Beef

On the Menu Tonight – Sunday Pot Roast with Gravy!

It’s getting cooler outside and that put me in the mood for pot roast. This recipe has a few extra ingredients than my usual pot roast, including cognac and leeks.

To get started on the meal, I prepped all the ingredients. I chopped the carrots, onions, and garlic, as well as sliced the leeks and soaked them in water to get the dirt out. Once everything was in place, I got started.

I seasoned the meat with salt, pepper, and then sprinkled with flour on all sides. Then, I seared the meat on all sides and took it out of the Dutch oven and set aside while I started on the veggies.

With all the veggies chopped and prepped, I simply put those in the pot and cooked them for a bit until they were tender. Then, I added in the cognac, wine, chicken broth, and tomatoes. Once that was brought to a boil, I put it in the oven to cook. At this point, let it go for 90 minutes. When the timer goes off, lower the temperature to 225 degrees and reset the timer for another hour.

When the hour is up, take the pot roast out of the dutch oven and make the gravy. Take about half the liquid and veggies from the pot and put in a blender or food processor. Blitz it until smooth, then add back to the pot. Stir to combine and bring it back to a boil on the stove top. If it isn’t thick enough add a butter/flour paste – about two tablespoons, stir it in and let the sauce thicken. I didn’t need to add it this time.

When the sauce is the desired thickness, you are ready to serve. By this time, the meat has rested at least 5 minutes. Slice it and spoon over that lovely sauce you just made.

This dish is SO comforting and filling. I hope you will try this Sunday Pot Roast and let me know how your version turns out.

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Sunday Pot Roast with Gravy

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By Patrick Dulmage – Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 30 minutes – Cooking Time: 2 hours 30 minutes – Total Time: 3 hours

Sunday Pot Roast with Gravy

Ingredients

• 4-5 lb chuck roast
• 4 carrots - sliced
• 2 onions - diced
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 leeks - chopped (only the white and light green part)
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 can (28 oz) plum tomatoes
• 2 cups red wine
• 2 Tbsp Cognac
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp chicken powder
• 3 branches fresh thyme
• 3 branches fresh rosemary (tie the thyme and rosemary together so it's easier to remove from the pot)
• Kosher Salt
• Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

2

Pre-heat Dutch oven to high heat

3

Season the meat on all sides with salt, pepper, and flour

4

Sear the meat on all sides - 3-5 minutes per side

5

Once the meat is seared, remove from Dutch oven and set aside

6

Lower the heat to medium-high

7

Add the onions, leeks, carrots, and celery (reserve the garlic) - season with salt and pepper

8

Let the veggies cook until tender, about 10 minutes

9

Add the wine and Cognac and bring to a boil

10

Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, thyme, rosemary, and chuck roast

11

Bring to a boil, then put it in the oven for 90 minutes

12

When the timer goes off, lower the temperature to 225 degrees and cook one more hour

13

When the timer goes off, take the Dutch oven out, take the meat out and set aside

14

Take about half the liquid and veggies out of the pot (use a measuring cup or ladle), and put it in a blender or food processor

15

Since it's hot, don't fill the blender more than half way and start the blender slowly

16

When the mixture is smooth, add it back to the Dutch oven and stir to combine

17

Let it reduce a bit and if it isn't thick enough, now is the time to add the flour/butter paste to thicken it

18

Taste the sauce and see if you need to add the chicken powder or other seasoning

19

Once the pot roast has rested at least 5 minutes, slice it and spoon over the sauce

20

Serve immediately

On the Menu Tonight – Beef Brisket!

I’ve tried a few times, more than a few times, to cook a beautifully tender beef brisket and failed. The main failure was two things. The meat wasn’t tender and it wasn’t juicy.

I tried again today and we’re getting there. The meat wasn’t dry and it was more tender than the last time. Before I go on, there are a few main types of cook on a brisket in my opinion. There’s the oven roasted brisket your grandma did with the Lipton onion soup mix and there’s the competition BBQ pit-master brisket with the smoke ring. Tonight, I was going for the oven roasted version with the dry rub one would use when smoking the brisket. I didn’t do a braising liquid, or veggies – just the meat rubbed down with the BBQ rub. The rub was a simple, paprika, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder mix.

