Sunday, July 5, 2009

Grilled Cheese With Beef Short Rib Sandwiches

This is related to the post before about entertaining on Independence Day. Here is a more in-depth recipe and explanation of the grilled cheese with short rib sandwiches.


For the final dish of the evening, I made a sandwich of braised short ribs, sharp New York cheddar and sliced red onions on grilled sourdough bread (Taken/adapted from a recipe on Epicurious.com by LA chef Govind Armstrong). It was the hit of the night and given the time it took to make, it should’ve been.

I wasn’t exactly sure how many I’d be cooking for and what type of demand there’d be, so I bought 10 pounds of boneless short ribs ($3.99 per pound), three loaves of sourdough, and 3 pounds of a NY sharp cheddar ($9.99 per pound). While I always prefer to cook with meats on-the-bone, I simply didn’t have enough room to cook 20 pounds of bone-in short ribs just to end up with the same amount of meat as the 10-pounds of boneless. The cheddar, on the other hand, was picked for it’s easy melting ability and reasonable price.


10 pounds of boneless short ribs pre-cooking

For the preparation, there were two operations. The first, braising the short ribs, was done the day before and the day of. The second, assembling and cooking the sandwiches, was done on the spot at the party.

There are tons of different ways to braise short ribs, but most recipes are some variation of this:
1. Season the meat with healthy doses of kosher salt and pepper, and add canola oil to the pan.

2. Sear the meat for 5 minutes per side in a pan - A good sear means a happy short rib.
3. Remove the meat and add onions/celery/carrots/garlic for a few minutes - Be careful of how quickly it will burn in a pan this hot with oil
4. Deglaze with a cup of cabernet sauvignon - Make sure it cooks down a bit
5. Add fresh herbs of your choosing - I am liberal with my use of fresh thyme (Italian parsley can be added too)
6. Add a few cups of beef broth - Ratio is roughly 1 cup of wine to 3 cups of broth.

Once boiling, add the meat back in (and the juices that accumulated under it) and put it in the oven (covered) at 325 degrees. There are tons of variations for how long they should be cooked, usually it’s about 4 hours in total, with some recipes calling for braising every 15 minutes after the first 2 hours, some others calling for removing the top of the pan for the last hour or two and so on. I like to remove the cover afte
r 2 hours, and if the sauce isn’t covering much of the meat, then I’ll spoon some liquid on top. If not, I leave it be.

Like with any meat with high fat content, low and slow is the way to go.

On Friday, I cooked about 5 pounds of them in a slow cooker for about 8 hours, but didn't think they were quite as delicious as previous short ribs I've made, particularly the sauce. So Saturday, I made two separate pots of ribs with the remaining 5 pounds and thought the final product was more much flavorful and richer.

Here are some pictures of the meat during the searing and then braising process.


The short ribs searing

Short ribs being added back to the pan with vegetables, herbs and broth

The finished short ribs, simmering in broth

Once finished, I prefer to let the meat rest in its juices for a while and then transfer to a plate to further cool. Once the meat is out of the pan, discard of all of the vegetables and herbs, fire the stove top up high, and make sure the sauce reduces by about half. This will ensure a truly rich and delicious finishing sauce.

At this point, you either have a delicious dinner of short ribs or you can shred them and go further. To shred, simply pull along the grain with a fork. It will come apart immediately.

Depending on your time, either refrigerate or move to the grill area. I cooked mine in two different batches so they needed to be re-heated at Todd’s. I simply threw them in a large pan at 325 for about 20 minutes.



Once ready to go, part two of the cooking begins. To begin, I buttered one side of each slice of the sourdough. I added a few pieces of raw red onions to the sourdough and then added a handful of the shredded short ribs - spread across so it filled but didn’t spill out over the sandwich. Then, I added one and a half slices of the sharp cheddar, put the other slice of bread on top and threw it on the grill for about 3 or 4 minutes per side. Timing really varied depending on how hot the grill was and how much room there was. You do want a certain amount of fire to hit the sandwich so the bread will be crispy, but you have to be careful because there’s a fine line between perfectly crispy and burnt.

