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Recipe of the Week: All Beef Chili
Chili is one of those dishes that people are passionate about. For example, I have a friend who swears that making it with ground beef is a sin, and that it should be made with stewing blade meat, stewed with spices for hours. I don’t disagree, however that style isn’t as easy to spoon over a hot dog as ours is.
All-Beef Chili
adapted from Cooking Meat
Makes enough for 6 healthy servings
Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef, preferably from the blade
3 Tbsp vegetable oil (divided)
1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced
2 Tbsp minced garlic
½ red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp Spanish paprika
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
⅓ cup tomato paste
⅓ cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can (500 mL) plum tomatoes
1 Tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce
1 cup canned red kidney beans, drained
1 cup Beef Stock
1 cup canned black beans, drained
3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp lime juice
Method
1. In a large pot over medium heat, brown the beef in 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil. Once brown, drain off the excess oil, transfer the beef to a plate, and set aside.
2. Return the pot to the heat and add 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and sweat for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic and sweat for 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add the bell peppers and celery and continue cooking and stirring for another few minutes.
3. Turn down the heat to low, stir in the dried spices, and cook for 5 minutes, or until fragrant. Finally, add the tomato paste and water, stir well to creating a loose paste, and simmer for 10 minutes. Season your chili base with salt and pepper.
4. Pass the tomatoes and the chipotle peppers through a food mill or food ricer. (If you don’t have one, use a food processor but the seeds may leave a bitter taste in your chili.) Add the puréed tomato mixture, cooked beef, kidney beans, and beef stock to the pot and stir well to combine. Bring the chili to a simmer over low heat, cover, and simmer for 1¾ hours. Stir occasionally, to prevent the meat from sticking to the bottom.
5. Add the black beans and cilantro, then stir in the sugar and lime juice. Season to taste: the chili should be tangy and spicy with a hint of sweetness. Cook for 15 minutes more, or until the beef is tender.
6. To serve, pour the chili into a large serving bowl and pass the bowls. Or spoon it over a freshly grilled and “bunned” hot dog.
Tacos Suadero
One of my favorite taco fillings is suadero, which is beef that tastes like it has been cooked slowly in its own fat, like a leg of duck confit. I make my tacos with two tortillas per serving (as it makes the taco stronger) and classic toppings, but feel free to use a single tortilla and go nuts with salsas, hot sauces, guacamole, cheese—whatever your family enjoys!
Tacos de Suadero
recipe abridged from Cooking Meat
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
6 Tbsp rendered beef fat (or vegetable shortening)
½ cup diced onion
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp allspice
2½ lbs beef stew, preferably cut from the blade
2 cups water
Salt and black pepper to taste
12 to 24 corn tortillas
½ cup sliced thinly red onion
2 Tbsp lime juice
½ bunch cilantro, washed and picked of large stems
1 lime, cut in wedges
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. In a large ovenproof pot over medium heat, melt the beef fat until warm. Add the diced onions and sauté until translucent, then stir in the cumin, allspice, and beef. Season with some salt and pepper and cook, stirring well, to brown the beef all over, about 10 minutes.
3. When the beef is brown, add the water and bring to a simmer. Give the meat a good stir, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and braise in the oven for 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so. The beef is done when the meat falls apart when you stir it.
4. While the beef is braising, mix the sliced red onions with the lime juice and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Set it aside to allow the onions to lightly pickle.
5. When the meat is cooked, place the pot on the stove over medium heat. Remove the lid and allow the meat to simmer, stirring constantly. The water will evaporate, leaving the beef simmering in its own fat. Allow the beef to caramelize lightly on the bottom of the pot, scraping it up with a wooden spoon until the contents of the entire pot are golden brown. Remove from the heat and strain the beef through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the excess fat. (Refrigerate this fat and use it in place of butter or olive oil to cook potatoes or other vegetables.)
6. To serve, arrange the tortillas on a serving platter and scoop the beef into a large serving bowl. Place the pickled red onions, cilantro, and the lime wedges in separate bowls and invite everyone to assemble their own tacos.
