Colors do matter...

My last post, Half-Smashed with Garlic Baked Potatoes, is a potato variation I cooked up to go with some short ribs I was serving to visiting friends. Short ribs braise at a leisurely pace — this is certainly a weekend dish unless you work at home — and they are rich and beefy, so I wanted a potato that was light and on the “lesser” side. Here are the port and red wine braised short ribs, but this time I paired them with a silky carrot purée, which I’ll be posting later this week. With food, one thing leads to another.

Food inspirations also start with misremembered meals, as is the case here. On a celebratory trip to Jar, Suzanne Tracht’s beautiful restaurant in Los Angeles, I remembered that someone had ordered braised short ribs. This short-term memory defect led to some happy experimentation with short ribs. Only trouble is, it was actually a lamb shank, so I have more work ahead!

I didn’t grow up with short ribs on the ol’ home menu, which surprises me considering the amount of beef we ate in Oklahoma. It’s a simple dish that can’t go wrong and a good one to have in your back pocket. Beef ribs are less expensive than many other cuts of meat and can be raised up from humble to sublime. Long, slow braising renders them tender and luxurious, and since they cook with the bone, the broth and meat are more intensely flavored over time. I like to serve them with the bone attached since it makes an interesting plate and makes me think of the Flintstones.

The way these ribs are cut is called “English-style” (as opposed to “flanken”) and they are cut into separate, cross-cut pieces. The best ones are from the rib and the chuck section of the cow, with the rib ones being a little more tender and lean. My butcher didn’t distinguish between the two, so I just bought “short ribs.” After four hours of cooking, they’ll be tender, believe me.

Braised Beef Short Ribs | 4 to 6 servings

I’ve called this 4 to 6 servings since the amount of meat on the ribs varies radically. Most eaters want only one, but there is the occasional rib that has very little meat on it. Short ribs are intensely marbled with fat, so look carefully for the meatiest and largest ones. Trim away some of the fat before cooking, if necessary.

6 large English-style short ribs, about 4 inches in length
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 large pinch dried sage
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large carrots
2 celery ribs
5 whole garlic cloves
6-inch sprig of rosemary
4 cups good quality beef broth or stock (look for low sodium, if possible)
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup port (or additional red wine)

Trim the ribs of any obvious large pieces of fat. Pat dry.

They are quite marbled but that's what makes them so tender

Sprinkle the ribs all over with the salt, onion powder, sage and pepper. Place in a plastic bag and refrigerate for several hours or as much as two days.

This is a dry brine -- the longer it's left on the meat, the more it permeates it

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Heat the oil over medium-high in a heavy skillet and brown the ribs, in batches, on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes altogether for each batch.

Start with the fattiest side down in order to render some of the fat

A nice brown crust flavors the braising liquid

Even brown the "sides" a little

While the ribs are browning, chop the carrots and celery and smash the garlic cloves. Coarsely chop the rosemary leaves.

No onion here since the ribs have caramelized onion on top

Begin heating the beef stock in a heavy ovenproof pot with a lid. As the ribs finish browning, place them in the warming stock.

When the ribs are browned, add the carrots, celery and garlic to the skillet and cook until they begin to color, about 8 minutes.

Some of the browned bits from the ribs will coat the vegetables, which is part of the flavoring

They only need to color a little

Add the vegetables to the broth with the ribs.

Pour the wine and port into the hot pan and deglaze the pan by scraping up any remaining browned bits. Boil the wine for 5 minutes to reduce it slightly and add it to the ribs.

The liquid loosens the browned protein bits from the bottom of the pan

Much of the alcohol will have cooked off, leaving a nice concentrated wine flavor

Cover tightly with the lid and place in the preheated 300°F oven. Cook for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. The ribs should be very tender when pierced gently with a fork.

Remove the ribs from the braising liquid, taking care to keep the bone attached if possible. If not, reserve the bone to serve on the plate with the meat. Strain the liquid through a sieve, into a deep bowl.

There is still lots of good flavor in these vegetables

Set the braising liquid aside. Over another bowl, mash the vegetables through the sieve as much as possible and reserve until needed.

My sieve is very fine, so this took a while -- just do as much as you can

Defat the braising liquid by thoroughly cooling the liquid and removing the congealed fat on the top, or by the following method:

I picked up this method from a reader comment in Cooks Illustrated -- using a slotted spoon, gently drop a few ice cubes into the slightly cooled liquid

Swirl the ice cubes for a second or two

Lift the cubes out of the broth -- they will be covered with congealed fat and can be discarded. Repeat with more ice cubes until the fat is removed

Return the defatted braising liquid and the mashed vegetables to the stockpot and heat.

