Filet and some good friends
We had an absolute feast with some friends featuring grilled filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms and onions, spicy red pepper mac n cheese, rosemary and garlic mashed potatoes, and creamed spinach. The Strip District struck again! I had wanted to get a log of filet for quite some time because the price goes down as you buy a bigger cut, so we called on some friends to help us out.
Posted in Beef, Uncategorized
Tagged American, Beef, creamed spinach, dinner ideas, filet mignon, garlic, grilled, homemade, mac n cheese, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, Meat, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, rosemary, sauteed, spicy, spicy mac n cheese, spinach
This is our first Kittened dish in Pittsburgh and we have been discovering that food is very cheap. This was a 9lb cut of brisket for $30, and that was not a sale. Plenty more to come on the great deals found. I smoked this similarly to the pork shoulder a bit back. Slow cooked over indirect heat, but this time it was cooked as the debut dish on our new charcoal grill that we got for our wedding (thanks Mo and Stosh).
First to prep the rub
Started with a quick made rub.
Yeah, $30!
As similar to the pork, I started the grill with a large pile of charcoal and once it was ashed and ready, it was moved and kept to one side. I also used a store bought foil baking dish as a drip tray below the meat to limit the mess and possible flare up.
The grill will never look like this again.
Opposite the coals
Now a lot of waiting. The grill was covered with the below air intake about halfway open and the lid air intake also about halfway open. The lid intake was placed over the meat, opposite the coals so that the heat and smoke are forced to go around the meat in order to escape. The brisket cooked for about 5 hours total. Here is is about halfway through. I turned it about every hour to alternate the side facing the heat.
About 3 hours in.
And after all five hours.
Allow the meat to sit for 15 minutes or so before slicing and always slice against the grain. It would be great to have a deli slicer here, but that is a bit excessive!
Patient, patient
Hey guys, Eileen here. I am going to fill you in on the sides, which I was responsible for making.
In addition to the brisket, we served a simple horseradish sauce from all recipes (sorry, no pictures of it) and a broccoli slaw from Smitten Kitchen. I have made this broccoli slaw once before for a cook out and people seemed to like it. I decided to make it again, figuring it would be a nice complement to the meat and tangy horseradish sauce.
First, I made the dressing for the slaw, which is composed of buttermilk, mayonnaise, cider vinegar, sugar and shallots.
Give it a good whisk and set aside.
Next, it is time for the broccoli. I used the slicing blade on my food processor to cut the broccoli for me. This method is a major time saver and produces pretty uniform slices of broccoli. Here it is pictured with chopped red onion as well.
To this, I added dried cranberries and sliced almonds and eventually the dressing.
Give it all a good stir and let it sit in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.
It’s a great slaw and a bit different than your typical cabbage slaw. If you are looking for something new to have or bring to an event this could be it! The crunch of the broccoli with the tartness of the cranberries and the sharpness of the red onion are all tamed by the buttermilk sauce. It was a great compliment to the brisket too!
All in all, this meal was delicious! We were very happy with the final product and our guests seemed to be too.
Posted in Beef, Salads, Sides, Uncategorized
Tagged Beef, Brisket, broccoli, broccoli slaw, buttermilk, garlic, good leftovers, grilled, homemade, Horseradish Sauce, low carb, Meat, Slow Smoked
Warning! Some of the following post may be graphic and upsetting to some readers!
As a going away gift, our friends graciously sponsored our going away party as we were about to depart Maryland. Roasting a whole pig was decided upon, as the idea has been floating around for a few years and this seemed like the opportunity. They were able to find good deals on a pig and renting an electric spit. We cook, eat, and talk about a lot of different cuts of meat on this site, but being in the whole form does seem to change things a bit. So proceed with caution, and I did omit many pics that could have made it far worse.
The first questions is, what kind of person desires so strongly to roast a whole pig?
This guy does!
