Why top sirloin is our favorite cut of beef

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Top Sirloin Detail

Top sirloin is our favorite cut of beef…. cooked nice and rare like this.

What is our favorite cut of beef for steaks? You probably thought we were going to say New York strip or rib steak, but in fact we’re voting for top sirloin! Here’s why. Top sirloin combines value and versatility with a good amount of beefy flavor and reasonable tenderness for a lean cut. And top sirloin steaks are BIG, typically close to 2 pounds, which makes them a convenient choice for a small family: cook one, and you’re done.

Beef Cut Top Sirloin

Illustration by Joe Smack via Wikipedia.

 

Top sirloin comes from the loin so it’s more tender than round steak which is close in appearance. It’s technically two muscles, the gluteus medius and the smaller biceps femoris. The muscles are similar in taste and tenderness so it’s fine to separate out the biceps femoris and serve as a smaller individual steak.

Top Sirloin Refrigerator Aged

Our top sirloin after a bit of refrigerator aging is ready to marinate then cook.

We like to marinate (though it’s not completely necessary) our top sirloin steaks in a mix that includes soy sauce, a splash of fish sauce, pepper, olive oil, finely chopped garlic and maybe some seasoning like five spice or dried oregano. (No salt other than what’s in the soy, letting the diner add to taste at the table.) We grill or pan-fry them to rare or medium rare, then let them rest. You’ll get a good amount of juice that can be poured on top of the steak or mixed with other ingredients like mashed potatoes. The large gluteus medius is consistent in texture and flavor across its surface, so feel free to separate into convenient serving chunks or slice into 1-inch strips against the grain and serve that way. Leftovers go into salads or sandwiches…. Good eating!

Top Sirloin Plated

Look at all those delicious juices!

We think, though don’t have verification, that top sirloins were the massive cuts manipulated by Dario Ceccini in Heat. (Affiliate link) Go big or go home! We also like New York strips, of course, and they make a nice presentation, but they are generally considerably more expensive than top sirloin. Our favorite used to be rib steaks, with or with the bone, but they’re surprisingly hard to find at a reasonable price these days—maybe everyone is treating their families to prime rib roasts during the pandemic so there’s nothing left over for steaks. So top sirloin it is. To coin a phrase, it’s what’s for dinner.

Posted in Cooking, Eating | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Your FREE Thanksgiving Candy Corn is right here!

Posted on October 22, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Thanksgiving Candy Corn

Your free Thanksgiving Candy Corn is inside this package!

In the depths of the pandemic, somebody at the Brach’s Candy Company had an interesting idea: make a candy corn assortment that included all the flavors of Thanksgiving, right down to the stuffing and green beans. Soon after, a higher-up had an even better idea: “no way we’re doing that”. But apparently a few packages had already been produced and shipped, creating a rarity on the order of the double-struck Lincoln penny.

I know this because I was browsing at Walgreens, where the Brach’s website will send you if you click “where to buy”, and a clerk approached me and said, “I bet I know what you’re looking for.” She guessed Thanksgiving Candy Corn and said they hadn’t gotten any but she had seen the product somewhere in the Wilton Mall, maybe at Target or Walmart.

A search at those stores turned up empty, though I could get “Autumn Assortment” and “Pumpkin” as well as “Classic” candy corn. So I resorted to a back channel and got my own supply, though at a price that was certainly higher than retail. And I want to share it with you.

Here’s how it works: send a stamped self addressed envelope and a note with your email address to: Burnt My Fingers, 158 Lake Ave, Saratoga Springs NY 12866. I will promptly mail it back with a baggy containing two each of the six flavors:

Roast Turkey
Green Beans
Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Ginger Glazed Carrots
Sweet Potato Pie

Along with a legend to pick out which is which. (Gloves will be worn while packaging as a safety precaution.)

One first class stamp on a standard (not square) envelope will probably do it, though you might want to add a second as insurance since this will be a slightly lumpy package. And be sure to include your email, because at noon November 1 Eastern time, 9 am Pacific, we will get on a Zoom call and taste them together in real time and compare notes.

That’s right, on Day of the Dead while the kids are nursing their Halloween candy hangovers we’ll be having our own ghoulish treat. Will it be delightful or revolting? Will we be able to choke down all six flavors? We’ll know soon enough! But don’t wait to mail your SASE because you know how the post office right now…. we have 8 days to make the 2-way journey which is just barely enough. If you want FREE Thanksgiving Candy Corn, do it now! (And be sure to include your email for the Zoom invite.)

P.S. If my supply of candy corn runs out I’ll mail you a facsimile of my brisket recipe, which was acquired in a chain letter project similar to this one many years ago. Also, this is for US readers only since we’re dependent on our postal service.

Posted in Eating | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

We’re making the Election Cake early this year

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Election Cake

We baked our Election Cake in a bundt pan. Can be sprinkled with powdered sugar if you like.