The mashed vegetables are a natural thickener, plus they add tons of flavor

Return the ribs to the pot and keep warm until ready to serve.

Serve ribs with the bone (either attached or under the meat) and spoon the braising liquid over the top. Garnish with Caramelized Onions, below.

Trio of Caramelized Onions | 2 cups

These are made in an hour or a little more, but they can keep cooking for a deeper caramelization, up to 3 hours.

1 large red onion
1 large yellow onion
1 large white onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of dried sage

Slice all the onions.

They all cook down to a small but intense relish

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt and dried sage. Toss once to coat with oil.

Let the onions sizzle undisturbed for 3 minutes. Turn once.

They won't have started browning just yet

Let sizzle again for another 3 minutes, and then turn again. Repeat this step two more times until you see the onions beginning to get brown.

They are starting to color now

After the fourth turn, reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered, for an hour, stirring from time to time to keep the onions from sticking. If they begin to get too dry, cover the pot. Uncover again for the last 15 minutes of cooking.

The longer you cook them, the deeper brown they will become -- just take care to keep stirring them periodically

Cook until nice and brown, or longer for a deeper color.

Onions can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks, and are excellent on sandwiches.

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2010 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Mood lighting and a selection of small houses set amidst a snow drift -- Dad's specialty

I might have called this “Christmas Pwnd (daugher #2 correction, pronounced ‘pohnd’)” if I had the guts, but I don’t. Okay, some of you know what “pwnd” means, but I quite possibly do not. Any online definitions just use other words I don’t fully understand, like “schooled” or “punk’d,” which in a strange way gives me the nervous giggles. But I feel this (white!) Christmas was “pwnd” because everything we made was successful — we owned Christmas dinner. We didn’t overcook the roast, made perfect Yorkshire pudding, concocted some amazing Brussels sprouts that were eaten by haters of same, and pulled a dessert out of the hat due to a freak snowstorm.

I say “we” because the two daughters really jumped in this year, as well as nieces and a sister-in-law. Daughter #2 took all the pictures with her point-and-shoot. I didn’t haul my bigger camera to Oklahoma (where we spent the holidays) so she stepped up. Daughter #1 made the delicious and appetizing appetizer, a Thomas Keller/Ratatouille (the rat)-inspired construction, and the dessert, an adaptation of an adaptation of an adaptation.

This is so easy and I dare you to stop eating it when it's warm

The snow started midday on Christmas Eve, after first rain then sleet. That’s never a good mix and sure enough, family members trying to get to Tulsa that day were stuck in Norman, Oklahoma at a Motel 6 under a foot of snow. Those same relatives were bringing dessert, so we knew we had to pull something together and we wouldn’t be able to get to the store. A little internet action produced the recipe, and improvisation on the fruit produced a lovely combination.

So here’s the whole menu for the evening of December 24:

White Bean Purée, Roasted Squash & Tomatoes with Chive Oil and Crostini
Prime Rib Roast with Rosemary Port Wine Sauce & Horseradish Cream
Caramelized Cipollini
Yorkshire Pudding
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Maple
Blueberry, Raspberry & Cranberry Cobbler

A Few Words About Rib Roast, Yorkshire Pudding, Port Wine Sauce & Horseradish Cream

We were expecting 13 people, so I started with a 4-rib, 10 pound beef roast, which I got at Whole Foods. The beef came from Idaho — strange, since Oklahoma has some wonderful beef, but it’s amazingly hard to find locally sourced beef in Tulsa. For lots of leftovers, get a 5-rib roast, but this one served us all with some left. The roast was already tied. Bring the roast to room temperature before cooking, which means out of the fridge for a couple of hours, covered lightly.

Have on hand a very good quality meat thermometer. We had the old plug-and-leave-in type, which will not do. My mother also had an unreliable analog quick-reading thermometer, and with $100 worth of meat to roast, we decided to get a new digital thermometer. My brother was sent on this errand, and he brought home the thermometer of the gods: an instant read, plug-and-leave-in digital one that sits outside the oven. Well worth the $20 for future meat cooking.

