Archive for the ‘Meat Recipes’ Category

New Smoker Update

Friday, May 7th, 2010

We’re cooking for the Pleasant Grove Church May Festival again this year.  Nothing fancy just hot dogs, hamburgers and BBQ.  Hardly worth wearing a chef’s jacket for this event, but we’ve done it for about 15 years, so . . .

I decided that I would liven things up by smoking a pork shoulder for the event. Further down on this page are the results of our first effort with the Weber Bullet:  a pork shoulder that looked great but was really fat. I paid $1.95 a pound at the supermarket for a 6 pound shoulder that yielded less than 2 pounds of barely edible meat.  It was awful.

This time I bought a well husbanded boneless pork shoulder from our local Organic Butcher.  This shoulder, from a farm in Pennsylvania, came in at 8.5 pounds and went for $6.00 a pound!  TLW always says that Mr. Arbuckle was right:  “you get what you pay for.” My experience is otherwise with most food products described as organic.  The only exception, to date, is meat. 

I brought the hunk home and vacuum-marinated it overnight in Scott’s Barbecue Sauce, as before. I then got up early the next morning and started the smoke at 0730.  13.5 hours later, the shoulder’s temp hit 200F as I took it off to cool.  It shredded effortlessly and has great color and a nice smoke ring.  Above all, the meat is as lean, moist and tasty as this cut can get.  Yield?  4.2 pounds. I threw away at most a half pound as too fat-ladened.

Bargain pull pork sandwiches coming up this Saturday.  Meat and charcoal: $65.  . . .yet sandwiches are going for $2.50 each.  Maybe Mr. Arbuckle will show up.

Notes:
The Organic Butcher has an informative Web site at:  theorganicbutcher.com.

The Weber Bullet, at least at our location, needs to be more mobile. So a trip to the hardware store and we have . . .

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New Smoker

Monday, April 12th, 2010

TLW got me a birthday present that has been on the wish list for years.  A smoker.  I chose Weber’s Smokey Mountain Cooker (aka The Weber Bullet) because it’s only a smoker (I don’t need two grills), it’s a Weber product, it’s fairly compact and it’s tried and true with a big following of Internet devotees.

Finally found the time to try out the The Weber smoker. I got a pork blade shoulder from Safeway, marinated it with some hot Carolina  vinegar in a vacuum bag for a day and started up the bullet for a ten hour smoke.  Lighting the charcoal and placing in some hickory wood and adjusting the resultant heat to 225F and keeping it was there was straightforward. We brushed the roast with barbecue sauce at the start and again mid-way through.

So here we have:

A 7 pound  pork butt yielded only 2.25 pounds of shredded pork ready for tacos or pulled pork sandwiches.  But I have a problem with this meat.  It’s fat.  I didn’t pull the roast apart until the following morning when the meat was cold, so the fat was more clearly apparent than if the roast was pulled hot and served a la minute.

I am beginning to gain insight as to why every smoker chef to publish a cookbook and put his picture on it appears, shall we say, well rounded.  First, one needs fortification during the arduous ten hour smoking process–perhaps a beer an hour.  Second, the product has a high fat content.

Honestly, We’re not sure we’re going to eat this stuff . . .

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Roasted Leg of Lamb with Green Sauce

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Roasted leg of lamb is an Easter tradition.  So with a group of 11 en route, I ordered up two legs from the neighborhood high end butcher who gets them from a farm nearby.  (While I will not pay extra for organic produce, the idea of well husbanded meat, raised and slaughtered nearby is attractive.)  I have yet to be disappointed with the freshness and quality of well husbanded meat and poultry–the relatively few times I’ve gone for them.

The lamb legs came with the aitch bone removed, as I requested, but with the sirloin flab still attached.  Good! So the first task was to tie the flap on and shape each roast. I then frenched the trotter ends of the bone.  We used a marinade of mustard-based garlic, soy sauce, lemon juice, rosemary and EVOO.  All lathered up, the legs were then vacuum sealed for a 24 hour stay in the fridge and to be taken out 2 hours before roasting.