BBQ Back Ribs
Back ribs, aka “Baby Back Ribs”, are the 13 collected bones that run close to the loin of the hog. These are the rib bones in a “bone-in rib chop”, and because of their location on a hog’s body they are super tender and meaty. Highly versatile, these ribs can be quickly roasted, or slow cooked, like in the recipe here. Slow cooking the back ribs at a low temperature yields super tender meat which stays juicy because of the marbling around that area of the carcass. This week is as good a time as any to get BBQin’!
BBQ Back Ribs
Serves 2 to 3
Ingredients:
2 racks of back ribs (about 1.5 lbs each)
1 bottle Smokey Pork Rib Rub
1 cup cider vinegar
1 bottle Dad’s BBQ Sauce (or BBQ sauce of your choice)
Method:
1. To remove the membrane from the underside of the ribs, slide a paring knife under the membrane at the cut edge of one of the middle bones. Lift up a few inches of the membrane, then grasp it with a paper towel and pull the rest of the membrane away from the bones. Discard the membrane.
2. Place the ribs on a tray and cover them with the spice rub, using your hands to massage the spice into the meat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat your charcoal grill: heat up the charcoal in a chimney or on your grate with a firestarter. Let the charcoal flame out and get cherry red with white areas.
4. Move the hot coals to one side of your grill. Place the ribs on the “cooler” side of the grill. Close the lid and crack the vent to control to heat and smoke. Ideally the interior of the grill is about 250°F.
5. Cook the ribs for two hours, flipping intermittently and brushing with cider vinegar. Add additional charcoal if the original batch looks like it won’t last the full time. After two hours, brush the ribs all over with the BBQ sauce and continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce is glazed onto the ribs. Take the ribs off the grill and rest for 10 minutes.
6. To serve, cut between each rib and arrange on a platter plates. Serve immediately.
Crispy Baked Wings
The recipe shouldn’t work. Reading it for the first time, I was like “huh?”. But trust me, it works really well. The baking powder reacts with the chicken in such a way that the wings become crispy in your oven, as if they had a bath in hot oil. Delicious any day of the week.
Crispy Baked Chicken Wings
adapted from Cooking Meat
Yield: serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 lbs chicken wings, split between drumettes and flats
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp salt
½ Tbsp pepper
½ cup butter
½ cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 250°F. Set a wire baking rack over a baking sheet and rub it with a bit of vegetable oil.
2. Divide the wings between 2 work bowls. Place 1 Tbsp baking powder, ½ Tbsp salt, and ¼ Tbsp pepper into each bowl and toss the wings well with the dry ingredients to coat them thoroughly.
3. Arrange the wings on the wire rack, leaving room between them so the hot air can circulate freely. Bake the wings for 30 minutes.
4. Turn up the oven to 425°F and cook the wings for another 50 minutes.
5. While the wings are cooking, make the sauce. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and the hot sauce and stir until emulsified. Remove from the heat and set aside.
6. To serve, toss the wings with the sauce in a large bowl. Serve immediately.
Simple Pasta with Meat Ragu
If you have kids, summer officially started last weekend when schools rang their final bells for the year. If you’re a parent like me, you like to have easy to reheat meals stocked up in your fridge or freezer for those lazy days when you don’t want to make a big fuss in the kitchen. Enter Simple Pasta and Meat Sauce, a dish that, assuming you’ve made the sauce in advance, you can have ready in as long as it takes to cook the pasta. This is a basic meat ragu, and feel free to add as many vegetables as you like. I’ve made this before with broccoli and peppers finely pulsed in the food processor, so my kid gets some hidden vegetables. The fennel and onion tend to mask most other vegetal flavours (just don’t tell your kids 😉!) The pasta shape is up to you, although I find either spaghetti or rigatoni are a hit at my house.
Meat Ragu
Makes 2+ liters of ragu
Ingredients
4 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lbs ground beef
1.5 lbs ground pork
3 pc mild Italian fennel sausage, meat removed from casing and casing disposed
1 large white onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated on a box grater
to taste salt and pepper
1 pinch chili flakes
1 tsp fennel pollen
750 ml (1 btl) tomato passata (pureed tomatoes)
Method:
1) Add the oil to a heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.
2) Add the beef, pork, and sausage to the pot, and break it up with a wooden spoon. Mix well and cook for about ten minutes until the meat is separated and fully cooked through (it will be mostly grey with some browning from the bottom of the pot).
