Beef Stew

I have skipped ahead several cookbooks to Cooking with Wine for today's entry. I know, I know I said I would not do that, but this was for the greater good of mankind!

Mmm. Tasty greater good.

Daycare does a meal train for people in need. One of the families in our classroom just had a kid and asked for stews. I could literally could not say no! Ok... not literally or even figuratively really, but I like beef stew. I went through a dozen or so cookbooks before I found the right recipe. So without further ado Mother's Old Fashioned Beef Stew or simply beef stew.

Resourses:

3 tablespoons flour
Salt / pepper to taste
3 lbs beef cut into 1 1/2" cubes
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons beef fat
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 onion (I used Vidalia), sliced
1 1/2 teaspoon marjoram, powdered
2 bay leaves
3 cups beef stock
2 1/4 red wine (I used a cheap Cabernet Sauvignon)
6 turnips, 3/4" cubed
9 carrots, ~1/2" sliced
6 potatoes, 3/4" cubed (I used larger baking potatoes)
1 1/2 fresh flat parsley, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon thyme (pretty sure I forgot this)
18 small white onions (I wanted pearl but couldn't find them), peeled

Method:
Put flour in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix. A few at a time drag the beef cubes through and coat on all sides. Refill as necessary.

Heat butter and fat in a stock pot. A few at a time brown beef cubes on all sides. When browned move to a plate or bowl to capture the juices. Add butter/fat as needed. Deglaze the pot with the wine, scrapping up all the bits. Add remaining wine, garlic, sliced onions, parsley, beef cubes, parsley, marjoram, bay leaves, and stock. Simmer for one and a half hours.

Add carrots, potatoes, small white onions, and turnips. Continue to simmer until the vegetables are tender, about two hours. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Commentary:
So I have moderately modified this recipe. The original was more or less 2/3rds the above, but I tweaked a few numbers.

One I did not modify was the extra large bottle of cheap wine.

I did not limit the excessive amount of meat either. 

This is from a Holland House cookbook. For those unfamiliar Holland House makes those cheap salted cooking wines available at the grocery. They're my go to sherry and Marsala. That said, I wanted to go with drinking wine not cooking wine (so I could drink it, duh). As a result I was pretty generous with the salt to taste part.

This is basically a commercial in book form.

Before I really got into making the recipe, I trimmed the fat and rendered it to get the fat needed.

I am just being practical.

Conclusion:
Next time a family in need needs stew count me in for this one!

Sopa de Ajo

Round two: SPICY!*

1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes is next on my shelves and that presents a problem that will pop up a handful of times during this process. The wifey is not a super adventurous eater. We eat mountains of chickens because we both despise the filthy beasts... er I mean we both like chicken. But she does not like stew/soup (with the exception of her mother's matzo ball soup) or beef. She flat out refuses anything spicy or pork. So while today's recipe is not really that spicy, it was made just for me. Which is why I picked a soup.

Resources:
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
5 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced.
1 aji chile, stems and seeds removed (or yellow wax hot or jalapeño)
2 cups chicken stock (I used some very flavorful homemade stuff)
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon finely grated Romano cheese (I used Parmesan)
1 teaspoon parsley

Method:
In a heavy pot, heat oil and butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté, quickly stirring in the flour. Stir until the garlic begins to brown. Add the chiles, stock, salt, pepper, eggs, and cheese and mix well. Bring to boil, the reduce the heat to medium and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. If desired strain the soup. Serve hot, garnished with the parsley.

Commentary:
* - The reports of a high spice level have been greatly exaggerated. That is to say: this shit ain't spicy at all.

This was one meal sized serving (for me) by the way. Multiple as appropriate.

"If desired strain the soup." I was leery of this step, but went with it. I am glad I did. Despite my best efforts some of the egg had resulted in large blobs. After straining it only itty bitty pieces of egg were in there. It was a nice smooth texture as a result.

As a texture person, this probably saved this recipe from disaster for me.

So for better or for worse, I substituted cheeses because I had a half a block of good Parmesan in my fridge. One must be frugal after all.

Also I could only find jalapeño at my grocery. I stemmed and seeded it, but wanting some heat I added a few seeds back in. It did not make any difference only adding a few much to my disappointment.

Pictured: not enough seeds to make the slightest difference.

Conclusion:
Taste = great. Gas = super stinky. Seriously, not to get overly personal but my gas usually is not too bad. This however made my butt toxic! I might make this again next time I am home alone!

Buffalo Chicken (Optional) Soup

2017-03-08 Edit: derpy, derpy, derp. This is a repeat of this blog entry with the discussion of optional chicken added. 

To meat or not to meat: that is the question!

