Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Where's the Beef? Right Here in my Kitchen!


It’s time to put on my mad scientist hat and get busy in a culinary fashion today. Today is an experiment of sorts.

I’m relatively new to the world of meat. Actually, what is closer to the truth is that I have been reintroduced to a carnivorous lifestyle after nearly 25 years of a poultry- and seafood-based eating regime. I’m thinking the true slippery slide into meat began in Barbados with what I thought was my short-lived foray into bacon.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Since then, dabbling with munching on red meat has morphed into craving it, especially beef, on an almost daily basis. Now, while I still love myself and my arteries—said arteries which I don’t want to become clogged to excess over a short period of time—I’m trying to do the smart and responsible thing by vowing to eat red meat in moderation . . . perhaps just once a week. Sounds reasonable enough, right? Which brings me to this week’s dabbling in the kitchen.

After an amazingly lovely meal of beef braised in Barolo last Friday at Quattro Pazzi, I decided to twiddle my fingers like I had a master plan (and actually I did have a plan), put my creative mind to work and come up with my own recipe of beef braised in red wine. Lucky for me, I live just .6 miles from Tully HealthCenter, a division of Stamford Hospital – just in case the whole recipe thing goes bust and I end up needing to have my stomach pumped or require other forms of emergency services.

As a precursor to this braised beef dish, I created a marinade which consisted of the following:

1 bottle of Barbera d'Alba red wine
1 medium sized onion, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 small green bell pepper, chopped into small pieces
1 cup beef stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 bay leaves


The red wine . . .
To give the marinade a little help, I tossed everybody into the pool (in other words, all of the ingredients went into a large pot) and were brought to a boil over high heat.

Chuck roast . . . the start of braising

Meanwhile, I put a boneless chuck roast in a large bowl and, once the marinade came to a boil, it was poured over the chuck roast. After allowing the whole shebang to cool, I covered the meat with plastic wrap and refrigerated it. Since this was a marinade, I wanted the flavor to really sink in and infuse the meat (hence, the initial boiling of the marinade for better penetration). I allowed 24 hours for marinating in the refrigerator, which, flavor-wise, should be sufficient.

This morning, I removed the meat from the marinade (setting the marinade aside to braise the meat) and patted it dry with paper towels. Next, I heated approximately two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot and seared the meat on all sides; this helps to lock in the flavorful juices.

The last step was to add the marinade to the pot and cook the chuck roast on low heat. Since this particular cut of meat is thick, I expect to cook it anywhere from 3-5 hours (perhaps longer if I taste it and it reminds me of an old leather shoe with no flavor).

Well now I’m quite excited to see how this dish turns out. Will the flavor profile be delicious? Will the meat fall apart at the mere presence of a knife and fork? Will this entire process all be for naught? Only time will tell. I'm guessing 3-5 hours . . . or more . . .

Dinner tonight will be the true test. Don't worry; I'll keep you in the loop. But if you haven't heard from me in twenty-four hours and you should hear by word of mouth that I've been wheeled into the ER, you'll know it didn't go so well.

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