It’s two weeks till Election Day as this post appears, and for many of us that will be a very stressful 14 days. Stressful ties call for stress baking, of course, so let’s get started making Election Cake.

We first become aware of this colonial tradition in 2016 when we attended the Maine Kneading Conference. Richard Miscovich, who was teaching at the conference, collaborated with  Susannah Gebhart for OWL Bakery on a project called “Make America Cake Again”. In those giddy days, when a lot of folks were looking forward to the likely prospect of the first female U.S. President, the idea was to return to a time when elections were cause for celebration, not tension.

According to the New England Historical Society, “Election Day started with cannon firing followed by a military exercise. Then came a procession of government officials to a local church, where they sat and listened to a long sermon… The ballot counting at the end of the day featured a banquet and, of course, the cake, followed by a ball.”

Election Cake is something between a true cake and a bread and features fruit, maybe some unusual grains (there was a time when wheat was eschewed because it had ties to the English Crown), and a glug (or maybe much more) of booze. It’s not made with baking powder as you’d expect because baking powder had not yet been invented. Rather, it rises with yeast, which would have been natural sourdough in the Colonial era.

We published our recipe for a sourdough Election Cake in 2016 and were pretty happy with the result. It’s not particularly sweet so a dab of butter or, better, sweetened whipped cream is welcome. For a subsequent election, we adapted the home bakers version of the recipe from OWL Bakery which has a yeast ferment. Why not give this a trial run now, and make it again for November 3 just in case you have something to celebrate?

Tonight:
1 c warm milk
1/2 t instant yeast
2 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/2 c dried or 1 c fresh fruits (optional)

Method: dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and stir in flour. If you are using dried fruits, chop fine and soak overnight in liquor or water. The preferment is ready in 8-12 hours when it becomes bubbly.

Tomorrow:
1/2 c unsalted butter
1/3 cup unrefined sugar
1 egg
2 T whole-milk yoghurt
2 T honey or sorghum syrup
Last night’s preferment

1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 t grond cinnamon
1/4 t ground coriander
1/4 t ground cardamon
Pinch ground black pepper
1 t salt
Last night’s rehydrated or fresh fruit (optional)

Method: using paddle attachment in stand mixer, cream butter then add sugar, mixing until very light and fluffy. Mix in the egg on medium speed, then the the sorghum/honey and yogurt.

Exchange the paddle with a dough hook. Add the preferment and mix until just incorporated. Combine all of the dry ingredients before adding them to liquid ingredients and mix until just incorporated, being careful not to over-mix. Gently fold in the rehydrated fruit. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan or cake round.

Proof 2-4 hours, covered, until cake has risen by about 1/3 of its volume. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting and eating.

Posted in Cooking, Eating | 2 Comments

Shallots vs red onion, or the great shallot takedown!

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Shallot vs Red Onion

Shallot mignonette on the left, red onion on the right

We’ve been eating a lot of oysters recently, which means a lot of mignonette. Traditionally mignonette is made with shallots which are hard to find in our area and expensive when you do find them—typically $10 a pound vs $2 or less for look-alike red onions.

Shallots vs Red Onions

Shallots vs red onion: the raw product.

So the thought occurred to us: what if we just use red onions for the damn mignonette? Of course we had to set up a taste test so more shallots had to be procured, then they were chopped and mixed with rice vinegar and ground black pepper in identical proportions for the two alliums.

Shallots vs Red Onion

Cooking comparison: the shallots, on the right, break down more than red onions on the left.

Our tasters preferred the red onion mignonette for, logically, a more pronounced allium flavor. This is a benefit because it balances the tart rice vinegar, which we use without sugar. The shallot mignonette had a very similar flavor profile—which would have been quite different if we’d used garlic or white or yellow onions—just milder.

Shallots vs Red Onion

In the final form, the shallots and red onion look and taste identical.

So the question arises: why go to the trouble and expense to use shallots in the first place? This Bon Appetit article claims they are “hands-down the best allium that ever existed” and cites the way they break down in cooking so they disappear within the finished dish and their flavor permeates the preparation. That, of course, demanded another test so we cooked up equal amounts of sliced shallot and red onions in a cast iron skillet, taking care to keep heat and stirring consistent.

The shallots did tend to break down more at the start of cooking, suggesting a weaker cell structure. But by the time we were done, the near-caramelized batches were identical in appearance and, more important, tasted exactly the same. Shallots, you’re outta here!

P.S. Before we leave this topic, a word about mignonette. Do a search and you’re going to find a lot of mignonette recipe variations, many of which include sugar. The feature picture for this post is of the “hogwash” we experienced at the Hog Island counter in Ferry Plaza last week. This sauce is made with cilantro and jalapeño–and shallots. It’s delicious, but it completely overpowers those sublime bivalves. You should try it, but use it for something else like dipping fries or fish and chips–and make it with red onion, not shallot!

