Birthday Extraveganza II
The other half of my birthday was celebrated Sunday with the food I didn't have time to cook Saturday, the highlight of which was a quarter pound slice of foie gras I got from Monsieur Marcel. I can't tell you if there are any other places in LA to buy this stuff besides the Bristol Farms on Beverly just west of the Bev Center. Previously, I ordered all my foie gras from D'artagnan, featuring foie gras from the Hudson Valley and other regions. It's sad, really, I have no addictions that I am aware of, except for foie gras.
Many will argue that foie gras is cultivated in a cruel and oppressive process, and I agree. Ducks and geese are force fed a mixture of corn-mash and milk until their livers expand to a sensual, buttery, two-thirds increase than that of a normal sized mallard. The resulting product is a silky, creamy delight that pairs well with fruit flavors on toast points.
Leave it to the French to abdicate any soverign pride to defend their country against totalitarian agressors, but still have enough time and collective focus as to figure out the inhumane production of this wonderful delicacy.
The foie gras was one component of a simple, yet rich, apres-anniversarie celebration. The entree was a buffalo New York strip steak.
Buying buffalo can be tricky to cook and buy, as is any range-raised bison. No matter what the cut, it will be devoid of marbling. Oh, eventually they will figure out a way to immobilize it like a veal, but for now, bison run free over the verdant fields of Ted Turner's infinite ranchland. He controls almost all of the bison raised in America.
Most game dishes suffer from this same limitation, if you could call it that. The very nature of a wild animal is it can roam and exercize, thereby staying fit and fat free. This has the effect of producting a meat with little or no fat running through the muscle. When dealing with a lean cut of meat, you are relegated to cooking it no more than medium or it will become a stiff puck of leathery rubber. Filet mignon is a perfect example. Prized for its tenderness, it has almost no flavor or fat. It is typically served with a sauce or compound butter, and cooked rare to medium-rare.
This is why I cherish buffalo and other game meats. They are tender, lean and overflowing with flavor. The strip cut of beef is one of the best textured, tastiest cuts of the steer, and likewise with buffalo.
Begin with a reputable market. I purchase almost all my premium meat from the Whole Foods in Glendale...it is the best Whole Foods in the LA area, and I will discuss that in further detail in another post. When cooking a game dish, you will need to take every measure to trap in the juices, so I recommend searing then grilling.
Start your grill to get the grates good and hot, but first you will sear it on a stovetop pan. Bring the pan up to a smoking, searing hot temperature. When you drizzle olive oil it should dance a bit and produce some smoke. Heavily salt your cut with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Drop in the pan, and don't shake or move it for a good minute. Flip. All we are accomplishing is searing the outside, we do not want to substantially cook it. If it is thick enough, sear the edges.
Pull off the fire and let rest a minute, then put on the grill. Grilling makes for pleasing lines, infusion of smoke and even cooking. Remember, cook it at maximum to medium, and even that is crossing the line. I would never go over medium-rare. Never poke your steak with a thermometer, it will let the juices run out. Instead, use the fist method. Make a fist like Senior Wenses. If you hold your thumb very loosely against the forefinger, with your other hand, poke the ball at the base of the forefinger and thumb. This is rare. If you poke the steak it should feel like that. Tighten your fist slightly. Feel the springy tension? That is medium. If you make a fist even harder, that is what well done will feel like. Eventually you will just know by poking (your finger) on the steak how done it is without resorting to a thermometer.
I cheated. There is no way I would ever have the time to make my own demi glas, so I had some prepackaged base, mixed with water which made a damn good demi. I mean, it is real demi, I'm just adding some water and heating it up. Demi glas is what you get when you make a veal stock and keep reducing it to about 10-20 percent of its original water content. It becomes a thick, brown, extremely delicious sauce that compliments any read meat.
That's it, simple and delicious. Medium-rare grilled buffalo strip steak with demi glas.
Many will argue that foie gras is cultivated in a cruel and oppressive process, and I agree. Ducks and geese are force fed a mixture of corn-mash and milk until their livers expand to a sensual, buttery, two-thirds increase than that of a normal sized mallard. The resulting product is a silky, creamy delight that pairs well with fruit flavors on toast points.
Leave it to the French to abdicate any soverign pride to defend their country against totalitarian agressors, but still have enough time and collective focus as to figure out the inhumane production of this wonderful delicacy.
The foie gras was one component of a simple, yet rich, apres-anniversarie celebration. The entree was a buffalo New York strip steak.
Buying buffalo can be tricky to cook and buy, as is any range-raised bison. No matter what the cut, it will be devoid of marbling. Oh, eventually they will figure out a way to immobilize it like a veal, but for now, bison run free over the verdant fields of Ted Turner's infinite ranchland. He controls almost all of the bison raised in America.
Most game dishes suffer from this same limitation, if you could call it that. The very nature of a wild animal is it can roam and exercize, thereby staying fit and fat free. This has the effect of producting a meat with little or no fat running through the muscle. When dealing with a lean cut of meat, you are relegated to cooking it no more than medium or it will become a stiff puck of leathery rubber. Filet mignon is a perfect example. Prized for its tenderness, it has almost no flavor or fat. It is typically served with a sauce or compound butter, and cooked rare to medium-rare.
This is why I cherish buffalo and other game meats. They are tender, lean and overflowing with flavor. The strip cut of beef is one of the best textured, tastiest cuts of the steer, and likewise with buffalo.
Begin with a reputable market. I purchase almost all my premium meat from the Whole Foods in Glendale...it is the best Whole Foods in the LA area, and I will discuss that in further detail in another post. When cooking a game dish, you will need to take every measure to trap in the juices, so I recommend searing then grilling.
Start your grill to get the grates good and hot, but first you will sear it on a stovetop pan. Bring the pan up to a smoking, searing hot temperature. When you drizzle olive oil it should dance a bit and produce some smoke. Heavily salt your cut with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Drop in the pan, and don't shake or move it for a good minute. Flip. All we are accomplishing is searing the outside, we do not want to substantially cook it. If it is thick enough, sear the edges.
Pull off the fire and let rest a minute, then put on the grill. Grilling makes for pleasing lines, infusion of smoke and even cooking. Remember, cook it at maximum to medium, and even that is crossing the line. I would never go over medium-rare. Never poke your steak with a thermometer, it will let the juices run out. Instead, use the fist method. Make a fist like Senior Wenses. If you hold your thumb very loosely against the forefinger, with your other hand, poke the ball at the base of the forefinger and thumb. This is rare. If you poke the steak it should feel like that. Tighten your fist slightly. Feel the springy tension? That is medium. If you make a fist even harder, that is what well done will feel like. Eventually you will just know by poking (your finger) on the steak how done it is without resorting to a thermometer.
I cheated. There is no way I would ever have the time to make my own demi glas, so I had some prepackaged base, mixed with water which made a damn good demi. I mean, it is real demi, I'm just adding some water and heating it up. Demi glas is what you get when you make a veal stock and keep reducing it to about 10-20 percent of its original water content. It becomes a thick, brown, extremely delicious sauce that compliments any read meat.
That's it, simple and delicious. Medium-rare grilled buffalo strip steak with demi glas.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home