Summer Is Here? (Smoked NY Strip Steaks)

I’m going with summer as a fact.  Until this weekend there were still many doubts in my mind, but with clear skies and temperatures that are pushing 90° I think it is safe to believe that there is little chance that we’ll slip back into that February Ice Age we just emerged from.  We are now in that in-between time, rhubarb is up, all the lettuce in Cathy’s garden is just about ready to eat, but the corn still has a few more weeks, unless you count that stuff out of Florida, which is a poor substitute for the real corn biding its time in Lancaster County.  Florida sweet corn is like when you have a long ride in the car and your brother grabbed your 8 track of Toys in the Attic when you specifically told him Exile on Main Street.  It’ll get you there, although the ride won’t have any depth or finesse.

So…it is time to crank up the smoker.  Mine is an abomination built out of an old 50’s, Cleaver style, BBQ.  I can almost picture Ward grilling Flintstones steaks while June mixes up highballs for the ladies and manly rock and ryes.  The smoking cabinet was trash picked from Abacus about 20 years ago.  The chef told me that it was easier for him to install a new one than to scrape out the inch of flammable duck fat coating the inside.  He may have been correct, because I ended up cleaning it with lye and swears.  

 The remainder of the thing is a jumble of fieldstone, fire brick and mortar that seems specifically designed to keep me out of the mason’s union.

You don’t need a purpose-built smoker in your back yard to smoke meats.  Gas grills do a nice job and provide an even heat.  Smoke meats indirectly in a gas grill.  All you need to do is soak wood chips (apple, cherry, oak or hickory) in a bowl for 30 minutes, then put a cup of them in a tin foil platter above a burner on low.  Add more chips as the others burn up.  If your gas grill has three burners, as most do, only turn on the one on the far right, which leaves 2/3 of the grill available for low temperature smoking.  With a little playing around, you should be able to figure out how to maintain a temperature between 140° to 160°, what you are looking for to do low temp smoking.  This is a great technique to have under your belt to prepare vegetables and fish.  I particularly like shrimp smoked on a grill and, as odd as it might seem, mussels.

Here's a step by step tutorial on making smoked NY strip steaks.  I usually try to stay away from anything connected with New York, since I have this unyielding hatred for the Yankees and their entitled fans, but their steaks are good.  

 

Choose steaks that are well-marbled and at least 3/4 inch thick.  That way, they'll take the smoke without cooking through.

Oil the steaks and season them with salt and fresh black pepper.

The temperature in your smoker should be about 140.  Try to keep it stable during the time the meat is in the smoker.

Lay the steaks on the grill, making sure that they are away from direct heat.  The objective is to flavor the steaks, not cook them.  Close the door and smoke for 20 minutes.

 

  

After 20 minutes, the steaks will have picked up a bit of color, but will not be cooked through.  Turn them and smoke for another 20 minutes on low heat.  If the temperature has risen above 160, your steaks may be done at this point.  That ugly thing hiding in the back is a 12 pound pork shoulder that is getting 18 hours of smoke.  You don't see the sausage and long hot peppers above.  I figure that if I'm doing all this work, I should not waste the smoke.

 

You'll know that the steaks are ready to take out of the smoker when they are just beginning to brown and they are sweating.  Remember, with this process you are looking to make a flavor adjustment, not cook the meat.  They should still feel raw.

 

 

Remove the steaks from the smoker.  If they are not going directly on the grill,  put them in the refrigerator.  I prefer to cool mine off until it is time to cook the steaks.  

Check out the red color on these!  That is the result of the low temperature smoking.  I rather like pan frying the smoked steaks in a little butter.  It may seem counter intuitive, but if you grill the steaks, a little of that smoked character that you have worked so hard to get is masked by the charring.  Serve simply with some mushrooms that have been sautéed in the pan while the steaks are resting.

 

I'm On This Southwestern Thing (Red Chile Sauce)

We have a Southwestern cooking thing going on over here at Fresh Fun Foods.  Maybe it is the end of the brutal winter or the beginning of training season for the Margarita Decathlon, I don’t know, but this style of cooking is appealing to me and the family for its interesting ingredients and bright flavors.  In the past I’ve posted recipes for Cactus Tacos and Salsa Verde.  You can use the pickle recipe to make brined jalapeños to sprinkle on your nachos or fry with eggs.  Chile Powder is also up on the blog and a few folks have gotten back to me saying that they will be making their own from now on.  Good.  The home made stuff is really more interesting than commercial chile powder. 

