Prime Rib Eye - Prime Time

As I've mentioned previously, the Year of Meat is affording me the opportunity to cook cuts of meat I had not previously attempted.  I'm now only 16 in to my 59 strong list, and I would guess that at least half of them represent cuts I'd never previously cooked.  I had my standard repertoire, which in my mind wasn't small, but it was obviously far smaller than the full display case of Paulina Market.  So, here I am three months into this quest and I'm finding myself facing the realization that I don't understand the difference between a Rib Eye and a Prime Rib Eye.  I understand Bone-In Rib Eye, thank you very much, and I know what Prime Rib is.  I've ordered Rib Eye in restaurants dozens of times.  And to me, it was about Bone-In vs. Not.  Last night, I learned a valuable lesson in the inclusion of the word "Prime".

I have never been, nor do I believe I ever will be, a fan of government.  But someone over at the USDA knows how to rate meat.  And they gave the word "Prime" to my dinner last night, and they were right!  Now, just a few short weeks ago, I cooked Rib Eyes (sans Prime) that I had marinated in a EVOO/Cajun seasoning combination.  Delicious.  Last night?  What did I use?  Yep, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.  That's it!  No cajun, no sage, no rosemary, no garlic, no EVOO, nothing aside from kosher salt and cracked pepper.  Now, the irony here, and this shows my relative intermediate status here, I ACTUALLY USED A RECIPE TO FIGURE THAT OUT!  But hey, give me some credit here, part of the recipe was the side salad that went with the Prime Rib Eye steaks.  And I nailed that.  Let's talk about my concoction.

First, the recipe.  Got to hand it to Michael Symon's book Carnivore yet again.  His recipe found here  was followed to a T.  As mentioned previously, take those steaks out an hour before grilling time (during which the Big Green Egg was getting fired up and good and hot), and season both sides with fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt and let them sit the hour.  That's right.  Now, during this Year of Meat, I'm going to discuss my side salad.  That's how easy the grilling of these Prime Rib Eyes were.  You need Water Cress (have fun finding THAT in the produce secion), Radishes, Shallot, Champagne Vinegar (yet another lengthy ordeal to several groceries), Blue Cheese (delicious), Dijon Mustard, Honey, Salt  and Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO).  Everything but the Blue Chees, Water Cress and Radishes comprise the dressing.  Keep the dressing off until time to serve the meat.

4.5 minutes per side on the red hot Big Green Egg.  That gave me the Medium Rare (maybe Medium Rare plus) steaks I love.  Let them sit under tin foil for 10 minutes.  Gave me time to mix the dressing onto the salad.  My wife was putting together Crispy Potatoes (the Julia Child version), and we timed it all perfectly.  See picture!!!

What's the difference between Choice and Prime?  When both are cooked perfectly and seasoned well, it's a minor difference.  But you ARE talking about a difference.  When it comes to the quality of both of these cuts at Paulina, it's a bit like asking "How does the best steak of your life compared to the 9th best?".  Both are outrageously delicious.  BUT!...you remember the best of your life.  And that's how I'd explain the difference.

16 Down, 43 to Go!

Boneless Rolled Pork Loin - Bacon Wrapped Pork

Bacon gets a lot of attention.  Deservedly so.  It makes everything better.  But when you take something that is overwhelmingly awesome like a Pork Loin Roast, and wrap it in bacon and roast it, then you obtain a level of greatness rarely reached by a novice cook like myself.  At Day of Meat the past few years, I made it a point to wrap some things in bacon.  A personal favorite from last year were Bacon Wrapped Weenies (coated in a chili powder/brown sugar mix).  And for the many lovers of bacon who attend, I also throw in a little Bacon Wrapped Bacon.  Just take some Canadian Bacon, wrap it in American Bacon, and dip it into the chili powder/brown sugar mix and bake it.  I don't like to cast compliments to myself regularly, trying to retain some humility.  But wrapping Bacon in Bacon is one of the best examples of genius behavior I have ever encountered.  There!  I said it!

Well, clearly smart minds think alike.  Giada De Laurentiis, famed chef from the Food Network, published the Pork Loin Roast I made yesterday.  Check it out here.  I got a beautiful 3.5 lb roast from Paulina, coated in a mixture of honey, dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, garlic and rosemary.  I then layered strips of bacon on it, wrapped it in kitchen twine, and roasted it for one hour, put some foil on it, and brought it to temperature.  I aimed for 135 degrees at the thickest part.

I served it over a bed of arugula (per Giada's instructions) with a homemade dressing of fresh squeezed lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.  The recipe had simplicity, great flavor combinations and bacon.  Love is also a strong word.  Not one to throw around carelessly.  I loved it!