Similar to what the BBQ folks would do, I patted the meat dry with paper towels and then liberally coated all sides with my rub. I wrapped it in cling wrap and put it in the fridge over night.

For the day of the cook, I took it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature and pre-heated the oven to 225 degrees. I put the meat in a cast iron braising pot, a Dutch oven will do fine if you don’t have a braising pot, and let it go for three hours. Here’s where the fail happened in the past. Most recipes I’ve read have you take it out around the three hour mark. Whenever I have done that, mine comes out tough. It tastes good, but it’s not that tender cut you are looking for. I cut the heat to 205 degrees and let it go another 1/2 hour.

When the timer goes off, pull it from the oven, but let it rest in the braiser for at least an hour. It will still be cooking, but coming down in temperature slowly. After it has had a chance to rest, slice it and serve with your choice of sides.

I hope the next time you decide to cook a brisket, you will try my version. Let me know how it turns out!

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Oven Roasted Beef Brisket

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By Patrick Dulmage – Serves: 8-10

Prep Time: 1 day – Cooking Time: 3 1/2 hours – Total Time: 1 day 3 1/2 hours

Oven Roasted Beef Brisket

Ingredients

• 3 lb beef brisket
• 1/4 cup dry rub:
• 1 part onion powder
• 1 part garlic powder
• 1 part paprika
• 1 part ground black pepper
• 1 part Kosher Salt

Instructions

1

Pat the brisket dry with paper towels

2

Liberally season the meat on all sides with the rub of your choice. I made my own, but feel free to use whatever rub you like

3

Wrap the meat in cling wrap and put back in the fridge over night (add'l days in fridge are fine)

4

Pre-heat the oven to 225 degrees

5

Put the meat in a cast iron braising pot with a heavy lid

6

Bake for 3 hours

7

At the three hour mark, lower oven temp to 205 degrees and let it bake another 30 minutes

8

Pull from the oven and let it rest at least an hour before serving

On the menu tonight – Beef Brisket, Rice, and Cheese Burritos!

I made a brisket the other night, and I’m already working on things I can do with it. Steak burritos are awesome, so I decided to make a batch of burritos.

Steak burritos from my local Mexican place are so delicious and were the inspiration for what I made tonight. I tried to keep it pretty simple as far as ingredients, beef, onions, peppers, cheese, and rice. Red bell pepper and jalapeno were the peppers. The burritos were seasoned pretty simply with some ground cumin, salt and pepper. Mexican cheese blend and queso blanco were the cheeses used. I kind of went crazy on the cheese at the store, buying the Mexican blend, Queso blanco, another pre-shredded queso blanco cheese, and a pre-made queso blanco with jalapenos like you get when you order cheese dip.

The pre-shredded queso blanco tasted pretty much like mozzarella and decided I won’t be using that again. I tasted the pre-made queso blanco with jalapenos and while it was pretty good decided not to use it for this application.

The only fussy thing about this dish was folding the burritos. I decided to use measuring cups to make sure that I could roll each one shut consistently. In the end, I was really happy with the way they turned out. I hope the next time you are craving Mexican food, you will try Beef Brisket Burritos!

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Beef Brisket, Rice and Cheese Burritos

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By Patrick Dulmage – Serves: 8

Prep Time: 15 minutes – Cooking Time: 45 minutes – Total Time: 1 hour

Beef Brisket, Rice and Cheese Burritos

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs cooked beef brisket, shredded or chopped
• 8 large flour tortillas
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 Vidalia Onion, diced
• 1 Jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
• 3-4 cups Mexican cheese blend, shredded
• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups water or chicken stock
• 2-3 Tbsp Rotelle tomatoes and chiles
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1