“Red or Green” is the usual question that the server asks when you are ordering enchiladas or huevos rancheros.  These sauces are made in house, often to a traditional, individualistic recipe.  The combination of chilies can be varied.  I’m using pasilla, guajillo and anchos to get moderate heat with plenty of aromatics.  Most shopping areas, even out here in the Philly suburbs, have a bodega or two that sell a wide variety of dried chilies and all the other stuff you need to make Southwestern food.  The following recipe is a quick red chile sauce, perfect to make in batches, it’ll keep for a week in the refrigerator.  I spoon it over eggs and tortillas or bake it with chicken enchiladas.  I know people who line the inside of a glass with chile sauce before filling it up with ice and tequila.  I like those people.

Here’s how to do it.

Assemble a selection of 15 dried chilies.  These are, left to right, pasilla, guajillo and ancho.

Remove the stems.  Rinse the chilies in a colander.  You can remove the seeds.  If you do, the finished sauce will be mild.  I prefer a hot sauce, so I leave them in.  

 

 Put the rinsed chilies in a small stockpot.  Cover them with 4 cups of cold water.  Add 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper and 1 tsp. kosher salt.  Turn on high heat, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

While the chilies simmer, make a roux with heat 1 tbs. of oil and 1 tbs. of flour.  When heated the roux should be as thick as peanut butter. 

 Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly for five minutes, until it browns slightly.

 After 15 minutes, the chilies will have soaked up much of the liquid. 

 Add the roux and 1 tbs. cumin powder to the chilies.  Stir to combine.  Simmer for another 5 minutes.

 

Remove the pot from the heat.   Puree with a hand blender. 

If you want a smooth sauce, run it through a strainer.

Good Friend, Good Onions (Confit of Onions)

My friend Jim Holton is an interesting guy.  Look him up here.  He has an unusually wide range of things that charge him up.  Jim is a top jazz piano player, really one of the best in Philly, a historian of the piano, able to play anything called.  Like him on Facebook for information about current gigs.  Basketball and football are passions, along with Scotty the Deacon Dog and the beautiful Cindy LeBlanc.  With Christine Djalleta, Cindy and Jim are the music ministers at our church, St. John’s Lutheran in Ambler, PA, where he leads a monthly Jazz Vespers service along with the Jazz and Gospel service each third Sunday.  It would be foolish to miss Jim on piano, Hideo Morris (vibes), Paul Deck (drums), Christine (vocals), Cindy (flute) and the great Tyrone Brown, an absolute gentleman, playing bass.  Occasionally, a young guitarist on his way up named Patrick Farrell sits in with the group.  The service starts at 10:30.  Be there!

Whenever the phone rings, I’m happy to hear from Jim, although I never know where the conversation will go.  Social justice issues are a common topic.  Diet and weight loss, his success and my struggles usually come up.  Don’t get Jimmy going about global warming unless your afternoon is clear.  Yesterday, who knows why, we spent a bit of time talking about steaks and onions. 

The following is a recipe for onion confit, a kind of an onion jam with a rich sweetness that works well paired with full flavored main courses, particularly grilled foods.  Additionally, it can be served as a hors d'overe, cold as a canapé maybe topped with smoked chicken or grilled shrimp.  Here’s the master recipe.  Onions are fibrous things.  You'll have to slice them properly.  Here's how.

In order to break them down you cannot be in a hurry.  The key is long, slow, low temperature cooking that will turn the onions into jam.  Better yet, this caramelization process results in a sweet finished product, without the hot burning character of most quickly sautéed onions.  It also reheats well.  Resist the urge to cut corners and sneak in some brown sugar.  It isn’t necessary if you take your time, plus it reduces the depth of flavor you get from cooking the confit properly.  Also, do not think you will get a better confit by using sweet onions.  Vidalias are only sweet when raw.  Once you cook them, they taste like any other white or Spanish onion.