The recipe calls for finishing them off in the oven, however, since that wasn’t an option here I just had to be extra judicious and careful.

This seems like one hell of a process, and it was, but once you tried them they were well worth it. The shredded short ribs were incredibly tender and juicy on their own - I mean after 4 hours of braising you’d hope so. In fact, at one point, one of the guests took a handful of meat on a tortilla chip and scarfed it down (I’d say one of the better compliments the meat could receive). Anyway, the ribs put together with a delicious melted cheese, the crunch of a crisp red onion and a hearty bread created an utterly gluttonous and thus fantastic end product.


The sandwich being assembled


The sandwich just off the grill


The final product, sliced. This one wasn't grilled quite as long so the cheese had only just started to melt

People started requesting the sandwiches at 7pm on the dot and at 1am I still had the grill fired up churning them out, so they were a success and I highly recommend making them at your next gathering - large or small.

They take plenty long to make, but all in all, well worth the effort.

Entertaining on Independence Day


So last night I cooked for my friend Todd’s 4th of July party. Throughout the night there were about 50 people eating, from about 7pm to 1am. All in all, it was a success, with largely rave reviews of the food. There were certainly things I’d do differently if I hosted the party tomorrow, but for the most part it was a controllable chaos. Due to a lack of pictures of certain dishes, I’m going to quickly recap the foods I served and then post a separate in-depth recipe of the hit of the party - the Grilled Cheese with Short Ribs with Sandwiches - which were utterly gluttonous and thus fantastic. Let’s be honest, can you think of two more rich or satisfying foods than slow-braised short ribs and crispy grilled cheese? It’s like candy for grown-ups.

More detailed posts about the other dishes will be coming soon, once I can do them justice with worthwhile pictures.

So for the party I was given two requirements - I could only make finger foods and the budget was $200. I wasn’t exactly sure how many would be eating, but we assume in the 40-50 person range. Past those considerations, I was free to take it any direction I wished.

I wanted to serve some creations that weren’t usual party fare, but knowing that every palette is different, also have some food that are safe for all eaters. So, to start, I made a roasted garlic and lemon hummus, served with baked pita bread and a vegetable spread. The hummus, which was shockingly easy to make, basically consisted of garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, a few heads of roasted garlic and some kosher salt. The consistency took a bit of time to get down but with some tasting and adjusting it was solved quickly. Best yet, there was a plethora of hummus and it barely cost $10.


The choripan, pre-slicing...

Starters were not the focus here, however. For the more substantive food, there were three options. First, an Argentine street food specialty, choripan (above). It’s their version of our hot dog, but with considerable more zest and spunk. I’m going to write a full post about choripans later, but here are a few details. My version of the choripan consisted of a spanish chorizo, marinated in a chimichurri sauce, then fire roasted for a few minutes to get a nice char and served on a mini grilled baguette. Argentinians use a combination of beef and pork sausage, but I find that a spicy pork sausage works particularly well and is readily available here in DC.

Hardly scientific, the chimichurri sauce consisted of a ton of chopped up fresh Italian parsley, red chili pepper flakes, minced fresh garlic, kosher salt and medium-grade olive oil. Once the chorizo was roasted on the grill, 2-3 minutes per side (I used smoked chorizo so the time was shorter), and the baguette had been grilled for a minute or two, I assembled and sliced them into mini finger-food sizes bites. In all, the 25 chorizo cost $40 dollars and the chimichurri sauce was less than $10 total. Depending on preference, you can buy chorizo for far less than the $40 I paid.

At their best, the choripan can be spicy, zesty, hearty, chewy, crispy and altogether delicious.


Cheddar Sliders...

Second of the meat options were sliders (above), served either plain or with a sharp cheddar. Nothing too special here, this was the safe options for guests with less adventurous palettes - a nice way of saying boring eaters. The main takeaways here were making sure we had a cheese that melted well and preparing the meat with flavorful seasoning prior. For the seasoning, I used a mix of kosher salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, old bay seasoning and a healthy dose of worcestershire sauce. The burger meat, 6 pounds worth, went quickly and for hardly $15 it wasn’t practically free.