Preheat the oven to 450°F to sear the roast. Put several rosemary sprigs in the bottom of a roasting pan. Place the roast in the pan, ribs down. Pat dry with paper towels and rub several tablespoons of softened butter on the exposed ends of the roast. Sprinkle with pepper but not salt. Leave uncovered.

Cook the roast for 15 minutes at 450°F, reduce the heat to 325°F and continue cooking until the meat thermometer registers 120°F for rare. Baste the roast a couple of times while it cooks. Our roast took about 2 hours to reach this temperature. Remove from the oven and cover with a loose foil tent and “rest” the meat for 15 to 20 minutes. This allows the juices to retreat back to the center of the meat, leaving it juicy instead of dry. The roast will continue to cook while it rests, so it’s important not to go much past 120°F when you take it out of the oven if you want rare meat. Keep in mind that the roast will cook an additional 5 to 7 degrees when you decide which zone to aim for on this chart:

120°F to 125°F: Rare
130°F to 135°F: Medium-rare
140°F to 145°F: Medium
150°F: Much above this and a rib roast may not be your best option!

This meat has been well-rested

To carve the meat, turn it on its side on a cutting board that will collect the juices. Cutting close along the rib bones, sever the meat from the ribs. They can be set aside and used later. Turn the meat back upright and slice across the grain. Use a newly sharpened knife for this.

The Yorkshire pudding cooks while the meat is resting, but make the batter early in the day and leave it in the refrigerator. It also benefits from resting, as do we all. Yorkshire pudding can be made in the roasting pan, but I find it awkward to remove the roast, pour off some of the fat, and start the pudding. I use a large Pyrex baking dish, and you can also use popover pans for individual servings.

3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/3 cup roasting pan drippings

Whisk the eggs with the salt, beat in the milk and then the flour. Set the batter aside in the refrigerator until needed. After the roast comes out of the oven, raise the temperature to 450°F. Using a baster, pull about 1/3 cup of drippings from the roasting pan and pour into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Heat the dish in the oven for 5 minutes, remove, and pour in the batter. Cook for 20 minutes, or until the pudding is very puffy and golden. Serve immediately.

There's never enough -- consider making two

For the Port Wine Sauce, start early in the day as well. Sauté one large shallot with a tablespoon or so of butter in a heavy saucepan until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of good-quality port and the chopped leaves of a sprig of fresh rosemary. Burble over medium-low heat until reduced somewhat, about 30 minutes. Add 2 cups of chicken stock and burble another 30 or 45 minutes. Mix 2 tablespoons of softened butter with 2 tablespoons flour on a plate. Drop in pinches of the butter/flour paste, whisking after each addition until the sauce is very slightly thickened — you may not need all of the paste. Season with pepper and serve.

Adds to the amazing aromas in the kitchen

Finally, to make a simple Horseradish Cream, add 2 tablespoons of cream-style horseradish or more, to taste, to 1 1/2 cups of sour cream. Mix in a pinch of sugar, thin slightly with half & half and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until needed. Chives make a nice addition to this, too.

By seven o'clock it was looking like this outside, right out the front door

A Few More Words About Cipollini, Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Brussels Sprouts

Cipollini show up sometime in the fall, and they are my favorite onion. They require some prep, but the flavor is worth it. Drop whole cipollini in boiling water and blanch for a minute or so. Remove and cool slightly. Leaving the root and stem-end intact, pull off the top papery layer. In a heavy saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt, and cook them gently, turning every so often, until deeply coloring, about an hour. Season with pepper and parsley and serve.

So sublime

Sprinkle with a little parsley and serve alongside the beef

That something so simple as mashed potatoes can be so controversial — what potato to use, how to mash it, how to make it garlicky. Here’s what I have concluded: use a plain old russet potato. They break down enough to mash up beautifully. Boil them halved in salted water. Simmer whole cloves of garlic in butter until tender, about 20 minutes, mash with a fork, add half and half, heat to bubbling, and use this to mash into the potatoes. When the potatoes are done, drain off the water, put the pot back on the heat, and toss the potatoes to cook off the excess water. Keep on low while you’re mashing them. Use an old-fashioned potato masher, and a lot of elbow grease. Whipping them makes them gummy, and a ricer is too much work. Add more half and half, if needed, or butter, if wanted, or chicken stock (thank you sister-in-law!) and mash and beat like heck until they are really silky (again, thank you sis-in-law). Season liberally with salt and pepper along the way. If you are holding them over very low heat or reheating them in the oven, they can be a bit “wetter” to start.

