Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Hardwood Grilled Porterhouse For Three

 
 

I recently took a trip to one of Kansas City's iconic meat markets. If you enjoy cooking you get a real rush walking through the doors of this place. It is like taking a trip back in time, before there were large displays stocked with pre -packaged meats, a single butcher that was a stock boy 2 months earlier and looks lost if you ask for a specialty cut of meat. Here you see six or more butchers dressed in their whites behind a seemingly endless meat counter waiting to take your order. When I put in my order I asked if he could cut me three Porterhouse, two about 1 3/4 " thick and one about 3" thick. The butchers eyes got a little big as he asked back, 3 inches? I confirmed and he stepped into the cooler and returned with a short loin and headed to the band saw. He cut one of the 1 3/4 " Porterhouses and held it up to show me what a 2 lb Porterhouse looked like while asking again, you want one 3 inches thick? I confirmed again, as a customer approached from my right and asked me, what was that and where is it in the case? I pointed to the smaller Porterhouses in the meat case and said that is the Porterhouse but these are being cut thicker. He replied, man I wish you hadn't ordered that because now I've got to have one! As the butcher put the 3" Porterhouse on the scales it came in at 4 lbs and I was already looking forward to cooking it. When the butcher was wrapping my steaks the customer that approached me earlier was was asking the butcher to cut one of those 1 3/4" steaks for him. It's contagious.

I trace my infatuation with the butcher shop to my early years. My father did the bulk of our grocery shopping on Saturday mornings. Going grocery shopping with my father was a real treat, for many reasons. We shopped at a country grocery store/meat market/feed store/gas station named Funderburg and Waddle. My dads brother was the Waddle and my dads cousin was the Funderburg. If you've ever seen the country markets from the 30's, 40,'s, 50's, 60's and 70's you've seen a very similar market. It is dressed in white lapboard and adorned with some signage, gas pumps are out front and there is a large barn at the back of the parking lot. Upon entering you encounter old wood floors that squeak when you walk, lots of chatter between the proprietors and customers, a line of customers in front of the butchers counter and small narrow isles offering one brand of each item. This store was run by men, all men and it was like going to the barber shop. There was a lot of joking, innuendo, political commentary and stereotyping that went on in there. I always grabbed a ice cold Coca Cola from the drink box and headed to the back to watch the butchers cut meat. Several of the men that worked there were accomplished butchers including my Uncle Sanner. It was always fun to watch our steaks, pork chops, roasts and ham slices be cut from the sides of beef and pork and then wrapped so elegantly in the tidy white butcher paper. Here is my Uncle Sanner with an apron on pumping some gasoline when it was still leaded!


This interest of mine in the meat markets only grew when my first High School job came at another country grocery in my hometown, Harden's Grocery. Working there for several years afforded me the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the meat market and gather a lot of knowledge about different cuts of beef and pork, grades of meat and breeds of beef and pork. All of these memories I have of the old butcher shops really makes it nostalgic when I venture into a place like Bichelmeyer Meats which has been in business for 66 years.





I've always enjoyed a good steak but had gotten semi bored with the same old routine. That coupled with the fact that I was running into a roadblock from the boss, lead me to look at things from a different angle. I've preached for years that you cannot get the same flavor or texture from a 3/4 " steak as you do from a 1 3/4" to 2 1/2" steak. I rarely eat more than half of a thick cut rib eye or strip but my wife being the good wife that she is, tells me I've got to cut back, get thinner cut steaks and quit eating so much red meat. My compromise was to cook large steaks and carve them to feed multiple people. This is my first attempt at a family style Porterhouse. This is Angus Beef, Choice Grade, it weighs around 66 ozs. and has very nice marbling throughout.


It is a beautiful late September day and I've invited our son for dinner. My wife has been hungry for a baked potato stuffed with broccoli and cheese so this will make for rather simple sides from the cooks perspective. The first thing I do when planning a meal is determine how much prep work I can get done, so my time is not dominated by cooking when guests are present. This steak will take quite a bit of grill time so I've planned an appetizer to eat while we are waiting for the main course. With it being my wife, my son and I, we will go informal tonight and enjoy good food in our most relaxed mode.

I have several things that I can get done before my sons arrival to maximize our visiting time. I will prepare my crab boil for some Alaskan King Crab Claws for our appetizer. I can get the potatoes ready to go in the oven and I can wash the broccoli and have it ready to steam.

