Steak Sandwich With A Kick

My long time martial arts instructor and friend opened his own school so I have resumed training as of this morning.  It did not occur to me that he must have learned training techniques from Marquis de Sade until I was doing push ups up and down the length of the floor.   You'd do a push up and then while in the up position, move one spot to the side, then do another push up, repeat.

By the time I got home, my appetite was as voracious as a locust that had smoking pot.  I stuck my head in the fridge and saw that leftover small roast from the strip loin that I had broken down into steaks.  Better yet it hadn't finished thawing, perfect for making a steak sandwich!  A steak sandwich with a kick....

Steak Sandwich With A Kick

Serves 4

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp beef tallow or other oil

2 yellow onions, peeled and sliced thin

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

1 cup half and half

1 cup Three Alarm Colby Jack cheese, shredded (or other spicy cheese)

2 Tbsp beef tallow or other oil

4 hoagie rolls

2 lb strip or ribeye roast

Salt and pepper to taste

Over low heat, melt the butter and tallow.  Add the sliced onions, season with a little salt and caramelize them for 1 hour.  

About 20 minutes before the onions are done, make the cheese sauce.  In a small sauce pan, melt butter and whisk in the flour.  Keep stirring for a few minutes until you get a blond roux.  It will be a dryish paste and have a nutty aroma.  Whisk in the half and half, making sure the roux dissolves evenly.    Let simmer for 5 minutes and then add the cheese in small batches.

The secret to good steak sandwiches is to cut your meat thin and then pound it thinner.  Slice the beef into 1/4" or thinner slices.  A meat slicer helps but these were done by hand (my Waring Pro meat slicer died after 2 years).  It helps to have the meat partially frozen when slicing but make sure they finish thawing when you start to beat them.

Get a cast iron pan preheated over medium high heat and add the beef fat or oil.  I was using beef fat because 1) I rendered it and saved it from the scraps last week and 2) it has a high smoke point.  

Season the steaks with salt and pepper and then pound them thin with the serrated side of a meat mallet.  Place them into the hot pan.  Work in small batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.  After about 30 seconds, start tearing them apart and toss like stir fry with a pair of metal spatulas.   It should only take about 3 minutes to cook each batch of beef.

Toast the rolls, top with the shredded beef, caramalized onions, and cheese sauce.

The tender beef, spicy sauce, and delicate onions made up for this morning's torture workout.

Great Midwest Three Alarm Colby Jack

It seems like the only pepper cheese I used to see was pepper jack.  But lately I have been seeing various cheeses with habanero or chipotle in them.  This one really caught my eye.  It's got jalapeno, chipotle AND habanero packed into it.  It's got jalapeno, chipotle AND habanero packed into it.  

I "almost bought" this about 5 or 6 times at Sam's Wholesale before finally buying it recently.  I'm glad I did, Great Midwest Three Alarm Colby Jack rocks with flavor and heat.  This would be excellent shredded in fajitas, sliced for sandwiches, or stuffed in burgers.  [Standard Disclaimer] 

Island Beach Chicken

It's my turn to post Fire Day Friday over at Our Krazy Kitchen.  Hope over there to see this recipe and an embarrassingly funny picture of me in the 80's.

March Giveaway Winner

I collected all of the entries and did a random drawing via Random.org and the winner of The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches is Kevin from The BBQ Smoker Site.  Congrats to Kevin and thanks to Author Susan Russo and the folks from Quirk Books!

Grilled Orange Beef with Broccoli Stir Fire

Let's be honest.  Spring is a tease.

After some glorious weather a week ago, it seems that fickle Spring smacked us with cold, wet, and dreary.  Want to show nature who is boss?  Want to shake off the winter blahs?  Then drag out your grill, fire it up and do something different! And oh yeah.....bring your wok.

