Oxtail ragu leaves bolognese for dead

March 9, 2016 EconEats

Biting into perfectly cooked pasta covered in an intensely rich meaty sauce is an experience that is surprisingly rare. Many attempts of spaghetti bolognese fail because poor ingredients are used, or due process is ignored. How do we go about producing a really good meaty sauce (aka ragu)? Do not use mince. I repeat, do not use mince. Minced meat is a collection of abattoir scraps and fat that have usually been over processed in a, perhaps clean, meat grinder. What on earth is the point of grinding down something that will be cooked for many hours anyway? Instead, use oxtail. Oxtail comes from the tail of the cow and is delicious when slow cooked. It also has the added bonus of being incredibly gelatinous making the final dish coat the pasta so much better.

The ingredients are similar to a bolognese sauce, or any slow cooked meat dish for that matter. Note that I add star anise and a few cloves to produce a subtle set of flavors to the final dish. I cover the oxtail in skim milk powder that both helps the meat brown as well as adds another element of flavor. The oxtail is baked in a very hot oven until it browns.

Nicely chopped veggies!

The oxtail is coated in skim milk powder before browning

This took about 45 minutes at 220deg c

Meanwhile I caramelize onions, as well as brown another lot of onions with carrots and celery until color forms on the bottom of the pot/pan. Deglaze all the pans with white wine and add all the ingredients together. Add water to fill the pot to the top. I also add some chopped pancetta for flavor. Cook on very low heat for 6 hours. Remove the lid after a few hours to encourage evaporation. We want a nice thick sauce left at the end. Add more water during cooking if necessary. After six hours the meat should be falling off the bone.

color is flavor!

You can see what 6 hours of cooking does.

deglaze the pan!

Allow to cool over night then skim off the fat. Take the meat off the bones and shred. Discard the bones. Recombine the meat and store the sauce until needed.

Reheat the final sauce and season for taste (I add a little extra salt, pepper and red wine vinegar as well as a grating of nutmeg). Boil the pasta until al dente and to the ready-to-go ragu.

I like to mix the pasta sauce into the pasta rather than plonk the meat on top!

Sprinkle grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve. Amazing. The rich flavor of the meat is very apparent.The taste of the herbs as well as the subtle flavor from the star anise present. The boring spaghetti bolognese is dead.

Pork loin with perfect crackling – The final word

January 18, 2016January 18, 2016 EconEats

After eight attempts I have nailed the pork loin. This was a long trial and error process, mostly as a result of the internet not really having a clue how to cook this beautiful muscle, including some of the world’s best chefs. This is not a quick recipe and requires patience and number of days. The meat of the loin is very lean (despite it being covered in fat) so it overcooks quickly becoming tough and dry, and the crackling requires high temperature to, well, crackle. It is easy to overcook the loin to get the crackling right. The solution is brining, slow cooking, and then a blast of heat at the end.

The first step is to purchase the best pork loin you can get your hands on and then prepare a brine.I use a 5/2.5 percent salt/brown sugar brine, with added spices including: bay leaves, peppercorns, star anise, fennel seeds, black cardamon, and juniper berries. The brine is boiled in water to dissolve the sugar/salt as well as to help bring out the flavors of the spices. The brine is brought down to fridge temperature with ice (5 degrees c). To help the brine permeate the meat, it is injected throughout the loin and then placed in the brine for 24 hours (or longer if you wish). Pork loin is very dense and it takes a very long time for the brine to distribute throughout the muscle.

The pork knuckles are for a forthcoming recipe!

I love the infrared thermoeter

After 24 hours, the loin is removed from the brine, tied so that it is an even shape, then scored to help the crackling later. The loin is placed uncovered in the fridge for 48 hours to dry the skin. After 48 hours the loin is removed from the fridge at least an hour and half before putting into a 140 degree c oven. It is then cooked until the internal temperature reaches around 55 degrees. The internal temperature will rise to around 63 degrees c after resting. It took around 1 hour and 50 minutes with this loin to reach 55 degrees (the starting temp was 10 degrees) and the near-outside of the loin reached equilibrium temperature with the inside after 40 minutes.

The oven is then turned up to 260 degrees c and the loin is blasted for around 15 minutes. This allows the crackling to form without overcooking the inside. While the loin rests for a final time the gravy is prepared by pouring off the fat from the roasting pan and then adding some Cider to deglaze. Once the roasting tray is deglazed I strain into a smaller pan and reduce until the desired flavor is reached. The loin is unbelievably moist inside, while the crackling is perfect.

Look at those little bubbles

I serve the loin with its jus, and braised red cabbage which is very acidic, complementing the loin, and left over cider to drink

That’s granny smith apple as well as cider vinegar

Served on a bed of the braised red cabbage!

All in all, this is quite a complicated piece of meat to nail but definitely worth it.

There were many failures along the way prior to this which include:

Insufficient brining time
Insufficient skin drying time (i.e. no crackling)
overcooking the inside in order to get good crackling
Using the overhead grill (i.e. radiant heat), which technically produces better crackling, but also is a pain not to burn the crackling
Not scoring the skin in nice 1-2 cm vertical lines. I really do not care to understand the science behind crackling, but I figure it is related to the water vapor exploding in/under the skin which can’t happen unless there is enough heat under the skin. The scoring in deep, vertical patterns allows the heat in.
Rubbing the skin with salt/vinegar/oil is BS. I have concluded the only thing that matters is dry skin, with score lines.

