Hungry Mouth

Hanger Steak on the Grill

Wandering through a fancy grocery store, I discovererd a piece of hanger steak in the discount meat bin. Yes, I confess on occasion I buy meat from the discount bin. It hasn't killed me yet. I decided to buy it because I had never cooked hanger steak. My local grocery stores don't carry it and when I do see it for sale it's prohibitively expensive due to its current restaurant popularity. The fact that there is only one hanger steak per cow might also drive up the price.

The hanger steak is a piece of meat that literally hangs from the diaphragm of the cow. It's similar in texture to the skirt steak (diaphragm) which we encounter frequently as fajita meat. Sometimes it's referred to as hanging tender or butcher's steak (traditionally the butcher claimed it for himself rather than offering it for sale). Hanger steak is a flavorful but tough, grainy piece of meat like skirt and flank, so it must be cooked and carved with care in order to be appetizing. Cook it over high heat briefly to rare-medium rare and slice it thinly against the grain for the best results.

Marinate a hanger steak in olive oil, minced garlic, and fresh herb sprigs (thyme or rosemary work well) for 8 hours to overnight. I find it's easiest to marinate in heavy-duty zip-lock bags.

A few hours before dinner peel an English cucumber, slice thinly at a slant and toss with S & P and a few T of white wine vinegar. Let sit.

Slice a handful of radishes thinly.

Prepare a tomato vinaigrette. Cut a shallow cross in the bottom of 3 large ripe tomatoes. Drop them in boiling water for about one minute, then drop them in a bowl of ice water. The skin will slip off easily when cool. Remove the core and dice tomatoes (get rid of juice). Stir together 4T EVOO, 1 T white wine vinegar, 1 T horseradish, 1 T chopped fresh tarragon (or parsley or basil if you can't find tarragon), and S & P to taste. Toss with tomatoes.

Heat a grill to high heat. Pat steak dry and grill to medium rare, a few minutes on each side. (As you can see I erred on the rare side.) Allow steak to sit covered with tin foil for 5 minutes.

To serve toss a bunch of arugula with the radishes, EVOO, splashes of balsamic vinegar and S & P to taste. Slice steak thinly across the grain. Divide arugula between 4 plates. Fan steak and cucumber slices around arugula. Drizzle tomato vinaigrette over all.

This is an easy light dish that was inspired by a recipe on a CBS news website.

Peter Luger Steakhouse, New York

While on our recent trip to New York City, we of course had to try a steak at Peter Luger, often cited as the best steakhouse in the USA. We called 6 weeks in advance for a Friday night dinner reservation for 2 and the only time slot offered to us was 9:45 pm. I was later told by those in the know that they hold back tables for locals and regulars...as unknown tourists we were shunted into an unpopular time. It could have been worse, they were still seating people at 11:00.

It was raining so traveling by public transport was out. Because of the apparent difficulty of finding a taxi in Brooklyn we hired a car service to take us. This worked out fine and made it easy to return to our hotel after dining.

Luger's was packed, noisy and bustleing. Luckily we managed to snag a seat at the long bar and our table was ready on time. It's clear that one doesn't go to Luger's for atmosphere unless one likes that run-down German beer hall feel. My martini was truly ghastly so I switched to beer after one sip. We didn't bother with the wine menu having heard it's not impressive. Beer actually goes quite well with the food.

We were seated in a room upstairs. Not a great room for those who want to see and be seen but perfect for us. Unlike the downstairs rooms which have bare wooden floors, the upstairs is carpeted and conversation at the table is actually possible.

At Luger's only tourists look at the menu. Heh. There is really only one thing to order and that is the Porterhouse for 2 or more. As accompaniments we ordered the German Fries (hash browns) and the Creamed Spinach. Also a couple pieces of the famous bacon to start. First up was a very nice bread basket with 3 types of rolls...all delicious, particularly the onion rolls.

On the table is always a gravy boat of Luger's Steakhouse sauce. I'd heard that one must never put it on the steak but it goes well on the salad and rolls. Honestly, to me it just tasted like a watered down version of shrimp cocktail sauce...basically ketchup and horseradish with a squeeze of lemon. I don't get the allure.

The bacon, however, lived up to its reputaion. Easily the best bacon I have ever eaten. The only thing that confuses me is that it is referred to as Canadian bacon when it is clearly cured pork belly rather than tenderloin. Still superb.

The steak arrived quickly. This is not a linger over your courses restaurant. It was already sliced and before I could get a picture the waiter had served our plates. That took me by surprise.