Many people don't think about using a work on the grill but actually it's an ideal match.   Traditionally woks were used over a pit stove with live fire.  A charcoal grill generates the high heat that woks crave.  A flat bottomed wok will work on just about any large grill.   You can use a round bottom wok too, if you have a "spider rig" or if you have a mounting base for it.  The things I like about using a wok on the grill, or as I call it, "Stir Firing", are:

1. It is a fast dinner option.  Most dishes on the wok take only a few minutes of prep and cooking.
2. It is a healthier option.  (less oil, more veggies)
3. It is just fun!

So break out of the same ol', same ol' and try using your wok on your grill.  That is what I did tonight, I made a Grilled Orange Beef w/ Broccoli Stir Fire (aka stir fry).  The steak by itself was pretty damn good but the rest of this dish is good too.

Grilled Orange Beef with Broccoli Stir Fire

1 ea flank steak

Marinade

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup sherry

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 ea green onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp ginger, fresh ground

Veggies

1 Tbsp peanut oil

1 ea shallot, diced

1 head broccoli, cut into 1" pieces

1/3 cup chicken stock

Sauce

1/2 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 Tbsp peanut oil

1 inch ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks (about 2 Tbsp of fresh ginger)

1 Tbsp orange peel, fresh grated

1/2 cup orange juice

2 Tbsp dry sherry

2 tsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp hoisin sauce

1 Tbsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp cold water
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the steak for 3-4 hours.

Set up the grill for direct heat at 400-450f.  Grill the steak for 3 minutes per side (4 minutes per side if skipping the stir fire part).

Remove to a raised rack and let rest.  Since you will now be working with the grill top open, you will want to cut your lower air intake vents down to almost closed to keep your fire from burning out of control hot.

Place a wok on the grill and preheat.  This should only take about 1 minute.  Add the oil and when it begins to shimmer add the shallot.  Simmer for 30-45 seconds.  Add the broccoli (still wet from rinsing) and stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, cover and steam for 4-6 minutes.

Meanwhile, thinly slice the flank steak across the grain.  It is so hard NOT to just eat it all at this point.  But I did have to do some "quality control tasting.....errr....testing" of course. 

Remove broccoli.  Add the oils and when hot, add the ginger and orange peel.  Stir fry for 1 minute.  Add the OJ, sherry, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and stir.  Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Stir together the water and cornstarch and add to the sauce* to thicken.

Return the broccoli and beef to the wok and toss them to coat with the sauce.

Remove and serve immediately with rice.

The beef and broccoli was good.  It disappeared quickly, with my 11 year old having seconds.  But the sauce seemed awfully thin, it just didn't coat like my usual stir fry does.   After dinner I was cleaning up my out door kitchen, gathering things to be washed and there on the table was my unused bowl with the cornstarch slurry in it.........DOH!  Mystery solved.

Kingsford University: Manhattan Fillet 101

Quick!  Off the top of your head give me three words that describe a perfect steak.

Chances are two of the words were thick and juicy, right?

The problem is that if you cut a NY Strip steak to 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, you end up with over a pound of steak and that is just too much to eat for most people.  I learned just the trick for that at Kingsford University - The Manhattan Fillet.

Snake River Farms' Executive Chef, Alan Turner, gave a demonstration on working with cuts of beef.  One of the new cuts was breaking down an American Waygu beef strip loin into the Manhattan fillet instead of strip steaks.  The resulting cut yields 10 oz fillet and a 6 oz petite fillet.  This gives you the thickness you crave AND the portion size that you want, while saving money too. 

Chef Turner shows the Manhattan Fillet at Kingsford U

I brought my Flip video camera but had left it back at the hotel room.  Still kicking myself over that one.  So as he talked, I scribbled notes furiously.

The notebooks they gave us came in handy!

Last night I applied the lessons learned  when Alexis brought home a 10 lb strip loin.  It was packaged as USDA Choice and certified Angus but it was more like Select to me.

Like Darth Vader said to Admiral Motti  "I find your lack of marbling disturbing."

See the difference that their American Waygu beef makes? 

