Seriously. I'm cooking that roast beef tomorrow. Let me know if anybody fucks with you, and I'll punch them in the face. Oh, but before I forget............. FAG!
Ridiculously easy tomato sauce: Brown 1 lb meat (ground beef, turkey or sliced italian sausage have all treated me well thus far) Add 1 can crushed tomatoes Add a few cloves of crushed garlic Add salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Serve with pasta of your choice Ridiculously easy stir fry: Cut up meat fairly thin** and marinate in the following: 1 part soy sauce 1 part hoison sauce 1 part water Splash of sesame oil Cock sauce (Sriracha) to taste Heat up oil, crushed garlic and ginger in a wok Toss in meat When it's about 3/4 done, throw in assorted chopped up vegetables (peppers, broccoli, baby corn and mushrooms are my favorites) Continue cooking until meat and vegetables are both done Serve over rice ** The trick to slicing meat is to cut it while it's still partially frozen (about 3/4). It is much easier to keep uniform, and you can slice as thin as you want. I cut up a few marinating steaks practically paper thin and used the above stir fry recipe. I tossed the beef in along with the vegetables at the same time. That shit was so god damn juicy and tender.
http://thebittenword.typepad.com/thebit ... ack-c.html I made this, and it was delicious. I ate like 3/4 in one Saturday watching football. Incredibly easy. I did find out that my broiler is just a strip going down the center of my oven as opposed to something that covers the entire top like I'm used to. I had nice burned coconut down the middle of the cake, but the sides were almost not even cooked.
Bonzo, don't take this personally but this is terrible advice. First off Alton Brown is a douchebag. He's a television commercial director who lucked into his career at The Food Network. He knows a ton about how to arrange a camera crew and almost nothing about cooking. Yes he's more he has some knowledge of food from working around it, but not more than anybody who ever waited a table at a 1 Michelin star restaurant for 6 months. Learning cooking from him would be like wanting to learn how to hit a baseball from Bob Costas. If you want to learn about cooking in plain English, I recommend getting "The Craft of Cooking" by Tom Collichio (the head judge on Top Chef). Tom's philosophy is "simply perfect", meaning learning how to do the simple things to perfection is what makes a great cook. This book is a testament to that philosophy. It will teach you the basics, from what to look for when shopping to how to making simple dishes perfectly. It's in very easy terms, it doesn't rely on overdoing things on menu items that aren't accessible to 95% of the population. If you want to learn about food and about the craft of what it means to be a cook, then this is a good book for you. Also, a good book for you to read would be the Food Lover's Companion by Barron's. It gives a nice overview to terms you might not be familiar with in the kitchen and will be a nice little manual to own if you want to make cooking a hobby.
At a young age, my mom told me that I needed to learn how to cook. I needed to learn how to clean. I needed to be able to do everything to take care of myself because at some point, I'd be on my own and shouldn't have to rely upon anybody. Well, that fostered a love of cooking. I've never been really good at it, but I enjoy learning new tricks, trying new food and seeing if I can make things I've already done better. Plus I love to eat. It's a skill that came in very handy with women over the years and has gotten me out of the doghouse with the wife on more than one occasion. Now that she's pregnant, this skill is ESSENTIAL!!! I grew up an avid hunter and last winter I was back home in Cleveland and went on a hunting trip and ended up getting some pheasant and quail. I also brought back some deer meat and some freshwater perch that some family members got. I had a few friends here who were very much interested in trying these various wild game and fish, so I decided to put together a multi-course meal that showcased each item. They were all small plates and everything turned out pretty great. These people might never of tried a game bird or venison, etc. are now interested in finding even more exotic types of food. It made the whole experience that much more fun. One of the courses was a pan roasted quail with a carrot puree over a watercress salad and served with a strawberry chutney. The flavors really worked well together. I served this course with a Riesling. None of the dishes were very pretty, but they all seemed to taste pretty good, at least there were enough bottles of wine to cover it up if it was bad. Here's a picture of the quail dish. I also found a butcher about an hours drive away that supposedly supplies all the area restaurants with any and every type of meat they would need. Ostrich, all game animals, game birds, plus some amazing cuts of beef, pork, etc. I'm thinking of doing some more experimenting.
