Saturday, January 31, 2009

The simple NY strip


I’ve always been cautious to have strip steaks at home, they’re one of the few cuts I’m convinced are better at a steakhouse. For one, they are distinctly better when dry-aged – the meat’s way more tender and the flavor’s far more concentrated. While you can sometimes find dry-aged NY strips at a butcher shop, they are incredibly expensive and just not feasible to buy. And two, a NY strip is a cut that’s just better on a grill. A lot of cuts are better braised or sautéed, but not the strip. The crust benefits from the sear of a burning hot grill and the flavor and meatiness of the cut goes hand in hand with a charcoal or wood-fired grill. When do you ever hear about a couple of guys sautéing a NY strip? It doesn’t happen. Needless to say, living in an apartment in DC means I don’t have a grill and have to use other options.

But I was at the Harris Teeter in Crystal City last week (the best market in the area) and found beautiful NY strips on sale for $6.99 a pound, way too good of a deal to resist. I figured it was worth a shot since the cuts we’re huge, they were beautifully marbled, and they were as fresh looking as I can ask for. I picked one of the larger cuts and at 20-ounces it was enormous.

Usually I love marinating or cooking meats in sauces, but for the strip I believe in a different approach, less is more. NY strips are impressive cuts with serious marbilization and a lot of flavor. This steak speaks for itself, there’s no point in dressing it up as or with something else.

In preparation, I heated my oven to 450 and put my trusty cast-iron skillet (pictured below) in to heat up. The main reason I use a cast-iron skillet is for the incredible heat it retains. I think the single most important aspect of cooking steaks is to have a surface that’s hot enough so the meat is seared and effectively cooked, without having to leave it on for too long. This ensures that the meat has a nice crust on the outside without being overcooked inside, and I think searing it preserves the flavor better. As an added bonus, this particular skillet has grooves that give the meat a grilled look – perfect for steaks, not great for sauces. After a few minutes in the oven, I took the skillet out and put it on a burner on high, all ready to go.

The cast iron skillet

For seasoning, I used kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper and a little olive oil. The key here was to use a generous amount of kosher salt (a full coating on either side), which helped bring out the flavor of the meat. Once on the skillet, the steak immediately began smoking, which was necessary for the crust. That’s where the beauty of the skillet came in, allowing the steak to immediately and get the color and crust it needed, without having to spend too long cooking.

The steak spent roughly three minutes on either side (without being touched) and then I sent it straight to the oven for another two minutes. I think the oven really seals in the flavor of the steak so it finishes well. I removed the meat and let it sit for 5 minutes so the juices spread out and then cut in half and served. I prefer steaks practically mooing still so a 20-ouncer was still about rare-plus after 8 minutes. If you prefer meat slightly better done, leave it in the oven for another 2 minutes and you’ll get a pinker version.

The meat was served on a "steak board," a traditional Argentinian parillas (steakhouse) serving dish. It might be the most wonderfully spartan addition to food yet. 

The steak resting on the steak board before slicing

Serving aside, the strip was absolutely delicious. The outside was nicely charred (thanks to the cast-iron skillet), while the inside had a frankly awesome reddish pink color. Look at it in the picture below. It was warm, flavorful, and juicy. The salt concentrated the flavors and even gave the illusion at times that it was dry-aged. Unlike so many home cooked steaks, it wasn’t overdone or dried out.


Beautiful char outside, juicy redness inside

The biggest difference between a steakhouse cut and this was that the fat here was slightly harder to cut around since it hadn’t been dry-aging for the last month or two. Aside from that, it was easy to make and surprisingly good, I’m certainly more eager to make strips in the future.



Harris Teeter Crystal City:
Potomac Yard
3600 S Glebe Rd
Arlington, VA 22202


Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Clearly it's not the Olympics...


The Americans didn't win.


The Norwegians won gold at the Bocuse d'Or, read about it here.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Olympics of Cooking


Imagine this:

Contestants must prepare 12 portions of both a meat and a fish dish in 5 hours and 35 minutes in small, identical, kitchen cubicles with picture windows that face an audience of more than 1,000 cheering, flag-waving, bell-ringing, foot-stomping, anthem-singing spectators.