First order of business is to find the "good end" of the loin.  Just like the "first cut" from a whole ribeye, a strip loin has a better part for steaks.  One end of the strip loin is what Turner called the "nerve end" and that has a bit of connective tissue.  You can see the grain of meat change there and you can feel it.  If you look at my drawing in the notes, that circular area is the nerve end.  Cut that off and use it for steak sandwiches or a small roast.  

Then, using a very sharp knife, slice the "tail" off of the strip loin and save.

Slice off the top strap and save.

Trim off the excess fat and silverskin.  Save the fat.

At this point, Chef Turner sliced the loin lengthwise.  I went the route of cutting the thick Strip steaks first.

Then I broke them down into the two fillets each.  

Because of how I cut them, my fillet were 8-10 oz fillet instead of the two sizes Chef Turner does.

I ended up with twelve fillets, worth the $60 cost alone.  But I also had a 2lb roast leftover.  I picked the lean meat from the tail and top strap to make a few beef kabobs for the boys.  Last but not least, I rendered some of the fat to produce a cup of tallow.  

Scraps!

Did I do it expertly and perfectly?  No, but I did fairly well and I learned along the way.  Next time I'll feel more confident in my knife work, I find tentative cutting leads to bad butchery.  You have to move purposefully and at speed, but that only comes with practice. 

Chef Turner showing off his bisected strip loin before portioning into fillets.

We ate a few last night and then vacuum sealed most of ours in packs of two for freezing and grilling later.  If you are having a steak cook out with a bunch of friends, this would be THE way to go.  For other ideas about grilling for parties, don't forget to check out Grilling.com.

Speaking of grilling get togethers......

Blogger Get Together

Last year, a handful of Smoky Mountains area bloggers got together at Larry Doolittle's (Big Dude's Eclectic Ramblings) lakeside retreat for lunch, socializing, and fun on the water.  It was so much fun that we've decided to do it again!!!!   The theme is going to be Texas BBQ.  More details are forthcoming. 

March Giveaway: The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches

You know those nights when you got home late from work, you are tired and you aren't up to making a huge dinner but you won't want to settle for boring?   Then flipping through Susan Russo's The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches will be spark ideas and take you from "blah" to "kick butt food between bread" in just a few minutes.

Tonight was one of those nights for us.  I spent just a minute browsing and found the "Chow Mein Sandwich".  It sounded crazy, looked delicious and I had all of the ingredients on hand.  According to the book this is a South Massachusetts favorite.  I can see why!  

Matt's picture makes mine above look like crap, but it still tasted great!

Chow Mein Sandwich

slightly adapted from

The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches:  Recipes, History, and Trivia for Everything Between Sliced Bread

Ingredients

2 yellow onions, cut into small wedges

1 stalks celery, thinly sliced using the whole stalk and leaves

2 leaves napa cabbage, thinly sliced

1/2 cup bean sprouts

4 cups chicken broth (divided)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 Tbsp Kitchen Bouquet

1 tsp Sriracha sauce

1 tsp red pepper flake

1 cup beef broth

salt and pepper to taste

4 hoagie rolls

16 oz Chow Mein crispy egg noodles

Place veggies in a 3 quart pan preheated to medium high heat and dry stir fry (no oil) for 1 minute.  

Whisk together the cornstarch and 1 cup of the chicken broth.  Pour over the veggies and toss for another minute.

Add the remaining chicken broth, beef broth, Kitchen Bouquet, sriracha, and red pepper flake.  Bring to a boil and them simmer for 10-15 minutes until thickened.  

Split rolls, top with crispy noodles and ladle the sauce over them.

When I first sat down to go through the book, my expectations ranged from "been there done that" to "who the hell has shaved Himalayan yak ham in their fridge?".  But I was very pleasantly surprised.  The book is a winner.   

 

Yes, we still actually own an encyclopedia set.

True to it's name, it is an A-Z encyclopedia of classic, regional, and unusual sandwiches.  Each "entry" includes history & trivia about the sandwich, the recipe itself, and suggested variations.   The author, Susan Russo, writes for NPR's Kitchen Window and runs the food blog, Food Blogga.  Matt Armendariz of MattBites rocked out the photos in the book.  

