THE BETEO COOKBOOK
Lush Spanish Omelette first!
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Rib eye and dolphin* potatoes for us this evening.

I better get on with it.

* Close enough
I doing it again. Cheers Craster
Craster wrote:
Oh, hold up. Pulled pork, potatoes, in a frying pan. Topped with a couple of eggs, cheese, and blasted under a grill. Pulled pork hash. I'm ready for my nobel prize now.



Might be trying this tonight...
Weekend barbecue plans...

1) barbecued beef ribs -- cooked for 5-ish hours over a very low heat
2) steak & stilton burger in a homemade light brioche bun
3) corn on the cob (might make a chilli and lime butter to go with that)
4) BBQ beans
5) dessert: pound cake with BBQd pineapple (marinated in lime and rum) and pears (possibly dressed with balsamic)
What time do you want us? :drool:
I've got a pork swordtenderloin in the fridge. Just roast it? Should I brown it first in a pan?
KovacsC wrote:
Craster wrote:
Oh, hold up. Pulled pork, potatoes, in a frying pan. Topped with a couple of eggs, cheese, and blasted under a grill. Pulled pork hash. I'm ready for my nobel prize now.



Might be trying this tonight...



Tried and impressed. I want to marry Craster
In. Let's elope.

It's meat box day! Spoilered for MEAT.

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
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Yes, I just did an 'unboxing' post for food.
WTB wrote:
I've got a pork swordtenderloin in the fridge. Just roast it? Should I brown it first in a pan?


Pork tenderloin is fucking difficult. I'd be tempted to brown it in a hot pan, then throw it in a roasting dish with potatoes, chunks of onion, carrot (root veg basically) packed in tight, then layer bacon over the top and stick it in the oven for maybe half an hour. It's got no fat at all, so it dries out really easily. Parboil the potatoes and carrots first otherwise they won't be cooked in that time.
That's pretty much exactly what I had in mind! Cheers Craster!
Surely tenderloin is best carved into medallions and fried? Then go for Asian flavours -- I've got a nice recipe somewhere I've been meaning to try that uses soy and orange.

Did rib-eyes tonight; my butcher had a rare breed batch in from his family's farm. I (accidentally) overcooked them to almost medium, which is further than I'd normally go for steak but resulted in meltingly tender fat. Served with sautéed sweet potatoes with Cajun seasoning.

I've got a silverside roasting joint from the same cow for Sunday, too.
Typically I'd slice and fry, but I gathered WTB was intending to roast it.

I would always go to medium for ribeye. The fat needs it.
Craster wrote:

I would always go to medium for ribeye. The fat needs it.


I'd say always go rare for ribeye, the amount of them we get back at work for being too rubbery/chewy is ridiculous,
Pish, if I can BBQ it, tenderloin can't be difficult.
Quote:
In the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Chef Michael Mina's Stripsteak has a unique technique for reaching perfection on thick steaks.

Stripsteak begins by immersing the meat in baths of clarified butter at about 120°F. Clarified butter is unsalted butter that has had the water and milk solids removed. It is also called ghee. Click the link for info on how to make it.

After about an hour the meat is an even 120°F throughout, and when an order comes in he lifts it gently from the butter, shakes a bit off, turns around, and lays it it on a screaming hot topless Santa Maria style grill burning mesquite logs.

After a few minutes and several turns, the meat comes off the grill a deep dark almost black, but never burned, and the center, as you can see, is perfect medium rare, about 130°F, with almost no color variation.

Interestingly, the butter does not penetrate much so the butter flavor is minimal. It does contribute to a deep brown nutty crust, however. The steaks are among the finest I've ever tasted. But be careful if you attempt this at home. At 120°F bacteria flourish, just not in an airless environment. To attempt this you must have really fresh and clean meat. I do not recommend this method for home use.


http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef ... steak.html
nickachu wrote:
Craster wrote:

I would always go to medium for ribeye. The fat needs it.


I'd say always go rare for ribeye, the amount of them we get back at work for being too rubbery/chewy is ridiculous,


Wow. No offence to your sourcer, but if a ribeye cooked medium is tough and chewy, that's bad beef.
Probably just more people complaining for the sake of it. But we do get the occasional bad bits of meat, occasionally we get really nice stuff too.