Pre-heat a large skillet over med-high heat

2

Add olive oil onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño

3

Cook the mixture beyond translucent and let it get a little darker

4

Once done, cut the heat, add the brisket, mix, and let it cool

5

If you haven't already, start on the rice

6

Rinse the rice and then add it along with the chicken stock to a small pot

7

Bring the water and rice to a boil, then simmer 12 minutes

8

If it doesn't look light and fluffy allow more time to finish cooking

9

Once finished, add the Rotelle tomatoes and stir to combine

10

With the rice finished, warm the tortillas to make them pliable

11

Add about a 1/4 cup of the rice mixture on a tortilla

12

Sprinkle some shredded cheese, not too much, on the rice

13

Add about 1/4-1/2 cup of the brisket, onion, pepper mixture

14

Tightly roll the burrito and put in a baking dish

15

Repeat for the rest of the burritos

16

Top the burritos with some more cheese

17

Bake for about 30 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and a little browned

18

Serve with sour cream and your favorite salsa

On the Menu Tonight – Beef Short Ribs with Polenta!

When I was shopping the other day, I saw a package of beef short ribs marked way down. They looked great, no discoloration, so I got them. I let them dry age in my fridge for a day by taking them out of the packaging, patting them dry, and putting them on a plate. If you didn’t know, doing this process with any cut of beef helps reduce some of that water content and intensifies the beefy flavor.

This recipe is really easy, but it does take some time. I seasoned the beef with seasoned salt and pepper. I also used some seasoned flour – it was pre-made, so I’m not sure all the spices. When I make my seasoned flour, I’ll put pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and maybe some paprika. Brown the seasoned short ribs, then add the veggies, then the stock (beef and chicken), as well as the wine. Let it come to a boil, then put in the oven for about 3 hours.

When you are close to done with the beef, start your polenta. You can serve the polenta relatively loose, or you could cook it ahead of time, spread it on a sheet pan, let it cool, and cut it into squares or rectangles, then serve the short ribs on top.

If you wanted to shorten the cook time, you could do the short ribs in a pressure cooker. I may do another version using the pressure cooker. However you decide to prepare it, let me know how your version turns out!

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Beef Short Ribs with Polenta

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By Patrick Dulmage – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 30 minutes – Cooking Time: 3.5 hours – Total Time: 4 hours

Beef Short Ribs with Polenta

Ingredients

• Short Ribs:
• 12-16 beef short ribs
• 2-3 carrots, sliced, or diced
• 1 Vidalia onion, diced
• 2 celery stocks, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, mince
• 3-4 Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 12 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
• 2-3 cups seasoned flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika (to coat the short ribs)
• 2-3 cups red wine (not cooking wine, use something you drink)
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1-2 green onions, finely chopped for garnish
• Polenta:
• 1 cup polenta
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Instructions

1

Pre-heat oven to 225 degrees

2

Pre-heat large cast iron skillet to medium-high heat

3

Pat dry the short ribs with a paper towel

4

Season the short ribs with seasoned salt, kosher salt, and onion powder

5

Add the seasoned ribs to the pan and get a good crust on both sides

6

Work in batches so you don't crowd the pan, only do 4-5 at a time

7

Once the last of the short ribs are done, add the onions, celery, and carrots, cook about 5 minutes

8

Add the tomatoes, garlic, beef and chicken stock, and the wine

9

Put in the oven for 90 minutes

10

After 90 minutes, add the potatoes and put back in the oven for another 90 minutes

11

When you are t-minus 45-60 minutes, start the polenta

12

Add the stock and milk to a pot and bring to a boil

13

Once it comes to a boil, slowly pour in the polenta to avoid clumps and reduce heat to low

14

Stir the polenta for about 5-10 minutes and cut the heat

15

Let the polenta sit 30 minutes before serving

16

When you pull the short ribs from the oven, put the meat on a plate

17

Pour some of the veggies and liquid in a blender to make a nice sauce

18

Plating:

19

Put the polenta down first

20

Put two to three short ribs on top of the polenta

21

Spoon on some of the sauce

22

Garnish with chopped green onions or chopped parsley

On the menu tonight – Beef and Cheese Enchiladas with Jalapeno Peppers!

Full disclosure, there were mistakes made in the process of making this dish, but it turned out really well. One of the best lessons you can learn in cooking is how to pivot and adapt when you make a mistake or realize after you started that you don’t have a particular ingredient.

In my case, I accidentally grabbed a can of green enchilada sauce rather than the red sauce. I decided to go with it and see what happens. I guarantee that if you walked in as I pulled these enchiladas from the oven you wouldn’t turn your nose up because they have green enchilada sauce. I was doing a happy dance when I tasted them.