The recipes themselves are not intimidating but at they same time, they are creative and fun.  That's because Susan uses a lot of ingredients that you will probably have on hand.  I could see this being one of those books that you always turn to when you need a quick idea for something tantalizing, different, but easy too. 

Because of the history and trivia presented with each sandwich, I often found myself thinking "Wow, I didn't know that".  Susan keeps even the standard sandwiches interesting by offering possible additions that make one say, "Huh, that's a neat twist". 

I almost wanted to take issue with pulled pork done in an oven, but at least she didn't kill it in a crock pot with a gallon of bbq sauce poured on top and I know not everyone has two Big Green Eggs and another smoker like me ;)  So I'll let that slide ha ha.

And this is a small thing, but it is a paperback with one of those hinged spines that let's it stay open when you put it down open.  Don't you HATE using a cookbook that every time you turn back to reference it, has either closed or changed pages on you????

Hold on.  I think I am talking myself out of this giveaway.  Never mind people, this book is awful.  You don't want it.  I'm keeping it for myself!  Nah, just kidding.  I am still giving it away but I'll buy myself a copy.

How To Enter
Each person can receive up to a total of 3 entries as follows:

1. leave a comment below telling me your all time favorite sandwich. (NOTE: If you use the "anonymous comment" option, be sure to leave an email or your screen name in the comment so I can contact you if you are the winner. Something like "EggerinFL from the Egg Forum" or "swibirun from the BBQ Brethren forum" is enough.)
2. Do a Twitter or Facebook post linking to this giveaway post and then leave a separate comment below with the URL of your Facebook post or for Twitter use the slash tag #foodblogga so I can find it. 
3. Mention this giveaway and link to it in a post on your blog. Then leave a separate comment below with the URL of your post.

The Rules

1. Giveaway entry period begins Friday, 12:01am March 24, 2011 and ends Thursday, 11:59am, March 31, 2011. Drawing will be held Friday, April 1st (no april fools), 2011 at 7pm (All times are Eastern Time zone).
2. Comments will be numbered by order received and random.org will generate a random number for the winner.
3. Limited to residents of the continental US unless you wish to pay the extra shipping charges.
4. I am the final judge regarding any discrepancies, interpretations, grievances, etc about this drawing.
5. Quirk Publishing is sponsoring the prize. They are not responsible for the drawing or the giveaway.
6. Winner must respond and claim the prize within one week of the winning announcement. If a winner does not claim the prize during the specified time, a reserve winner will be drawn from the original entries.
7. Employees, Board Members, pets, indentured servants, and family of Nibble Me This are not eligible to enter. 

If you don't win, don't worry.  The book goes on sale April 5, 2011.   I know I will buy one.

Grilled Potatoes

You've heard me say before that a good steak doesn't need much besides salt, pepper, and flame.

Bad steaks on the other hand require every trick in the book.  Salting, marinades, crazy rubs, finishing sauces, you name it.    Life is too short to waste time on bad beef.

I guess I've been spoiled lately.  We usually only buy USDA Choice grade at our house.  But at Kingsford University, I had flat iron, fillet, strip, & brisket from Snake River Farms.  Their products actually exceed USDA Prime category, more on that to come.  Then there was the Prime strip at Shula's last week.  I have been living in Beef Nirvana.  Then at SOMEONE in our house brought home some USDA Select grade ribeyes that were on sale this week.  They had no marbling.  And they were only 1" thick.  I wept. 

One of my best tips for dealing with crappy steaks (other than don't buy it)?  Misdirection.  Draw attention away from that beef in a "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" way with great side dishes like these awesome grilled potatoes.

I adapted the basic process from this recipe at America's Test Kitchen and then changed it around to meet my tastes and ingredients on hand.