The sirloin and fillet we get are always good however, just the rib eye that's a bit iffy.
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
Weekend barbecue plans...

1) barbecued beef ribs -- cooked for 5-ish hours over a very low heat
2) steak & stilton burger in a homemade light brioche bun
3) corn on the cob (might make a chilli and lime butter to go with that)
4) BBQ beans
5) dessert: pound cake with BBQd pineapple (marinated in lime and rum) and pears (possibly dressed with balsamic)
Jesus Christ.
I also had BBQ, but with no notice, so food was picked up from (the new!) local Waitrose.

Their "special" beef ribs and Heston's ultimate burger deserve nothing but epic praise.
Grim... wrote:
Heston's ultimate burger
I love those things.q
Pics from the barbecue I made yesterday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardgay ... 912129968/

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Guacamole deviled eggs by PenLlawen, on Flickr (these were by Danielle)

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Beef ribs, about to come off the barbecue by PenLlawen, on Flickr


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Barbecue beans by PenLlawen, on Flickr

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Grilled pineapple with poundcake by PenLlawen, on Flickr (Danielle made the cake, I did the pineapple)
I officially nominate you to do cooking for the Cottage.
Where's the pic of the inside of the meat!? Good work, doc.
Craster wrote:
Where's the pic of the inside of the meat!? Good work, doc.

Thanks, Cras! That was a redonkulous amount of work. We got in from walking the dogs about 9:30 and didn't stop working until it was served at about 7:30. Here you go:

Image
Beef rib by PenLlawen, on Flickr
Man, that looks good.
Those beans do look good.
If you wanted grill lines on the pineapple doc why didn't you grill it first then reheat? Or use a grill pan?
Four hours of a steady 110-115 deg C on my Weber kettle. Was surprisingly easy (or I got lucky first time out).

I'm giving serious thought to how we could do this at the cottage. You can cook basically as much meat on there as will physically fit. I think I could do nine or so racks of those ribs with one of these: http://www.smokenator.com/

Although, hang on, don't you have an actual smoker? We had this conversation before but I can't remember the answer. I was probably drunk at the time.

nickachu wrote:
Those beans do look good.
Thanks Nick! Tasted great, but sadly despite a near-two-hour cooking time they were a bit hard still. Not inedible or anything, but not the texture I was aiming for. Needs work.

Quote:
If you wanted grill lines on the pineapple doc why didn't you grill it first then reheat? Or use a grill pan?
I wished I had, in hindsight, but I didn't realise. I left the barbecue going while we ate the main course, then went out to grill the pineapple and discovered (too late) that there wasn't enough heat left in it. You're right -- next time I'll cook them immediately and either hold them warm or reheat when we want dessert.
If the beans were a bit hard, they were probably over rather than under cooked. They harden up again.

I've only got a little stovetop smoker.
Craster wrote:
If the beans were a bit hard, they were probably over rather than under cooked. They harden up again.
Oh! Perhaps it was that then. How has this information eluded me?!

Quote:
I've only got a little stovetop smoker.
Then clearly we should do a mass Smokenator order and split the (extortionate) international shipping.

Despite the chintzy website, I keep running across references to it on BBQ forums and sites, and no-one has a bad word to say about it.
Just a quickie for us, yesterday I grilled the other pair of "wagyu" we got from alternativemeats with oil, salt and japanese spice mix seasoning. The Welsh one really is pants and the "proper" one really is nice (though nowhere near as nice as a proper proper one in A1 in Kobe, but I'm not flying to Japan every time I want a steak).

Loads of ace chips made from home-grown Alfred Bartlett Roosters, which have turned out to be a pretty spectacular success. Home-grown peas too.
I wound up cutting the tenderloin into medallions by the way. Turned out alright if a little dry. Either there's a very small window when cooking pork or the meat wasn't up to scratch. Probably a bit of both - it wasn't an expensive cut. Didn't want to run the risk of undercooking it either. Think I'll stick to beef though in future.
Tenderloin has no fat at all. It's bloody hard to not end up with it dry. Also, everyone's paranoid about undercooking pork for some reason so they tend to nuke it, drying it out even more, when there's actually no more risk in eating pork cooked medium than there is eating beef cooked medium.
WTB wrote:
Probably a bit of both - it wasn't an expensive cut.
The tenderloin on pig is the best[1] cut there is, same as on cow. It's mostly cheap because it's unfashionable rather than because it's no good. If you found it a little bland, which a lot of modern pork is, it can be improved by a) seeking out a rare breed butcher or more likely b) brining it for 24-48 hours before cooking.

