This great steak is considered something of a butcher shop �secret,� but not because they�re selfish, and can�t stand the thought of you being happy. It�s just an odd looking cut, which requires a specific trimming technique to remove one of the toughest pieces of connective tissue on the entire animal.
Combine that with the fact that there�s only one per cow, and you have something that�s a little tricky to sell, although that seems to be changing a bit. This steak has become popular on restaurant menus, going by the name, �hanger steak,� and that�s led to it being carried in some of your finer butcher shops.
Even though it takes a little bit of time, the trimming is pretty simple, and probably easier than I made it look. Carefully trim away any of the tough-feeling membranes on the surface, and divide in half lengthwise, along the center connective tissue. Once that�s cut away, you�re pretty much done, other than deciding how to cook it.
Butcher�s steak is great in a pan, under the broiler, and of course, on the grill. It takes to marinades wonderfully, and can sub in for any cut of steak in any recipe. It�s not only tender, and affordable, but also extremely beefy.
This is probably the most strongly flavored steak cut, and some even describe it as having a subtle gaminess, although I think that�s a bit much. There�s only one way to know for sure, so I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 portions:
1 whole butcher�s steak aka hanger steak, about 2 pounds
This amazing Calabrian pepper spread is as delicious, as it is unknown. It doesn�t even have a Wikipedia page. Hey, even I have a Wikipedia page. But, despite the fact there�s not a lot of information available, I believe I got relatively close, and really love how this comes out.
As I said in the video, I like this best served simply on sliced bread, but beyond that, this is one of the most versatile condiments I know. You can toss it with pasta; add it to a sandwich; fill an omelet; top a pizza; use it like a salsa on grilled fish; spice up a potato salad; as well as create the world�s best deviled eggs. Actually, I�ve never made deviled eggs with it, but I know it�d be the best.
I was intentionally vague with the cooking times and temperatures. Basically, once the onion, eggplant, and mushroom mixture is saut�ed, you add your peppers, and simply cook until everything is soft and tender, no matter how long it takes. You�ll probably stay between medium and medium high heat, but be prepared to adjust as need be. This is not something we want browning in the pan, before everything is cooked.
Another key is waiting for this to cool down completely, before you finalize the seasonings. We always want to adjust a recipe at the same temperature it�s going to be served at, since that just makes sense. Another thing that makes sense, and a lot of sense, is you giving this bomba Calabrese a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients to make about 4 cups Bomba Calabrese:
3/4 cup olive oil, divided
1/2 yellow onion
1 small eggplant
4-5 large button mushrooms
2 pounds hot cherry peppers (or about 1 pound after trimming)
1 pound sweet red bell peppers (or about 12 ounces after trimming)
There are lots of recipes people claim taste better if made by hand, but there�s no easier case to prove than pesto. That the name means, �to crush,� should tell you something, and while this method does take considerably more physical effort, when you taste this you�ll forget every pestle-pounding minute.
The intensity of the flavors is beyond compare, and as if by some kind of magic, this gorgeous spread develops an addictive spiciness. You can taste each ingredient, and yet when smashed together, new and wonderful flavors are released. If you�re in the market, I recommend the marble mortar seen herein, as long as the inside has some texture to it. If it seems smooth and glassy, keep looking.
Of course, you can play around with the ratios of the five ingredients, and easily adjust this to your tastes, but no matter how they�re combined, taking the time to crush them by hand is well worth the effort. I hope you give this fresh basil pesto a try soon. Enjoy!
Calamari is affordable, delicious, and sustainable, yet many cooks shy away from it, since it has a reputation for being tricky to work with. I should�ve said �unfair reputation,� because while it�s true calamari can end up with a rubbery texture if overcooked, there�s a very simple way to avoid this� by really overcooking it.
When it comes to calamari, it needs to be cooked in either 45 seconds, or 45 minutes, and nothing in between. If you sear it in a pan, or poach it in a sauce for a very brief time, you should get something nice and tender. However, after just a few extra minutes, the squid gets chewy.
Unfortunately, this is how most calamari is served, since it is easy to overcook, even for a professional. But, if we gently simmer for about 45-minutes total, something amazing happens. The calamari loses that rubbery texture, and becomes tender once again.
