Sweet and Sour in Boston

So I didn't post any pics from the Steak Night we had with the beef tenderloin. You will just have to take my word for it that it was unbelievably delicious. Butchering a whole tenderloin is not only yummy, but a really good bargain too.

What was left after that night was the head roast and the chain meat. I'll be making cheese steaks out of the latter sometime soon. I made a stuffed roast with the former for dinner tonight.

Taking the recipe/technique from Alton Brown, but substituting the blue cheese with a mixture of spinach, goat cheese and garlic. Basically butterfly the roast, sear both sides, add in the filling and roll up the roast. Alton used string, but I didn't have any in our kitchen. So I used the next best thing: bacon!

I slightly overcooked the roast. Closer to Medium than medium rare. Turned out pretty good I though.

So I've been dying to take a whole beef tenderloin and break it down and eat it all in one session. Well, maybe not all of it, and definitely not by myself. Any fan of Alton Brown will remember his two part episode called "Tender is the loin". He tells us to go to a BJ's, Costco, Sam's Warehouse, etc, to get a PSMO Tenderloin. (Peeled side meat on tenderloin).

These websites show how to break the tenderloin down:

http://www.memakefood.com/2008/05/10/my-first-psmo-beef-tenderloin/

http://www.filtsai.com/cooking/tenderloin/

I have the Good Eats episodes on my computer, so I had it on play/pause while I broke this piece of meat down.

Here are the steps I took:

1. Rinse the tenderloin in the sink with cold water and let it dry.



2. Place the tenderloin "rib" side down and peel apart all the fat with your fingers and knife.



3. Remove the chain meat. (I'll be making philly cheesesteaks with this later!)



4. Flip the meat over and carve out the fat on the "rib" side.

5. Flip back over and remove the Silver Skin. Alton Brown describes this perfectly.

6. Slice off the small side meat that is connected to the large tenderloin. I'll probably make a roast out of this guy. Maybe fill it with cheese like Alton did, but not bluecheese.




7. Now is the portioning part. I cut the tenderloin into 5 filets, 1 large chateaubriand and 1 smaller roast that I'll probably cut up into smaller steaks for tonight.






So that's a lot of meat. It cost $6.99/lb last night. $43 overall. 20 minutes to butcher, will be faster next time since I know what I'm doing now. If you just bought 5 filets at a grocery store it'd be $43 at least. If you got those steaks at Whole Foods or Foodies, it'd easily be over $50. So take in the fact that I have cheesesteaks and 3 other roasts, this is quite a bargain!

I'll post pics of the final cooked images later tonight. We have a bunch of steak loving friends coming over to enjoy this feast.

Earlier this year, while we were visiting my sister and bro-in-law in Chicago (we like to think of them as the wealthier, cooler versions of us...since they are just as much of foodies, yet can afford to go to all the places we could only dream of...though we did beat them to Per Se) they made us an incredible meal for dinner one night. It was yellow curry mussels (recipe here) and standing rib roast. I've been dying to make the rib roast for dinner one night, and tonight was the night.

Here is the recipe from my sister Tina:

preheat oven to 425
place roast fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan
roast till 110-120 for rare, 120-125 med-rare, 130-135 medium
est 15-20 min per pound
let stand for 15-30 min before carving

spice rub
2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tbsp dried thyme, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp back pepper

Here is how Andy gave the recipe:

Recipe-- buy large piece of meat (rib roast). if they offer to take the bone off, do so, but keep the bones with the meat during roasting (they can cut the bones, but keep it aligned/tied)-- bones==flavor. Rub generously with spices. Stick in oven. First at 450-500 to sear the outside and then turn down to 325-350 to cook. Use thermometer to check doneness. Wait 10 minutes with meat under foil. Eat.

Taking what they said, and what I've found on the web, here is the recipe I'm trying tonight:

Spice Rub:
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp garlic pepper
1/2 tsp cumin

Jus
1/2 cup of beef broth
salt and pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Rub rib roast and lightly drizzle with EVOO
3. Place rib roast into oven for 20 mins.
4. Tent the rib roast with foil and lower temperature to 350 degrees.
5. Medium Rare is 125 degrees.
6. Take out the rib roast and let it rest for 20 mins before eating.
7. Take the roasting pan out and place over the stove top and deglaze the pan with the beef broth, making sure to get all the fat drippings incorporated nicely
8. Bring to a boil and salt and pepper to taste.

Pics of the rib roast prior to spice rub and after while the oven preheats:







As a side, we are making baked potatoes, per Alton Brown:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-baked-potato-recipe/index.html

Pics of finished product to come later.

Chicken fried steak is one of my all time favorite dishes. It's probably not the healthiest meals around, seeing as nothing that is fried is considered healthy or good for you, but who cares...it tastes good. Doing a random search of chicken fried steak, I found out that it's part of the official state meal for Oklahoma. (Again, my Oklahoma roots come through.) The history of this dish is quite interesting. After watching the Good Eats episode on cube steak, Alton Brown explains that chicken fried steak came from German immigrants in Texas. It evolved from the German dish weiner schnitzel, which I always just assumed was some sort of sausage or hot dog, but I guess not. (I probably thought this because of the fast food chain of the same name that serves hot dogs.)

Anyway, here's the recipe taken from AB himself, with my own twists:

1 pounds cube steak
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 whole eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Place the flour and egg into separate pie pans or serving platter

2. Season both sides of the cube steak with salt and pepper

3. Dredge the meat on both sides in the flour

4. Dredge the meat in the egg

5. Dredge the meat in the flour again

6. Let the meat sit for 10-15 mins before cooking

7. In a large fryer, or skillet with high sides (I like to use my cast iron skillet) cover the bottom with vegetable oil and set over medium-high heat

8. Once the oil begins to shimmer, carefully place the meat into the skillet, but don't over crowd the skillet if doing multiple steaks (Another way to tell if the oil is hot enough is to flick a little water over it...if it pops up quickly, then the oil is ready. You could also use a thermometer, but I don't know how hot it should be since AB's recipe doesn't say...probably 350 or so degrees)

9. Cook until golden brown and delicious on both sides (about 4 minutes per side)

10. Let it rest on a wire rack for a couple of minutes

Serve it with mashed potatoes and gravy and enjoy!

Ya'll come back know, ya hear!!!