15 down, 44 to go!

London Broil - Messin' with Sasquatch

Based on what appears to be a relatively simple snack like teriyaki beef jerky, you wouldn't realize how much care and time goes into the perfect beef jerky.  And to be honest, I have not mastered perfection at it.  But I'm getting there!  And as stated many times, when you have the highest quality meat and ingredients, a near miss on perfection can still be a delightful meal (in this case, snack).

Let's start with the cut of meat.  There are many options when it comes to making jerky.  I've had venison jerky, antelope jerky and of course, beef jerky.  Looking at my list of beef cuts in my 2014 quest to cook everything in the Paulina meat case, I opted for a beef cut.  And within beef, there are yet again more options.  A favorite of many for jerky is the flank steak.  Paulina Market's favorite for beef jerky is London Broil, and because it's their favorite, it's mine as well.  Let me digress for a moment.

I used to host a golf tournament on the morning of Day of Meat every year.  We started off by calling it the Meat Masters.  Other manifestations included the USDA Open, the London Broil Open and of course the PGA (Prime Grade A).  Yes, I know, I am not normal.  Anyhow, one of the "party favors" I gave everyone on the first tee was teriyaki beef jerky cured, marinated and smoked at Paulina Market.  The way Paulina does it is they actually smoke the entire London Broil cut, uncut.  So when you order their jerky, they are slicing it for you.  By doing it that way, they eliminate some of the drying in the center.  It's purely a matter of preference (and of course time, since the larger the cut, the longer the smoking).

OK.  So back to my cut of London Broil.  I have a homemade salt mixture for curing.  A half pound of regular salt, a quarter of a pound of sugar and 5 teaspoons of pink curing salt.  Everyone has their own combinations.  This one is simple, does the trick and stores easily.  Please note, the is NOT the volume I use for this one cut of London Broil.  That is the just the ratio.  And I use it until it's gone, and then make a new batch..  So, I let the London Broil sit at room temperature for about an hour, and then give the entire thing a rub down with the curing mixture.  You don't want to overdo it, but at the same taken, you want every aspect of it covered.  Now, some will tell you to refrigerate it immediately.  Me?  I say let it sit at room temperature for a day or two.  Room temperature will allow the salt to penetrate.  Refrigeration makes the meat firmer, and will make the salt take longer.  You can let this curing process take place for weeks.  I did 36 hours at room temperature and another 5 days in the fridge.  On the night before you plan to smoke the meat, you need to rinse off the cut.  The salt by now has done the trick, but you don't want all that excess salt in the flavor of the meat.  Put the cut in a wide, deep container and let it sit under a steady stream of cold water in the kitchen sink for an hour or two on each side.  Move the location of the stream so that it is rinsing every inch of the cut.  Then lay the cut out on a bed of towels (paper towels will do) to fully dry it out.  Now, it's time for your jerky flavor du jour.

You can do dry rubs or marinades.  For teriyaki, we go marinade.  A simple homemade teriyaki sauce recipe of soy sauce, ginger, garlic and pepper does the trick.  I sliced the London Broil against the grain (very important for tenderness of each bite) as thinly as possible, and let these slices marinate overnight in a ziploc bag.  Meanwhile, in a bowl of water, I soaked a big Oak wood chunk.  Some use wood chips, I use a veritable log.

To the Big Green Egg we go.  I use about half as much charcoal for smoking as I do for grilling.  Make a little chimney of charcoal, get them lit, get the soaked Oak wood on top and bring the Egg up to temperature.  This is the tricky part.  You want the coals lit so they sustain over time.  But you want the flow of oxygen to be minimal to maintain a temperature of roughly 150 degrees.  For this round of jerky, I will confess things got a little hot.  Although I was able to regulate it down to 150 when things got too hot, I will admit the smoking averaged about 180.  Not my preference, but again, tasty deliciousness can result from human error (assuming top notch ingredients).

Well, when I bit into this jerky about 5 hours later (it would have been 8 hours later if I kept the temp down better), I was wondering if Jack Links' Sasquatch was going to send me airborne over my neighbor's fence.  This jerky (mistake though it was) has an outer crunch and an inner chew that makes texture fans roar their approval.  It lasts weeks in the fridge, but mine won't last another day at the rate I'm going.

14 down, 45 to go!