[1] well, tenderest, anyway. "Best" is highly subjective, of course. Craster will be along in a sec to sing the praises of belly pork and flank steak, no doubt.
[1] Best for old people with no teeth who hate flavour.
Aha! Cheers guys!
Craster wrote:
there's actually no more risk in eating pork cooked medium than there is eating beef cooked medium.
There's some parasites that aren't fun in pork, for sure, but the USDA now recommends the same temperature for beef and pork. Notably, in that advice from 2011, it lowered the recommended cooking temperature for pork from 160 to 145 deg F (that's 63 deg C; which is medium-rare for beef, IIRC).
When my sister came around the other day, I made bearnaise, like this:

1) Reduced white wine vinegar with tarrgon and peppercorns. Strained it out.
2) Put vinegar and two egg yolks in a bowl over simmering water. Heated gently, whisking constantly, to a temperature of 60 deg C to pasturise the eggs.
3) Whisked in 225 g of butter.
4) Decanted into a pre-warmed thermos to stand; I held it like that for about an hour before serving.

Problem was, it was a bit thin, both at serving and before it went into the thermos. I don't have enough experience of these emulsified sauces so I'm not sure why. Not enough butter? Too much white in with the egg yolks, perhaps?
Temperature too low to start the proteins in the egg yolks coagulating. You want to hit 64C.
When did you season it? I assume you added salt at some point? Apparently adding salt too early to egg-based stuff can result in wateriness. i.e. Adding salt to uncooked eggs.
Craster wrote:
Temperature too low to start the proteins in the egg yolks coagulating. You want to hit 64C.

That was the initial temp -- before adding butter. I didn't want it to coagulate then. It (should have) gotten hotter later, but perhaps not hot enough.

@WTB- salt at the end. For the reason your describe.

I am reading about an intriguing technique, salt block barbecue: http://barbequemaster.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... w.html?m=1
I had a feeling you'd already know about the salt and egg thing! :D
Oh yeah, I was in Sicily last week so I tried what was recommended by my Sicilian colleague. Braciole/involtini were nice - flattened steak wrapped around a cheese, breadcrumb and herb mix then fried. One lunchtime I had a primi of Pasta alla norma, a simple small-tube pasta in ragu with aubergine and cheese. Gorgeous.

Also the Sicilian version of what Helen makes regularly from Silver Spoon called "mellanzane" that isn't layered like lasagne, just diced, fried, mixed and baked and served with dried, shredded ricotta. The Silver Spoon recipe is much nicer, especially with garlic and fresh basil added.
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
(that's 63 deg C; which is medium-rare for beef, IIRC).

63 medium rare?!? I take about 48 for med rare!
Doc, if you're going to buy a big block of salt, you might as well buy an alum block for post-shave face-rubbing as well.
nickachu wrote:
63 medium rare?!? I take about 48 for med rare!

That's borderline bleu! At least according to a couple of pages I just checked. Are you talking final post-rest temp, or remove-from-heat temp?

And you say you have a lot of steaks sent back...? ;)
nickachu wrote:
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
(that's 63 deg C; which is medium-rare for beef, IIRC).

63 medium rare?!? I take about 48 for med rare!


And I'd land somewhere nicely in the middle :)

I tend to do 56 for rare, 58 for medium-rare.

48 is incredibly low.
Craster wrote:
And I'd land somewhere nicely in the middle :)
I'm pretty sure I remembered wrong when I said 63 earlier. My little temp guide thingy inside a kitchen cupboard lists 63 for medium, 53 for rare, and I split the difference at 58 for med-rare. That's post-rest target temperature, so I stop cooking slightly below, of course.
BikNorton wrote:
Also the Sicilian version of what Helen makes regularly from Silver Spoon called "mellanzane" that isn't layered like lasagne, just diced, fried, mixed and baked and served with dried, shredded ricotta. The Silver Spoon recipe is much nicer, especially with garlic and fresh basil added.
Would that be http://kimcurious.blogspot.co.uk/2012/0 ... na-di.html ? That sounds very good. Might make that this week, my basil plant is getting boisterous and could do with taking down a notch.
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