Prime Cuts

Are you looking for a quick and easy addition to vanilla ice cream for dessert?  How about a new topping for Belgian waffles in the morning?  Below is a recipe for hot cinnamon apples which you can use as a topping or eat by themselves.  After cooking for a couple days straight preparing for Thanksgiving, this is a great recipe to make it seem like you worked really hard preparing it but is so simple.

Ingredients

8-10 Red delicious apples, peeled and chopped
6-8 tbsp unsalted butter
1-1.5 c brown sugar
1/4 c cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp table salt

Preparation

In a large skillet add the apples and butter over medium heat.  Once butter melts add cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Continue to constantly stir to prevent apples from burning.  After a few minutes add the brown sugar evenly over the entire mixture.  Continue stirring the mixture until the apples soften and sauce thickens.  Remove from heat and let stand for approximately 5 minutes to allow apples to cool slightly.  Serve over vanilla ice cream, Belgian waffles or anything else that hot cinnamon apples sounds good with!

Enjoy!

You can download a PDF version of this Hot Cinnamon Apples Recipe.

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Photo by: slambo_42

Earlier this morning we noticed that the feed wasn’t updating properly and the last post showing was from October 30th.  Right after then was when we moved to our new theme and made a lot of changes to the site.  When we made the changes everything appeared to have been working fine.

There have been about 15 posts since then that haven’t dropped into your RSS readers.  The problem is fixed now and you should have everything from this month as well as everything new going forward.

We value all of our subscribers and apologize for the technical error.  Please take some time and check out all of the posts from this month which you may not have read yet and let us know what you think.

Enjoy!

As you settle in to start making your Thanksgiving dinners, Joe wanted to provide you with a turkey stock recipe that he uses after every Thanksgiving as a base to make various soups.

Don’t throw away the turkey carcass, the wing or drumstick bones after you eat on Thanksgiving because the leftover bones can make some amazing stocks and soups and you can do it all without the giblets.  The following is my personal stock recipe that I use to make delicious turkey rice and noodle soups.

Ingredients

I Turkey carcass (chopped into 3” pieces) and any reserved wing and leg bones

2 whole onions with skin, roughly chopped

4 peeled carrots, roughly chopped

4 ribs celery, roughly chopped

4 large celery leaves, chopped

½ bulb garlic, smashed and roughly chopped

3 bay leaves

2 tbsp peeled and chopped fresh ginger

1-2 tbsp sea salt

20 Black peppercorns

1/2 lemon worth of lemon juice and zest

1 cup dry white wine

1 tbsp tomato paste

2-3 gallons water

1 tsp vegetable oil

Preparation

1. On a medium/hot burner, heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large stockpot that can hold at least 4 gallons of liquid.  Add the chopped turkey carcass and any reserved bones, brown well to caramelize to a dark brown color, approximately 10-15 minutes.

2. When all turkey pieces are evenly browned add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic.  Stir occasionally for 10 minutes to lightly caramelize the vegetables.

3. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up all of the browned pieces with a wooden spoon.  Add the tomato paste, bay leaves, lemon, salt, ginger, and peppercorns, stirring occasionally to thoroughly combine all the ingredients.  Reduce the mixture by half, approx. 1-2 minutes.

4. Add the water to the stock pot and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a medium simmer, and reduce by half, approx. 1 ½ hours.  Filter the stock through a fine strainer lined with cheesecloth, taste and check for flavor.  Most times a little bit more fresh lemon juice and some kosher salt can bring a stock to life.

5. Chill overnight in the refrigerator allowing all the fat to rise to the top and solidify, then skim it off and discard.  The reserved stock will keep for up to a week in a tightly sealed container in the fridge

6. Use to make you favorite chicken/turkey soups, enjoy!

You can download a PDF version of this Turkey Stock Recipe.

