Age Your Steaks

We are fortunate to live close to Bunzel's, a butcher shop on 84th & Burleigh in Milwaukee.  We go there a couple of times a month.

When the have whole tenderloins on sale we usually get one and have them cut it up into about 6 oz fillets, wrap them in packages of two, and freeze them.

I always age them for at least four days when we're going to cook them.  Unwrap them, dry them off with a paper towel, salt them on both sides, and let them rest in the refrigerator, turning them every 12 to 24 hours.  I usually set them on some cut up carrots so that the underside gets some air, too.

The exterior of the meat will dry out, concentrating the flavor and allowing it to develop a great crust when it cooks.  Once you start aging your beef, you'll never go back.

Bittman on Cooking

Mark Bittman had a good article in the April 18, 2013 NYT (read it here) discussing the value of cooking with Michael Pollan.  Now a dinner with Bittman and Pollan sounds like a lot of fun.

I really can't comment on the processed food that they are talking about.  We never buy it, let alone cook it. I'm not even all that sure what their talking about.  I used to look at what other people buy at the grocery, but with self-checkout, I don't have that opportunity any more.

Why would you buy jars of spaghetti sauce?  Red sauce is simple:

• Saute onions (always in the pantry)
• Saute some peppers if you have them
• Toss in a Parmesan cheese rind if you have one (freeze them - they're useful to have)
• Add some minced garlic (always on hand)
• Add some canned tomato products (always in the pantry - crushed, diced, sauce)
• Add herbs as desired (oregano, basil, thyme, salt, pepper flakes)
• Simmer twenty minutes

You can do lots of things with that sauce, from simply putting it over spaghetti to adding cod or monkfish and cooking till done.

Cook your own food!  What could be better?

Last Day for Wnter Farmer's market

Today was the last day for the winter farmer's market at State Fair Park in Milwaukee.  We are there at least every other week from when it opens in November, maybe more.

Fortunately the Wauwatosa market opens on June 1st.  Our regulars will all be there:  our cheese-monger, our trout lady, our mushroom guy, our goat lady (her husband, at least) and our egg lady.

Our CSA deliveries shoud start mid-June.  I wonder how all the rain is affecting them?

2012 Month of Meals

This is what we cooked for dinner in October, 2012

A Month of Meals

Here are the meals that we made in May, 2011.

We had fish/seafood 7 times, poultry 5 times, beef 5 times (counting chili once), lamb twice, pork twice (counting split pea soup), and sausage once.

We had a lot of asparagus, but it was spring. I think we need to eat more quinoa.

Moors & Christians

I make a lot of these one-pot rice dishes. The recipe is basically the same for all of them and they are endlessly variable. I don't always add a legume, but it is a nice addition. I like lentils in particular. The black beans in this one makes it "Moors & Christians."

Start to finish is half an hour.

• Chop a bell pepper, a couple celery sticks, and an onion. A red or orange pepper provides nice color contrast, but green works just as well. this is the "Cajun Trinity" and is a variation on the classic mirepoix, which uses carrots instead of peppers. The volume ratio should be 1:1:2 - twice the onions since they wilt.
• Saute in butter and/or olive oil in a sauce pan. Or, fry up a little bacon d saute in that. Or maybe some sausage.
  
• Add a cup of rice and saute a couple more minutes until the rice browns a little.
• Drain a can of black beans, reserving the liquid. Add to pot and mix. Maybe mix in some chilies or garlic.
  
• Add two cups of stock (or water), including the reserved bean juice, to pot. Bring to boil and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Or you could stick it in a 350F oven for thirty minutes.
  
• Turn off heat and let rest for about 10 minutes.

At various stages you can add meat products. Smoked sausage, browned chicken thighs at the beginning, leftovers - whatever you happen to have.

Scotch Eggs

We made Scotch Eggs for the first time. I adapted a recipe from the New York Times, and they turned out great.

1. Crush some garlic, mix with salt and prepared horseradish
2. Mix with bulk sausage (we use Italian), 1/4 lb per egg
3. Dredge hard boiled eggs in flour
4. Wrap sausage around eggs
5. dredge in flour
6. Dredge in a beaten egg
7. Roll in Panko bread crumbs
8. Fry in 350F oil for 4 minutes per side
9. Cool, slice in half, and eat