beef

American, BBQ, beef, meat

Man Meat

I call this man meat because it uses ingredients that even the most consummate bachelor would have. Also, I think my step-dad John, who recently passed away, used to make it a lot, and he was truly a man’s man. I hope you’re taking notes, because it’s pretty complex: 1 tri-tip steak1 bottle or can […]

beef, grilling, meat, technique

Montreal Steak Rub

Grilling season has arrived! Here’s a simple and popular rub that has delicious results. Sure, you can just buy the seasoning mix, but when you have a spice cabinet that can’t fit one more jar, it’s better to just make your own mixtures. Most of the recipes I’ve seen online called for dill weed, but […]

BBQ, beef, meat, technique

Hamburgers

This is not a definitive recipe or anything, but it almost always turns out excellently, and so I thought it might be useful to readers of the blog/family members as a good burger recipe. Using a lot of fresh onion in meat is a trick from Lillian. 1# Ground beef (if you use leaner beef, […]

American, beef, dairy, pasta, sauces

Beef in Cream Sauce with Leeks and Shallots

Alternate name: Alex’s not-quite-beef-stroganoff. This dish started out as a creative way to use up some leeks that were on sale, and evolved into something more complicated since I wanted to make something fancy. It’s very similar in some ways to beef stroganoff, but more subtly flavored and not quite as heavy. Ingredients:1 pound steak […]

baked entrees, beef, meat, pork, technique

Meatloaf

This is mostly just an illustration of Lillian’s (adapted) meatloaf recipe, which is indeed pretty awesome. Whats interesting about the recipe is mostly the cooking technique, which involved forming the loaf on a rack wrapped in tinfoil, with a sheet underneath to catch the grease. A picture is worth a thousand words:As for the contents […]

beef, Italian, pasta, sauces, tomatoes

Spicy Spaghetti Bolognese

There’s a zillion recipes for bolognese sauce, but this one worked well for me. Some people add cream at the end, but I find I don’t like that as much. This one’s really good if you can find hot pepper paste (usually associated with Hungary, but I have a Peruvian brand that’s excellent). You can […]

beef, Italian, meat, pasta, pork

Tender Italian Meatballs

I wind up making this slightly different each time, but apparently if you follow the recipe as I wrote it down for mom it turns out great. The trick to tender meatballs of any kind is to add pureed onion (use a food processor or blender). Using a mixture of meats helps too. I often […]

baked entrees, beef, braising, technique

Braised spareribs

Here are some tasty meaty bits prepared via my favorite method: braising. Quick recap: this means browning in a heavy pan at very high heat to get a tasy sear, then covering the meat about halfway with a flavorful liquid, sealing the pan as airtight as possible, and baking it at a relatively very low […]