I also think it takes on more a meaty flavor, which I love, especially when using this to sauce pasta. So, if you�ve wanted to try cooking calamari, but were afraid of over-cooking it, I really hope you give this easy sauce a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 portions:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1yellow onion, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves, crushed 1 anchovy fillet
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 Serrano chili pepper sliced thin
1/2 teaspoons salt, plus more if needed
1/2 cup drinkable white wine
1 cup clam juice
6 cups crushed or pur�ed Italian plum tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 pounds frozen calamari tubes and tentacles, thawed, sliced into half-inch pieces
Actually, I don�t think you can live on just clotted cream and fruit preserves either, but regardless, as promised, here�s my preferred method for making strawberry jam. While amazingly delicious, and quite satisfying to make, I�ll have to put this on the same list as homemade ketchup. This is fun to make once in a while, but due to the effort, and time involved, Smuckers has nothing to worry about.
This version features a lot less sugar than many recipes, which is kind of crazy, since we use over two cups, as well as a homemade pectin puree, to help tighten-up the texture. Feel free to use pectin powder or liquid instead, but I think I did a pretty good job explaining why I don�t in the video.
Strawberries should be sweet, and plentiful this time year, so if you�re looking for a fun project, especially if your last fun project was making clotted cream, I really hope you give this delicious, fresh strawberry jam a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 3 cups of Strawberry Jam:
For the pectin puree:
3 apples, chopped
1 lemon, chopped
1 cup water
For the jam:
3 pounds strawberries, rinsed, and trimmed
1 1/2 cups (or whatever you got) pectin puree
2 1/4 cups white sugar, added in two additions
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Please Note: To test without a thermometer, wait until the jam starts to reduce and thicken, and spoon some of the mixture on a plate, and place in the freezer for a few minutes, until the jam is cold. If it's jelled, you're done. If it's still runny, keep cooking, and testing.
If you invented a cream preparation so incredibly delicious that you couldn�t bear the thought of anyone besides you, and the other dairy farmers in the area enjoying it, adding the word �clotted� to the name is a pretty sound strategy.
While the name doesn�t exactly make the mouth water, the flavor and texture are the stuff of legends. The long, slow cooking sort of toasts the cream, which imparts a sweet, nuttiness that I don�t think I�ve tasted in any other preparation.
Most modern ovens go down as low as 175-180 F., which is ideal for this technique. 200 F. will work, but maybe check after 10 hours, and see how things look. The other huge factor here is the cream. Be sure to get the best you can. It should be from grass-fed cows, and have a fat content of between 36-40%.
Avoid anything that says �Ultra-Pasteurized,� since it�s been heat-treated, and you�ll not get the same results. Other than this taking a day or two, the technique could not be easier, and I wasn�t exaggerating when I said it�s one of the most amazing things ever. I really do hope you give this a try soon.Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 cups heavy cream
8 x 8-inch glass or ceramic baking dish
- Bake at 175-180 F. for 12 hours. Chill overnight before separating the �clots.� Use the reserved liquid for baking biscuits.
My Norwegian pronunciations aren�t any better than my French ones, but as challenging as saying, �Sandefjordsm�r,� may be, this amazingly simple butter sauce is not very challenging to make.
People get nervous about butter sauce, since many types can easily �break,� which means the butter separates, but because of the cream, this is extremely stable, and very user-friendly. As long you don�t dump all the cold butter cubes in at once, and just toss them in a few at a time, your sauce will not break.
Along the same lines, if you make the sauce early, be sure to keep it in a warm spot, since if it gets cold and solidifies, and then you try and reheat it, the butter will most likely separate. Above and beyond being easy, and relatively sturdy, this Sandefjordsm�r is also quite versatile.
Not only is it wonderful on all types of fish, but also works beautifully with shrimp and lobster. Speaking of versatility, the same goes for changing up the herbs. So, no matter how you flavor it, or what you spoon it over, I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 servings:
2 lemons, juiced
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons cold unsalted, grass-fed butter, cut in cubes
I adore a good hollandaise, and couldn�t survive without mayonnaise, but if I had to pick an all-time favorite �aise, it might just be b�arnaise. This tarragon-spiked, shallot-infused hollandaise is absolutely perfect with any and all steaks or roasts; especially lean ones, like our recent salt-crust beef tenderloin.