Not photogenic but a classic with the beef

Trim and cook the Brussels sprouts until just tender when pierced with a skewer. Cool and halve. Chop a couple of strips of good-quality bacon and cook in a large skillet until brown but not crisp. Add the Brussels sprouts, herbs de Provence, salt and pepper and sauté until browning. Add a teaspoon or so of maple syrup and toss another minute.

I have to thank my Brussels sprouts *doubting* niece for making these

So after the wine and coffee and a game of Balderdash, we were off to be snug in our beds. While we slept, it snowed even more. And only a few times in my life has Christmas Day looked like this:

I was dreaming of it...

Kelly McCune © 2010

©2010 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Just the thing on a chilly evening

This past summer Daughter #1 went on a French Onion Soup jag, producing several delicious versions of this classic dish for us. As I saw it, the only problem was that this soup was rich and seemed “wintery” for 95°+ Los Angeles. But the chill has returned to the air around here, and it’s down to an icy 54° at night. This is when I crave the flavor of deep caramelized onions and…brisket.

The memory of those great onion soups and the hibernation-like urge for brisket motivated me to combine the best elements of both. What I came up with took me to yet another place, deep in the recesses of my memory: Aunt Laria’s brisket. Aunt Laria was not really my aunt (in the current era of first-names only, do parents do this any more — designate a close family friend as “aunt” to skirt the whole Mr./Mrs. thing?). Anyway, Aunt Laria shredded her brisket after hours of cooking, and we slopped it straight from the pot onto great palettes of Wonderbread schmeared with margarine. Okay, what I’ve come up with here isn’t exactly like that, but the ideas collided in my brain.

Brisket is a cut located below the shoulder or chuck, and above the shank. It is the best cut for corned beef and is also a great cut for standard pot roast since it has enough streaky fat to keep the meat tender and moist.

Brisket has a very obvious "grain" along which it will be shredded

The extra step of caramelizing the onions before cooking them with the beef adds depth of flavor to the broth, making this something between a pot roast and a stew. The “crouton” from French Onion Soup makes its appearance, but instead of Gruyere there is tangy horseradish cream for the top. Make this on the weekend when you have the time, and when you can luxuriate with the crossword (or the football game) while the kitchen fills with the smells of a good meal to come.

French Onion Brisket | 4 to 6 servings

Four servings if you want leftovers, which are good on top of noodles with some horseradish cream stirred in. Allow about 1/3 pound of beef per person, and allow 1 large onion for every pound of brisket.

3 pounds beef brisket
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 very large onions
1/2 cup dry red wine
6 whole garlic cloves
2 sprigs fresh sage
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 cups (32 ounces) beef broth
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons half & half
1 heaping tablespoon creamy-style horseradish
Pinch of sugar
8 bread slices
Grainy mustard
Fresh chives, minced

Trim the brisket of any large pieces of fat.

The butcher can do this for you if you ask, but the brisket is by nature a somewhat "fatty" cut

Heat the olive oil over medium-high in a Dutch oven or large lidded pot. Salt and pepper the beef liberally and brown both sides, about 5 minutes per side.

My old Magnalite Dutch oven (or "Roasterette"), pitted and stained but a workhorse

Get a nice deep color on each side

Remove the brisket to a dish and set aside while you cook the onions.

Slice the onions lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices.

Trim, halve and peel first, then slice

After removing the browned brisket, add the onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high. Cook the onions for a total of 30 minutes, lowering the heat as they cook to keep them from sticking. Stir them from time to time as they cook.

The onions start out looking like a huge quantity

But they cook down significantly

Increase the heat to medium-high, add the wine and cook until the wine is mostly evaporated.

This de-glazing with wine will also pick up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot

Turn the heat off under the onions. Preheat the oven to 320°F. Put the brisket and accumulated juices back in the Dutch oven with the onions. Slightly smash 5 of the garlic cloves and add them to the pot, along with 1 sage sprig and 1 rosemary sprig.

The garlic will dissolve into the broth, but the sprigs of sage and rosemary will need to be removed

Add the beef broth and then supplement with enough water to come just to the top edges of the brisket.

A good, snug cover on the Dutch oven holds the moisture in

Cover and cook in the preheated oven for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, or until the beef is very tender when pierced with a fork.

