The Meat Diaries
I'm attaching a photo from the DECEMBER share pick up, which contained all the parts of a delicious cow from Greg Shmid. With valiant assistance from the photographer, I picked the cow up the morning of the pick up in the sleet, and I've been meaning to post this photo of the butcher, coolers, the inclement weather, and me:
Feedback on the May 29 CSA box deliveries:
Sylvia June 6: HI all - so far, I have made the following:
- Pan-Fried Lamb with Harissa Sauce (modified from Tyler Florence's "Tyler's Ultimate") I made the harissa first (mix of 1tsp each cumin, coriander, caraway, cayenne pepper and salt, with roasted bell peppers, 5 garlic cloves, 1 lemon juiced and 2 tblspn oil in food processor), then went on to the lamb by trimming the lamb, and seasoning with sat/pepper/rosemary. Heat a heavy-bottom pan to medium-high, drop the chops in the hot pan, and turn after 2-3 minutes, cook another 2-3 minutes and voila, c'est fini. I paired with an excellent quinoa salad with mixed veggies. My boyfriend said that this was the best meal he's had, well, since he can remember. The lamb was fabulous!
- One batch of pork sausage went into a spaghetti sauce, the other batch was combined with a batch of ground beef for meatloaf. I mixed the ground meats with finely chopped onion, red bell pepper, 6 cloves garlic, carrot, 1/2tspn each cayenne pepper, chili pepper, black pepper, nutmeg, 1tspn thyme, 1 1/2 tspn salt, homemade croutons. Cooked in 350 for about 1.5 hours (until inside is about 155 degrees). Top with any glaze, and it's delicious!
- One of the beef braises went into a roman style braise (brown beef, then onion, carrot, celery to be translucent, return beef and add 2+cups red wine and 1 cup marinara as well as 1 tspn each cinammon, nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, salt to taste, and reduce). Top cooked pasta or gnocchi and grate cheese over it, bake until cooked through.
- The eggs have all been outstanding (did not havea similar experience with cloudy insides), am planning on finishing them off as an omelet this evening paired with a salad or braised greens
- Still to finish: another batch of ground beef, another braise, ny steak, can't wait!
Bonnie, June 4: Hi Sharon -- those eggs are from Araucona chickens, a breed that lays a delightful greenish/bluish hued egg. About one-third of Alexis's Soul Food flock are Arauconas. You can see them in this slide show I did but haven't linked up yet from my blog.
Sharon, June 3: I've used about half of my dozen eggs of various hues; they were all superb -- even the one that had a most unusual pale green tint to the shell! (I looked for some green ham to go with it, but couldn't find any...)
Bonnie, June 2: I'm pleased with my share but haven't had a chance to cook much of it, just the steaks. One of my eggs had a really thick shell and a very weird, cloudy inside, so I didn't eat it. Anyone else get eggs that were bad?
archived from the January MSF bulk order
Sharon: Last night (1/13/07) I roasted our 5-pound hunk of Marin Sun Farms SIRLOIN ROAST that we took possession of the week before Xmas. It defrosted in the frig for two days. Then I rubbed it with a paste of olive oil/sage/rosemary/marjoram/garlic/sea salt/pepper and let it set for several hours. Out of the frig to warm for about an hour before sticking it in the oven. Seared for 20 minutes at ~450 degrees (my oven temps are approximate!), followed by slow-roasting for 60 minutes (I think! I kinda lost track of time after our guests arrived) at ~350 degrees. Every 10 minutes or so I checked its internal temp with a digital instant-read thermometer: when it read 127, I gave it another five minutes -- mistake! The internal temp rose to 137 in those few minutes. Anyway, I let it sit under foil for 15 minutes before slicing -- and should have let it alone for another 5 minutes, I think, because a lot of juices still ran, indicating that they had not been re-absorbed sufficiently. In the few minutes between slicing and serving at table, it seems a lot of pinkness disappeared. So, all in all, most of the roast was tending more toward "medium" than the "medium rare" I'd strived for. That said, all six of us pronounced the beast delicious, with a slightly unusual (non-cornified) flavor. LESSON: If you fear over-cooking, stop roasting 5 or 10 minutes before you think you should -- the internal cooking will continue more than you think it will! (Tonight: leftovers made into shepherd's pie, using the stock I'd made from the "meaty bones" a few weeks ago!)
Has anyone else roasted a non-rib roast yet?
Jean S: Tongue was cooked Sunday...on Saturday, tongue was placed in a large pot of water and put in fridge...changed water 3 times. On Sunday, huge pot of water was brought to a boil. Into the boiling water went one onion (peeled and halved), two cloves garlic, 3 T. parsley, and one tongue. All was simmered for 3.5 hours (adding water as needed). All was pouring into colander and drained and then tongue was placed in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes. After that, tongue was peeled and the gristle cut out and was then thinly sliced and placed in a dish to cool and jelly up. Consumed Sunday night with hot mustard and an H&H onion bagel...to die for!
Sylvia B: Bavette steak was cooked on Saturday. Marinated the whole flat steak in teriyaki sesame marinade for 3 hours and grilled on stovetop (with cast-iron stovetop grill - it was cold outside!) for 5 minutes on each side. The steak was perfectly tender and tasted amazing (bf loved the steak and asked for "more steak please" for future orders). Some of liver was cooked on Friday: standard liver and onion with thyme and grilled bread - yummy! Will do london broil and sirloin roast soon - if anyone has already done these, please post! Thanks!
Bonnie posting for Jonathan K who made beef stock from his meaty and gelatin bones. Here are some of his suggested resources for what to do with marrow bones:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2440
http://rosieskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/03/bit-of-bone-from-my-man.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2006/02/01/FDGMRGTIIG1.DTL includes Fergus Henderson's famed Marrow Bones with Parsley Salad recipe
http://mouthfulsfood.com/forums//lofiversion/index.php/t8469.html