Grilled Potatoes

8-10 ea red bliss potatoes, halved

4-5 bamboo skewers

1/2 cup herb infused oil (see instructions for ideas)

kosher salt to taste

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese, grated

Infused Oil

Their recipe had a process for making your own rosemary/garlic oil but then they have you strain the solids out.  I WANT the herbs and garlic roasted onto my potatoes, don't you?  Anyway, I was going to make my own oil when I found this in my cupboard.  

It was a gift from a neighbor at Christmas and thought I'd try it out.  I mixed it up according to directions and then added 1 Tbsp finely diced roasted red pepper and 2 Tbsp of the parsley.  

If you need to make your own oil, just simmer your choice of minced garlic, shallot, and herbs in a 1/2 cup of olive oil over medium/low heat until fragrant. Then add in some color and texture with finely diced parsley and red peppers.  Have fun with the combinations, this is your chance to make it YOUR dish. 

Par-cook Potatoes

Skewer the potato halves and poke each several times with a fork or skewer.  Brush with 2 Tbsp of the oil mixture and season liberally with kosher salt.  Microwave for 4 minutes, flip, and then microwave another 3 minutes.  What?  YES, I have a microwave.  Just because I grill all the time doesn't mean I'm a cave man. 

Grill Potatoes

Fire up the charcoal grill to 350-375f.  Brush 1/4 cup of the oil on the potatoes.  Grill cut side down until grill marks appear or the sides begin to brown (4-7 minutes depending on your grill's temps and hot spots).

Flip and grill another 7-10 minutes skin side down.  They are done when a sharp knife tip easily penetrates the sides.

Top with the grated cheese as soon as they come off the grill.  The results were a hit with us.  

In fact we made them twice in two days.   Last night, I served them with the ribeye and grilled zucchini.  (See?  I'm so ashamed of that crappy piece of steak that I hid it with a short depth of field and veggies!)

Just before going to bed last night, Alexis was talking about the potatoes wistfully and mentioned how good they would have been coarsely crushed into mashed potatoes.    How do you ignore that comment?  So today we did just that and topped them with mornay sauce made from the last of the Edam cheese I smoked over the winter.  Popped it under the broiler for about 5 minutes and voila!  

That was lunch today.  Just the potatoes.  And by "just" I mean, "Holy bleep, this tastes so friggin' good!"  Excuse my harsh language.

Quick Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wrap

Spring starts Sunday night at 7:21pm EDT but it sure feels like Spring today!  The trees are blooming, the male birds are trying out their best pick up lines ("Hey chickie, you know what they say about the size of a bird's beak?"), and even my neighbors are breaking out their dormant grills.

TIP:  If your grill has been neglected all winter, Clint wrote a good article about how to tune up your grill for action.

I had a couple of chicken breasts and wanted a quick lunch.  How about a grilled buffalo chicken wrap?

This really isn't a recipe, it's just a quick and easy lunch.

I gave the chicken breasts a fast 30 minute bath in KC Masterpiece Buffalo Marinade.  It is one of the sauces they gave us at Kingsford University.  WARNING:  Do NOT attempt to marinate a buffalo with this sauce.  It only makes them angry.  

I set up the Big Green Egg for direct heat at 350f.  To add a little smokiness I toss in a handful of cherry wood chips into the coals just as I put the breasts on the grate.  

I grilled them for about 5-7 minutes per side, until they hit 160f in the thicker part of the breasts.  TIP:  Breasts come in all shapes and sizes so they will cook differently.  I check each one, not just one.  For example, today the first one was done 4 minutes before the last one.   

TIP:  When grilling chicken breast, arrange them so the thinner end is further from the hotter spots of the grill.

I grilled some flour tortillas and then it was just a matter of assembling the wraps.

First a handful of rinsed baby spinach leaves, thin sliced red onion, and blue cheese dressing...

...then the sliced grilled chicken and an extra squirt of the Buffalo marinade.  (Look, if they can claim it is a marinade for buffaloes then I can use it as a sauce instead of a marinade, right?)

Just about perfect for a sunny almost Spring Saturday afternoon.  Plus it was fast & easy.