The steak was cooked perfectly medium rare and served on a sizzling hot plate, apparently the plate it was broiled on. Lots of fat pooled in the bottom of the plate to spoon over each serving.

The plates after serving:

My companion tried to cook the meat further on the sizzling plate as it was a bit too rare for him. Worked pretty well.

The potatoes were quite good, almost blackened and crispy. The spinach was meh. Tasted more like flour and milk than cream to me.

So was this the best steak ever? I'm hard pressed to think of a better steak I've eaten. It had that deep, bloody, almost minerally flavor that denotes a well-aged prime steak. And it was very tender but still had a nice chew. Supposedly Luger's gets first pick of all the top prime meat produced here, and then dry ages it in house which may explain why it is so good. It was well-seasoned though I don't believe the melted fat was butter as is claimed. Maybe tourists get oil instead?

Definitely worth a visit for any serious steak fan.

Chateaubriand

I decided to cook a Chateaubriand for an intimate birthday celebration last weekend. I headed to the nearest grocery store likely to have tenderloin roasts for sale (Andronico's, for you Bay Area readers). It had them...at $23.99/lb! Gulp! I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much. Instead I went to Costco where I discovered I would have to buy an entire tenderloin but at the much more reasonable price of $9.99/lb (choice grade). Of course, it was a bit more effort. The Judge spent about an hour carefully trimming fat and silverskin.

At the end we had two smallish (3-4 servings each) tenderloin roasts, 10 one inch thick filet mignons, and enough tenderloin "tips" for at least two meals. Not bad at all for $50.

I found a lovely recipe at epicurious.com which I'll describe here with my variations.

2 lb butt end tenderloin roast
canola oil
1 chopped onion
2 chopped carrots
1 T fresh thyme (or 1 t dried)

Brown roast well on all sides in oil in an oven proof skillet. Add rest to skillet and place in 400 degree oven. Use a remote thermometer and cook til 125 for medium rare. It took my roast about 20 minutes. Transfer beef to platter and tent with foil.

1 c beef broth
1/3 c Canadian whiskey like Crown Royal

Add to skillet and cook over medium high heat til reduced to about 2/3 c. Strain out solids.

Meanwhile make a blonde roux with 1 T butter and 1 T flour. Add roux to strained juices in skillet.

At same time add 1/3 c heavy cream and 2 t coarsely crushed peppercorns. Simmer gravy over medium heat a few minutes til thickened. Salt to taste.

I served the Chateaubriand with potatoes sauteed in butter, asparagus, and glazed carrots and pearl onions. It was excellent and easy. Of course, the best part is I still have many more meals to go for the same price that one small roast would have cost me if not for Costco.

Last but not least, with the dinner we drank a lovely Ladera Howell Mountain 2001 Cabernet. If you are exploring the Silverado area of Napa Valley, definitely make a brief detour and visit this winery (with an appointment). The caves alone make the tour worthwhile...the wine tasting is an added bonus.

Growing Greece

I brought more than memories home from Greece. We were so taken with Greek cucumbers and tomatoes that we decided to grow our own. During our last week in Greece we stopped at every nursery or likely looking store to buy seeds to no avail. We finally found some seed packets in a small curio store in Athens. We bought tomato and cuke seeds as well as horta (wild green) seeds.

We planted the tomato and cucumber seeds in May and they have flourished. We ate our first home-grown Greek salad tonight. The Greek tomatoes, Greek cucumbers and red onions all came from our garden. The bell pepper, olives and feta were purchased. (The feta was added to individual servings at table as my husband does not eat cheese!) The salad was simply dressed with drizzles of EVOO, lemon juice, dried Greek oregano and S & P.

I was amazed at how sweet the tomatoes and cukes were. Despite the different growing conditions, the vegies had the same taste qualities that made me fall in love with them initially in Greece. Unfortunately, the seed packets give no clue as to vegetable variety. What am I going to do for seeds next year?

To serve with the salad I decided to make the dish that my companion ordered throughout Greece because he just couldn't get enough of it; Stifado, a Greek beef stew. The Greeks also make it with veal and lamb.