While the beef is cooking, make the horseradish cream. To the sour cream add the half & half, horseradish, and pinch of sugar and mix well. Refrigerate until needed.

This cream is good with any roasted or braised beef

When the meat is fork-tender, remove it from the oven. Pull the brisket from the broth and put it on a large platter. Discard the sage and rosemary sprigs. With two forks, shred the brisket along the grain, pulling it into long, thin strands.

If the beef is cooked enough, this won't take any time at all

Return all the beef and juices to the pot. Mince the leaves of the remaining sage sprig and rosemary sprig and add them to the pot with the brisket. Keep the brisket warm until serving. Meanwhile, prepare the bread slices.

Here are a seeded rye and a seeded wheat -- nice hearty flavors for the brisket. Also good would be an olive bread or even pumpernickel

Toast the bread slices and lightly rub one side with the cut end of the remaining garlic clove.

One garlic clove goes a long way -- it's just a hint of flavor on each slice

Spread a thin layer of grainy mustard on the garlic side of the bread.

There are a lot of mustard varieties out there to choose from if you prefer

For each serving, spoon brisket and soup into a shallow bowl, place a toast slice on top, mustard-side down. Spoon horseradish cream on top and sprinkle with chives. Serve the extra toast on the side.

Now get back to that football game.

Kelly McCune © 2009

©2010 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

It would be a mournful day to say goodbye...

A couple of weeks ago I nearly declared the burger dead to me, and to my family. I had just read the horrific story of a young woman permanently handicapped from the E.coli she had consumed in a good ol’, home-cooked, all-American hamburger. This was on the front page of The New York Times and included this beautiful girl’s photo. I know this is not a nice way to commence a conversation about burgers, but I was shaken down to my boots and I’m sharing.

After a few weeks of complete swearing-off, I started to think about the problems that made this specific burger so poisonous. What emerged over and over was the source of the meat. In this article the author isolates the four(!) slaughterhouse/suppliers for the ground beef — a fatty mix from Nebraska, lean combos from Texas and from Uruguay, and a super-lean mix from South Dakota obtained by melting away the fat from cheaper, fattier cuts. These four components were then combined at Cargill, Inc. in Wisconsin for packaging and distribution to, in this case, Sam’s Club. Apparently it takes a village to make a hamburger. Incidentally, the burger contained, in addition to E. coli, a small amount of bread crumbs, even though the package did not put either one on the label.

The solution for me was either to forget burgers altogether or — it dawned on me — to grind my own meat. The problem seems to lie in the pre-ground stuff, certainly in the packaged patty. So I have rescued burgers from the jaws of oblivion but only barely. We will not be eating any burgers we don’t source ourselves (sorry, Little League cookouts, snack bars, and…In-and-Out). This does have an added benefit. It’s time to slow down the consumption of meat, to become particular about its origins, and to pay what it really costs to consume this excellent source of protein. Burgers have become altogether too common, and what’s available out there is a mere shadow of the real thing. But just wait till you taste the ones you make from scratch.

Three possible options for the grinder

There are several options for ground beef. Chuck is a great all-around cut, since you end up with about 20% fat which makes a great, juicy burger. Top sirloin is also a good choice but is a little more expensive and a little less fatty, about 15%. Sirloin tip and top round cost somewhere between the other two and are about 18% to 20% fat. Brisket can also be ground or combined with other cuts for nice flavor, but my favorites are either plain chuck or a combination of chuck and top sirloin. I also went the extra step and bought hormone- and antibiotic-free beef, partially range-fed (most producers still fatten the cow on grain for the last few months). Of course you can also have the butcher grind these cuts for you while you wait, even though they’ll ask you why you don’t just buy their pre-ground beef (in some cases they have done their own grinding on site). At my market I paid a little more for the chuck than its equivalent pre-ground but I control the quality and content. And I paid less for the sirloin cuts than the pre-ground.

Three grinders: the old-timey hand crank (courtesy of Jamie's Italian great-grandma, Ambrogina Bonfiglio Gandola), the Cuisinart and my favorite, the Kitchenaid grinder attachment

When I tried grinding my first burger I gave myself lots of time, anticipating a long, slow process. After all, why is this task so ubiquitously done by the butcher — it must be hard! Let’s just say it took me five minutes to grind a couple of pounds of beef, and that’s exaggerating. Even the hand crank is easy and quick.

Some folks recommend sterilizing the grinder before using it to avoid contamination.