Things which only help the overall product:

Longer brining
Injecting the brine into the muscle
Longer drying
Lower temperature cooking
Higher temperature end blasting

Trade and Conquest: Traditional spanish paella (Valenciana)

September 7, 2015September 8, 2015 EconEats

I am uncertain as to whether the paella is the national dish of Spain because I have not had the pleasure of visiting. Let us just say that is a very popular dish indeed. The origins of classic dishes such as the Paella are fascinating. We can learn so much about the culture and history of a country by looking at the underlying ingredients. Two of the critical ingredients are peppers (and her derivatives such as paprika) and tomatoes and are both indigenous to the Americas. The underlying short-grain rice that appears in the dish traces its origins to Africa. The white beans also likely moved to Spain from Africa. The saffron that forms a critical element of the dish likely came from somewhere in the middle-east. I recall that chicken was originally native to Asia.

With this knowledge in mind what can we conclude: Spain was a great trading nation, and has a strong African connection. We of course know this from our study of history, although it is neat how a similar conclusion can be reached by just studying the underlying ingredients and their origins! The point of all of this is that trade and conquest make delicious cuisine and without, life would be very bland indeed!

The ingredients: I have attempted to make this as classic as possible. Apparently the classic recipe also calls for rabbit*. The garlic has been crushed with salt. The saffron has also been ground with salt as this helps release the color and flavor whilst cooking.

Brown the chicken very well. Color is flavor. Add the grated tomatoes, sliced chopped raw red peppers, boiled white lima beans and green peas.

Add Paprika (i’m using sweet smoked and plain sweet together) along with saffron, salt and garlic. Coat chicken and other ingredients.

A lot of recipes use chicken stock. Frankly I do not see the need. I find water is absolutely fine. First add the water, the ratio is 3 parts water to 1 part of rice. Bring to the boil and check seasoning. This part is critical, make sure seasoning is right before adding the rice, because this is the last opportunity. Add the rice and stir. I lined the top with pre-roasted red-peppers only because I think they add an additional element of flavor.

Boil rigorously for 8 minutes without stirring, turn to low for 10 minutes, then take off the heat and cover for 5-10 minutes. There should be a nice burnt crust forming at the bottom. Adjust times accordingly if there is too much or too little liquid.

Top with fresh olive oil and serve with fresh lemon/limes. Absolutely perfect.

*I am also told snails feature in the classic dish

The perfect steak – Sous Vide

August 23, 2015August 23, 2015 EconEats

There are fewer eating joys than ravishing a tender and flavorful piece of beef that is charred on the outside and red and bloody on the inside, and so it was to my delight when I came across a hunk of cow in the supermarket. It was my intention to purchase fish and try and eat healthier after a few too many drinks the previous evening. Perhaps unfortunately, the wandering eye of a male-primate is easily overcome with instinct when passing the beef section of the supermarket, with no other choice other than to suspend all previous rational thoughts and pounce on the best looking piece of cow possible.

This piece of bone-in ribeye is only $35 USD/kg

When it comes to ingesting the perfect steak many variables are outside the control of the home-cook. Living on a small island in the middle of the Caribbean also limits the quality of beef available for selection. There are a few critical elements to the perfect steak that the home cook has control over, they are as follows:

The steak must have a decent crust on the outside, while the inside is cooked to medium-rare;
There should be an even color inside, indicating that the steak has an even temperature throughout the meat;
The steak should be well salt and peppered;
There flavor of the steak could be enhanced through a very simple butter sauce; and
We are not savages, consider a non-meat side such as a potato dish.

The first two elements require some care. I have lost count of how many cookbooks, youtube videos and blogposts I have entertained to understand how to get this part right. I am not going to go through literally hundreds of methods, instead I will jump to what I have settled on. First, unpack your piece of meat and allow the surface to get as dry as possible, either do this in the fridge or under a fan. In this instance I left the steak on cake rack under the AC and ceiling fan for about an hour. Water is the enemy of the meat browning – this is a critical step.

Secondly, To ensure a good crust on the outside heat a cast-iron pan until it is glowing hot. I do not salt or pepper the meat at this point, I find it makes no difference at all to the overall result. I simply brush on some high smoke point oil on the steak and line the hot pan with a bit more oil. I then employ Heston Blumenthal’s technique of flipping the steak every 15-20 seconds to ensure the no side of the steak gets too hot. This allows a crust to form, without overcooking the center

The steak is still red raw inside. I employ Sous Vide cooking to finish it off. At this point I salt and pepper the steak, and I add some thyme to the sous vide bag. The steak is cooked at exactly 54 degrees Celsius for 2 hours.

To add some intensely amazing flavor to the steak I create a thyme/herb infused brown butter to shower over the final steak. I crush some fresh thyme, bay leaf and juniper berry and add them to the butter to slowly infuse. Water is also added to slow down the cooking process. What is left is the most intense thyme flavored butter that is out of this world.

The steak is removed from the sous vide bath, and completely dried with paper towels. The browned butter is brushed on, and salt and pepper are added. For an extra crust on the steak I sear it on very high heat for 20 seconds a side and finish it off with another dash of browned butter.

The steak does not need resting as it was cooked sous vide. It is served with saffron-infused roast potatoes (next post) with the thyme-butter on the side for good measure.

The steak achieves all the elements discussed earlier. It is as close to perfect as it can get.

Caribbean-Coffee Parfait

June 29, 2015August 14, 2015 EconEats

I am finally back in my apartment for a full weekend. Lots of cooking is in order. Today’s recipe is an adaption from Raymond Blanc. I have added a top notch caribbean rum instead of a sweet dessert wine. The recipe is long and complicated needing at least a day of preparation.

Prepare the Sabayon: Whisk the the eight egg yolks with the sugar and rum. Heat the egg mixture to 80 degrees Celsius. Cool immediately over ice. Add some lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Pour in lightly whipped cream and coffee (4 nespresso capsules reduced)