I disagree, that's a well rounded dish. Colorful, playful and most of all, very professional presentation. My only problem is that it's got too much sweet stuff on the plate. You also paired it with a sweet wine. I probably would have taken off the strawberry chutney or the carrot puree. At that point it was overkill, although I'm sure it had some very nice flavors. You could have replaced the watercress salad with a few grilled pieces of endive. The endive would have added a bitter element to the dish and would have played well against the sweetness. By grilling the endive it releases a lot of the bitterness while keeping it crisp. Also, it adds a bit of a smoky flavor to the dish (since you pan roasted the quail). As far as wine goes, I'd definitely stay away from the Riesling if you're serving 2 or more sweet items on the dish. I probably would have gone with an earthy, woody flavored red wine that would pair well with your wild game. My rule of thumb with a dish like this is that you want to excite the entire palate. You want crisp, moist, sweet, smokey, wholesome, bitter flavors to all play games with the person eating it. You had a lot of those things on your plate, but I believe it could be better. I think you did a great job, so please don't think that I'm critiquing your dish with malice. I just like people to eat the best foods and I hope my advice helps on your next plate.
I'd recommend to 86 the beef and move to pork products. Pork adds a nice subtle flavor to a red sauce that you'd miss with the overpowering flavor of beef. Also, you might want to add a cup of any cheap dry red wine to your sauce. Add it in about 1/2 way through cooking and the alcohol will boil off while infusing the sauce with a solid grape undertone. Lastly, basil. Basil will spice up the sauce just a bit while adding a touch of elegance to the dish. Leave a couple of smaller leafs around so you can garnish the finished product.
I have an absolute ton of great recipes and techniques. While I'm not an expert in any way, I have been cooking for a very long time and am currently in culinary school. So if anyone has any questions or need tips on anything or whatever feel free to ask and I'll be happy to help if I can.
It really depends on your cut of meat. Also, fuck your spice rack. If you have a good cut of meat, why would you put stale spices on them? Those spices do have a purpose, just not with a steak. Here's a nice maranade you can use. Get about 10 limes and juice them. Soak your steak in the lime juice for at least 1 hours in a freezer bag in the fridge. Lime juice has an enzyme in it that breaks down the surface area of your steak. What this does is make your steak a lot more porous so when you do add your marinade it will soak into the meat. The lime juice will be the first thing to cook off so your steak won't be tart. Take the meat out and pierce it with a fork multiple times. Season the meat with salt and pepper to your taste. Then take the steaks and place them in a shallow glass container. Ingredients: 5 garlic cloves, minced; 3 springs of rosemary; 1/2 of a shallot, minced; 1 bottle of guinness beer, 1/4 cup of olive oil Add the garlic cloves on top of the steaks, then add the minced shallots. Then add the rosemary sprigs. Lastly add the entire bottle of Guiness to the marinade. Cover it and let it sit for no less than 3 hours. Make sure you flip the steak halfway through so it's evenly marinated. Once you're done marinating, take the meat out of the concoction and brush off the excess herbs. What you want to do next is brush the steak with the olive oil and grill it. Keep a sprig of rosemary out of the mixture and slap the steaks with them as they cook to give it a gentle rosemary flavor. The juices will release from the meat and the rosemary will combine with it to add a nice touch to the juice while it cooks the meat. Pair it with a pint of Guiness and you're done.
I marinate steaks for 2 hours in a mixture of Fat Tire Amber Ale, a 1/4 cup of hot sauce, a handful of minced ginger, and 1/4 cup lemon juice then sauté them in a mixture of butter, sage, thyme, and cayenne pepper. It's kind of a funky recipe but it's served me well.
This is simple but I'm posting it mostly because every time I say I love this people have never heard of it Welsh Rarebit. Get some good bread, and toast it. In a small pot start melting a smal lcube of butter, then start shredding whatever good cheese you like into the pot (a sharper orange Chedder works best imo). Add half a bottle of beer (light / stock ales work great. Molson Export is perfect; you dont want to waste good beer on this) stir it around so its nice and melty. Put a bit of unprepared mustard in and stir some more. Pour that on your toast. A lot of people put chives on it but I'm not a fan. It's just damn good tasting and incredibly bad for you
You mean the guy who lost his star by spending too much time on a shitty reality show?http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0822128120071008
Right, and how many Michelin stars has Alton Brown ever obtained only to lose? Oh, that's right, none, because he's not a chef, cook or even a restauranteur. Like I said, you want to learn about how to play basketball, you don't go to Marv Albert, you go to a former All-Star. You want to learn about cooking you don't go to an announcer who lucked into being an announcer, you go to a chef who actually understands what he's doing.
Go buy this book right now: After the Hunt: Louisiana's Authoritative Collection of Wild Game & Game Fish Cookery This book is amazing. Not only does it have hundreds and hundreds of awesome wild game recipes (pretty much anything you could think of, from nutria to pheasant to venison to you get the picture), but the first 200 pages or so contain a gorgeous pictorial encyclopedia dedicated to explaining the history of hunting in the world. Its a very, very cool book to have.
