I made chicken a couple weeks ago, and shared the pictures here on Hive.
This Sunday, I did something similar with beef.
Before I share a couple of photos of it, I would like to point out that my goal in the kitchen is to learn the absolute essentials of cooking. It is easy to follow a recipe on Duck Duck Go; I want to learn what makes food delicious so I don't need to follow the recipe too closely and can improvise on the fly.
My syllabus has been watching The French Chef with Julia Child, and experimenting in the kitchen. This show is fantastic and I highly recommend it!
Julia intersperses her episodes (which focus on a single dish usually) with gems of cooking wisdom.
Ok, the beef. We tend to cook what is available at the store, so when my wife came home with a bottom round I got to looking to see what we could do with it. Basically, I did something similar to what I did with the chicken, although I cooked it for much longer.
I'm really beginning to love the Dutch oven.
Underneath the beef was a cup of Cabernet Sauvignon and two cups of beef broth, two quartered onions, potatoes. I had also diced onions and garlic in the beef juices after browning the beef. I strained that liquid after spooning out the potatoes and carrots to make a very good gravy.
Even though the cab was a bit fruit forward, after cooking for two hours it was very mellow and didn't make for an overly rich or sweet gravy. I would like to try a more tannin laden wine next time, maybe a syrah or Malbec.
The edges of the beef were very tender and delicious. The interior was a little dry, but the gravy made up for it.
Learning to cook what is available has been a huge way to grow in the kitchen, and has made me feel very prepared for any problems the food supply chain might bring. Overall, I think my chicken tasted much better, but the sides-the potatoes, carrots and onions, were just as good in both dishes. I can't wait to refine this recipe further.
-Jeff