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Photo by: LexnGer

Everyone has their personal concept of how a steak should look, feel, and taste when cooked to the doneness of their liking.  These concepts can and do vary from consumer to consumer and from chef to chef. It is one of those inherently simple yet complicated subjects.  This particular post is intended to get people thinking about what exactly goes into cooking a steak to temperature and how you should think about ordering/cooking yours to best enjoy it.

There are several variables to the final doneness of cooked steaks including: thickness of the cut, type of cut, temperature of the cooking medium, resting period, and for restaurants-their base temperature guidelines.

Thickness
The thickness of the cut of steak can influence the level of doneness greatly.  Think of the way rare would look and feel for a very thin steak vs a very thick steak (i.e. thinly cut top sirloin vs. a thick center cut filet mignon).  The thin rare will have much less red center simply because it has much less center and vice verse.

Type of Cut
The type of cut of steak can also affect how the finished product will look and feel.  Some types of steak are naturally very tender or tough, and densities of the different types of steaks vary greatly too.  For this reason, if you are unsure how to order steak of any given type, ask how your chef or butcher to suggest a recommended temperature for the most tender possible preparation, and you will definitely see great variation for one cut to another.

Temperature
The temperature of the cooking medium, lets say the grill, will change how the finished steak will look and taste at any given doneness.  Think of a medium rare steak that has been cooked quickly at a very high heat-it will be very well cooked on the seared outer edges and will fade with little transition from gray to red as you cut into the center.  A steak cooked on a lower temperature will have the same doneness on the contact edges but will fade from well to medium-well to medium to medium-rare in the center with a much more gradual fade.

Resting Period
The resting period for both uncooked and cooked steaks will also allow for well transitioned temperatures vs. little transition.  A cold steak will maintain a red center longer than a room temperature one.  So if you like a black and blue seared on the outside, rare in the middle steak, cook with a cold steak and don’t let it sit long once off the grill.  If you prefer a more gradually transitioned doneness, let your steak sit at room temp for 20 min before grilling it, and then let it rest for 5 minutes before consuming.

Restaurant Guidelines
Finally are the specific restaurant guidelines to doneness.  Some restaurant’s rare is a lot more or a lot less rare than the competitions.  For the most part these guidelines will be displayed on the menu.  The best thing to do however is tell your server how you like your steak cooked and what it looks like when done your way.  That way they can tell you to which temperature that will relate to at their particular restaurant.

Finally, we just want to note that steaks are cooked to temperature and doneness which does not always translate directly to color.  If you think about it, the difference in color of the meat from cow to cow can vary greatly based on their diet.   If you look at the meat of a sirloin from a traditional corn fed American steer and then look at the color of a sirloin from a pasture grazed, grass-fed Argentine steer you will see that the grass fed sirloin is a much darker almost burgundy red color, while the corn-fed sirloin is a much paler light brick red color.  These reds will react to temperature change differently and if you cook both to the exact same temperature for meduim rare (or any temp) you will be looking at two different colors but the same level of doneness.   This is why we chefs use temperature as a difinitive guideline, and serious steak eaters should know what to expect based on the type of beef they are ordering because temperature cooked steaks are not always the same exact color.

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Contributing Writer: Joseph M. Gionfriddo
Photo by: Another Pint Please

One of the things we have noticed the most throughout our careers in the food industry is the differing opinions on what doneness/temperature means when ordering steaks or hamburgers.  It seems that some customers don’t understand what they really want so they order it cooked to one level of doneness and when it comes out like that they say it is either under- or over-cooked.  Likewise, we have both eaten at several restaurants where we order a particular level of doneness and receive our meal either under- or over-cooked.  To solve this a lot of restaurants are moving to just two options, pink or no pink.

There is a lot to take into consideration when trying to cook to various temperatures and we’ll go over that in a future post but today we wanted to share with you the definitions that we use at our steakhouse and are generally accepted specifications.  We have tried to simplify the definitions so that they’re easily understandable for the common customer.

• Rare - Cool red center

• Medium-Rare – Warm red center

• Medium -Pink throughout

• Medium-Well – Pink only in center

• Well – No pink

Note: Consuming raw or undercooked meat, poultry, seafood or eggs, may increase the risk of food borne illness.

What is your preference when your order a steak or hamburger?

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Photo by: VirtualErn

Are you looking for something new to make for dessert?  Do you love pumpkin?  How about an amazing cobbler?  Well, if you answered yes to those questions then we have the answer for you: pumpkin cobbler!  This is such an amazing dessert and so easy to make.  Total prep time is only 5 minutes and everyone will think that you slaved over it.

Ingredients

3-4 eggs beaten
1 c sugar
12 oz evaporated milk
30 oz canned pumpkin
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 lb yellow cake mix
1/2 c butter, melted

Optional: chopped almonds, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a medium bowl, mix together sugar, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, vanilla, salt, and milk.
• Grease a 9 x 13 pan (or similar size pan) and pour the entire mixture into pan.
• Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly across the top of the mixture.
• Pour the melted butter slowly and evenly across the entire mixture ensuring that it doesn’t start pooling in just one area.
• Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 60 minutes

Enjoy!

You can download a PDF version of this Pumpkin Cobbler Recipe.

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Photo by: Darwin Bell

We wanted to expand more on our last episode of Prime Cuts TV since we didn’t take a lot of time to explain some of the history and great benefits of mate.  Also, on playback we realized that the sound was grainy so we wanted to give you more detail in a follow up post.

Yerba Mate is a species of Holly, which is native to subtropical South America.  It grows as a small shrub and has evergreen leaves and small white flowers when in bloom.  The leaves and stems are dried and chopped up, then used to prepare an infusion with hot water, which is then drunk.  There are several grades of mate, some which are smoked while drying, some without stems, and some contain only the choice leaves.  When drunk, mate has a similar effect to that of coffee, but is much gentler on the stomach and mind.

The traditional preparation for yerba mate involves a dried hollowed gourd which is called the mate, and a filter straw, usually made of metal, called the bombilla.  The gourd is filled approx. 2/3 full of yerba mate, and then is steeped with hot (never boiling) water.  The mate is then sipped and replenished with more hot water when drunk.  This process is traditionally very social, with multiple people often drinking from the same mate.  Because the water is not boiling the herbs never really get depleted and those who drink from the same mate will generally have equally shared beneficial effects.  The flavor of mate is very herbal, grassy, and natural with aromas of pine and is like drinking a dilute pine sap… in a good way.  The mate can taste very bitter if boiling water is used.  Also, the preparation must be done carefully, or else you can end up eating your mate through the filter straw and not drinking it.

Mate contains xanthines, which are alkaloids in the same family as caffeine, these are also found in coffee and chocolate.  Mate is chock full of beneficial antioxidants, such as potassium, magnesium, and manganese.   Mate’s physiological effects are similar to, yet distinctly different from those found when drinking a cup of coffee or tea.  A wakeful, focused, and alerted state found with most stimulants, is most common, but without the negative jittery effects typically found with coffee.  It has been shown that mate also has a relaxing effect on the muscle tissue and a stimulating effect on the myocardial (heart) tissue, which is why those people who drink mate after dinner generally do not have problems falling asleep as can happen with coffee.  There are few, if any, negative effects of drinking mate.  The most commonly reported negative effect is the large dose of caffeine (xanthine), but this is generally due to the fact that one mate is often filled and drunk several times.  The other common negative is mate’s diuretic characteristics, drinking one mate can often make you feel like you have drunk a gallon of water.

Mate is easy enough to come by, however foreign it might seem to most Americans.  It is commonly found in Spanish restaurants/groceries, many health food stores, and it is extremely easy to find and purchase on the internet.  It is light so costs very little to ship and our favorite brand is Rosamonte.  The accompanying mate gourd and bombilla can also be purchased at most websites that sell yerba mate.  Lastly, if that seems like too much work but you are still interested, mate can be purchased in tea bags…just like Lipton.  If buying in tea bags, our favorite brand is an Argentine one called Cachamai.

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Contributing Writer: Joseph M. Gionfriddo
Photo by: atxbill

If you are like us then you can’t wait for Thanksgiving which is only one week away!  As both of us begin to come up with recipes that we may want to experiment on our families with, Justin decided to do some digging to see what interesting recipes he could find online.  We were planning on scouring tons of websites and putting together a comprehensive list but then we found that Serious Eats and Food Network already had some great lists, menus and videos to help you out this year.  Plus, Justin couldn’t fight his way off of both pages once he started looking at all of the great recipes.

Below is just a snapshot of some of our favorite recipes that we found on the two sites.  None of these recipes are for turkey because everyone knows that the sides are what makes Thanksgiving!

• Pear and Blue Cheese Salad
• Cranberry Sauce with Champagne and Currants
• Oven Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic
• Corn Bread Dressing with Pecans and Bacon
• Corn Bread Sausage Stuffing with Apples
• Maple-Walnut Cornbread
• Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter
• Marinated Butternut Squash: Scapece Di Zucca

There are thousands of other recipes out there and we want to hear about them all.  What are some of your favorite recipes for Thanksgiving?

Photo by: alasam

For today’s episode of Prime Cuts TV we show you how to properly make mate.  Mate is a favorite drink in many parts of the world including Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile.  Besides tasting really good, we both think it’s cool just to have all the pieces to make mate.

As always, we hope you enjoy and are able to learn something new and fun to try at home!

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After a successful wine dinner last week where we received rave reviews for a center-cut peppercorn filet mignon, Joe now shares his peppercorn rub recipe with you.

Something I have been doing for a while now is a peppercorn crust on my grilled steaks.  Peppercorn crust on a steak is delicious when done properly, but can easily be messed up and overdone.   Most people who have ever bitten down on a large unexpected peppercorn, remember the taste, and wouldn’t ever think of eating a peppercorn crusted steak.  However when applied correctly, a peppercorn crust or rub will mellow during cooking and not overpower the meat, but instead enhance the flavor.

The following recipe is for a basic peppercorn rub which is not overly peppery, or spicy, and is a good starting point for those people who are a little timid about completely covering their steak with spices.

Note: When I make this recipe I grind the peppercorns in an electric spice grinder until they are just a little bit bigger than the holes in a table pepper shaker, about 2x the size of table pepper.  More importantly, I grind the pepper a day or two in advance of when I will be using it to allow it to mellow, as same day fresh pepper tends to be very strong.

Joe’s Peppercorn Rub

Will thoroughly coat 4-6 medium steaks

Ingredients
3 tbsp ground pepper (see Note above)
2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp onion powder

Preparation

• Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

• Place spice mix on a plate or flat surface and spread out to the size of the steaks you will be coating.

• Coat steaks by pressing only the sides which will be in contact with the cooking medium firmly into the spice mix.  There is no need to coat the edges that will not be in contact with the heat.

• Cook steaks to desired temperature.  The cooking process will mellow the pepper flavor and gently infuse it into the steaks.

• If you desire a more powerful peppercorn flavor, use freshly ground peppercorns that are not ground as fine.

• If you desire less peppery flavor, spread the spice mix more thinly on the seasoning plate and do not press the steaks as firmly into the seasoning.

You can make extra ahead of time and store in a tightly sealed jar but only take out as much as you need per cooking, and never return seasoning that has been used on the seasoning plate with raw meat back into the storage jar.

For steaks seasoned with this spice mix I suggest pairing with a bold and boisterous red wine such as Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon.  During our most recent wine dinner, peppercorn crusted filet mignon was paired with Luigi Bosca Single Vineyard D.O.C. Malbec.

Enjoy!

You can download a PDF version of this Peppercorn Rub Recipe.

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Photo by: shadowfall