Moments of Clarity

I have 2 bottles of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier

There is a world famous brewery called Heller that makes Aecht Schlenkerla Smoked Beer in Bamberg Germany.  This stuff has been made since about 1405.  The grains are smoked before the beer is brewed and its supposed to be a rather intense experience.  Not the chugging kind mind you.

I will save one bottle for those of you interested in having a tasting session.  Let me know.

Thanks to my father in law and sister in law for buying and transporting it respectively.

cast iron skillet - Italian chicken

I've written before about my love for the cast iron skillet.  I've reached new highs with the implement by using it to create tasty light crusted Italian herb chicken tonight that was incredibly juicy.  The cast iron skillet gets that perfect roast/fry thing going on...allowing crisp without burn...and roasting without drying out.

Here was the gig:

1. Heat oven to super hot, put about 1/8 inch olive oil in the cast iron skillet and put the pan in the oven until the oil is smoking.
2. Dunk 4 boneless/skinless chix breasts in egg wash (a couple of beaten eggs).
3. Dredge them (drag them) through some bread crumbs infused with Italian herb seasoning of your choice, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder...and anything else that sounds good.
4. Pull hot pan from oven and put chicken in and listen to the sizzle. 
5. I dumped a bunch of garlic in the pan and on the chix too...hoping somehow it would make the dish better.
6. Don't turn for a while.  Peek under and make sure it's good and brown.  The beauty of the oven is that the top will start to cook well also.
7. After you've gotten both sides good and brown, turn the oven down to 350 degrees or so.  Prepare the rest of your meal whatever that is.
8. If your chix breasts were room temp when you started, they're probably done cooking through and juicy in 15 minutes or so.  Maybe a touch longer.  Cut one open if you're concerned.
9. Pulling the chix out and letting it sizzle in the pan is a beautiful option also.
10. Top with Parmesan cheese and enjoy.

There you go.  Somewhat healthy beautiful Italian breasts for everyone to enjoy.

Follow up to the perfect steak podcast

Here's the perfect steak podcast interviewee, Katie McLaughlin's article in the WSJ.  Specifically, I was elated to have my suspicions/methods confirmed...about buying meat at Costco. 

At most stores, meat doesn't tout any grade, a pretty good sign that it's USDA select, a tougher, less-flavorful grade a notch below USDA choice. After my husband came into the picture, I started buying USDA choice beef at Costco for biweekly steak dinners.

As it happens, that's exactly where the pros told me to shop to find great beef -- the first step in my steak-cooking quest. Elias Iglesias, the 14-year veteran executive chef at the New York branch of Morton's, says though he uses prime at the restaurant, he happily cooks choice meat at home, often buying whole loins at big-box stores such as BJ's or Costco.

My friend recently told me he was building a "Lagering Refrigerator" for aging/fermenting beer under lower, temperature controlled conditions.  I may build a dry aging meat locker in the man cave now.  Will we ever leave the house again?

 

The perfect steak at home...oh yeah...welcome to flavor country

The Wall St. Journal has produced a podcast that explains how to purchase, age, and cook a steak to udder (sic) perfection. 

Here's the link. Sit back and enjoy...especially the part about dry aging...(controlled rotting of the flesh).  I know but you know it's good.

Culinary Break Through

Browsing the Costco isles the other day, I came across something that made me do a double take...then smile ear to ear.  It was canned beef.  Now we're not talking some kind of processed ultra fat mystery meat here.  We're talking 97% fat free brisket...in a can...like tuna fish.  The can provides 36 grams of protein with 4 grams of fat, tastes delicious, and provides a quick source of red meat when you don't want to cook.

Hence, I have created and now claim rights to..."The Beef Salad Sandwich".
1 can beef
1 chopped pickle
chopped red onion to taste
chopped tomato to taste
a sprinkle of my SPOG (salt.pepper.onion powder.garlic powder) blend.
a sprinkle of any cheese of your choosing
a tablespoon of whatever dressing you want (mayo, mustard, ranch, blue cheese, etc.)
(i added in some cooked navy beans to add in protein laden slow burn carbs

Mix in a bowl, dump in anything else you like and eat with a micro-brewed beer (instead of eating the bread)

The Greatest Achievment In Science: Distillation?

Here's a piece on the world's most expensive Whiskey's that just appeared in Forbes.

I think there are plenty of amazing spirits out there for $40-$150 bottle vs. the $20k that some of these are fetching...but it's all about supply and demand.  Some of these producers have been sitting on casks for over 100 years and the stuff is unreal.  If you want a great tasting experience, head to the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas and try "The Wine Cellar".  It's a cave like setting offering the finest wines, spirits, and cigars including "flights" that offer up tastings that will blow your mind.

Continued: The Joys of Cast Iron

I've recently opened a new chapter in my cast iron cookery.  I've begun placing small cast iron pans (think fajita serving oval sized) with a bit of olive oil on the grill for about 10 minutes.  Then, with oil smoking, I plunge the plump red flesh (any cut will do) onto the skillet.  This method achieves the "all over sear" from tip to tip, locking in the juices even better than a grill sear.  Then, after both sides have been crisped up, I take the steaks off the pans and place them on the grill for their more traditional "light char" (grill marks, flavoring, etc.)
This last step removes any residual oil from the meat and further "bbq bakes" in the juicy goodness.

Steph had the butcher at HyVee cut us some 1.5 inch thick Amana Bone-In Rib Eyes last night and this cooking method of cooking was a hit.