3) Add the onion, garlic, and carrot to the pot and stir well to incorporate. Season with salt, pepper, chili flakes, and fennel pollen, stirring well while simmering for an additional 8-10 minutes or until fragrant.
4) Add the tomato passata, stirring well. Pour about ½ cup of water into the passata bottle, swirl it around to collect the remaining tomato puree, and pour that in the pot as well. Stir and taste for salt, adding a bit more if necessary.
5) Place a lid on the sauce and turn the heat down to very low. Let the sauce cook for two hours, stirring occasionally.
6) When the sauce is finished, cook your (or your kid’s) favourite pasta. To cook the pasta, fill a large pot halfway with salted water, and bring it to a boil over a high heat. Cooking the pasta in less water means the water will be much starchier when it’s done, which will result in a more velvet-y finished pasta.
7) Strain the pasta, reserving a ½ cup or so of the cooking water. Put the pasta back in the cooking pot with the reserved water and add enough ragu to coat the pasta well. Stir well and serve!
Note: This ragu freezes well, or it can be stored in a fridge for up to 5 days.
Homemade Poutine
Poutine may not exactly be our national dish, but I think it’s hard to find any Canadian who “pou-pou”s the ‘tine! I mean, it’s fries with gravy and cheese curds – what’s there not to like? Also, try finding this in ANY other country – it’s not impossible, but Canadians from all walks of life enjoy this dish from coast to coast to coast in bars, fast food joints, and even fancy restaurants. Now you might as well try to make it at home! The trick is the gravy, which traditionally uses both seasoned beef and chicken broth, as opposed to unseasoned stock. For this recipe I use our fantastic bone broth, which is made with both beef and chicken bones, and is an altogether richer in flavour than stock. If you can’t find cheese curds, you can substitute full fat mozzarella (the kind you would use on pizza) cut into thick strips. Use as much cheese curds as you like – I would start with one package then ad more if you’re feeling luxurious. Finally, I like to ad chives to my fries, and that includes poutine. They add a bright “oniony-ness” that works very well with fries.
Homemade Poutine
Yield: Serves four
Ingredients
Gravy:
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water
1 L Bone Broth
1 tsp dried sage
1 bay leaf
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
to taste salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 packages of duck fat French fries, beef tallow fries (or frozen fries of your choice)
1 to 2 packages of Bright’s cheese curds (or cheese curds/mozzarella of your choice)
3 tbsp finely chopped chives (optional)
Method:
1) To make the gravy, first mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and set aside.
2) In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the bone broth to a simmer with the sage and bay leaf.
3) In a separate saucepan over medium high heat, make a roux with the butter and flour. Melt the butter, then add the flour and cook, stirring regularly, for about 5 minutes, until the mixture turns golden brown.
4) Add the hot bone broth to the roux, a cup at a time. Whisk vigorously to avoid lumps. Once all the bone broth is incorporated into the roux, stir in about half the cornstarch mixture and simmer for a minute or so. If you'd like your gravy thicker, add a more of the cornstarch mixture, in small increments, as needed, to thicken. Remove the bay leaf and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Keep warm until your fries are ready.
5) Cook the fries as per package directions until golden and crispy.
6) Put the hot fries in a large mixing bowl and season with salt (if desired) add a few ladles of gravy and toss the fries in the gravy to coat. Add as little or as much gravy as you like, depending on preference. Crumble in the cheese curds and chives (if using) and toss to mix with the fries. Pour the poutine into a serving bowl and serve with extra gravy on the side.
Simple Smoked Pork Butt
Planning on slow cooking a pork butt this weekend? Here’s a great recipe that simplifies the process and will have you “squealing” for joy!
Abridged from Cooking Meat
Serves 8 to 10
Ingredients
8-10 lbs whole boneless pork butt
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup salt
3 cups wood chips
Method
1. The day before you plan to serve the pork, rub the meat all over with the sugar and salt. Place the pork in a bowl or casserole and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight.
2. In the morning, soak the wood chips in water for 30 minutes. About 6 hours before you plan to eat, preheat your charcoal barbecue to 285°F. Once the coals are hot, arrange them on one side of your barbecue.