No, that’s not a joke. That’s an excerpt from yesterday’s New York Times about the Bocuse d’Or competition, the Olympics of cooking, and it’s real and starting today. The yearly competition held in Lyon, France, pits chefs from 24 countries against each other vying for gold, silver, and bronze– in this case a statue of the competitions founder, Paul Bocuse (Statue pictured to the right). Who knew patriotism would come to cooking!

Sadly the Americans have not faired well in the 18-year competition, but they are correcting that. Paul Bocuse, the French chef and founder and namesake of the competition, was actually quite disturbed the Americans have never placed better than sixth before and has been determined to change that. He convinced Thomas Keller (the best chef in America) to be the President of our team. Keller’s sous chef at The French Laundry, Timothy Hollingsworth, won the U.S. trials and is the chef for the Americans.



Chef Thomas Keller in the kitchen

There are a million ridiculous (and hilarious) rules, but all the chefs are 
working with the same basic proteins: a whole Norwegian cod, Norwegian scallop
s, and Norwegian prawns for the fish dish; and a Scottish beef filet, whole oxtail, beef cheeks, and ribs for the meat dish. (More details here and here)

 
Whole Norwegian prawns used in the seafood dish

Seriously though, how cool does this sound? Thousands of fans cheering on their country while announcers give play-by-play commentary of conditions “in the kitchen,” and the winner is given a gold chef statue. I don’t know about you, but I’m seriously entertained (and pumped) by this, and frankly I don’t think I’m alone.

I’m actually a little surprised this isn’t televised in the U.S. yet, I think there would be huge interest. If Iron Chef can get big ratings then a cooking competition where Americans can root for their country would certainly be a hit. Seeing as bobsledding was on
national TV twice this past weekend, there should definitely be room for the Olympics of Cooking. Seriously though, it could take on an almost cult-like following for a few days each year, just like what curling does during the Olympics.

For those who are as entertained as I am and want to keep up, the New York Times is
liveblogging the competition, and yes there are already screaming fans and drama!

Stay tuned... the Americans cook tomorrow, Go America!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Kotobuki

I understand why sushi restaurants are expensive and (mostly) simple restaurants. For one, good sushi-grade fish costs a lot of money. And two, Japanese cuisine is still working its way into the American diet and frankly Americans are just not comfortable with adventurous Japanese dishes – eating any sort of raw fish is already a major step out on a limb.

But
Kotobuki really defies both of those realities. The fish is so remarkably fresh and inexpensive, two terms that rarely ever go hand in hand. How does chef and owner, Hisao Abe, do it? Is there an enormous across the board price markup on sushi that only he doesn’t abide by? But that’s not all, dinners arrive accompanied by complimentary native Japanese side dishes, ones I’ve scarcely seen at other US Japanese places. The dishes aren’t strange, rather they’re quite tasty. Why does Kotobuki serve different and exciting Japanese dishes (and keep customers coming) while most others are stuck in the grind of only edamame and chicken teriyaki?

To be fair, Kotobuki is not the perfect sushi restaurant for all occasions. The restaurant is very small, located in the upstairs of a townhouse with only 30 seats including the sushi bar, so there’s always a wait and once seated you’ll likely overhear the conversations at surrounding tables. You can also scratch it off if you’re looking for a restaurant downtown, since it’s located in residential Georgetown
(Palisades) and has a wide mix of patrons, including often families with small children. The ambience closer resembles a local neighborhood spot than great sushi establishment. But the restaurant is endearing, the prices are dirt cheap and the food is frankly remarkable – here are the specifics.

