I love meatloaf, but not as much as I love meatloaf sandwiches. In fact, I’ll make a meatloaf just for the leftovers. I’ll fry the cold slice in a buttered pan until hot and crusty, and enjoy it on toast with ketchup.
This is basically that, plus bacon, in burger form. What it lacks in loaf shape, it more than makes up for by being faster and easier.By the way, even though we’re grilling this in honor of Labor Day weekend, I actually think it’s better pan-fried. While I enjoy the smoky char the grill adds, I miss the crust you can only get on a really flat, really hot surface. I feel this way about burgers in general.
Also, if you cook this in a pan, you could deglaze, and spoon a little natural jus over the top. Either way, you’re looking at a delicious burger, and a nice change of pace from your usual cookout fare. I really hope you give these bacon meatloaf burgers a try soon. Enjoy!
I got a request for a Cuban-style mojo marinade recently, which sounded like something I’d enjoy making, but to be honest I wasn’t exactly sure what it was. I knew I was probably pronouncing it wrong, but other than that, I couldn’t remember having it anywhere.
I’d seen “mojo” sauces before, but they were at Spanish restaurants, and seemed to be chili-based; so I did a little of research, and of course, every single recipe I looked at was different. They all had garlic, citrus, and olive oil, but after that, the spices and seasonings varied greatly. So, this is basically a composite of what I saw, and it really came out well.
I think this would work great as an all-purpose marinade for just about any thing destined for the grill, but as I mentioned in the video, skirt steak would be my top choice.Unless horribly overcooked, it always comes out juicy, and tender, as long as you slice it across the grain.It also tends to really soak in the flavors of the marinade quite well, which I believe is due to it being such a well-marbled cut.
Once again, please excuse my makeshift brick grill, but I’m happy to report there’s help on the way.So stay tuned for me to show that off soon, but in the meantime I really hope you get this delicious Cuban inspired mojo marinade a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 portions: 2 pounds beef skirt steak, cut into smaller pieces
I received a lot of email after publishing our classic demi-glace video, but not the kind I was expecting. Instead of being showered with praise for finally granting this popular food wish, I was being chastised for posting a recipe that required veal bones.
This seemed a little unfair, since veal bones are sort of a key ingredient when making what’s basically a reduced veal stock. However, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I sometimes forget that people don’t live in restaurants, where things like veal knuckles are as ubiquitous as kale.
For your average home cook, veal bones can be expensive, and tricky to find. Plus, they come from baby cows, which many people are against harming. Nope, using adorable young calves is just not an option, although using the bones from ugly, fully-grown chickens is apparently fine.
Anyway, possible hypocrisy aside, this alternative method worked amazingly well, and above and beyond the almost identical look and feel, the flavor was surprisingly close. This didn’t taste like chicken, or like beef, but was somewhere in the middle, which is basically how I’d describe the taste of veal. I really hope you give this cheaper, easier, and possibly more ethical version a try soon. Enjoy!
Makes about 2 quarts of “Cheater” Demi Glace:
5 pounds whole chicken wings
2 pounds beef shanks (about three 1-inch thick slices)
As you may know, I haven’t posted for a while due to the sudden passing of my mother, Pauline. It’d been a tough few weeks, but she was the ultimate, “the show must go on” kind of lady, and so that’s what we’ll do. She had multiple surgeries in recent years that made it difficult, and often painful, to move around her kitchen. Despite this, she’d still somehow manage to bake a cake (or two), or make a big batch of cookies to bring to whatever family event she was attending.
While cooking and eating with family was her greatest joy, she also loved going to restaurants. Going out for dinner on Friday night was one of our great family traditions, and while I don’t remember having Steak Diane cooked table-side, this dish represents that bygone era for me. Looking back, I realize this weekly respitemeant much more to her than just a short break from cooking anddishes.
Before I get into the recipe, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for all the amazing thoughts and prayers I received during the last couple weeks. I’ve never met the vast majority of you, but nevertheless, it felt like I was hearing from hundreds of old friends, who somehow knew exactly what to say. There’s no easy way to lose someone you love, but your kind, comforting words, gave me strength.
With that in mind, I present this incredibly delicious, Steak Diane, which I’m hereby renaming Steak Pauline, in my mother’s honor. Of course, there’s no official way to do this, except to simply do it, and hope it catches on. Even if it doesn’t, at the very least, many years from now, while surfing the web, I’ll stumble across a recipe for it, and I’ll smile, thinking of her.
The procedure here is very straightforward, and relatively safe, except maybe for the exploding fireball step. As long as you turn off the flame, and keep your eyebrows at a safe distance while igniting the liquor, there shouldn’t be any real danger, and all those Oo’s and Ah’s are well worth the risk. Hey, that’s what insurance is for.
However, the pyrotechnics are very much for show, and if you’re concerned, you don't have to ignite the cognac. The alcohol will still evaporate as the sauce boils, and the end result will taste the same. By the way, even if you don’t ignite the pan with a lighter, it can still flame up when you turn up the heat to reduce, so you still need to be a little careful.
If you do decide to make this, I hope that above and beyond calling it “Steak Pauline,” you will also enjoy it surrounded by the people you love. While the flames in the pan eventually die out, the smiles they ignite, and the memories they produce, will be with you forever. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 2 portions:
For the sauce mixture:
1 generous tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon tomato paste
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 cup demi-glace (Or substitute 2 cups rich, low-sodium or salt-free chicken broth. It will take longer to reduce, but will still produce a great sauce. Just be careful with the salt.)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
two (8-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, fully trimmed, pounded to 1/2-inch thick (top sirloin will also work nicely here)
First, let me give credit where credit’s due; and by “credit,” I mean possible blame. I got the idea from this article in Bon Appetit, where they showed how to use koji rice to simulate dry aging a steak. They say they borrowed the idea from Trentina chef, Jonathon Sawyer, and we’ll take them at their word.
Anyway, I tried it out, and had mixed results. The smell and flavor were vaguely reminiscent of dry-aged beef, but it didn’t have those same cheesy/funky/earthy background notes. As far as the texture goes, there was no difference from a regular steak, and it may have even given it a somewhat firmer texture.
That may have come from letting it go almost three days, instead of two, but hey, I was within the range. Besides, I’m not even sure anything happened. The idea here is that the fungus on the koji rice, which breaks down the proteins in beans, to make things like miso, would work the same magic on a steak.
While it did look like the koji had “bloomed” a bit, and there was more “white stuff” at the end of the process, there was no obvious signs that the meat had been “broken down.” The appearance was darker, and it kind of had that waxy look of dry aged meat, but that could’ve simply come from sitting uncovered in the fridge.
I found it a bit suspicious that there were no other posts regarding this online, but maybe it’s just too new. Time will tell. I'm looking at you, food blogger. In the meantime, any and all feedback is welcomed, especially if you are familiar with using koji rice. I’m not sure if you should give this a try, but, as always, enjoy!