There is something unnatural about making anything "Buffalo" vegetarian in my humble opinion. Buffalo chicken wings, Buffalo CHICKEN dip, Buffalo CHICKEN soup, etc. The words Buffalo and chicken just belong together. Anything else is an unholy abomination!

While I am at it, you know what else is unnatural: Velveeta "cheese product". Velveeta happens to be a key ingredient to this recipe so let us get unnatural together!

Anyway today's story goes like this: the wifey was having a bunch of new hires over. She does not know of any food restrictions but thought there might be a vegetarian in the mix. (Aside: LIES! There was not.) She asked that I be accommodating to vegetarian. Now as opinionated as I am about food, Doctor Who, or the terrible state of modern driving, I always try to accommodate reasonable food restrictions. So I decided to give my beloved Buffalo CHICKEN soup recipe the vegetarian once over. The original recipe (ok the original, original recipe is linked here) is list below, with the minor vegetarian changes noted in parentheses.

Resouces:
2 bunches green onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1⁄4 cup butter
1⁄4 cup flour
3⁄4 cup milk
3⁄4 cup chicken broth (vegetable broth)
2 cups diced cooked chicken (neglected for vegetarian)
1⁄2 cup Frank's RedHot
4 ounces Velveeta cheese
1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne
1⁄2 teaspoon celery salt
1⁄2 teaspoon garlic salt

Method:
Sauté (medium to medium-low heat) the green onions and celery in the butter until the celery is tender.

Stir in flour until smooth and slightly golden.

Slowly add milk and broth. Stopping to mix thoroughly as you go.

Add remaining ingredients. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until cheese has melted and well mixed.

Commentary:
"Come on baby, just the tip?" Er I meant to say just not the tip. I used the whole green onions except the rooty tip.

This quantity of Frank's and cayenne makes for a pretty spicy soup. I recommend reducing the Frank's down to 1/3 cup to reduce the heat if desired. That said, it a critical flavor component. Without Frank's this is not the same soup. So if you want something with no heat, move along.

The celery adds some crunch to this recipe. Based on your tastes that could be a good or a bad thing. Respond according. By which I mean add/reduce, chop bigger/smaller pieces of celery, etc to your taste, not send me your pro-celery socialist propaganda.

Just for my own curosity I just Googled "pro-celery socialist propaganda". Sadly it was entirely less interesting than I had hoped. Anyone out there a graphic artist who wants to work me up a new logo? I cannot pay you, but it would be great exposure. <wink, wink>

I have tweeked this one way or the other plenty of times: add some garlic instead of the garlic salt, more or less celery, more or less chicken, etc. It is a pretty forgiving recipe and can easily be modified to personal taste.

I always buy the big block of Velveeta. DO NOT DO THAT. I think it is two pounds or something. 

By the way, this freezes well. Make a double batch. No: octuple since you bought the big block after I told you not to!

Conclusion:
The original recipe is amazing and I love it. ♥♥ <obligatory Doctor Who nod>

The vegetarian modification... did not taste any different. Let's face it when you have that much Velveeta and Frank's a bit of chicken is not going to sway the taste one way or the other.

Pork-and-Cider Stew

When the butter, olive oil, and rendered fat has covered the bottom of the large pot before you added the broth or cream, you know you have a winning stew.

While we are at it, I just want to clarify this is not a stew in my book. This is soup. While there is not black and white definition I know of, I generally go with the liquid to solids ratio. More liquid: soup. More solids: stew. Aside: if you food is in gaseous form, I am pretty sure you screwed up.

Method:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

5 pounds trimmed boneless pork shoulder (see commentary), cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

Kosher salt

Pepper

10 ounces skinless, meaty slab bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 large onion, thinly sliced

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

(2) 12 ounce bottle dry apple cider (see commentary)

1 quart chicken stock or low-sodium broth

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons grainy mustard

2 teaspoons finely chopped sage leaves

In a large pot (I used a Dutch oven), melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in 1 tablespoon of the oil. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Add one-third of the pork to the casserole and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until well browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer the pork to a baking sheet or plate. Repeat in 2 more batches with the remaining butter, oil and pork.


Add the bacon to the pot and cook until golden; add to the pork. Add the onion and garlic to the pot; cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden and softened, 5 minutes. Add the pork with accumulated juices, bacon, cider, stock and bay leaves; bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently until the pork is tender, 2½ hours.

Discard the bay leaves.
 In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water. Add the cornstarch mixture and the cream to the stew and simmer until the liquid is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard and sage and season with salt and pepper.


The results

Commentary:

This is a more or less unmodified Food & Wine recipe. The only changes I made are those to clarify the parts that confused me. The picture on their website shows potatoes with it. I think that would have been a nice addition.

The mustard flavor did not come through as much as I hoped. This mostly tasted like cream and pork, which is not a bad thing in my book.