Pour hot water through the grinder

Frankly, I don’t find this step necessary. The grinder is likely to be as clean as your knives unless you used it three hours before and didn’t clean it at all. Most bacteria on a dry surface expires after a couple of days, and if you wash and dry the grinder well and put it away after each use, it will be ready to use when you need it.

The meat should be refrigerator cold before grinding. If you like a leaner burger, trim off some of the visible fat and any tough fibers. Remember that trimming away too much fat will make the cooked burger somewhat dry.

If you like, trim off some of the fat. If there is tough connective tissue, some of that can be trimmed off as well

If you are using a Cuisinart to chop the meat, chill the bowl and blade in the freezer for a few minutes while you prep the beef. Cut the beef into large chunks, sized to fit into the grinder (for the Cuisinart, into 1- to 2-inch cubes).

The chunks should be sized to fit into the grinder -- they can be cut into longer strips for the hand-crank or the Kitchenaid grinder

I started with great-grandma (that’s bisnonna in Italiano) Ambrogina’s aluminum hand-crank grinder, secured to the counter top with the clamp. I dropped in chunks of beef and cranked away. Periodically, pull some of the fibers from the front of the grinding plate if they start to interfere.

I was expecting to break a sweat, have sore shoulder muscles, etc. I think our grandmas convinced us that all this was too much work when in fact it couldn't be easier

Next, the Cuisinart. Place 6 or 8 cubes of meat in the chilled Cuisinart fitted with the steel blade and pulse 15 to 20 times, or until the meat is well chopped. Check it as you go to avoid over-processing. This method produces a little less consistent texture, so watch for large chunks and re-chop them. Empty the ground meat onto a plate and continue with another batch until all the meat is ground.

Have the Cuisinart and blade nice and cold

Don't overload the bowl and check it several times while you pulse so that you don't overprocess the meat

If you already own a Kitchenaid, I recommend investing in the meat grinder attachment. It’s easy to attach and easy to clean. It comes with a pusher to help force the meat through the grinder, a nice addition. And with this grinder you can cut the beef into longer pieces — no wider than the opening but up to 3 inches in length.

You can grind pounds of beef very quickly with this grinder

The Kitchenaid has two grinding plates, one more coarse than the other. Kitchenaid recommends grinding twice but I like the grind to have a loose, uncompacted texture, so I only pass it through once. I like the course grind, but the finer plate works just as well. In the end, the three methods yield pretty much the same result:

The differences are minor, but I prefer the true grinders -- the hand crank and the Kitchenaid

Hand-Ground Hamburgers | 6 servings

The meat is all ground, ready to make into patties. So fire up the grill or heat up the pan, because burgers are best cooked hot. If you have a very hot broiler, that works, too, but mine doesn’t quite get hot enough.

2 1/4 pounds chuck roast, top sirloin or other whole chunk of beef
1/2 onion, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Thin slices of good-quality cheese

Light the grill or heat a heavy cast-iron skillet. Lightly mix the chopped onion and a pinch of salt into the meat without overworking it.

Add other flavors to the ground beef, such as garlic, jalapeño, goat cheese, or herbs

Gently shape the meat into patties, again without compacting the meat, which will make the burger dry. You will get about 3 patties per pound with a few extra ounces to fill them out. Season with more salt and pepper, and don’t be shy here.

Nice and thick, like they used to make 'em

Drop the patties into the hot skillet or onto the preheated grill and cook for 4 to 5 minutes on the first side.

This pan is HOT

The fire is hot, too, but I put the top halfway on my Weber kettle when I cook burgers to keep the flare-ups to a minimum

Turn the burgers and cook on the other side for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until the burger releases juices. Add cheese after the turn if you want a cheeseburger. Don’t press on the burger like the short-order grill jockeys do, because that will simply squeeze out all the good juices.

This is a fantastic cheddar from Beehive Cheese Company in Utah called "Barely Buzzed" -- the black crumbly exterior is a coffee & lavender mix

Now's the time to add the thin slices of cheese, just after turning them over

They release easily from the ungreased pan when they are cooked enough on the first side

The burgers start to release some juice on the top when they are done

To thoroughly kill any bacteria burgers have to be cooked to 160°F, but that’s well-done and not the way I like them. I’d rather take the time to grind the meat and have a nice medium-rare burger (about 145°F). Toast the buns in the last few minutes of cooking and serve burgers with all the fixins’. Most of all, take the time to enjoy the freshness and flavor of a burger you made from scratch (and grind).

Whether we like it or not we are going to have to move away from our mother’s era of convenience and into our own era of carefulness. The ubiquitous burger is the first thing we can snatch back from the fate of being over-processed, over-sold, and ultimately unsafe.

In the words of J. Wellington Wimpy, “I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

Mmmmmm

Kelly McCune © 2009

©2010 Kitchenelly. All Rights Reserved.

Like Cooky made it at the Chuckwagon

I read a story in college by William Gass called “In the Heart of the Heart of the Country,” and while I don’t remember the story itself, the title has stuck with me over the years. I felt like I was from there, that place so deep in the center that it almost didn’t exist. I’ve just returned from a visit to Oklahoma, and in the heat and big open spaces and clouds it does still feel like the exact middle of America. Cowboy country, beef country. That’s what cowboys did — they rustled cows, moving them from Texas up through Oklahoma and up to the stockyards in Kansas. So cowboy food starts with beef and is embellished from there.

Grilled tri-tip, though, has its origins in the other part of the country I call my home: California. Santa Maria, California, was a cattle-branding gathering place for vacqueros and ranch owners, whose cooks fed the men with slabs of grilled meat — not the prime cuts, but bottom sirloin. Tasty, but not too costly.

The Santa Maria tri-tip caught on beyond the borders of California and has more recently become popular as a grill favorite for its good value, relatively low fat content, and great flavor. Tri-tip is a whole cut, is usually 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds, and one will serve 4 to 6 people.

All the components for a tasty spice rub

To make this a full meal, grill whole ears of corn in their own husks along with the tri-tip and make a pot of small pinto beans flavored with chunks of bacon and fresh sage for a cowboy meal. Vegetables? Where’d you get them out on the range?

Cowboy Tri-Tip | 4 to 6 servings

Tri-tip grills up beautifully with a spice rub and a hot grill. A little char on the outside is part of the good flavor — and that’s the cowboy way.

1 beef loin tri-tip
Large pinch cumin seed
Large pinch dried sage leaves
Pinch of black peppercorns
Pinch of coarse sea salt
Pinch of garlic powder
Large pinch brown sugar
Pinch of smoked paprika
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

With a mortar and pestle, grind the cumin seed until it is rough. Add the sage, peppercorns and sea salt and grind it down more.

Mortar and pestle for grinding the spice rub

Add the garlic powder, brown sugar and paprika and mix well. Drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the beef — just enough to rub into the surface.

No need to measure -- just get enough on there to oil the beef all over

Sprinkle the spice rub all over the beef and press it firmly to get it to stick.

The oil should help the spices to stay put on the tri-tip

Wrap the tri-tip tightly in plastic wrap.

Wrapping the beef tightly helps to "dry marinate" it

Refrigerate the tri-tip until 30 minutes before you put it on the grill, but be sure to bring it to room temperature before cooking.  If you’re using a charcoal grill, you can take the meat out of the fridge right before lighting the coals.  Light a grill, and for a real campfire flavor use hardwood chunks (light them with the coals) or chips (add them just before cooking the beef). When the coals are hot, heap most of them on one side of the grate, creating a hot side and a cooler side.

Leaving some coals on the "cool" side (in this picture the foreground half), heap more of them on the other side (using grill tongs!) for the hot side

Sear the beef on the hot side for 1 to 2 minutes per side, with the grill cover off.

The sugar in the rub will cause it to char a little but that's part of the flavor

After searing, move the beef to the cooler side of the grill and continue cooking, with the grill cover on, for about 10 minutes per side.

With the cover on but the vents wide open the tri-tip cooks with high heat but no flames

I really love to use a meat thermometer to test the doneness of a tri-tip. Ten minutes per side is almost foolproof for getting a nice medium-rare roast, but if you take an instant reading with your handy-dandy thermometer you can be certain. For medium-rare cook to a reading of about 130° in the thickest part, 140° for medium. That is the good range. Go much beyond that and the meat gets tough.

Remove the beef to a platter and cover immediately with a loose tent of foil. Let it stand for 10 minutes before carving. This causes the juices to recede back to the center of the beef, preventing it from getting dry.

The loose foil is holding in the heat and steam and allowing the juices to flow back into the meat

Carve the meat across the grain and serve with a generous spoonful of the juices.

And if you can yodel, now’s the time.

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