An example of Stifado as served in Greece:

I cobbled together a recipe from various sources as follows:

olive oil (not EVOO)
2 lbs of braising beef, cut in 1" chunks
flour
12 boiling onions (not pearl onions---they should be about 1 1/2"-2" diameter), peeled
3 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 t fresh thyme
1 T dried oregano, crumbled
3 bay leaves
pinch of cinnamon
5 whole cloves
1/2 t cumin
2 c red wine
2 T balsamic vinegar
S & P

Dredge meat in flour and brown in oil in batches in large Dutch oven. Remove meat to a bowl. Cut cross in base of onions. Add more oil if needed and saute onions for about 10 minutes til starting to brown. Add garlic and saute for a minute. Return meat plus juices to pot. Add remaining ingredients. Season with S & P to taste. Bake at 350 til meat is tender, about 2 hours.

Here is a not very pretty picture of the stew when almost done:

The stew formed it's own luscious thick gravy. It was pronounced a great success. Four of us finished off the whole amount! Serve with a crusty loaf of bread and Greek salad for a lovely and very Greek meal.

Camel: A Tasty Treat

All international travelers to Peru are forced to arrive via Lima, the only international airport in the country. We spent one quick night in Lima and flew to Arequipa early the next day. Arequipa is a lovely colonial desert town surrounded by snowcapped volcanoes, one of which, El Misti, is still active.

The following morning we embarked on a two day private car tour to Colca Canyon, the Grand Canyon of Peru. As we left Arequipa, we began to climb into the Andes foothills, eventually crossing a pass at an altitude of over 14,000 feet. We adopted the Peruvian cure for soroche (altitude sickness) and drank lots of Mate de Coca, a delicious light green tea made of coca leaves. We also bought a bag of coca leaves to chew on...included in the bag was a greyish piece of soft rock, some sort of salt that supposedly activates the altitude protecting qualities of coca leaves. Unfortunately, neither the tea nor the leaves had any inebriating effect!

As we climbed into the mountains through high desert we began to see flocks of the camels that are native to these highlands; alpacas, llamas, and vicunas.

Alpacas and llamas were domesticated by the native Peruvians long before the arrival of the Conquistadores. Alpacas were raised for their extremely fine (and very expensive) wool. Llamas were raised primarily as pack animals though their wool is also harvested. Vicunas resisted domestication and we were fortunate to see a wild flock of them.

Late in the afternoon we arrived at an attractive eco-lodge, our home for the night. It is quite cold at 12,000 feet so we were pleased to be greeted with the offer of a delicious hot drink which consisted of coca tea, orange juice and rum. For dinner I took the plunge and ordered alpaca to the distress of my traveling companion who is a vegetarian.

The alpaca consisted of a very thin steak, deliciously seasoned but horribly tough. A few bites was enough. One interesting note; several people assured me that alpaca was absolutely cholesterol free. How can that be? Lean, yes, but I thought all meat had some level of cholesterol. ALso note the French Fries and green beans served with the meat. These made frequent appearances on our plates and were quite delicious. The fries almost rivaled those of Greece, but Greece retains the edge due to frying in olive oil.

After a warm night's sleep buried beneath 3 thick alpaca blankets, we headed early to the Cruz del Condor on the edge of Colca Canyon. And yes, we saw many Andean condors. What a great way to celebrate my birthday!

The Judge is smoking!

He arose early this morning and lit the fire under my $29.95 Brinkman Water Smoker. Mesquite chips were set to soak. The Judge is a master smoker and amazes me with what he can produce on a simple, inexpensive water smoker.

As usual this past Thanksgiving I bought about 4 turkeys when they were .29/lb. I took one out of the freezer on Tuesday and deposited it in the fridge so it was perfectly defrosted by this morning. I also bought about 4 pounds of pork ribs on sale yesterday. The Judge mixed up his masterful rubs which he has no recipe for, of course.

Here is the turkey before it went on:

Here are the ribs:

(

Well, I demanded a recipe and he says his rubs are as follows:

Turkey rub ingredients---

New Mx medium chile powder is the main ingredient
Cayenne
Mustard Powder
Cumin
Oregano
Ground ginger
Garlic Salt
Crushed red pepper
S & P
Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning
Paprika

For the ribs--

take above seasoning mix and blend with equal amount of brown sugar.

Three Little Pigs: the Athens Meat Market

Warning! Go no further if you are squeamish. Not for vegetarians!

The Athens Meat Market is fascinating. Don't miss it. As I wandered down the aisle I wondered how anyone distinguished between one booth and the next, they all seemed to have basically the same products. I was bothered by the lack of customers but it was mid-morning. Hopefully they are hopping early in the day. Check out my photo album in the left column.

Three Little Pigs: