Gochujang Pork Chops with Noodle Stir Fry

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I'm by no means an expert in Asian cuisine but I sure like to dabble in it. Case in point, these pork chops with a compound butter featuring the amazing spicy, umami, and slightly sweet flavors of gochujang that we made last year. 

If you're not familiar with it, gochujang is a Korean condiment made with fermented bean paste, chiles, and rice. It is often lumped in with sriracha, sambal oelek, and garlic chile paste. They are all similar and based on red chiles, but I find that they each have their own unique taste and texture. For me, gochujang has more of the umami flavor.

I use the compound butter in the sous vide pack and in the stir fry. But the best part is using the butter at the end, letting it melt its deliciousness all over the juicy pork chop.

The gochujang butter is an avalanche of lusciousness and flavor.

Choosing A Wok For The Grill

Shaved Steak Gyros on the Big Green Egg

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I love gyros. A pita stuffed with the heavily seasoned, mildly spicy lamb/beef mixture topped with a creamy, aromatic tzatziki sauce is Nirvana to my palate.  

Shaved steak gyros topped with tzatziki sauce.

To me, the only downside is that the process is time-consuming and usually requires that I start one day ahead of time. I have to find lamb, grind it with beef and seasonings, and then let it rest for a day before cooking.

Quick and Easy Solution

This is another case where the Bertolino's Certified Angus Beef® Brand shaved steak from Food City comes in handy. With a hefty dose of Greek seasoning, it tastes pretty darn close to my usual gyros with hardly any work, and I can have them ready within 30 minutes. So far, I have used this shaved steak in fajitas, stir-fry, cheesesteak sandwiches, and now gyros.

Cooking shaved steak gyros in an 80-year-old Griswold skillet on a large Big Green Egg. You can see a Kick Ash Basket down there in the glowing coals; that one is 6 years old and holding up well.

Stovetop, Skillet, or Griddle

To be honest, I don't think doing this on the grill adds anything to the recipe; it's just a matter of preference. This recipe works well in a skillet on the grill, on the stovetop, or using a flattop griddle. 

Leftover Gyro Salad

If you have leftovers, this makes for an excellent salad as well. Just put the meat, seasoned onion, and tomato on a bed of mixed greens. Then you can thin the tzatziki with some buttermilk, lemon juice, or stock to make the salad dressing.

Reverse-Seared Tomahawk Ribeye on the Big Green Egg

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We started off 2021 with a thick, juicy tomahawk ribeye steak that I dry-brined and then reverse-seared on one of my large Big Green Eggs. 

Tomahawk ribeye steak with Worcestershire and shallot salt.

Being quite thick, there is a lot of meat that doesn't get touched by seasoning during cooking, so after slicing this behemoth steak, I seasoned it with homemade Worcestershire and shallot salt. A good finishing salt like this makes the flavor pop.

This isn't a recipe post; it's more about the process. Here's what we did on New Year's Day.

CAB Manhattan Filet with Creamed Spinach and Twice Baked Potatoes

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Have you ever had the Manhattan filet? I learned about this excellent cut from the Snake River Farms folks at Kingsford University back in 2011. It's essentially a NY Strip cut into two filets. I like this cut for the portion control and because it gets a little more crust on your filet.  

Here's a Manhattan filet that we made this weekend, along with the classic sides of creamed spinach and a twice-baked potato. 

Manhattan Filet with Creamed Spinach and Twice Baked Potato

Here's what we did for each item.

Manhattan Filet

The pictures tell the story for this one.

Buffalo Chicken Smash Burger

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I've been enjoying smash burgers lately, and something occurred to me. I don't recall seeing smash burgers made from ground chicken. It sounded good, so I decided to give the idea a whirl on Saturday while our favorite college teams played basketball. 

Buffalo chicken smash burgers are spicy and fun gameday food.

They were slightly crispy, spicy, and absolutely delicious; we both loved them. If tomatoes were in season, I would definitely add a slice but hothouse tomatoes in the Winter just make my taste buds sad. I almost added some bacon but thought it might overpower the flavor of the chicken. I'll make them this same way again, no doubt. 

Tips for Working with Ground Chicken

Raw ground chicken isn't as easy to work with as its beef counterpart. Here are a few tips to make the process go more smoothly.

• Ground chicken is extremely tender, almost mushy. Keep it quite cold until the last minute.
• Wash your hands with cold water before handling the chicken.
• Ground chicken tries to stick to anything that it touches, so I spray my burger press and deli sheets with spray oil (Pam, etc.). 
• Ground chicken is bland, so don't be shy with the seasonings.

Here's what we did.

Buffalo Chicken Smash Burgers

Shaved Steak Fajitas on the Big Green Egg

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This is my quick and easy version of fajitas. It features thin pieces of shaved steak seasoned and cooked in a hot skillet or griddle. You get a lot of delicious, crispy edges this way with more of the Maillard reaction for flavor.

Fajitas with shaved steak, peppers, onions, and chipotle-lime crema.

Normally, I will either marinade or dry brine a whole flank or skirt steak, then grill it and slice it for fajitas. But for this version, I take a pound of shaved steak and cook it like I would for Philly steak and cheese. I season it with a Southwestern or fajita seasoning as it is cooking so no time is needed for marinating or dry-brining. 

Shaved Steak Fajitas

By www.nibblemethis.com

Published 12/3/2020

Ingredients

Gringo Jalapeno Smash Burgers Sliders

 [FTC Standard Disclosure] We received no compensation for this post. I am fortunate to cook with the Flavor Anonymous guys at Memphis in May each year and recently they were kind enough to send me a box of their exciting rubs and seasonings.

Hungry? How about this triple-decker smash burger with bacon and layers of roasted jalapeno cream sauce? 

Don't panic, that's not as big as it looks - it's only a slider. A slider with a half-pound of beef on it but still a slider. 

The Gringo Jalapeno sauce is a cream sauce with fire-roasted jalapeno and the Dirty Gringo rub from Flavor Anonymous. This rub has Southwestern flavors with smoky chiles that bring a lot of flavor to this sauce. I originally made it as a dip for hot wings but it also goes great on burgers.

Gringo Jalapeno Sauce for Wings and Burgers

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 jalapeno, fire-roasted, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Flavor Anonymous Dirty Gringo rub
• pinch or two of salt to taste