The pig weighed about 49 pounds and came pre gutted and basically all prepped for us. We added some seasoning and filled the cavity with onions, garlic and leeks. Then the pig had to be skewered and sewn up to keep the filling in.
Coming together
Filled and ready to be closed up
He makes an excellent seamstress
The rented spit was well experienced but did a great job once we messed around with it, formed it into shape, and got the right tension on the chain to the motor.
We ended up using about 50 lbs of charcoal total
Once the pig was stabilized on the skewer and the coals had ashed over, it was time for the final assembly and a lot of waiting.
The pig ended up cooking for about 8 hours and could have used a little more time and a little hotter charcoal throughout. It was our first time though and everyone seemed pleased with the final product. There was plenty of time to hang out while the pig roasted and it was over 100 degrees this day so…
What up dawg? Ya know staying cool in the pool.
This is the last picture we have of the pig, which is about halfway through. It turned out great though and we will do even better next time!
Posted in Pork, Uncategorized
Pulled Pork
Pork butt also known as Boston butt (not Bill Belichick) was on sale at Harris Teeter for .99 cents a pound which made this 8 pounder quite a deal. I wanted to slow cook it since it was summer and I had the time, but didn’t want to slow cook it for 14 hours. I did a bit of an in between method using indirect heat. First I got the grill started before I prepped the pork.
Keeping all of the heat to one side
I put down a base of charcoal and a few small logs on top as added fuel and to get a smoky flavor. I kept all of these to one side and started them up planning to put the pork on in about a half an hour.
In the meantime, I prepared the pork.
Fat jackets are gross, but necessary for flavor and tenderness
There was a bone in the meat
Next I took about 8 cloves of garlic and cut them in half. Then I cut small slits throughout the meat and put the garlic in, making sure it was deep enough that it could not be seen.
You wouldn't know it, but there is a lot of garlic in there
Next I prepared a dry rub by combining some dry seasonings. I prefer doing this over using a store bought one as they are often packed with sugar and or can be way too salty.
Just pick what you like and mix it up
Then I thoroughly covered the pork on all sides.
Next onto the cooking. The coals were white and ashed over and the wood was burning and smoking well. I opened the bottom air intake of the grill about half way and placed the pork on the grate on the opposite side of the heat so that there was nothing underneath it.
The flames will die down when covered but will still be plenty hot
I then covered the grill putting the top air intake over the meat and opening it about halfway also. This makes the smoke and heat travel over and around the pork in order to escape out of the top. Opening the intakes up halfway gives the flames enough air to be hot and continue to burn. To truly slow cook it, you would have barely opened the air valves, but it again would take twice as long (up to 8 hours 0r more). This is what I meant by using a hybrid method that was still slow (about 5 hours), but not the typical slow cooking process.
After about 2 hours, I opened the grill up and took the whole grate, pork and all, off and placed it aside. I stirred up the coals, got rid of some of the spent ash, and added a few more coals and small pieces of wood. Then I turned the pork so that the other side of it was facing the heat source. It was looking great already and could have probably been eaten, but it would not have been very tender.
After about 2 hours of indirect smoking
This was also going on during the process which really helped. The site's namesake!
I let the charcoal and wood heat back up uncovered for about 10 minutes then put the flipped pork back on. I checked it in about an hour and flipped it around again, and the same in another hour.
Because the temperature was close enough to what I had wanted it to be and it was getting late, I took the meat off after about 4.5 hours of total cooking time. This method also uses the fuel very efficiently as the coals could have gone for another few hours.
Got to about 205 degress at its highest
Government official numbers say to cook the pork to 160-170 degrees, but when slow cooking it like this, you want to get it closer to 200 for the tenderness. This was tender and did come apart pretty easily, but also could have gone for another hour or a little less. Towards some of the bone, the meat was not as uniformly tender, but was still tender enough.
Finally ready to come off the grill
I let the pork rest for a bit so that it could be handled. The fat jacket came right off and many other visible fat pockets were easy to remove, though some people(southerners) would keep most of them for the extra flavor.