If you're starting with a drink, try the sake. It’s served in a wooden box and is practically overflowing with delicious rice wine. The sushi menu is nicely stocked with numerous platters and options by the piece for $1 each (both nigiri and sashimi). All of the basic fish is so fresh that it literally glistens on the plate – you really will be able to not just taste but also SEE a difference. They also have a few specialty fish options, including the famed toro, fatty tuna, for $2.50 a piece. Here the toro is so soft that it sooner resembles butter than fish. As for the rolls, they have a smaller and more basic selection, but for $3.50 or $4, the large and delicious rolls are a steal – made with fish so fresh that you can really taste a difference in the roll. Highlights include the eel, yellowtail, toro and mackerel nigiri, and the spicy salmon and rainbow rolls.

Not interested in sushi? Try one of the house specialties, the unadon is my personal favorite (pictured below). Offered in many restaurants, Kotobuki takes the eel dish to a new level. Sometimes referred to as unaju, unadon is broiled fresh water eel in a fish sauce, served over a bed of sticky Japanese rice. Here the bowl is practically overflowing with delicious, hearty, piping hot eel, perfect for a cold night. The sauce is gooey and the vinegar rice is sticky and addicting – if I were Japanese, this would surely be my comfort food.


Broiled eel and tuna sashimi from the unadon set at Kotobuki

I’d be satisfied enough with just this, but the meal is far from over. Accompanying the eel is miso soup and four complimentary side dishes: a platter of sashimi and three native side dishes. There are five(!) pieces of sashimi, tuna and flounder – both refreshing and fresh. The dishes include a few bites of black seaweed, a mound of raw carrots and root vegetables, and my personal favorite, a dish of fragrant mini root mushrooms. It’s a mountain of delicious food, and for only $17, it’s an unbelievable deal.


The chicken kamameshi at Kotobuki

For more traditional eaters there’s another house specialty for the same price, kamameshi. Kamameshi is chicken or vegetables slow cooked and served in an iron kettle, accompanied by miso soup and those four complimentary sides. To finish, try the homemade green tea mochi balls. The small rice cakes are doughy with creamy green tea ice cream inside, enough to satisfy your sweet tooth but small enough not to stuff you.

I’ve never left Kotobuki anything but utterly satisfied. Try it, I bet you’ll agree.


Saturday, January 24, 2009

The rise of the Malbecs

Today’s Wall Street Journal profiled and reviewed Argentinian Malbecs, noting their dramatic rise in the last decade. I was particularly intrigued since I recently visited Argentina and have been devoted to Malbec since.

The article is worth reading, detailing Malbec’s sudden rise and the potential pitfalls that accompany such a marked increase in demand. The review said that they are already starting to see those effects - a rising number of Malbecs are now being grown in unsuitable areas, making for bad wines.

I personally haven’t found that so far, but I haven’t strayed away from Argentina for Malbecs yet. Of the wines they reviewed, I’ve tried the Altos Las Hormigas, Trapiche, and the Rutini. Both the Las Hormigas and Trapiche were delicious and very good deals. While in Mendoza, I visited the bodega where Rutini is made, La Rural, and left with a so-so impression. While it’s one of the oldest wineries in the country, their wines seemed to be given less care and felt more mass produced than many of the other bodegas. That’s probably since most bodegas produce only a few varieties, but La Rural had almost ten different brands and various grape varieties within each line.


Friday, January 23, 2009

DC Restaurant week is back!

Two of the year’s best weeks are when Washingtonians can eat their hearts out (err, mostly dine on smaller portions) at some of the best restaurants in the area – at considerably reduced rates. Well, that’s coming up soon – February 16th-22nd.

With both eaters and restaurateurs hurting considerably in the wallet this year, restaurant week could not have come soon enough. This
restaurant week, the 14th in DC’s history, includes almost 180 participating restaurants, so there is ample variety to choose from – but only one price range! This year’s festivities will cost diners $20.09 for lunch and $35.09 for dinner, for a three-course price-fixed meal.

When picking the right restaurant week destination, there are a number of factors I usually consider:

Accessibility – Diners often choose a restaurant they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. In part, this is the purpose of restaurant week since it makes the DC dining scene accessible at a manageable level. However, the problem here is that the most expensive (participating) restaurants are often the most popular, filling up very quickly. So go on opentable now and reserve before your restaurant is sold out!

