. Really rapidly.

We start with top round, a relatively inexpensive cut even with the rise in food prices we are now enduring. If fresh, it is popped in the freezer for a half an hour; if frozen, it is thawed until still slightly frozen. I trim it of external fat, slice it on a bias as thin as possible with the grain and immerse it in a marinade.

Ellie's favorite marinade is made of one cup each of Soy and Worcestershire Sauces, a tablespoon each of granulated garlic, granulated onion, liquid smoke, hot sauce (Frank's, in this case, and since I don't make wings as much as I used to I have a half gallon to use up.), Hot Pepper Flakes (in this case Aleppo Pepper from Penzey's). The basic marinade is subject to infinite variation, and we have used other formulas from teriyaki sauce to nuoc cham.

The meat is marinated for an hour or two tossing occasionally to coat all the slices. They are placed on a rack over a foil lined sheet tray and placed in the lowest temp possible, in my case 140º, for about 12 hours - I like it drier than usual as it seems to keep better.

I have also used my electric dehydrator, though cleanup can be a beyotch! Mine doesn't disassemble easily!

Burger Smackdown - The Burger

Here is the Burger - wish me luck:

The Rolls:

Homemade from bleached all-purpose flour, water, yeast, non-transfat shortening, sugar and salt. Source: My Home

The Mushroom Ketchup:

Portabella, Shiitake, Oyster and Maitake mushrooms grilled with Vidalia onion, combined with Garlic, Molasses, Balsamic Vinegar and Chipotle Chilies.
Source: Wegmans, Sheridan Drive.

The Cheese:

Beaufort - a French Raw Cow’s Milk Cheese from the Savoie region often called the Prince of Gruyères. A classic mountain cheese. Source:
Premier Gourmet, Kenmore

The Bacon:

Pork Belly - cured in Grade B Extra Dark Amber Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar. Smoked over Pear Wood. Sources: Valint’s, Tonawanda; Maple Glen Sugar House, Gowanda; My Mother-in-Law’s backyard, Buffalo.

The Beef:

Eye of Chuck – naturally raised Niagara County Beef, cared for and cooler hung to perfection by Dave Cloy. Source D.H Cloy and Son, Ransomville.

I thought I had an appetite for destruction, but all I wanted was a club sandwich. - Matt Groening

I love sandwiches, whether or not they were invented by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich or not. They can be on bread or toast, a bun, roll or bagel, it doesn't matter. Banh Mi, Cuban, Croque-monsieur, Panini or PB&J, I love them all. I also love flatbread wraps, but as we all know they are not sandwiches. Of them all, my favorite is the Reuben. Some may disagree, but this is my choice, and I will stick to it.

Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world-except for a nice MLT - mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe - Miracle Max

The Corned Beef is leftovers from the home cured one I did for St. Patrick's Day. The cheese is Jarlsberg, which I have mentioned is my favorite all-purpose swiss-style cheese. I am still having trouble finding my favorite sauerkraut, Strub's, so I picked a bagged, refrigerated kind. Not great, but better than canned. My biggest regret is the bread. It was store-bought from Wegman's. Not a bad product, but I spent a lot of time making my own loaf of sourdough rye - only to find out I had forgotten to add salt. It is the third or fourth time in the last two or three weeks that my wife or I have had senior moments remembering to add salt when baking!

The Thousand Island is made with Hellmann's (known as Best Foods west of the Rockies), a splash of lemon juice, a teaspoon of horseradish, two tablespoons of Weber's Hot Piccalilli Relish (my secret ingredient) and Ketchup.

The sandwich was delicious! So join me and hoist a Dr. Brown''s Cream Soda!

Boil three days in a deep kettle . . .

"Take two pounds of meat from the rump, boil three days in a deep kettle with the head of an axe, and, then, throw away the meat and eat the axe." - The WPA Guide to Utah (1941).

Corned Beef and Cabbage, more often referred to as a New England Boiled Dinner, is something we look forward to when St. Patrick's day rolls around, even if there isn't a jot of Irish blood in any of us. For years I had heard that Corned Beef and Cabbage was unknown as a dish in Ireland, but recent scholarship suggests that the Irish used corned beef as a substitute for their Irish bacon - unavailable in the United States. My lone, slim Irish Cookbook, by perhaps the most famous Irish cookbook author Darina Allen, contains a recipe calling for either corned beef or Irish bacon. She does indicate that it is rarely eaten in Ireland.

Despite the name "New England Boiled Dinner", and like many similarly named dishes, don't boil this. I gently simmer it with aromats: onion, garlic, and a some home-concocted pickling spice. After about 2.5 hours I added cabbage, and 10 minutes later potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, and parsnips. The beets were cooked separately, in salted water. It was great, but I am baking rye bread today for the Reuben I am really lusting for. I also need my annual red-flannel hash fix.

Cooks notes: I corned this beef (point cut brisket) in the Ruhlman/Polcyn liquid pickle. I have also had great success with a dry cure modified from Cook's Illustrated. I should also note that when I corn beef strictly for the purpose of creating a cold-cut, I steam the meat à la David Rosengarten, rather than simmer it. It gives a better consistency for slicing.

Oh, and there are no photos of the brining process. I have been battling pneumonia for 10 days and was barely able to through the brine together!

The Mother of All Beef Recalls

Well, following the under cover videos, and the closure of the plant, the USDA has a week or two later ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of meat from the Westland/Hallmark abattoirs. Of course most of that meat has already been eaten . . .

If you are counting, that's 166,033,888 pounds of beef recalled since I started this blog! Grind your own frakking burger!

Cow Torture Doesn't Pay - Or does it?