For those curious, here is the list of cuts, with the completed ones crossed out.  And due to terrible photography skills when I took pictures of all the cuts, the list is growing.  I missed Skirt Steak in my list below.  The irony is that I knew I had to cook it, and already did and wrote about it.  Problem was that it wasn't in my "total count".  So, I've got 59 cuts for the year.  And I've done 14.  So, 45 to go.

BEEF:

New York Strip Steak

Boneless Top Sirloin Steak

Ribeye Steak

Sirloin Steak

T-Bone/Porterhouse Steak

Tenderloin/Filet Steak

Flat Iron Steak

Tomahawk Steak

Bone-In New York Strip Steak

Bone-In Rib Eye Steak
Prime Rib Eye

Prime New York Strip Steak
London Broil

Flank Steak

Round Steak

Ground Chuck

Beef Stew (just meat)

Honeymoon Potroast

Boston Rolled

Roundbone Potroast

Blade Potroast

Sliced Liver

Brisket

Sirloin Tip Roast

Bottom Round

Eye of Round

Rump Roast

Rib Roast

Oxtails

Short Ribs

Shank with Bone

Cubed Steak

Hanger Steak

Skirt Steak

VEAL:

Rolled Roast

Osso Bucco

Boneless

Chops

Ground Veal

Veal Stew (just meat)

LAMB:

Loin Chops

Shoulder (Blade Bone)

Shoulder (Round Bone)

Ground Lamb

Rosettes

Lamb Stew (meat only)

Leg with Bone

Rack of Lamb

PORK:

Tenderloin

Center Cut Chops

Butterflied Chops

Pork Chop Suey (just meat)

Ground Pork

Pork Stew (just meat)

Loin Rolled (Boneless)

Baby Back Ribs

Shoulder

Shanks

Center Cut Pork Roast

Veal Chops - A First Time for Everything

Prior to my veal chop endeavor, I had never cooked any veal of any kind ever.  Some of you may be thinking that there was a deeper reason for not having prepared veal.  Perhaps I was taking a political stand, or didn't like veal that much, or simply never got around to it.  The truth is I was simply afraid I'd mess it up.  You see, I enjoy veal at restaurants immensely.  Veal Parmigiana is a common order of mine at a fine Italian Restaurant, as are Veal Saltimbocca, Osso Bucco and Veal Piccata.  But make it on my own?  Now that's bold.

Insert my 2014 quest to cook everything in Paulina's main case, and veal will be on order several times this year.  So, instead of attempting one of the aforementioned veal dishes I enjoy so much in restaurants, I opted to go all-in, and make a cut I don't believe I've ever had: Pan Seared Roasted Veal Chops with polenta.  It's been several days since I made this, and my mouth is watering all over again.

As far as recipes are concerned, things don't get much easier than this one.  I let the chops come to room temperature for about an hour, coated them with a mixture of kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, olive oil, garlic and fresh chopped rosemary.  See exact measurements here.  I seared them golden brown on both sides using an olive oil coated cast iron skillet.  Put them into a roasting pan and roasted them (I did convection roast at 350) for about 12 minutes.  It really depends on the thickness of the cuts, the size of the bones and your preferred meat temperature.  I landed on Medium Rare and in hindsight, would have preferred a bit closer to Medium Rare Plus or even Medium.  That was due mostly to the size and thickness of the cuts from Paulina, which were delightfully tasteful but a tough gauge when comparing to the cooking time of lamer cuts of the same variety.  But I don't need to preach about my fan club status of Paulina Market.  It's well known enough already.

Along the side, I prepared a very simply polenta.  I've used this recipe for years, generally combining with Italian Sausage with Peppers, but it works really well as an alternative to mashed potatoes for any meals calling for a starch.  And slightly behind my love of all things meat, is my love of all things corn.  Corn Muffins (anyone know a good Corn Muffin in Chicago?  Is that an East Coast thing?), Corn Bread, Corn Meal Crusted Bacon (Yep, go to Toronto and you'll know what I'm talking about), etc.  Anyhow, this polenta recipe is solid.

Out came the veal chops.  I rested them for a few minutes under foil, and then served adjacent to a small bed of polenta.  I laid a fresh sprig of rosemary on them, and check it out....restaurant quality presentation!!!  And restaurant quality!!!

13 Down, 45 To Go!

Rib Eye Steaks - Defying Winter Cajun Style

Saturday night, March 15th, a light dusting of snow hit Chicago with wind chills into the single digits.  As you know, I have complained numerous times about this winter.  I'm done with that.  Instead. I decided to defy winter, and stick hot poker in its eye.  During this light dusting and single digit wind chills, I pried open the Big Green Egg for the first time in 2014, and gave it a metaphorical (and literal) pat on the head the way you would a loyal neighborhood dog who you have not seen in some time, and fired it up.  Just the smell of the natural charcoal burning made me feel like spring may not be far around the corner.  Tick tock tick tock, right?  Anyhow...let's talk Rib Eye Steaks.

