Tag Archives: beef

[25] Beef Stew Variation 1

How to Cook Everything, Revised Edition by Mark Bittman

Beef stew isn’t really considered your average summer dish. I wouldn’t typically make it in the summer any more than you would. I think of beef stew as a deep winter dish, full of warmth and flavor, and no small amount of fat. It’s most certainly not “summery”, “light” or “refreshing”.

However, guess when none of that matters? When it’s the middle of summer, you have most of the ingredients on hand, and you accidentally thawed stew meat instead of beef chunks for stir-fry. At that point, you make stew and be thankful you can get a blog post out of it!

Actually, it turned out quite nicely, and I’m looking forward to making it again when the weather cools off. And given we live in Chicago, Bill and I should have plenty of cold weather in which to repeatedly make this dish.… Continue reading →

Bummer

Yesterday I thawed about a pound of “tri-tip steak”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-tip that Bill had purchased at the farmers’ market a couple months ago or so. It was big and beautiful and nicely lean. NONE of our cookbooks had a recipe for making it delicious. I forgive the vast majority of them (especially the vegetarian ones), but I was surprised that “_How to Cook Everything_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764578650?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0764578650 and “_Joy of Cooking_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0026045702?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0026045702 didn’t have anything. And, if you look at the Wikipedia link above, you’ll note that there’s a few names for tri-tip. None in either book.

Maybe there are yet more names. I don’t know them. I do know, however, that Bill threw that steak on our new friend, Rob’s loaner grill, and made something delicious. While keeping our five-year-old guest entertained and unburned.… Continue reading →