I used Angry Orchard Dry for the cider. Now it is story time, I had originally intended to use non-alcoholic sparkling cider because I had it in my head that is what the recipe said. Nothing at the grocery. Nothing at the wine shop. So after running around and doing lots of Googling, I could not find anything dry. Luckily that is the point I realized the recipe does not say anything about alcohol free. So I go to the beer store and there is plenty of hard ciders. The only dry hard cider I knew off the top of my head was Crispin, which of course they did not  have. After staring at the shelves for five minutes and doing two or three Google searches, I noticed the word dry on one package. At that point I grabbed it (and another beer for good measure) and ran. Long story short, plan ahead.

Part of planning ahead: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING!

Have I told you cornstarch is my nemesis? Well it is. Damn thing never wants to move well. I totally got an oversized bowl so I could whisk the ever living shit out of it this time around. I may be loosing the war, but I won this battle by shear determination.

In regards to the pork shoulder, do not worry much. I trimmed some fat, but not much. Fat does have a bit of an odd texture after simmer for hours, so you might want to be aggressive. Trim more or less based on your taste is the point. I did leave some of the big pieces of fat when cooking but the pork, but took it out before the simmer. And my shoulder did have a bone. I just trimmed around it. No big deal.

Look at all that meat.

Do not be afraid to salt this soup. This one requires a fair bit of salt.

Conclusion:

Really good, but not amazing. It made for really filling lunches for four days.

Buffalo Chicken Soup

One of the greatest soups in the world is pictured here.

I love, love, love all things Buffalo sauce. Buffalo wings? Obviously. Buffalo chicken dip? Or course. Buffalo chicken mac 'n cheese? A personal favorite! Licking the plate clean after any of these? Well I do not want to waste food... So yeah, I love Buffalo chicken soup.

I should also point out I am a bit of an elitist on the subject. Ranch with your wings? Screw you, you heretic. Get off my blog and do not ever come back. Buffalo wings with the word BBQ anywhere near it are NOT Buffalo wings. They are chicken wings. Real Buffalo sauce has two main ingredients (cayenne pepper sauce and butter) with a few acceptable additives (garlic being the only really worth while one). I could go one, but I will not. 

I tell you these things not to offend, but to establish the emotional level I have when it comes to this type of recipe. When you get to my rant about flavor in the commentary, I hope you will take me seriously.

Resources: 

1/4 cup butter
2 bunches green onions, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 cups diced cooked chicken

1/4-1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Original (do NOT use wing sauce - see commentary)

4 ounces Velveeta cheese (cut into a few pieces)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1 clove garlic, finely minced

Method:

Sauté the onions and celery in butter until as tender as you want (using medium heat).

Stir in flour until smooth.

Add milk and broth a little at a time. Stir until completely mixed before adding more.

Once all the liquids are thoroughly mixed in, add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat, simmer, stirring occasionally, until cheese has completely melted.

Commentary:

As noted I have strong options about all things Buffalo sauce, so please hear me out. Frank's Red Hot Original (or similar cayenne pepper hot sauce) is the best flavor for this recipe. I strongly suggest against using a "wing sauce". Cayenne pepper sauce is an ingredient and primary flavor of most wing sauces, but they tend to be "creamier" than Frank's. They might not have actual butter mixed in, but they taste like they do. The problem is this recipe has lots of creamy (milk, butter, Velveeta) mixed in. By doubling down on creamy flavor can really cut back on that main flavors: cayenne and vinegar which is key to true "Buffalo" flavor. If you think Frank's is too spicy, I beg you just to use less, not a wing sauce. 

As much as I love Bdub's (and I seriously do), this is not the time or place for their sauce.

Make sure you really give the Velveeta lots of time to melt. I would say at least 5-10 minutes after you do not see any chunks left. The smaller chunks are hard to distinguish from chicken, so even if you cannot see any they are probably still there. Just make sure you do not have the heat high enough that you are going to burn anything.

Speaking of it, I feel a little sick to the stomach every time I buy Velveeta. I do not know why, just something about a "cheese product" in a box a weirds me out. That said it is worth it for this glorious soup.

This is an easily customized recipe. The butter, flour, milk, broth, and Velveeta should not be significantly altered, but go nuts elsewhere. Want it vegetarian? Leave out the chicken. Love (or hate) the crunch of celery? Add or reduce as desired. I used a little bit less green onions in this batch just because they looked terrible at the local grocer. You can add all kinds of fun things to this recipe and it will be good.

What I felt like adding today.

This makes about two large meal sized bowls. It freezes very well so I have been known to made double and quadruple batches and eat it for the next week or two.

Conclusion:

I will make again and again and again and again. Great for the winter since it is a thick, hot, spicy soup.