Another important lesson in cooking is learning how to use what you have on hand. I had a lot of peppers on hand, and I knew they would be perfect in enchiladas, so in they went! In this case, I had a habanero, a poblano, and some canned diced jalapeno. The flavors were fantastic! Since I de-seeded the habanero, they won’t melt your face. Poblano peppers are pretty big, so I only used about a quarter of it with one pound of meat. Despite all the peppers, it wasn’t overly spicy.

Once I sautéed the onions and peppers, I added the ground beef and browned it. The entire cooking time on the stove was about 15 minutes and another 5-10 minutes for assembly. There wasn’t anything complicated about this dish and it tastes as good or better than anything I’ve had at a Mexican restaurant.

I hope the next time you are in the mood for enchiladas, I hope you will try my version of Beef Enchiladas!

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Beef Enchiladas with Jalapeno Peppers

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Dinner – Mexican

By Patrick Dulmage – Serves: 4-6

Beef Enchiladas with Jalapeno Peppers

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 medium Vidalia onion, diced
• 2 oz diced jalapeno peppers (I had some left over canned diced jalapeno)
• 1/4 poblano pepper, diced
• 1 habanero pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 large corn or flour tortillas
• 1 28 oz can red or green enchilada sauce
• 1 cup beef broth
• 3 cups grated cheddar cheese or cheddar/Monterrey jack mix
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp flour
• Kosher Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

2

In a large skillet, add the olive oil, onions, and peppers

3

Cook about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent

4

Add the ground beef, break it up and brown with the onions and peppers

5

Season with salt and pepper

6

Once the ground beef is browned, about 5 minutes, add the flour and cook an additional 2 minutes

7

Add the beef stock, mix to combine, and let the sauce reduce and thicken

8

Add the garlic and continue to cook another 2-3 minutes

9

Cut the heat on the meat mixture and set aside

10

In another pan, or put the meat mixture in a bowl and use the same large skillet for the enchilada sauce

11

Add the enchilada sauce and heat over medium heat

12

Get a 13x9 baking dish

13

Cover the bottom of the baking dish with a light coating of the heated enchilada sauce

14

Dip the tortillas in the enchilada sauce and put in the baking dish

15

Spoon the meat mixture in a line on the tortilla in the center... ish

16

Sprinkle some of the grated cheese on top of the meat mixture

17

Tightly roll the enchilada and then repeat with the rest of the tortillas, meat, and cheese

18

Once all the tortillas are filled, sprinkle a little cheese on top (This isn't the time to smother them in cheese)

19

If you have any meat mixture left over, evenly distribute it on the sides and/or ends of the enchiladas

20

Bake for 20-25 minutes

21

After they bake, take out the enchiladas and let rest for at least 5-10 minutes before serving

On the menu tonight – Sous Vide New York Strip!

What in the world is Sous Vide (pronounced Soo Veed)?

Sous Vide cooking is the process of sealing food in an airtight container —usually a vacuum sealed bag—and then cooking that food in temperature-controlled water. The only special equipment you HAVE to have is the sous vide cooker, which can be had for around a hundred bucks. While you can cook the food in ziplock type bags (and I have done that a LOT), it’s better if you get a vacuum sealer to seal the food in that. A vacuum sealer can be used for a lot of things, so it wouldn’t be a uni-tasker (as Alton Brown would say). Here’s a link with some pictures of the cooker.

Back to the steak! This dish is top shelf worthy, I’m not kidding, but it isn’t something you will whip up in 30 minutes. If I want a steak, I will plan at least a week out. I’ll start by doing a dry age in the fridge. The day of the cook, I’ll bring the steak to room temperature (do this no matter what method you plan to cook your meat) and then season with Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper. That’s it, nothing else. Maybe, sometimes, hardly ever, I’ll put a sprig of fresh rosemary and/or thyme in the sous vide bag. If you plan to marinade the steak, sous vide is awesome! By vacuum sealing the meat with the marinade, it gets that flavor in quicker.