In the meantime, I cut up some cauliflower and covered it in vinegar and mustard before grilling. I wanted something tart to contrast the pork and this easy mixture did that well.
Threw it in the grill basket for about 30-40 minutes
Once the pork was cool enough to handle, I shredded it with two large forks which was pretty easy except for a bit around the bone as mentioned. The smoky flavor and rub had really penetrated throughout and there were pockets of stronger garlic flavor than others which I considered prizes.
Pulled Pork
We put the pork in a bowl with some cauliflower and ate some plain and ate some with a bit of BBQ sauce.
Was good enough plain
BBQ sauce is good too.
It was great and I am really pleased at how it turned out. It could have been enjoyed on buns or with slaw or many other ways. As you may have noticed, we do not know how to cook for 2 people and base our portions on a family of 8 which means that there were tons of leftovers which you will see some uses of in the coming days. This may sound difficult, but really was not and also did not require a lot of attention. Don’t put it on and go to the store, but is easy to set up and entertain while the magic happens.
Posted in Pork
Tagged American, BBQ, cauliflower, Dry rub, easy, garlic, good leftovers, grilled, homemade, indirect heat, Meat, pork, slow cooked, smoked
This is Greg and this is my first Kitten post! A teacher has some summer time so you should be seeing me around here more often. The original idea for this was black and blue steak salad and I decided to really focus on the black part and made a peppercorn rub for the steak. I used a porterhouse cut of about 1.5 pounds which is not the typical or easiest cut for a steak salad, but they are always on sale at Giant in the summers and was a great deal for some quality meat. With the trimming off the bone, there were some convenient scraps that had to be tested too. When grabbing the blue cheese, Gorgonzola was right next to it and I decided to switch up the black and blue philosophy though it is not a major change as they are pretty similar.
The rub was just a combination of some dried spices and whole peppercorns that I ground in our spice grinder. It was very loud at first and I ran it until itwas quieter but not fully ground. I wanted to keep the peppercorns a bit coarse.
It is called a rub because you are supposed to rub it into the meat, so pour half of it on and get to work! Flip it over and make sure that the whole piece is thoroughly covered. Grill it as you normally would a steak. If possible, it is best to plan some rest time once the steak is done to allow the juices to set and to allow it a bit of time to cool to cut it and serve on a cold salad.
Despite how it looks, the meat was cooked medium rare. The rub just really blackened it that much. It did not taste over spiced, again despite it’s appearance. I let it sit for about a half an hour and sliced it up. I kept the filet separate to make sure we got fair shares and as mentioned, many samples had to be had while carving it along with cleaning the bone.
Once the steak was sliced, I placed it on a bed or romaine lettuce and applied the salsa/dressing that I was simultaneously making.
I had a hard time naming the dressing because it is sort of a salsa mixture that we used as a dressing. There were so many important ingredients also that it was hard to focus on a few to give it an identity. No other dressing was added once we topped the salad with this. I first wrapped the peeled corn in foil with some butter and salt and pepper and roasted it on the grill for about 45 minutes or so turning once in a while.
While the corn was roasting, I combined the remainder of the ingredients. The lemon juice, oil, and vinegar tied it together as a dressing consistency which spread well on the salad and held the whole thing together too.
Once the corn was roasted, I let it cool until it could be handled and removed the kernels and mixed it in with the rest.
Once all of the dressing ingredients were combined and well mixed, we used it as you would a normal dressing on the steak salad and sprinkled a little bit of extra Gorgonzola on top and enjoyed.
It was sort of a lot of work but was well worth it and we really enjoyed it. The dressing was so good itself that salad bites without steak were still really fulfilling. An added bonus was that about half of the steak bites were filet mignon which most would consider a sin to be placed on a salad but the price was so great that it was just fine. Give some or all of it a try!