A sauce made from 75% butter has some advantages, and elevating lean meat is just one of them. This is also excellent on potatoes, vegetables, as well as just about any seafood I can imagine. And as I mentioned in the video, this can be used to make quite the memorable eggs Benedict.
We�re using the same revolutionary technique here that we featured in our last hollandaise sauce video, with one small tweak.If you�re feeling lucky, try to create your hollandaise over medium heat, instead of low. That�s what I usually use, but I played it safe, and went with low heat in that recipe, even though using medium is much faster.
You�ll have to keep an eye on things, but you should get results similar to what you see in this video. By the way, just like when making regular hollandaise you can adjust the thickness by adding in a little hot water if necessary. So, whether you�re going to enjoy this with salt-crusted beef tenderloin, or something else just as special, I hope you give this b�arnaise sauce a try soon. Enjoy!
I don�t usually like to put words like �real� or �classic� in front of recipe names, since who the hell really knows, but in the case this aioli, I�m feeling pretty confident. In its purest form, this amazing sauce is nothing more than olive oil emulsified into freshly crushed garlic, seasoned simply with salt and lemon.
It arguably the greatest cold sauce of all time. Speaking of cold, the health benefits of regular aioli consumption are legendary. There�s not much not to like here, unless you don�t like garlic, then there�s plenty. This is pure, fiery, intense garlic flavor like you may have never tasted. It�s also a clever trick to get you to buy a wooden, or marble mortar and pestle.
Sure, if you don�t have one you can smash the garlic against the cutting board, with the flat of a large knife, and sort of do the same thing, but you don�t get the extra pulverization when emulsifying the oil.And it�s all about the pulverization.That�s what releases all those volatile compounds in the garlic, producing aioli�s signature flavor. I really hope you give this a try soon.Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 2/3 cup Real Aioli:
4 large FRESH garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or other course grain salt
1 to 2 teaspoons freshly sqeezed lemon juice or vinegar, or to taste
1/2 cup *light flavored extra virgin olive oil 1 or 2 teaspoons of water to adjust texture
- Note: This is best eaten fresh, but should be okay for about24 hours.
* Since this sauce has such a sharp, hot flavor from the garlic, you don�t want to use a really strongly flavored olive oil. We don�t want anything too peppery and bitter, which will clash with the garlic. Use something on the mild side, or cut with a neutral vegetable oil.
Chicken � la King is one of my favorite classic, comfort foods, and in additional to being delicious, you also get to make up your own story of where the name came from. Just promise me not to use mine. You can have the recipe, but the Don King story is proprietary.
This is an easy recipe to adapt, and you can also make it thicker/thinner if you want by simply changing the amount of roux. Have a little extra stock on hand to thin if need be, and not a lot can go wrong. And don�t even get me started on how great this is for using up leftover vegetables.
As I mentioned in the video, I�ll normally make this kind of thing the day after roasting a big chicken. You can eat some, and save the rest of the meat and bones for this. Or, you can just roast two chickens. They refer to that as �have your chicken and eat it too.� I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for two large, or four small portions:
6 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
2 large shallots, minced
1 cup diced sweet bell peppers
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, depending on how thick you want it
1/4 cup dry sherry (there is no substitute, except maybe a little splash of a mild, sweeter vinegar)
I�m not sure if using honey instead of sugar really qualifies as a �West Coast twist,� but it does ensure that people from North Carolina can�t attack me for this Eastern North Carolina-style barbecue sauce not being authentic.
Anyway, while this isn�t exactly what you might find in the Tar Heel State, it was fantastic on the pork, and I hope it inspires you to add this deliciously different barbecue sauce in your repertoire.
As I mentioned in the video, I�m heading down to SoCal to work on a top-secret project, but since I teased this sauce in the recent paper pork recipe, I wanted to get this posted before I left. Unfortunately, I can�t give any details about what I�m doing down there, but let�s just say�actually, I can�t even say that. So stay tuned, and in the meantime,I really do hope you give this a try soon.Enjoy!