The grilled cheese with short ribs sandwich

For the final dish of the evening, I made a sandwich (above) of braised short ribs, sharp New York cheddar and sliced red onions on grilled sourdough bread (Taken/adapted from a recipe on Epicurious.com by LA chef Govind Armstrong). It was the hit of the night and given the time it took to make, it should’ve been.

I wasn’t exactly sure how many I’d be cooking for and what type of demand there’d be, so I bought 10 pounds of boneless short ribs ($3.99 per pound), three loaves of sourdough, and 3 pounds of a NY sharp cheddar ($9.99 per pound). While I always prefer to cook with meats on-the-bone, I simply didn’t have enough room to cook 20 pounds of bone-in short ribs just to end up with the same amount of meat as the 10-pounds of boneless. The cheddar, on the other hand, was picked for it’s easy melting ability and reasonable price.

The shredded short ribs, which had been braised for 4 or 5 hours while cooking, were incredibly tender and juicy on their own. In fact, at one point, one of the guests took a handful of meat on a tortilla chip and scarfed it down (I’d say one of the better compliments the meat could receive). Anyway, the ribs along with a delicious melted cheese, the crunch of a crisp red onion and a hearty bread created an utterly gluttonous and thus fantastic end product.

People started requesting the sandwiches at 7pm on the dot and at 1am I still had the grill fired up churning them out, so they were a success and I highly recommend them. They take plenty long to make, but all in all, well worth the effort. For instructions and details on the short rib grilled cheese sandwiches, read the immediate next post on Read Meat.

There was one notable exception last night which I should've accounted for, vegetarian food. Yes, hummus is vegetarian, but that's hardly substantive fare. I audibled and made simple grilled cheese sandwiches for the few veges in the crowd but that probably wouldn't fly in most parties.

Aside from that, I’d say the night was a success. (And I stayed within the budget too, albeit barely.)

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Read Meat Returns

Happy Independence Day everyone! 

I've taken about two months off from the blog to get my feet set in my new job, but as of this 4th of July, I'm resuming my writing at Read Meat. 

I envision Read Meat to be slightly different from how it was a few months ago. The style of writing (casual/in my voice) will likely stay the same, but topics will be slightly altered. It will still include some restaurant reviews, but there will be a greater focus on cooking - recipes, tips, stories of success/disaster (expect more of the latter) and any other number of things I pick up cooking and eating. 

In this light, a lot of the writing will be focused on self-teaching oneself how to cook and eat. I know, everyone should be oh so proud when you learn to eat! But what I mean here is learning a palette for how foods should taste, what flavors work well together, how to make those restaurant quality dishes and the list goes on... 

As someone that's done both on my own (Not that my mother wasn't a good cook, I just never took an interest in cooking until I was in college), I've learned to cook and eat through a number of mediums - Food TV, the internet, magazines, travel and more. So a lot of the posts (recipes or otherwise) will come from tips and tools I've picked up from shows those similar mediums. You'd be shocked just how much you can learn about food from just an hour of Cook's Country or Jacques Pepin. 

So with all that in mind, I'm doing a good bit of cooking today for the 4th. I set the menu and will be cooking for my friend Todd's party tonight,  with the caveat that all food had to be finger foods. Everything has to be prepared on the grill, which is somewhat foreign to me, but I'm excited nonetheless and will be posting recipes, pictures and more on the blog. 

Here's what the menu looks like now:

Roasted Garlic hummus with a vegetable spread and baked pita bread. 

Mini Choripan (Argentinian Hot Dog) 
Mini Burgers with a Sharp Cheddar
Short Ribs and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on Sourdough with red onions

And my friend Anne is making the dessert, mini cupcakes with red, white and blue icing (Duh), which I'm sure will be delicious. 

Stay tuned