Roasting instructions for leg of lamb vary by cookbook.  Since we have a very good oven vent, the legs were started off at 450F for 20 minutes–each legs turned at the 10 minute mark.  Heat was then reduced to 375F and the legs were turned again at 30 minutes.  To our surprise the legs were done in another 30 minutes for a total roasting time of about 80 minutes.  Indeed the Thermopen read 140F at the first check and 130F near the bone–ten over where I wanted it. After resting for 20 minutes they carved out medium rare with some rare at the bone and some well done at the surface.  In all, these legs of lamb looked beautiful from start to finish and roasted out moist and very tender.

(Note:  It didn’t exactly go as described above.  I made the mistake of starting the whole roasting process with water in the bottom of the roasting pan to reduce smoking at 450F.  Well of course, all the initial energy went to boiling off the water.  The oven didn’t boom to the desired 450F until the pan was boiled dry, which took just long enough to make me nervous.)  No harm done, but dah . . .

For the sauce (well liked):  In a food processor:  1.5C yogurt;  4 spring onions chopped white and green;  1/2t of freshly shaved frozen ginger;  1 large jalapeno pepper with seeds and white removed;  a whole package or bunch of mint leaves; an equal sized bunch of cilantro leaves; some salt and a little fresh ground pepper.  Spin all this to smooth and then taste.  It should be balanced, with equal notes of mint and cilantro. When  right, pour the green sauce into a gravy boat and then fridge.  Take it out of the fridge early and let it warm up a bit before serving as a side to the sliced lamb.
(Another note: Do all you can to keep the lamb very warm–hot platter and warmed plates.)

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Brisket of Beef Tagine

Friday, March 27th, 2009
Here is another recipe for the iron-bottom tagine.

Again, we are using it as a Dutch-oven-for-two.  Beef brisket is not a whole lot different than beef pot roast.  Both cuts require long cooking times, preferably in moist heat, which is what braising is all about.   If anything, the brisket is easier to prepare.  As Julia Childs says, “no browning, no tying, no stuffing, no fussing –and even no saucing.”  While the veggies for these two dishes are similar, the seasonings are not.  I elected to use seasonings appropriate to a New England Boiled Dinner, even though this is not a corned beef brisket (that is, salted). This dish holds well in the fridge and can be reheated on the stove top.�
Here’s how:

Brisket of Beef Tagine
Yield:  2 servings, with leftovers
See abbreviations, if needed

  • 1.5 lb              fresh brisket of beef, center cut
  • 1T                  EVOO
  • 2                    bay leaves
  • 1 sprig            thyme
  • 2t                   black pepper corns
  • 1t                   allspice berries
  • 1T                  mustard seeds, or 2t Dijon mustard
  • 2 cloves         garlic, pureed
  • 6                    small red potatoes, unpeeled, halved
  • 6                    small carrots, peeled
  • 6-8                pearl onions
  • 8-10              cherry tomatoes
  • 6                    whole large mushrooms, stems trimmed off
  • S/P                 to taste
  • 10oz               beef broth

1.   Trim off the excess fat from the bottom of the brisket
2.   Place the EVOO in a ramekin, add all the spices and make a paste
3.   Spread the paste over the brisket and place it, fat side down, in the tagine bottom
4.   Add all the excess paste to the tagine, as well
5.   Add all the veggies and season with S/P
6.   Add the beef broth to about one-quarter the depth of the tagine bottom.  See note
7.   BTB over high heat on the stove top
8.   Cover with the tagine lid and reduce heat to its lowest simmer setting
9.   Braise for about 3 hours.
10.  Peek in now and then to check the level of the braising liquid and the
fork tenderness of the brisket
11.  Remove the brisket and cut 1/4-inch slices across the grain
12.  Serve on heated plates with the veggies and braising liquid
Notes: 1.  Tagines sputter all over the stove top if filled too high with braising liquid.
2.  This dish can be made a day ahead.  Let cool after Step 10, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
Reheat on the stove top, covered with the tagine lid.

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