I don�t do a lot of salad dressing videos, since it�s pretty much just adding things to a bowl, but when that dressing is going on a grilled shrimp Louie, I�ll make an exception. By the way, this is usually done with crab, but I think the smoky, grilled shrimp are a great summertime twist.
This is my take on a classic Louie dressing, and as with all such recipes, you�ll need to taste and adjust for acid, salt, and heat. Just be sure to wait until the dressing is nice and cold before tasting. You�ll get a more accurate reading, since that�s the temperature we�re going to be serving at.
If you do grill the shrimp, don�t toss it with the oil and lemon until right before you grill. This isn�t a marinade, and we don�t want the shrimp to start �cooking� in the acid. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
As promised, here is my take on Thai-style sweet chili sauce, or Nam Jim, if you want to sound cool. I do a sort of hybrid between the cooked and fresh versions, and using this technique, I think you get the best of both worlds.
If you can�t find these beautiful Thai bird�s eye chilies, you can make this sauce with any other combination of fresh, preserved, and/or dried chilies. Things like jalapeno, red Fresno, or Serrano chilies work great, as does habanero. If it�s hot, give it a shot.
Above and beyond the array of deep-fried treats you enjoy this stuff with at your favorite southeast-Asian restaurant, it also makes an incredibly good sauce for grilled meats, especially chicken and pork. Even the most insipid boneless-skinless breast shines, once shined with this sauce.
And I wasn�t kidding about the fish sauce being mandatory. It really is a key ingredient here, so I�m counting on you to either get some, or maybe sit this one out. As always, the amounts listed below are what tastes �perfect� to me, but what do I know? So, be sure to taste and adjust before you serve. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 1 cup of Thai-Style Sweet Chili Sauce:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoons sambal chili sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
6 cloves finely crushed garlic
2 tablespoons finely minced Thai chili peppers (or more of a less spicy pepper like Frenso, Jalapeno, or Serrano)
I received a lot of email after publishing our classic demi-glace video, but not the kind I was expecting. Instead of being showered with praise for finally granting this popular food wish, I was being chastised for posting a recipe that required veal bones.
This seemed a little unfair, since veal bones are sort of a key ingredient when making what�s basically a reduced veal stock. However, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I sometimes forget that people don�t live in restaurants, where things like veal knuckles are as ubiquitous as kale.
For your average home cook, veal bones can be expensive, and tricky to find. Plus, they come from baby cows, which many people are against harming. Nope, using adorable young calves is just not an option, although using the bones from ugly, fully-grown chickens is apparently fine.
Anyway, possible hypocrisy aside, this alternative method worked amazingly well, and above and beyond the almost identical look and feel, the flavor was surprisingly close. This didn�t taste like chicken, or like beef, but was somewhere in the middle, which is basically how I�d describe the taste of veal. I really hope you give this cheaper, easier, and possibly more ethical version a try soon. Enjoy!
Makes about 2 quarts of �Cheater� Demi Glace:
5 pounds whole chicken wings
2 pounds beef shanks (about three 1-inch thick slices)
As you may know, I haven�t posted for a while due to the sudden passing of my mother, Pauline. It�d been a tough few weeks, but she was the ultimate, �the show must go on� kind of lady, and so that�s what we�ll do. She had multiple surgeries in recent years that made it difficult, and often painful, to move around her kitchen. Despite this, she�d still somehow manage to bake a cake (or two), or make a big batch of cookies to bring to whatever family event she was attending.
While cooking and eating with family was her greatest joy, she also loved going to restaurants. Going out for dinner on Friday night was one of our great family traditions, and while I don�t remember having Steak Diane cooked table-side, this dish represents that bygone era for me. Looking back, I realize this weekly respitemeant much more to her than just a short break from cooking anddishes.
Before I get into the recipe, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for all the amazing thoughts and prayers I received during the last couple weeks. I�ve never met the vast majority of you, but nevertheless, it felt like I was hearing from hundreds of old friends, who somehow knew exactly what to say. There�s no easy way to lose someone you love, but your kind, comforting words, gave me strength.