Blue Dog is spot on. Not only does this book show you how to cook every creature that walks, crawls, flies, or slithers, but it inspires you to go out and harvest those animals with the confidence that you're not just taking for the sake of taking. I plan on water swatting a legion of coots for pate' this year and I'm pretty sure that it's going to taste great. Marinades are pretty easy and they're a great tool for learning a little about the fundamentals of cooking. While I don't suggest marinating a good loin or ribeye, marinades are a great way to get lots of flavor and tenderness out of a lesser cut. They're also a great tool for pulling the iodine flavor out of all shrimp that are more than a day old. The three basic components are: acid+oil+flavor I also like to add some type of salt as well. Here is a good fajita marinade that was shamelessly stolen from Alton Brown. This is excellent for skirt steak or flank. I have also used this on venison for deer fajitas. 1/2 c Olive Oil 1/3 c Soy Sauce 1/4 c Lime Juice 3-4 Cloves Crushed Garlic 1/2-1 t Crushed red pepper 1-2 t Cumin 1-2 T Brown Sugar One bunch green onion- torn/mashed Combine the above and pour over beef. Let it marinate in the fridge for at least 8 hours. Bring the beef to room temperature before grilling on a very hot grill.
This is my favorite recipe, it's from the Junior League of Kansas City's cookbook. If you've never been to KC, barbecue is practically a religion there. "MIZZOU" BARBECUE SAUCE 2 cups catsup 1 cup water 1/4 cup vinegar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon each, salt, chili powder, and celery seed 1 onion, chopped 1 tablespoon liquid smoke (hickory) or more to taste 1 tablespoon prepared mustard several dashes good hot sauce 1/4 teaspoon each, nutmeg, ginger and allspice 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce Combine all ingredients and cook over low heat until onions are clear and flavors combined. Keep refrigerated and reheat as needed. Makes 1 1/2 pints. NOTE: Barbecue sauce should be used only during the final 5-10 minutes of grilling. If applied too soon, the sauce will turn black before the meat is done. Many barbeque experts do not use sauce for basting but merely serve sauce with the meat. I make this in large batches, bottle it, then give it away at the holidays along with my grandma's recipe for beef brisket. It's my favorite sauce. I'll never buy store-brands again.
Brown has never claimed to be anything other than he is. Is there anything in the book that you don't agree with?
Ok, not to turn this into an e-fight, but I'm going to defend Brown as well. I just glanced through both books (I'm writing this from a B&N), and I'll agree that the Colicchio book is excellent. However, it's not for beginners. If I were to pick the book with the best recipes, I'd go for Craft of Cooking, sure. But realistically, a starting home chef doesn't need a cookbook where one of the recipes is for baby lamb. In fact, the author even says in the intro his book is intended for `a skilled amateur or enthusiastic hobbyist' where `speed and convience are probably not your first focus here'. It's a great book, sure, but not something I'd start somebody out with. Brown's cookbook, by contrast, breaks down the simple things, like how to create a double boiler. If you've got a starter chef, an explanation like that is key. It may not have the fanciest, impress-your-guests recipes, but it's going to give you the knowledge that will let you move on to those recipes with confidence (and I'm saying this as someone who's just moved into the more advanced stuff). Also, to criticize Brown as being nothing but a TV host is untrue- the man has a culinary degree. Also, I'm Just Here for the Food was up for a James Beard award in the Tips and Techniques category the year it was released. It may not be as prestigious as having a Beard for cooking achievement, but if we're talking cookbooks, I'd say that's a pretty sound endorsement. You obviously have way more culinary education than I do, so I don't mean to knock your comments at all. In fact, I was really interested in your suggestions about modifying recipes. I just think the Brown cookbook might fit graffin's needs a little better. I'd also suggest The Joy of Cooking to him, which is an oldie but goodie- the appendices at the back are especially helpful for basic cooking knowledge.
I'm going to plug the Pioneer Woman. She's great for beginners, what with all the photos and clear, step by step instructions. She even tells you how to slice an onion! Her recipes are delicious as well. I have yet to...oh wait. I made her sleeppin' in omelet and it bombed. Much too rich for my family. Anyway, made this last night and almost took a picture to post but starting eating it instead. It was great, except my chicken wasn't thin enough. According to my husband, I have to "really beat the piss out of it." I guess I was too gentle with my mallet.