Menu – Some restaurants offer “special” restaurant week menus, those should be avoided. If I’m eating at a restaurant this week, I want to eat the same food they usually offer. If the food was better on a “special” menu, it would be part of the regular menu – there’s a reason the dish is only on a reduced price menu.

Size – One of the main gripes people have with restaurant week is that the dishes are way too small. It’s true that some restaurants serve smaller versions of their normal menu, however, many restaurants don’t. For example,
Chef Geoff’s serves their full size entrees and appetizers, just at a greatly reduced price. There’s no foolproof way of knowing what each restaurant does, but common sense usually works here. Don’t expect large portions from the most expensive spots in town, and don’t go to one of the steakhouses expecting a 20-ounce NY strip – you will surely leave disappointed.

Regular Deals – The last thing I usually consider in picking a restaurant is what specials/deals they usually offer. Many restaurants extend their restaurant week menus for weeks or even months longer, so you don’t necessarily need to visit during restaurant week. For example,
Dino offers restaurant week style menus year round (Sun-Thurs) as well as great wine specials during the week. Surely the food at Dino will be wonderful during restaurant week, but you can get the same or a better deal anytime through the year.

My favorite restaurant week experiences all came at restaurants I’d not previously visited, possibly because I didn’t know what to expect. My favorite probably was at PS7 (now a restaurant I frequent often), which during restaurant week offers an ambitious menu with numerous options and full size portions. They also have wine and drink specials for restaurant week. A few places I’ve had less than satisfying restaurant week meals at include Smith & Wollensky’s and the Oval Room – both of which served extraordinarily small portions.

For other restaurant week details,
DC Foodies has a full list of past restaurant week menus and Capital Spice has a map up of all this year’s participating restaurants.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Gourmet magazine rates cheesesteak shops

This month’s issue of Gourmet magazine rated the best cheesesteaks in Philly, and as someone who grew up in the area I was particularly interested. They profiled five shops, none downtown, leaving the most famous shops off, but including my single favorite steak shop, Dalessandro’s.

To be fair, your favorite shops are often influenced by your preferred type of steak. My preference is thinly chopped steak, provolone for the cheese, translucent onions and mushrooms. Hand’s down, Dalessandro’s does that the best, and they serve heaping portions onto crisp Amoroso rolls. Plus, the shop’s feel is frankly awesome with a mix of kids in sports uniforms and construction workers crammed into a 25by5 space, all waiting for one of 8 counter stools or for their name to be called for takeout. Dalessandro’s has won the Best of Philly award for cheesesteaks a few times previously and they deserve to continue that tradition.

On the flip side are the most famous steak shops, Pat’s and Geno’s. Although everyone imagines cheesesteaks to be enormous creations, not all places serve them so large, like Pat’s and Geno’s. Their beef is served as long strips (which simply isn’t as flavorful), their main cheese is whiz, and you order and eat them outside. They may have distinctive neon signs, but they serve tourist quality steaks – why any Philadelphian goes there I have no idea.

But anyway, Gourmet certainly got it right with Dalessandro’s as well as Mama’s Pizzeria, a place that proves good steaks can also be made in the burbs. The only shop I’d add to their list is Jim’s Steaks, a great example of where a “celebrity cheesesteak” can actually live up to its hype. Spend 30 minutes waiting in the long snaking line at 3 am at Jim’s on South Street absorbing the fame, character, and delicious meat and cheese smells and you’ll understand why it’s so revered.

Read the whole Gourmet article
here.


Friday, January 16, 2009

Anthony Bourdain comes to Washington

Tony Bourdain’s show No Reservations is profiling DC in its newest episode, airing this Monday at 9pm. The show’s preview included considerable footage with star chef Jose Andres but few other details. Having watched his show enough, it’s not surprising he picked Jose Andres to be the chef profiled (certainly wouldn’t have been Michel Richard). But given his obsession with innovative, unique, and off the beaten path restaurants, I’ll be really disappointed if he ends up at Zaytinya or Jaleo since they could be the two most visited spots in the city.

