Braise... Recipe Tuesday

Continuing the theme of braising for flavor, I give you....

Braised Shredded Beef

2lb bottom round roast
1 onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed or very finely minced
1 cup beer (drink the rest. If it's not drinkable, don't use it)
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
2 T worchestershire sauce
2 T teriyaki sauce (I used store brand)
1/2 tsp yellow mustard (basic yellow, please)
3 T honey
5 c. water
2 T Steak seasoning (I used McCormicks Montreal Steak)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp Jane's Crazy or other seasoned salt mixture
1 T butter

Mix the teriyaki sauce, worcestershire sauce, honey, vinegar and mustard together in a microwave safe container. Heat for 30 seconds on high, stir, heat 30 more seconds. It should smell like a steak sauce. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season the onion and celery with 1/2 the seasoned salt. Pat the roast dry. Rub the steak seasoning, chili powder and remaining seasoned salt over the beef, all sides.
Melt the butter over medium high heat. You should be using a Dutch oven, oven-safe large casserole dish or a covered stew pot (I'm using the stew pot).
Sear the beef, all sides. Remove the beef to a plate.
Saute the celery and onions over medium heat until translucent, scraping the fond from the bottom of the pan. Add garlic, cook for 1-2 minutes more. Deglaze the pan with the beer, cook down by 1/2. Pour in the teriyaki mix with 5 cups water. Heat to a simmer. Add the beef and any accumulated juices back into the pan. The liquid should just barely cover or almost cover the roast. Add liquid if necessary (beer, water, broth). Bring back to a simmer.
Remove from stovetop to pre-heated oven. Roast for 2 hours. Check the beef. If it doesn't pull apart easily, continue roasting for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it rest uncovered in the pan juices for approximately 15 minutes. Remove meat from pan, refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.




Once the beef is cooled down, start shredding. You'll want to remove any residual fat or connective tissue. This means use your nature-provided utensils (hands) and get into it. If you think the shreds are a little too long, cut them. You can use scissors or just cut the roast in 2 or 3 places across the grain.



Once you have your shred, you can freeze it, eat it cold, eat it hot, mix it with sauces, use in place of 'precooked ground beef'... It's very versatile.

To use for barbecue: Re-heat the beef in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it sizzles. Add approximately 1/4 cup barbecue sauce of your choice for each serving. Stir, serve on buns.
To use for burritos or tacos: Re-heat the beef in a saute or frypan over medium-low heat until it sizzles. Add your burrito or taco seasoning according to package directions. If you want to spice it up yourself for burritos (which I frequently do), stir in some chili powder, some chopped onion, some cilantro, some salsa. Stir, serve on tortillas.
To use for soups: Add some to your favorite soup.
To use for sandwich filling: This is a trick from one of my uncles. Saute a handful in a non-stick pan with some garlic and steak seasoning. Stir in a tablespoon of sour cream. Serve on toast. YUM.

Osso Buco

I freely admit I stole the original recipe from Michael Chu over at Cooking for Engineers. That said, you know me... I never met a recipe I couldn't mess with and this proves to be no different. The changes? I used a blend of beef and chicken broth, crushed bay instead of bay leaf, cab instead of chardonnay, and no gremolata. Yes, you heard me. No gremolata. No parsley in town and I went to 3 grocery stores. I was lucky to find beef shanks. So I improvised. Adapted. Overcame. I used chopped green onion on top. Let's go to the kitchen, shall we? Served with a rice dish (mix), I give you...

Osso Buco (original recipe available HERE)
4 to 6 beef shanks (all they had, folks. All they had)
4 cups broth (2 chicken, 2 beef, used 1-14oz. can each, plus 2 icecubes of my homemade stock)
12 oz. Cabernet Sauvignon (I'm using Yellowtail. It's drinkable without being 'foody')
1 white onion (white is a different flavor than yellow)
1 carrot
1 large celery stalk
2 large cloves garlic
2 teaspoons crushed bay
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
salt, pepper
4 tablespoons butter
Cornstarch slurry IF NEEDED (1 tsp cornstarch, 2 tsp COLD water, stir together, mix into sauce if thickening needed)
chopped green onions for garnish

Special Hardware: Dutch oven or stock pot with lid (can use foil to cover)

PREPARATION:
Dice the onion, celery and carrot. Mince the garlic. Drain the tomatoes. (Fig. 1) Salt and pepper the shanks. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