We love seafood and years ago we found that making our own boil ingredients or enhancing a store purchased product with additional spices really kicked it up to our level on the spice scale. We have always used Zatarains Boil Bags or Liquid Concentrate, Kosher Salt and Lemon Quarters as our base. From there, I add Red Pepper Flakes, Cayenne Pepper, Peppercorns, Whole Cloves, Allspice and Bay Leaves. Adding a couple of tbs. of White Vinegar makes the crabs easier to pick. One nice claw each is the perfect size appetizer to compliment the steak dinner. We will eat these in the sun room and have a glass of a nice white wine while the steak is on the grill.


 
I've got my water boiling for my crab claws and I'm preparing my potatoes to have them ready to pop in the oven. This is my favorite way to prepare a baked potato and it is simple as can be. Rub on a thin coat of Olive Oil and give it a light dusting of Kosher Salt. The salt will help draw moisture out and result in a light, fluffy potato with a perfect skin. I bake them at 400 on a foil covered cookie sheet. Usually 50 minutes to an hour will be more than sufficient for mid size to large russets.
 
 
 
 
 
With my prep work done and my son having arrived I'm heading outside to fire up the grill. There are many different ways to cook a steak and none are wrong as long as your steak comes out the way you like it! I like my steaks on the rare side of medium rare with a crusty, slightly charred exterior. Cooking thicker steaks helps me to achieve that by allowing me to sear the steak at a very high temperature while still allowing me to have a nice pink to red center. In this particular case with it being a steak for three, I will cook it more to my wife's liking which is closer to the medium side of medium rare.
 
The finest steak houses sear steaks at temperatures ranging from 700 degrees all the way up to 1800 degrees. These temperatures are not possible on the cooking equipment that most of us have at home. Some specialized home equipment, grills with infrared searing elements and ceramic grills are now available to allow high heat searing. Don't fret, great steaks can be cooked on the cheapest grills available, just practice with it and find your sweet spot. I will run my ceramic grill up between 650-700 degrees for searing this steak. Ceramic grills are known for their ability to hold heat and can easily approach 1000 degrees. Normally when cooking steaks on this grill I cook the steak at lower temperature to begin and then raise the heat at the end to sear it. In this instance I am searing the steak on the Ceramic grill and then moving it to a Weber Kettle that is set up to with 2 cooking zones at much lower temperatures to finish the steak.
 
 
It is getting there! Meanwhile the steak has been seasoned and is resting and coming up towards room temperature. I prefer a good cut of beef to be seasoned very simply. This is a light coating of Grape Seed Oil (to assist in searing),  Montreal Steak Grinder, some additional Cracked Black Pepper and Sea Salt.
 
 
When boiling any seafood I like to season my water and bring the water to a boil for a good 10 minutes or so to let the spices and flavors distribute into my boil. I boiled these crab claws for 5 minutes and removed them from the heat to soak in the water for 30 minutes. I will then place them in ice as we like our crab cold and served with warm lemon butter.
 
 
 
While the steak is doing it's thing it is appetizer time. Seafood at home is a fun appetizer that sets the tone for a relaxing meal. You are eating with your fingers and in this case digging with tools to get every last bite!!
 
 
 
The appetizer hit the spot! One of the great things about steak dinners is the ease of timing the meal. The steak is ready to come off the grill and rest for 5 to 10 minutes giving us plenty of time to dress our potatoes and prepare our plates. In the last minute of cooking time I used an old school browning sauce Kitchen Bouquet, giving each side a light brushing. Over the last 25 years I cannot count the number of people that had a steak with Kitchen Bouquet on it at our house and now use it regularly at their house.
 
 
 
I let the steak rest for approximately 10 minutes before carving it. The great thing about  the Porterhouse is, the steak lover gets to enjoy two cuts of steak at the same time. You get the heavier texture and full beef flavor of the strip and the melt in your mouth more subtle flavor of the fillet, with both being enhanced by being cooked bone in. It is a little closer to medium than I prefer but it is perfect for Peggy's preference. When the steak is tender and flavorful I can always enjoy it cooked warmer than I prefer.
 
 
Hardwood Grilled Porterhouse Steak served with a Loaded Baked Potato and Broccoli with Cheese Sauce, paired with Novelty Hill Cabernet Sauvignon.
 
 
 
 
Once again I truly enjoyed a beautiful day outside while preparing a nice meal for my family. This meal fulfilled so many things close to my heart. I paid a visit to a meat market that brought back the many great memories I have of my uncles grocery/market and shopping with my pops on Saturday mornings. I flashed back to my days of working in the meat market at Hardens Grocery with my second parents Vernon and Bobbye Harden. I spent an afternoon/evening with my son and my beautiful wife while doing something I am so passionate about, cooking for the ones I love. Until I see you again, take the time to sit with someone you love and enjoy a beverage, a desert or a meal. Every day spent with loved ones is a true blessing.
 
 
For full sized photos double click on image.
 
 
 
 
 



Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Asparagus Bundles and Roasted Potatoes






For the better part of  two weeks I had been dreaming of a nice cool day that would
 not only be a good day for spending time outside with the grill but also allow one to have the appetite for some hearty food. That day arrived on Monday with the projected high to be in the low 80's in the afternoon and an overcast sky with a cool breeze in the morning. I've had some grill time during the oppressive heat in late July and early August but it has mostly been wings and burgers. I already had the basis for a plan and it started with Spinach, Mushrooms and Fontina Cheese. When I first started thinking about these ingredients it was with the intention of stuffing chicken breasts. but the 105 degree afternoons were stronger than my urge for stuffed chicken breasts. With the temperature down 25 degrees the stuffing urge reemerged as Stuffed Pork Tenderloin.

After a run to the local market I had settled on the stuffing ingredients. I will use Baby Spinach, Shiitake Mushrooms, Fontina Cheese, Yellow Onion and Garlic. After having Fontina Cheese on a couple of occasions I had determined this was something I needed to work into a dish at some point. This seemed like the perfect opportunity since the other dishes I had it in, had spinach as well.



There are occasions when I do everything necessary to make a recipe have all the flavor it can possibly have. On those occasions I will use at least one thing that will make a cardiologist cringe, and sometimes multiple things. You or I, should not eat these things on a regular basis but when you are making a meal that is special to your heart, forget the cardiologist for that one meal. Along those lines I decided I needed some bacon fat to brown my veggies and wilt my spinach. It will make all the other ingredients in the stuffing be, the best they can be. I chopped five slices of Hickory Smoked Bacon and will brown them up and render the fat. I will not be using the bacon in the dish but I will be using the fat and the magnificent goo that will form on the bottom of the pan.




Once the bacon is removed from my pan I add an equal part of a good Olive Oil to make this a heart healthy dish! I brown my Onion for approximately 5 minutes at a medium temperature and then add the Shiitake Mushrooms. In the last couple of minutes I add a mixture of finely Chopped Garlic and Minced Garlic. I add the garlic last to prevent it from burning.



Next I add 12 ozs of fresh Baby Spinach. I will cook this for just a few minutes with the lid on to sweat the spinach and wilt it good.




One of the nice things about this meal is the amount of pre preparation that you can do. It works great for when you are having guests because everything being used in this meal can be prepared in the morning or early afternoon. With everything prepared the total cook time for the meal will be 50 to 60 minutes with a minimal amount of attention necessary. I butterfly my two tenderloins and give them a good beating with the bottom of a small cast iron skillet. These tenderloins are approximately 1.4 lbs each and are a very affordable cut, running $6 to $7 each. I will lay the tenderloins out on parchment paper and stuff, roll and tie. I start by layering the Fontina Cheese and leave a border at the bottom to make the final turn go smoother and seal the tenderloin as good as possible. I put a nice layer of the cooked stuffing over the cheese (try to avoid my usual mistake of over stuffing) and it is ready to be rolled and tied. If you have a cooking partner this is a good time to utilize them to help in the tie up.









With both tenderloins stuffed, I wrap them in plastic wrap and send them to the refrigerator. I will work on my sides now. I take an assortment of mixed new potatoes (Red, Yukon Gold and Fingerling) and cut them into varying shapes. I put them in a zip lock bag adding a mixture of 1 tbs melted Butter and 1 tbs Olive Oil. I sprinkle with Rosemary, Thyme and Parsley and then work the bag until I have good distribution of the herbs. I will leave these in the bag at room temperature until they are needed.


My other side will be one of my favorites. Fresh Asparagus that will be bundled with a slice of Prosciutto. I take 5 or 6 Asparagus spears and wrap them with a piece of Prosciutto that I have doubled over for strength. What I love about this technique besides the flavor, is the ease of turning it on the grill and the ease of serving for guests. I drizzle the bundles with Olive Oil and they are ready when I am. I've got everything prepared for the meal and I have a good two hours to relax outside on this beautiful afternoon before I start cooking. It seems like the perfect time to enjoy a glass of wine and listen to some good music.




This will be an easy meal to coordinate. I know my Herb Roasted Potatoes will require 40 to 45 minutes in a 400 degree oven. The Stuffed Pork Tenderloin will require anywhere from 25 to 40 minutes in a 400 degree grill with a 10 minute rest. The Asparagus will cook in the grill at the very end of the Pork Tenderloin cook. So, I preheat the oven to 400 degrees, fire up the grill to build a hot fire, set the Tenderloins out, place my potatoes on a foil covered baking sheet, get my Asparagus back out into room temperature and I'm ready. Approximately 20 minutes after the potatoes go in I do my last prep on the Tenderloins, applying a light coat of grape seed oil., a light coating of my favorite dry rub and some cracked black pepper.



I have prepared the grill for two cooking zones, one for hot direct cooking and one for indirect cooking. I will initially place the Tenderloins directly over the hot fire to produce a sear on the meat. I will give it a couple of minutes on 3 of the sides and not sear the seam side. Once my sear is on I will move it off the coals to the indirect side to finish the cook. All the while the glory of this 80 degrees and a breeze is not escaping me. After the summer we have had, this feels nothing short of spectacular. The smell of the grill, a glass of good wine and hanging out with my wife and son make this an A+ day.


Everything has come together very well and the timing is perfect. I turned the oven off and the potatoes are waiting in a warm oven. The Tenderloins have come off and have been tented and resting. While the Tenderloins finished cooking on the indirect side of the grill I threw my Asparagus Bundles on the hot side side of the grill and turned them after 4 or 5 minutes going a total cook time of 8- 10 minutes. I want a few char marks for that great flavor but don't want the Asparagus to wilt. My first impressions are, everything looks good!!








While everything is resting my wife suggests that we eat in the sun room. At that moment I was admiring the evening sky with pastel blues and the sun casting a pink tint on the underneath of passing clouds. I thought absolutely, this is a great day to eat outside!


The Stuffed Tenderloin had everything the human eye could ask for as I removed the tent and cut into it. The juices were flowing, the color was excellent with snow white pork and a slight pink ring around the edges produced by the grilling process, and the stuffing was colorful and bound by the Fontina Cheese.


I paired the meal with a 2008 Estancia Pinot Noir. The rule of thumb will usually say white pork pairs with white wine. In this case with the earthiness of the Spinach and Shiitake Mushrooms and the earthy, nutty, buttery taste of the Fontina Cheese, the Pinot Noir was an excellent match. The Asparagus had a collage of flavors with the saltiness of the Prosciutto, and the charring from the grill, balanced by the Olive Oil. It was crispy but tender and cooked perfect by my standards. The potatoes were crisp on the outside with a warm center and a nice assist from the Herbs and Olive Oil, Butter mixture. This was a meal I was very proud of. I will keep it on file for several reasons. First and foremost the food was excellent, it will work well for a formal meal for guests or informal with outdoor dining as we did and finally, the timing of this meal is perfect allowing early preparation, easy time lines, and relaxation for the cook.



It was a perfect day for me. I got to take a stroll through the produce market and the meat market, spend some prep time in the kitchen, spend time in the beautiful outdoors, spend time with family and prepare dinner for loved ones. I finished my evening sitting outside listening to the sounds of the music I've grown up on. My wife eventually came out and turned the music off after midnight and allowed me to finish my nap in my chair on the deck. What a great day and evening! Until next time, I hope you all take the time to treasure every day, treasure your loved ones and really love all the aspects of life that you like but take for granted. See you guys and gals next time.

For full size photos double click on an image.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Double Cut Pork Chops With Cuban Black Beans



The 4th of July always brings several thoughts to my mind. First and foremost is, how lucky I am to live in the greatest country in the world. A country made great by the people that fought for our independence and all the men and women since that have fought to maintain our freedom. The 4th of July  also brings thoughts of hot weather, summer fun and good BBQ. Having always lived in the South and Midwest I have come to expect the temperature to be scorching hot the first week of July. This year has been no different, as the last week has consistently been 100 plus degrees. When making my 4th of July plan I decided a shorter cook on the grill would probably be more enjoyable than a long cook on the smoker which would require hours of attention.

A while back I had noticed an article on a restaurant that featured one of their signature dishes, which was a Double Cut Pork Chop. Having several bone in pork loins in the freezer, I thought this would make for a new and interesting dish. I decided I would do some research and look for a recipe that had some of my favorite things in it. When I search for recipes I look for a recipe with key ingredients, spices and veggies with flavor profiles that are familiar to me.This is a Food Network Kitchens recipe that was developed for use with Double Cut Pork Chops so though it will be new to me, it has been tried and it had 22 out of 22 "5 Star Reviews". I will make a couple of small tweaks to the recipe that I will point out later, The recipe calls for a dry rub on the chops with marinating time and a basting sauce applied at the end of the cooking process.

