Text 8039, 80 rader
Skriven 2013-12-20 11:07:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DALE SHIPP
Ärende: steaks 615
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I had the dubious pleasure of cooking some sirloin strips
from Giant last night. Annie had got them on special, 40%
off an original price of $17 or something. 12 ouncers. The
package said "certified Angus," but what came out were
flabby and a little wet and textureless - not great
ambassadors for the brand. 12 ounces is too small for a
steak - again I'd rather have half a 24 ouncer than a whole
one of this size.

Anyhow, I told Annie that I wanted to do them on the flat
grill, but she hauled one out with the grill mark bars.
Not until cleanup time did I realize that if I'd just
flipped it, the other side was flat. Duh.

The problem was that the idiot bars mean that most of the
meat isn't exposed to sufficient heat, so you get these
pale things with grill marks, which is unattractive to me
and my taste buds. I am not sure the meat would have been
better treated by the flat griddle: I suspect it was too
poor to be much improved, but a bit of that maillard
reaction couldn't have hurt. Another issue is that the
window that I am used to opening to prevent the smoke
alarm from going off has been weighted down by a stained
glass window of a cat, so I was loath to get the iron
hot enough to be effective - I suspect it was at maybe
400F, and I'd have needed it to be smoking and 500+ for
me to have been able to get any umami out of those pallid
little muscles.

The reason I'm addressing this to you is that this beef
tasted completely unaged. I believe that certified Angus
has a minimum aging standard, not to mention my doubt
that it was Angus at all, much less certified. (Also,
this was from Giant, which is different from your Giant
and not so good nor of so high a reputation, but is now
combined under the Royal A corporate umbrella.) The meat
even sufficiently salted and peppered tasted like stewed
veal and had a texture that was what I'd expect the
diaper underneath in the package to be like - fibrous and
not really meatlike. If the fat on the edge hadn't tasted
fresh and good I'd have suspected it as being a failed
try to make a mock steak.

Now that I think of it and am on a roll, I suspect also
that the weights were short - the 1 1/2 lb claimed on
the packages was overstating the case, and 1 1/4 would
be a generous estimate per two steaks (we did 2 packages,
as the neighbors came over).

Quinoa Eetch (Red Tabouli/Mock Kheyma)
cat: salad, tabboulleh, tabouli, tabbouli, etc., Armenian
yield: 1 batch

1 c quinoa
2 c Hunt's tomato sauce
1/2 bn parsley - chopped
3 to 4 scallions - chopped
1 lg onion - diced fine
1 lg green bell pepper - diced fine
1/4 c lemon juice
Drizzle of olive oil
1 ds cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring sauce and quinoa to a slow boil.  Reduce heat to a
simmer and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until
quinoa blooms - the grains will open and you'll see little
tendrils unfurl.  Remove from heat and let cool to room
temperature.  Stir in everything else and let it chill
for a while for the flavors to meld.  Depending on how
much of the sauce was absorbed by the quinoa, you might
want to loosen it up with some additional tomato sauce.
No need to cook it - that was about the quinoa, not the
sauce.

http://hyethymecafe.blogspot.com

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