3. Remove the pork from the fridge and drain off any liquid, then place the pork butt on the cooler side of the barbecue, away from the fire. Throw a handful of the soaked wood chips directly on the hot charcoal, then close the lid of the barbecue and adjust the air vents so the temperature inside remains around 285°F. Smoke for 6 hours, adding more wood chips every couple of hours and checking the temperature and the smoke periodically. (The pork will become too dark and bitter if the heat is too high.)
4. Once the meat is fork-tender, transfer the pork to a cutting board, cover it loosely with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for about 20 minutes.
5. To serve, cut into slices and arrange on a serving platter.
Compound Butters
For many people, Father’s Day dinner includes a steak or three, usually cooked on a barbecue. To those of you indulging in this activity I ask, what’s the sauce? Most of the time a simple grilled steak sliced to share is more than enough, but I wanted to highlight a super-simple addition that is common in restaurants, but not always at home: Compound Butter.
Compound Butter is simply butter that has aromatics added to it. One of the most famous is called Maître d'Hôtel Butter, which is butter mixed with lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. This is classically used on top of steak and fish and named after the Master of the Hotel (Maître d'Hôtel), who would prepare it tableside.
As much as I enjoy Maître d'Hôtel Butter, I find it a little muted for today’s tastes. I have come up with a compound butter with lots of fresh herbs and garlic – perfect for not only topping a steak, but also to serve with the bread and vegetables that will be hanging out on the side of the main attraction.
Compound Butter for Steak
Ingredients:
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 tbsp chives, finely chopped
1 tbsp Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 tbsp tarragon, finely chopped
1 tbsp chervil, finely chopped
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp shallot, finely diced
juice one lemon
to taste salt and pepper
Method:
1. In a bowl, thoroughly mix all of the ingredients together.
2. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap out on your countertop. Spoon the butter into a small log and roll it up in the plastic. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Slice the chilled butter into coins and store in a sealed container. To serve, place a coin on top of hot steaks, chicken, fish, vegetables etc.
Pan Fried Pork Chops with Sauce Charcutière
This dish highlights the perfect balance of savoury and tangy, with the fond (the bits of protein left in a pan after browning meat) becoming the base of a delicious and bright pan sauce.
Pork Chops with Sauce Charcutière
Serves four
Ingredients:
4 pork rib chops (or center cut or boneless chops)
to taste salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter, divided
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp dry mustard powder (or prepared Dijon mustard)
2 shallots, finely diced
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup white wine
4 cups beef or chicken stock
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh thyme
¼ cup cornichons, chopped finely
Method:
1. Pat the pork chops dry with paper towel. Season liberally with salt and pepper and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 hours) on a plate in your fridge.
2. In a pan over medium-high heat, our the oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the pork chops and cook until golden brown on both sides and just cooked through. This should take between 12 and 16 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chops. Lower the heat during the cooking if the meat is scorching before being cooked. At the 8 minute mark, add 2 tbsp of butter and continue cooking, spooning the hot frothy butter over the chops and basting every minute or so until done. Remove the chops form the pan and place on a plate to rest. Pour the butter over the chops, then return the pan to a medium heat.
3. While the pork chops are cooking, whisk the sugar, lemon juice, and mustard together and reserve.
4. Add the other 2 tbsp of butter to the pan and melt. Add the chopped shallots and sweat until translucent. Add the flour and stir well, creating a roux. The roux should be cooked for at least 4 minutes and will be golden brown when finished.
5. While the roux is cooking, bring the white wine to a simmer in a separate pot over a medium heat. Once the roux is cooked, add the hot white wine to the pan a ladle at a time (this will help incorporate the wine smoothly into the sauce). Stir the roux and wine mixture well to emulsify and simmer until reduced by half.
6. While the wine is reducing, ad the stock to the pot you had the wine in and bring that to a simmer over a medium heat. Once the wine and roux mixture has reduced, add the hot stock to the pan, stirring well to incorporate. Use a whisk to remove any lumps. Add the bay leaf and thyme and reduce until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon – about 15 minutes.
Strain the sauce into a clean saucepan and whisk in the sugar/lemon juice/mustard mixture. Add the pork chops back to the strained sauce and simmer to reheat. Once the chops are hot, remove them from the sauce and place on a platter (or individual plates). Add the cornichons to the sauce, stir well, and serve either on the side of the chops or poured over. Enjoy!