Posted in Beef, Salads, Sauces
Tagged American, avocado, Beef, Gorgonzola, homemade, low carb, Meat, Peppercorn Rub, Roasted Corn, Salad
mmm tacos. Who doesn’t love a good taco every now and then? The beauty of the taco is that you can make it exactly how you like it and it’s still a taco (ie: hard shell, soft shell, choco taco 🙂 ). Although I do love me some of those pre-made corn taco shells or a soft flour tortilla to support my beef and cheese, we decided to go the healthier route for our taco night this time and use these large, beautiful romaine lettuce leaves. We made some fresh guacamole to complement the earthy lettuce shells and topped the tacos with cilantro and lime for a tasty version of the classic beef and cheese taco.
First, the guac. I like to make guacamole with just a few ingredients ’cause I love avocados so much.
All I use are avocados, red onion, fresh cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper.
Chop, chop, chop…
…then mash, mash, mash…
…and you have one of the most easy, yet most delicious condiments on the planet.
From here all we did was brown some ground beef, mix in a little taco seasonings, and served it atop a large lettuce leaf with some cheese, chopped tomato, guacamole, fresh cilantro and lime. Nothing fancy, but downright delicious.
Nothing processed or refined in this spin on a Mexican? American? traditional dinner food. Whole foods and tons of flavor. YUM!
I have heard a lot about spaghetti squash throughout the winter on the many food blogs I read and I finally tried it a few weeks ago. I REALLY liked it and I found it to be a great alternative to pasta or rice, or really any starch you need to soak up some sauce. It’s almost like tofu in the sense that it has very little flavor of it’s own and conforms to whatever you want it to be. It is relatively easy to make and did I mention there are like 50 calories in the entire squash and very few carbs!
I decided to pair it with on of my favorite things to make and eat, meatballs!
First the making of the “spaghetti”.
Conveniently, the directions for how to cook the squash are on the sticker. I microwaved it for about 12 minutes and then baked it for an hour in the oven.
Now doesn’t this look scrumptous! Yeah, it’s pretty gross looking but forge ahead and it will be worth it!
Scrape out all the parts that remind you of a pumpkin, ie: the seeds and orange clumps. After that you basically just use a fork to pull out the strands.
Looks like pasta right?
It produces quite a bit of “spaghetti”. I would say at least six servings, if not more.
On to the meatballs!
It’s all pretty self explanatory from here on out.
Yeah, enough meatballs to feed a small army. Leftovers!
SnOMG, Snowmeggedon, Snowpacolypse, SuperStorm ’10, etc etc etc! Whatever you want to call it, it came, it conquered, and it’s little brother is on it’s way tonight to provide another 10-15 inches. Just what the region needs! I am a little behind on posts so here we go with the first since the onset of the mega snowstorm.
These pictures were from 4pm on Friday.
So for dinner we decided to make pork chops Marsala (a play on veal Marsala). This complimented the weather nicely, as the sauce came out thick and rich. Also, this recipe is relatively easy and doesn’t take too long to make.
First, we dredged the pork chops in flour, a step that can be omitted if trying to go low-carb. I like to use bone-in pork chops for the extra flavor the bone provides. Don’t be scurred of the bones!
Next, we sauteed the pork chops…
…and put them aside to make the sauce.
The sauce ingredients include mushrooms, onions, garlic, and Marsala wine to name a few. They actually sell Marsala wine at the grocery store, so no special trip to the wine store is needed (although if you are on your way there already they probably have it there as well!). We also had some leftover thyme so we threw that in and it worked really well too.
We used “baby bellas” (pre-sliced) for this dish. Any mushrooms on hand will do.
We were happy with the way it turned out, although an afterthought was to add lemon juice to the sauce. This would have been a great way to break down the sauce a little and add some acidity to it. Next time, we will definitely add lemon juice!
Even though having cabin fever would be physically impossible at this juncture because we just got home hours earlier, maybe the thought of being stuck in the house for the next several days was the catalyst for this bout.
Bogie lost this match, but many more will likely be fought… keep your head up buddy!
Starving Kitten 