We will start by making the dry rub. It calls for equal parts of Brown Sugar, Paprika, Coarse Ground Black Pepper and I used a half part of Kosher Salt.



This is a cut of pork that I have used many times. I have posted a blog on this same cut as a Smoked Rack of Pork. Today I will be cutting 4 Double Cut Pork Chops. This will produce a cut that can stand up to a longer cook to add that nice slow cooked flavor and still be seared and charred a bit to give the effect of a chop that has been grilled much faster with high heat.





I put a light coat of grape seed oil on each chop and applied a nice size dose of dry rub. I will wrap them in plastic wrap and return them to the refrigerator to marinate for approximately 6 hours.





The pork will have a multifaceted flavor profile that should go sweet, then tangy and finish off with some heat. That makes me think Caribbean so I chose a Cuban Inspired Black Bean dish to pair with it. I soaked 1lb of  Dry Black Beans overnight. I know I will need Bell Pepper, Onion, Garlic, Cumin and Salt.


I kept putting more ingredients on the cutting board as I thought out how I want these beans to interact with the Pork Chops. I added a couple of Bay Leaves, Mexican Oregano, Diced Serrano Pepper, a mixture of Chopped Green Onions and White Onion.



The beans have been cooking for approximately 45 minutes so I sauteed my veggies and added them to the beans at about the one hour mark. The beans were perfectly tender after a little more than 90 minutes. I will let them sit and cool, them reheat at dinner time. The resting time gives extra time for all the flavors to meld together.



The basting sauce for the Pork Chops is what attracted me to this dish. At first glance it gives the appearance of being very sweet. We have Ketchup, Apple Juice, Brown Sugar, Maple Syrup, and Bourbon, which is very high in sugar content. To balance it, there is Apple Cider Vinegar, Worcestershire, Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper and Onion. Then there was the wild card of Prunes. I was totally unfamiliar with using Prunes in a sauce but I wanted to follow the recipe. Due to our love of  heat and spice I added extra Cayenne Pepper and Red Pepper Flakes. The Onion is diced and sauteed in butter, then the Brown Sugar and Cider Vinegar goes in and cooks until dissolved; all other ingredients go in and and you bring it to a boil. The temperature is reduced and it simmers for approximately 30 minutes to thicken the sauce. I then transfer the sauce to a blender so the onion and prunes are pureed.



 


The finished product is a beautiful sauce that has a thick velvet consistency. The sauce tastes, as my wife said "very different". It had that multifaceted flavor that I was looking for and the cook knows that this sauce will change as as it caramelizes in the basting process over high heat. Ultimately this Pork Chop will be flavored by the collaboration of the dry rub, the basting sauce and all the goodness of slow cooked pork with a hot sear at the end.



I will be cooking the chops on the Primo XL, therefore I will be making another small alteration to the recipe. If I was cooking these on a regular kettle grill I would sear the chops over the fire and then move them over to a cooler area of the grill to finish cooking the chop thoroughly. Ceramic grills maintain heat so well, that if you take it up to a good temperature for searing it is hard to get the temperature down for finishing the cooking process The counter for this is a reverse sear, where you cook the meat at a lower temperature and then when the internal temperature reaches 80 to 85 percent of the target temperature you crank the heat up very quickly and sear as the meat finishes to the target temperature. I cooked these chops indirect at 240 degrees until they were all at 125-130 degrees, at which point I ran the temperature on the grill up to 380-400 degrees and moved the chops over the fire to sear, then baste and finish at 145 degrees internal.





Double Cut Pork Chops, served with Cuban Inspired Black Beans and Grilled Peaches and Cream Corn. I have paired it with one of our favorites, Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir 2008. The first hint I had that this was a successful cook was when my wife said, you might not need a knife. The knife glided through the 3" thick Double Cut Pork Chop, producing mouth watering slices of the best, that pork has to offer. The pairing of the dry rub and the basting sauce was absolutely perfect. The Food Networks Kitchens hit a home run with this recipe and I would recommend it to all. The Black Beans were outstanding and with the Corn on the Cob, formed the perfect complimentary sides. This meal was a 10!






This was a great 4th of July spent with my beautiful wife Peggy and daughter Mechelle. It was just what I envision for a 4th of July celebration. It was hot, there were a couple of ice cold beers, there was great food and family, and at the end of the evening while sitting on the deck, the smell of gun powder permeated the night air. Despite all of our current problems, we still live in the greatest country in the world. Until I see you again I wish you all, the opportunity to get into the great outdoors and fire up that grill!

For full size photos double click on the image.