With that in mind, I present this incredibly delicious, Steak Diane, which I�m hereby renaming Steak Pauline, in my mother�s honor. Of course, there�s no official way to do this, except to simply do it, and hope it catches on. Even if it doesn�t, at the very least, many years from now, while surfing the web, I�ll stumble across a recipe for it, and I�ll smile, thinking of her.
The procedure here is very straightforward, and relatively safe, except maybe for the exploding fireball step. As long as you turn off the flame, and keep your eyebrows at a safe distance while igniting the liquor, there shouldn�t be any real danger, and all those Oo�s and Ah�s are well worth the risk. Hey, that�s what insurance is for.
However, the pyrotechnics are very much for show, and if you�re concerned, you don't have to ignite the cognac. The alcohol will still evaporate as the sauce boils, and the end result will taste the same. By the way, even if you don�t ignite the pan with a lighter, it can still flame up when you turn up the heat to reduce, so you still need to be a little careful.
If you do decide to make this, I hope that above and beyond calling it �Steak Pauline,� you will also enjoy it surrounded by the people you love. While the flames in the pan eventually die out, the smiles they ignite, and the memories they produce, will be with you forever. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 2 portions:
For the sauce mixture:
1 generous tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon tomato paste
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 cup demi-glace (Or substitute 2 cups rich, low-sodium or salt-free chicken broth. It will take longer to reduce, but will still produce a great sauce. Just be careful with the salt.)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
two (8-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, fully trimmed, pounded to 1/2-inch thick (top sirloin will also work nicely here)
I'm not sure what specifically that would be, but I assume there�s some kind of science behind this amazing, and possibly modern method I happened to stumble upon. I once saw a chef make hollandaise buy adding chucks of cold butter instead of whisking in hot melted butter, and it intrigued me.
Not enough to actually try it, but enough to make me wonder what would happen if we dumped everything in the bowl at once, and just cooked it all together. No one was more shocked than I was when it worked. And worked beautifully. By the way, I�m guessing I�m not the only person to have thought of this, but until I see proof, I will claim to be it�s inventor.
The only way this doesn�t work is if your heat is too high. I don�t have to tell you what will happen if it is. However, over a low flame (or double-boiler if you�re scared) this will come together very gradually, right before your eyes, and you�ll be able to stop anytime you see fit.
Eggs are cheap, so give it a try, and see what happens. Being able to just dump everything into the bowl, and make hollandaise in one step is well worth the investment, especially with Mother�s Day coming up. Hint, hint. I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 2 portions (this can be scaled-up to how ever much you need):
1 large egg yolk
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
2 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (you can always add more to taste)
salt and cayenne or hot sauce to taste NOTE: If sauce gets too thick, just thin with a little hot water.
I can�t believe after all these years of posting videos, I hadn�t done a proper beurre blanc! Well, I guess I still haven�t, if you take into account bit of cream we sneak in, as beurre blanc purists do not approve. That�s okay; we�ll just distract them by pronouncing it wrong.
They consider it �cheating,� since adding cream helps you create a more stable base for emulsifying in cold cubes of butter. I don�t get how that�s a problem, unless the cream somehow ruined the taste of the sauce, but it doesn�t, and you could argue it actually enhances it. I also think it makes for an even more beautiful color.
Cream, or no, the technique is not at all difficult. Once your wine/acid mixture has reduced by about 75%, turn your heat to low, and whisk in the butter a few cubes at a time. That�s really it. By the way, feel free to use a saucepan for this. I used a saut� pan because it�s easier to film in, but it does make the process a little riskier.
You can switch up the type of vinegar, or go with lemon juice; and the shallots can be switched out for garlic, or finely minced onion. Chives are nice in this, but many other herbs will work, such as tarragon; or chervil, if you�re sexy. No matter how you pronounce it, or what ingredients you use in it, I really hope you give this easy sauce recipe a try soon. Enjoy!
Note: Yes, I can see there�s a spot of sauce splattered on the lens during the final scenes. These things will happen. Just pretend it�s not there. Thank you.
Ingredients for 4 portions Beurre Blanc:
1/2 cup of white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice, or white wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, herb-infused white vinegar, etc.
2 teaspoons very finely minced shallots
2 tablespoons heavy cream
4 ounces of cold unsalted butter (1/2 cup or 1 stick), cut in one-inch cubes