I went to Paulina just after it opened on Saturday, and said, "I'm grilling steaks tonight, what should I do?".  Without hesitation, the gentleman said "Rib Eyes".  Done.  I have made steaks many times on a gas grill.  But with the Big Green Egg purchase last spring, the volume of steaks I had done to date was not high, and it did not include Rib Eyes.  That said, I know my steakhouse preparations pretty well, and any good Chicagoan knows that when you rattle off your "top 5" steak joints in the city, Morton's on State has to be one of them.  And when you rattle off your favorite cuts there, "Cajun Rib Eye" has to be there.  Done and one.  I used no recipe.  I followed no scripts.  I just did it.

I cracked fresh pepper and kosher salt on each side of the steaks and rubbed it all in.  I inserted the two steaks into a ziploc bag just big enough to house them flat.  I then mixed 4 teaspoons of Penzey's Cajun seasoning with 1/4 cup EVOO and 1/4 cup garlic infused EVOO (I split for diluting purposes).  Once the seasoning was well integrated with the oil, I poured the mixture into the ziploc bag with the steaks and set them on a plate in the fridge.  These marinated for about 8-9 hours, flipping roughly once per hour.  And about an hour before cooking time, I let them sit at room temperature in the ziploc.

Back to the Big Green Egg.  I got that good and hot (although I grew impatient and didn't wait to get it to 600 degrees), and cooked at about 450 degrees.  Cooking temperatures are a matter of preference.  Me myself?  I like cooking extremely hot, charring the outside but keeping cooking times down to maintain a medium rare center.  Because I was incredibly hungry, and I misfired a bit on the coal distribution, I opted to cook at 450.  This required a slightly longer cooking time, and didn't result in the charring on the outside.  That said, delicious is still delicious, and I had zero complaints with the outcome.  Onto the grill they went.  For about 2.5 minutes, then turned them (not flipped) 90 degrees for another 2.5 minutes.  Then I flipped them and did the same.  The turning just gives the steaks that criss-cross char marks.  Anyhow, off the grill and under some foil for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, inside the warm confines of our kitchen, my wife made some crispy potatoes and french style green beans, or haricots verts for the francophiles among us.  The potatoes were crazy good!  Skin'em, cut'em small (1/2 inch pieces) and boil them until almost tender.  Then fry them in a skillet with some butter.  We ate this amazing meal with a bottle of 2008 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon.  Defying winter doesn't get much better than that.

Rack of Lamb - Bad Math and a Little Lamb

Well, it was bound to happen.  Ten meals into this endeavor, and my denominator has changed.  For the past two months, I was under the impression that there were 57 cuts of meat on my list.  In I went to Paulina, on the quest to pick up a Rack of Lamb, and cook yet another Michael Symon recipe for oven roasted Rack of Lamb.  I did it.  It was delicious, served with Mashed Sweet Potatoes.  But as I opened my computer to write about it (just now), I discover that Rack of Lamb was not on my original list.  I'm not really sure how this happened.  But as it turns out, I achieved progress by cooking my 11th dish of the year.  However, I did not make a dent this time in my remaining list.  As I'll state later, I am now 11 down, 47 to go.  Oh well.  It's a quest I will achieve, and now it just means one extra meal to cook.  I'm not worried.

Let's talk about the rack of lamb.  Last week, my wife and I spent a week in Vail with some good friends.  We dined out. We dined in.  One of our friends who joined us loves to cook, and inevitably the conversation turned to my Year of Meat.  And she said something that rings so true.  "The thing about high quality meat...it's really hard to screw it up."  And when it comes to Paulina, a truer statement has never been stated.  And never mind just "avoiding screwing it up", we nailed it.  I whipped up a rub of lemon zest, fresh rosemary, kosher salt and a touch of sugar.  Rubbed it on the night before.  Seared it on all sides in some canola oil, and roasted it in the oven at 300 degrees until the meat came to 125 degrees.  let it sit for 5 minutes, carved it up, and served with Mashed Sweet Potatoes.  Simple, easy, and ridiculously delicious.  As I have done now three other times already during this quest, Paulina + Michael Symon recipe = Happy Me!

Sorry for the delay in cooking more recipes (skiing in Vail) and for the short entry (heading out to dinner soon).  But there is much more to come.  47 more to be exact (still).

11 down.  47 to go!