Cooking sous vide, you put that vacuum sealed bag in a vessel of water (it could be anything that will hold enough water and be able to clamp the cooker to a side. It cooks at a precise temperature and will never rise above that temp. SO, whatever temperature you like your steak, set it to that temp and BOOM! Your steak will come out PERFECT every time. Here’s the best part. Since the temp never rises above the desired temp, you can set it to cook at a certain time (of course allowing time for the cook) and you can stop it when you’re ready. With a steak, you probably don’t want it to cook more than about 2 hrs beyond the finish time, but that’s a BIG window to work with.

But there is one more step after you take it out of the bag. Since the steak has been cooking in the bag, it doesn’t have that beautiful sear. You will need to finish it either on the grill or in a cast iron pan. I like to fire up the grill as hot as I can get it, then I’ll sear the steak on each side for about a minute – that’s it! It is already perfectly cooked, so the only thing you need to do on the grill or pan is get the sear you want. If you decide to sear it in a pan, you can do it with butter and the thyme and/or rosemary while basting it. When I grill it, I’ll sometimes put a pat of compound garlic butter on it after it comes off the grill.

I keep talking about steak, but there are a BUNCH of things you can do with a sous vide cooker. I invite you to do some googling for some of the many things you can do with it. You want perfectly cooked chicken? Sous vide! Again, it has to be finished after or else you end up with very flabby, soggy, undesirable skin. SO, you could sous vide the chicken to not quite done and then finish it in the fryer, without worrying whether the chicken is cooked through.

I hope you’ll explore the world of sous vide cooking. Let me know what YOU make.

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New York Strip - Sous Vide

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By Patrick Dulmage – Serves: 1

Prep Time: 1 week – Cooking Time: 1 hr 20 minutes – Total Time: 1 week 1 hr 20 min

New York Strip - Sous Vide with mashed potatoes

Ingredients

• 16-20 New York Strip steak
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Mashed Potatoes:
• 1.5 - 2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 stick butter
• 4 oz cream cheese, cubed
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Compound Butter:
• 1/2-1 stick of butter, room temperature
• 1 garlic clove, minced through garlic press
• 1 tsp Kosher salt

Instructions

1

The Dry Age:

2

When you get the steak home from the store, remove it from it's wrapper and pat it dry

3

Put the steak on a plate, uncovered

4

Every day, turn the steak and pat both sides dry (you could also put the steak on a wire rack to allow airflow on both sides)

5

Cook Day:

6

Season the steak with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

7

Seal the steak in the vacuum bag (if you don't have a vacuum sealer, you can use a good quality re-seal-able bag. Consider double bagging)

8

Set up the sous vide cooker including vessel with water

9

Add the sealed steak to the vessel and set the temperature to your preference of "doneness", I like my steak medium rare and I set it at 129 degrees. Below is chart of the various levels of cook

10

Medium rare 125° F to 130° F 1-4 hours

11

Medium 135° F to 140° F 1-4 hours

12

Medium well 145° F to 150° F 1-3 1/2 hours

13

Well done 160° F and above 1-3 hours

14

While the steak is cooking, you can start on the mashed potatoes. Boil the quartered potatoes until fork tender

15

Drain the potatoes and put back in the pot

16

Add the butter, cream cheese, milk, salt, pepper, and mash

17

Taste and adjust seasoning as needed

18

For the compound butter, mix together the butter, garlic, and salt, then refrigerate

19

Pre-heat the grill or cast iron pan to high

20

Take the steak out of the bag, pat dry

21

Put on the grill and let it sear for 30 - 45 seconds, then give it a quarter turn for the cross-hatch grill marks

22

After it has cooked another 30 seconds, flip and repeat the process for the other side

23

Plate the steak with the potatoes and add a pat of the butter on top of the steak

Notes

I know not everyone is going to dry age their steak, but DO give it a try At the very least, when you get the steak home from the store, take it out of that pack with the "diaper" underneath it. If you plan to cook the steak that night, pat it dry and put it on a plate in the fridge uncovered. It sounds counter-intuitive, but the steak will be juicier. If you aren't going to cook the steak the day you bring it home, pat it dry and re-wrap as tightly as you can with saran-wrap and put in fridge or freezer.