So the USDA shut down Hallmark Meat Packing In Chino, CA after hidden video showed "torture tactics" to get downed cows to get up and join the slaughter line. The so called downers are prohibited from being used for human food as they have a greater incidence of Mad Cow disease.

This occurred despite the presence of eight USDA inspectors on site.

Money quote: "Now, in the wake of the video's release and the agency's response, food industry
insiders are questioning just how reliable the USDA's inspection process is."

Another Reason to Avoid Fast Food (and other eat-out burgers).

The Rochester Meat Company (that's Minnisota, not my birthplace down the Thruway) is voluntarily recalling 188,000 pounds of ground beef. That 23,033,888 pounds of bad meat recalled in the last six months.

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Strike Two

For the second time in under a month, Cargill is recalling ground beef possibly tainted with E. coli O157:H7. Locally, the potentially tainted meat is distributed by Wegmans. I recently posted that "Our local markets appear keenly aware of food safety, but that won't help if the meat they grind is contaminated and sits in the case until you buy it." It looks like it is worse - some (or all?) of that ground meat in the meat cases is not ground on site, but shipped from a meat packer. I stand by my original assertion: grind your own!

ETA 11/5 I received an e-mail from Wegmans today with details of the recall. It seems they still grind in store under the Food You Feel Good About label.

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Made it, Ma! Topps of the world!

Topps Meat Company, LLC has closed its doors after 67 years as a direct result of the recall of over 21 million pounds of frozen ground beef products for E coli contamination. (author's note, though Topps has a Buffalo connection, it is not related to the Tops Supermarket chain from which I have just returned from.) Topps is not alone. Cargill has been sued for a similar outbreak which led to a recall, and ConAgra had to recall frozen pot pies, including the Banquet brand, for salmonella contamination.

When salmonella shows up in your peanut butter, or E coli in your spinach, that's their fault. When it shows up in pre-made burgers or pot pies, it's the consumers. I am going to stay away from the pot pie issue for now -- Frozen pot pie + microwave is too vomit inducing.

But, frozen burgers are considered by many to be a convenience. I disagree. I have no problem with shortcuts, but I have never tasted any of them that have any beef taste, and frankly they impossible to cook to the nice medium rare - the way I like them. In fact, I am a bit surprised that anyone could undercook them.

The particular problem with ground beef is that pathogens infect the surface of the meat, and most methods of cooking it eliminate, or at least reduce, the possibility of infection. But, once the meat is ground, the surface area increases and the contaminated surfaces are mixed in. Cook the burger mid-rare and you may be creating the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

The threat of a food borne illness is a risk, especially if you choose to not cook your food up to USDA recommendations. I'm sorry, but a burger cooked to an internal temperature of 165º is tasteless, so I choose to ignore that. So what can someone do? Well, you can buy irradiated beef, if you can find it, but in my experience it is too finely ground and may pose health risks of its own. Our local makets appear keenly aware of food safety, but that won't help if the meat they grind is contaminated and sits in the case until you buy it.

The best choice - grind your own. David Rosengarten once created an arcanely crafted recipe for the best hamburger meat, using bits from a variety of cuts. I just use chuck. I semi-freeze the meat, slice it into strips, and run it through the grinder with the large die. But, if you don't have the time or equipment to grind it yourself, allow me to suggest an underused alternative. March into our local supermarket, buy a chuck roast and ask the guys behind the counter to grind it for you there and then.

It's not perfect but it works. If you enjoy your burger after all this work, call your congressperson an demand an increase in funding for the USDA's inspection program!

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Nomenclature

Bugbear - 2. a persistent problem or source of annoyance. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc.

We were in DC last week, and were treated to dinner at the Capitol Grille. The wine list was extensive, which is really great when someone else is picking up the tab. The dry aged beef hanging in the entryway cooler looked as good as it tasted. However, there was something about that meal that bugged me then and bugs me now. Before continuing, I should also mention that I really don't get the whole idea of steakhouses. More meat than anyone can or probably should consume at one time (which was especially annoying when we had no way to preserve and use the leftovers) and, I'm sorry, but no creamed spinach is ever worth eight bucks.

This isn't about that, it's about the nomenclature - more precisely the lack thereof - regarding various cuts of beef. This has been something that has been a bugbear of mine for a long time. Take the Strip Steak. Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby describe the many names of this cut: "For boneless being called: ambassador steak, hotel-style steak, boneless club steak, New York strip, Texas strip, Kansas City strip; for bone ­in: club steak, country club steak, shell steak, sirloin strip steak, strip steak, New York steak." Bruce Aidells would add veiny steak and delmonico steak as choices. Heck, I thought a delmonico was a rib eye, but you can find that explained here. And what's worse is that, with no rules, a supermarket can call it what it wants.

For me, the real problem is my favorite steak, it's pictured above. I know it as a shell steak or club steak, it is basically a strip steak with a bone. In its purest form it is the transition steak between the short loin and and rib sections, where the the tenderloin has whithered to nothingness, and the top loin is becoming a rib steak. Not as good, but still acceptable, it a steak from the t-bone or p-house section, where the tenderloin has been peeled out and the "t" bone trimmed.

So, what does this have to with the Capitol Grill. What they call a sirloin, I know as a strip. Though Sirloin Strip is used, the phrase "sirloin" by itself should only apply to the meats more to the south of the beast. It was annoying, to say the least.

Lots of people have raised their voices regarding this issue, but without success. So, let's get those politicians who want to play with our food off of foie gras, raw milk cheese and cholesterol, etc. and on to a national standard of nomenclature for beef. I propose adopting that put forward by the Cattlemen's Beef Board and the National Cattlemen's Beef association (PDF chart here). Here is to the Top Loin Steak - the bone is optional!

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