I’m also interested to see if he ends up at Ben’s Chili Bowl, since it has the history and food Bourdain likes but is already a celebrity-like establishment. Granville Moore’s, Rays the Steaks, Dino, and Komi all seem like his type of places to visit, but knowing his show, he’ll pick a far more random group to visit.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

New York Times covers “real DC”


Yesterday’s Times featured an article titled “Chefs Settle Down in ‘the Real DC’” chronicling the rise of restaurants and bars in various gentrifying areas of Washington. I’m glad the subject of my first post, Granville Moore’s, was mentioned and given due credit.

The Times mentioned a number of fascinating places due to open, especially “Chef’s Table” on the Anacostia River. I’d be thrilled if a meat-and-three can make it in Washington, although Anacostia surely won’t get the Washington lunch crowd.

Read the whole article here.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Granville Moore's: Best fries in the city?


Granville Moore’s is not your normal DC restaurant. It’s dark. It’s grungy. It’s in a shady part of town. And unlike so many places in Washington, the food is great and you won’t pay a lot for it. I like Granville Moore’s for three main reasons – they have great mussels, maybe the best fries in town, and an unbelievable selection of Belgian beers.

There are of course other benefits as well, like a menu that changes seasonally, a number of bison meat dishes (a relative rarity in town), a good bourbon list and more. The restaurant is dark with a long wooden bar downstairs and another upstairs, making for a great neighborhood spot – if you live near H st. NE. But the real attraction is their Belgian beer list which is incredibly expansive, their five types of mussels, and their double-fried fries.

Just some of the Belgian beer options at Granville Moore's

In fairness, not everything is perfect at Granville. They don't take reservations so you're almost guaranteed to have a wait and on a recent trip their bison tartare dish was less than delicious. As for the heart of their business, nothing but praise here. 
 
All of the moules are good, but I have my preferences, namely the moules marinere and moules fromage bleu. The marinere is classic but the broth is really tasty and the mussels are both enormous and delicious. The fromage bleu, their signature dish, is also delicious with applewood smoked bacon, blue cheese, shallots, spinach, lemon juice and chardonnay. I'm usually hesitant to have bacon with seafood because it often overwhelms the seafood, but not here. Want to see how it's done? Check out the youtube below of Chef Teddy Folkman making the moules fromage bleu on an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay."



But as good as the mussels are, they really aren’t the best thing on the menu – it’s the frites. A LOT of restaurants make fries, it's not exactly a novel food. It's tough to make great fries, but it's especially difficult to make fries that really distinguish themselves from every other fry. There just aren't that many ingredients or variations of preparing them to truly distinguish the taste. Granville Moore's does it. If you go, order the grande size. Yes, the petite has a ton of fries and seems like it will be enough, but it won’t be. Trust me. The potatoes are double fried so they are cooked through and crispy enough but still aren’t burnt. They are nicely sized, not too long or thick. And they're seasoned with herbs and a good amount of sea salt so you can taste the seasoning but aren’t overwhelmed and in need of constant water. It's true fry perfection.



Accompanying the fries are nine different sauces (above), all of which are homemade and actually live up to their hype. Personal favorites are the Dijonaisse, Curry Mayo, and Chipotle Mayo. The truffle aioli sauce was a little bland and disappointing but all in all they are mostly very good so it’s simply personal preference.

It might be a hassle to get to and to get into, but Granville Moore’s is definitely worth the trip... just follow the fries.

Welcome to Read Meat

Happy New Year and welcome to Read Meat. I'm excited to finally be blogging about food, I've been looking for the right forum to share my thoughts on and experiences with food, and I think I've found it. Obviously I love red meat, but I'm going to blog on a whole range of food topics and don't envision focusing on any one topic. Most posts will come from experiences in Washington DC, where I've lived now for 6 years.

I've always liked to eat but only really became obsessed when I went to college and experienced different and exciting new foods. Cooking began later after briefly living in Italy in 2006. Since then I've cooked often and have consistently tried to conquer more ambitious foods - with varying degrees of success.

Come back periodically for new posts, I'll try to blog a few times a week.