PROCESS:
Melt the 4 tablespoons of butter over low heat. Raise the temp to medium and brown the shanks. DO NOT CROWD YOUR POT. This is a searing step to get some carmelization going on and create some fond in the pot. Crowding produces steam and early stewing. Our goal is to build the flavor. Do not move the meat once it's in the pan. Let it go about 5 minutes per side. Once your shanks are done, remove them to a plate and set them aside. (Fig. 2)
Saute the onions, scraping the fond as you go until the onions are golden. (Fig. 3)
Add the carrots and celery, cook until the celery is slightly translucent. (Fig. 4)
Stir in the garlic, cook for a minute or 2 more.
Pour in the wine, increase the heat to medium high. Scrape your fond. Simmer until reduced by 1/2.
Add the tomatoes, broth and bay. Stir and bring back to a simmer. (Fig. 5)
Add the shanks back in, big side on the bone up so you don't lose the marrow. The liquid should almost cover or just cover the shanks. Bring back to a simmer. (Fig. 6)
Cover, place in the oven and cook for 2 hours.
When it's falling off the bone (and it should be), remove the meat from the pot.
Boil the the liquid in the pot to reduce it to a sauce, using the cornstarch slurry as needed. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
Place a shank on a plate, scoop some sauce over it, top with green onion (or gremolata if you have it), serve. (Fig. Finish)


NOTES
It's low heat on the butter so you cook away the water in it but still leave the yummy bits.
I use the 2 broth cubes to make up the extra for the full 2 cups.
You could also use some of the juice off the tomatoes if it bothers you.

You want fries with that?

You ever have a day when you just really don't want to go anywhere or do anything? I'm having that kind of a day. Shakedown is still going on (read that as "I'm still unpacking my kitchen"), there's not much food in the house - we've been frozen food-ing it for the past week or so- and I want something... Not microwaved.

I don't mind microwaving. I like the speed, there's a host of prepared products out there that are quick, easy, at least semi-nutritious, and cheap. But I really am not in the mood for a tv dinner or a burrito or a pot-pie or something like that. And yeah, Lean Cuisine meals DO qualify as a tv dinner to me. You heat it and peel back the top covering for a meal in a tray. That spells tv dinner.

So what to make? The microwave stuff is also usually stove friendly, but that doesn't count. I am just simply not in the mood for that. I want... Oooh... I know. I want fries. French fries, even though they were 'invented' in Belgium. I want hot, steamy fries, all that salty goodness... Most people, at this point, would pack up the car and drive to the local burger shack to get fries that are uniformly cooked to and held at temperatures specified by the shop's local board of health... I'm not most people. I really don't want that. But my freezer does hold a bag of fries (2 lbs for $1.50 at the local grocery) and I have shortening and I have kosher salt.

And I have a day off.

It's pretty basic, folks. Heat oil, insert fries, cook until golden , drain, salt.
First, I'm using frozen. It's what I happen to have on hand. Fresh is best (slice a potato how you like, fry it up), but I'll take frozen today. I use shortening because saturated fats, even saturated fats like vegetable shortening tend to brown things better. If you get the fat hot enough, you don't have to worry about it in moderation. I'm not saying it's good for you, you shouldn't eat fries with every meal, but the equivalent of the size of a small fry made at home will not hurt you on a day off.

Heat the shortening to 350 degrees. I use a saucepan (higher sides) to ease up on any splattering. If I were at my mother's house, I'd pull out her Fry-Daddy, but since I don't have one, I use a standard stainless steel saucepan. Why not non-stick? Metal utensils. I don't have wooden tongs, I don't have a silicone strainer. So I use a stainless pan and metal tongs and all is well in my world.

While the shortening is heating, create a 'drain rig'. This is a half-sheet pan lined with newspaper then paper towelling, then a cooling rack turned upside down. The upside down means the wires are resting directly on the paper. No drippies to clog up your food. This is a tip from Alton, folks, in I'm Just Here For the Food.

And it works. So create your drain rig handy to the melting pot of fat. Get your salt into an easy-to-use container (I recommend a small bowl or similar receptacle. I typically use a little 4 oz. juice glass). When your fat has come up to temperature (350 min., 400 max.), pull the fries out of the freezer, open the bag, grab a handful (my hands are small. I grabbed 10 fries the first pass). Set your handful as gently as you can in the hot fat and stand back. There will be splatters. Cook until golden brown. Remove using tongs or a spider (I have no spider, I used tongs). IMMEDIATELY after removing, put the fries on your drain rig and sprinkle liberally with salt. Turn them over, salt them again. I did 2 handsful. Napkin in the hand, fries in the napkin. YUMMY!French fries