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Confit of Onions

3 large Spanish onions, thinly sliced with the grain

1 tbs. unsalted butter*

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/8 tsp, a few grinds, white pepper

In a heavy stockpot with a tight fitting lid, melt the butter on low heat.  When the butter has melted, but still looks creamy, add the onions, season with salt and pepper.  Stir to coat the onions with butter, then cover the pot and allow the onions to sweat.  Stir the pot every 5 minutes. 

After the onions have yielded their liquid and become translucent, about 20 minutes, uncover the pot and continue to cook the onions on low heat.  Over the next 15 minutes, liquid will slowly evaporate and caramelize.  Continue to cook the onions, stirring constantly  until they are dry and look like preserves.  Keep warm in a double boiler until it is time to serve.

Use the onion confit as a topping on grilled meats or sautéed liver.  Grilled steaks are a perfect match.  You also might want to serve the confit with grilled lamb shoulder chops.  If you plan to do that, add 1 tsp. curry powder to the onions halfway through cooking.

*There are two reasons that I use unsalted butter.  First, the only reason a dairy adds salt to butter is to preserve it.  If you buy unsalted butter, you may be getting a marginally fresher product.  Second, I’m cranky and I insist on controlling every aspect of my cooking.  If I want salt in a dish, I wanna be the guy who put it in there. 

Mourning the Pickle Guy (Brined Pickles)

This blog will probably go into the “I should do this, but probably won’t” file.  I’d like to argue against that.  You’ll be so happy with the results that you will become a pickling fiend, the kind of person who becomes obsessed with discovering the method to make the best dill, half sour, quarter sour, pickled green tomato, hot pickle…  Some people lose all perspective.  I have.

There was a guy in Philly about 20 years ago who used to come to the back door of the restaurant humping five gallon buckets of salted ambrosia.  He didn’t have a name and charged a premium price for his home made pickles, but we were willing to pay it, because they were perfect, the right amount of crunch and salt that wasn’t up front.  The smell of dill filled the kitchen every time he pried open a bucket.  We never knew why he stopped coming.  Cooks speculated, in the horrible, violent way that cooks do.  His demise was almost certainly bloody.  The more romantic of the brigade knew that a woman was involved.  A faithless woman took away the pickle guy and ended our briny relationship.  We mourned him the way that a junkie cries about losing his pure China White connection.

My buddy Chuck tells me that there is a guy in Manhattan that makes his own pickles in a basement space, a dark place where cukes and tomatoes bob in seasoned brine, waiting to be sold to those brave enough to tumble down those New York stairs.  I plan to visit this pickle man.  And I pray that it is our guy from years back, that he just moved on, rather than having been locked up for a crime that he didn’t commit or been cut down in his pickle prime by a double-dealing, fast-talking tramp.  Because I know that a pickle maker is pure.  They are goodness in a barrel.   

And I will hug him like a brother and buy all the pickles that I can carry.

Go to the store.  Make these now.

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Brined Pickles

Buy 4 lbs. of Kirby cucumbers, about 4 inches long.  Prick the pickles about 4 times all over with a fork.  Soak for 3 hours in cold water to hydrate them completely.

Boil up a gallon of water.  Scald the Kirbys by plunging them in the boiling water for 3 minutes.  Remove from the water, pack them hot in your pickling jar with seasonings. 

·         3 cloves of garlic, bruised

·         2 dill seed heads, with stems or 2 tbs. dried dill

·         4 small hot chilies

·         a pinch of cumin seed, fenugreek, turmeric, coriander seed, bay leaf

·         a thumb of fresh horseradish

·         a pinch of mustard seeds

·         3 tbs. brown sugar

Your choice, play around.

Make a brine of 6 cups water and 3 tbs. kosher salt.  Bring the brine to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes.  Do not add seasonings to the brine at this time, it will take on a flat, bitter character.

Allow the brine to cool slightly, about 10 minutes, pour it over the scalded Kirbys.  Weight down the Kirbys with a plate so that they stay submerged.  Cover the jar with cheesecloth.  Leave it on the counter at room temperature.

You can start eating them after only 2 days.  The pickles at that time will have a refreshing, salty taste and be very crisp.  Let to go longer, 7 to 10 days, they will develop into the briny, aromatic pickles we know.  Much of their development depends on the ambient temperature.  They’ll ferment quicker in hot weather.  When they have reached the desired crunchiness, put them in the refrigerator to stop the fermentation.

You can try this with jalapeños, but that is a different story.