The result with Costco top sirloin a few days ago elicited sentence fragments that sounded something like this: "Oh my.....mmmm....I can't believe the.....this is sooooo.....how did you....ohmy...mmmm"  The meat was buttery and crisp on the outside with delicious juicyness on the inside.

I highly recommend this method.

I'm frequently asked what seasoning I use on my steaks.  Many purists use only salt and pepper.  Upgrading the salt and pepper you use with some gourmet options can really elevate your cooking.  However, I use a blend that I learned how to make by the bucket full while working at Village Meats during high school.  It's called S.P.O.G.  (Salt, Pepper, Onion, Garlic)  The later two elements are powder, not their salty varieties.  The ratio is something that I've played with and don't really remember (I literally made it by the 5 gallon bucket at a time so translating that down to a large spice container from Costco sized batch is a guess.

If you were to fill a drinking glass full of the ingredients, I'd start with 50% salt, and then break up the remaining room in the glass with each of the remaining ingredients.  Mix well, and sample.  You may desire more pepper or more of a particular element so go for it.  This simple concoction brings out the best in your meats without covering up any of the true flavors within.

Do you Wagyu?

WAGYU is not a Web 2.0 social networking site FYI.

There's a wonderful expose on Wagyu beef, the non-Kobe...Kobe style beef in the WSJ Online today.

"Wagyu" style beef is the U.S.and Australia's version of babying a bovine to ensure it's bud busting bodaciousness.  Boy that was bad.

Wagyu's marbling is richer than USDA Prime and its price tag per pound is equivalent to filling up your Prius.  (Buying Wagyu does not yet include a methane offset charge but legislation is pending in Massachusetts).

The steaks are available on line and in finer restaurants.  I've had Kobe a couple of times and I must say that it does taste quite buttery but it hasn't been prepared exactly the way I like my steak. Thus, it's still not worth the cash for me.

One thing is for certain.  I can still cook a USDA Choice cut of meat from Costco better than 98% of the Prime steaks I get at nice restaurants.  Of course, Nick and Sam's in Dallas still holds the "Oh my God" spot on my life's steak scoreboard (what you don't have one?). 

Beef...it's what's for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Do you Wagyu?

What's Your Ratio?

What's your ratio of having some ill effect from eating at restaurants or food vendors while home or traveling?  My ratio stands about the same for home and travel.  I'm at about 50% or 1 in 2 meals that cause me gastrointestinal issues.  Am I hypersensitive?  Maybe...but I've really become jaded about eating anywhere where someone else, someone that I cannot see, is preparing my meal.  Have  you even taken a course in food safety?  Have you ever simply watched as a waiter grips your glass with his/her fingertips right on the place where you just sipped?  How about watching a cashier sneeze, cup it with a hand, wipe that hand on a pant leg, then use the register with that hand...and pick up a cup that's about to hold your ticking time bomb and write on it?  "Grande doubled over chocolate latte with extra foam" Argh.  I'm felling ill thinking about it.  Pay attention and CALL PEOPLE ON IT when they do it!  "New cup please, that one has your DNA on it."

You know most of the issues we get about 2 hours after eating at a restaurant are NOT "food poisoning" caused by the food itself.  These are human transfered issues that I don't want to think about. Check some of them out here.

I once met a business traveler who told me, "You know, I like to eat light, you know...salads...but I don't dare eat them on the road because there's so many possibilities for contamination".   I've had trouble eating them since.  Honestly, I think fast food may be the best possible choice.  It's likely that the ingredients are turned over rapidly and that the people are at least trained in the ways of food safety, and that hot grease kills.  I don't know...just a theory.

There was a great piece in the WSJ discussing this topic that sparked this post and it honestly had me rolling on the floor with laughter, mainly because I had suppressed the tears from my past experiences.  Read the article if you want a good laugh...I think it's a freebie forever.  Here's an excellent quote that will expose you to the flavor of this delicacy,

Mr. Stender once bought a sandwich at the Santiago, Chile, airport before flying to Lima, Peru. When he arrived, he could barely stand up. He was forced to let his vice president do all the talking during client visits and nod a lot. "There was a devil in my stomach," he says.

That diablo is known variously as Montezuma's Revenge, Delhi Belly, Hong Kong Dog, the Aztec Two-Step, or the Trotskies. In a global economy, toxin-wielding bacteria and dodgy mayonnaise happen everywhere.

I'm still in tears over this article...and praying that I don't have an episode of the "Aztec Two-Step" any time soon. God willing.

Killer Value Wine - Costco

Thanks again to Dr. W for the big wine find of 2007.  Concha Y Toro has wines at many price points, but their Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile (2005 is what I have) is unreal.

If you're into BIG CABS that can stand up to rich foods, this fits the bill!  It's MASSIVE, hugely tanic, but preserves its essences of cassis, black cherry, and dark chocolate well.  We tasted the wine with Dark Chocolate post dinner...again...seriously good pairing.

I'd recommend decanting and/or serious swirling if you're going to open and drink immediately.

This wine WILL stand up over time if you can wait that long!

Are you ready for the kicker?  It's 6.49/bottle at Costco right now (at least in West Des Moines my CA friends).  I checked my favorite online retailer and they have it at $8.99. 

The company touts this wine as "The best value Cabernet on the planet" and in my experience, I have a tough time refuting that. If you've look at Live Iowa Camera number 2, you've seen a case of it on the kitchen island.  That's what I'm talking about!

Time to fill the cellar.