Posted in Cooking, Eating | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

How to win at takeout during the pandemic

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Queens Doenjang Jiggae

The finished product: dwenjang (bean paste) jiggae (stew) from Queens Superette

Back in San Francisco for the first time since June, we tried a couple more high-end takeout options. This is defined as a meal with the quality and presentation you’d expect at a fine dining restaurant but packaged for service at home. Some seem to have figured out how to win at takeout, while others have not. A few best practices are emerging which we’ll save for the end.

Routier takeout

Routier takeout

We tried takeout from Routier, a restaurant which has opened next door to the renowned B Patisserie with the same owners. (There’s also B to Go, catty-corner from Routier.) The restaurant will be open for indoor dining on October 15 and looks fabulous. We ordered the 3-course meal for 1 at $39, which ended up about $48 after various charges and tip.

Routier Squash with Fennel

Routier Squash with Fennel

We got: honey nut squash with fenugreek and fennel; beef cheeks with turnips, crushed potato and mushrooms; peach and jasmine tea “tart”. Our meal was waiting on the counter when we arrived in a big flat bottom paper shopping bag which solves the problem of takeout containers coming apart.

The first course was a disappointment because the previous takeout menu, which had inspired us to try this, started with a beet gazpacho. The squash was good (and served cold, like a salad) but we went scurrying for greens in our kitchen.

Routier Beef Cheeks

Routier Beef Cheeks

The beef cheeks were a very generous portion but lacked any carbs to soak up the delicious juices…. Why couldn’t they throw in a chunk of B’s delicious baguette? The dessert was beyond good, as you’d expect from this kitchen: perfectly poached and presented peaches atop an impossibly buttery crumble.

Routier Dessert

Routier dessert

Jjigae Kit

Dwenjang jjigae kit from Queens Superette

Queens, also known as Queens Superette, is a charming shop selling curated Korean items in the Sunset. There are many shelves of Korean snacks, sojus and ingredients but the interest is in the cold case in the front of the shop where the prepared to-go items are to be found. (And a good thing because parking is very difficult and you may find yourself risking it in a loading zone while you dash in).

We purchased an dwenjang jjigae (bean paste stew) meal kit, fish cake kimpap, a tomato “kimchi” and chapjae for a total bill of about $45. Quite happy with the kimpap and chapjae which were carefully prepared with a nice spice balance. The tomato item was really a salad. The dwenjang jjigae kit which came in a total of five containers including the condiments and no directions for preparation; luckily we had the presence of mind to take a picture of a sign describing preparation. We brought our own bag and a couple of the dishes split open in their takeout containers but there were no big disasters.

Queens Kimpap

Fish Cake Kimpap from Queens Superette

After these meals, and several others we reported on previously, we suggest a few guidelines for indoor dining restaurants which want to win at takeout:
*Compose the menu for a complete dining experience. Don’t make the diner do the work of adding ingredients you didn’t provide.
*Presentation is critical. Invest in carry out bags and quality containers. (Routier uses compostable trays, which I appreciate, but they were soaking up the juices by the time we got home.)
*Make it easy for the diner to plate and serve the meal so they end up with something equivalent to what they’d get if dining in the restaurant.
*Provide a cheat sheet/instructions so the diner knows what’s in the containers and what prep (if any) is needed. At Routier, we had to go back to their website to remember what was in the bag.
*Give the customer a task. This one is key. It was fun and not hard to assemble the dwenjang jjigae from Queens but instructions should have been printed out and placed in the package. The best experience so far is Benu, whose handout told us how to pair the many dishes and included an interesting story about the origin of the kimchi.

Winter is coming in our home town of Saratoga Springs, and we’re not eager to dine indoors any time soon. Here’s hoping more and more of our favorite places will learn how to win at takeout during the pandemic.

Posted in Eating | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Recipe: Soba Noodle Salad with Tahini Dressing

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Soba Salad

Cold soba noodle salad. You can perk up the appearance with some chopped red bell pepper, but we like the monotone effect.

Cold soba noodle salad is a nice change of pace from macaroni salad, especially when served with other Asian dishes. Feel free to modify it with other mix-ins such as red onion replacing scallions, or some finely chopped celery. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
4 oz (½ package) dry soba noodles
2 T tahini
1 T soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
1 T toasted sesame oil
½ t salt
1 cube ½ inch square Trader Joe’s frozen ginger, or equivalent amount fresh ginger
½ cup edamame beans out of shell
1 scallion, sliced into rings including some of the green
A shake of red pepper flakes
Furikaki flakes for garnish (optional)

Method: cook the soba noodles according to package directions until soft but not limp. (We used Annie Chun brand and the package said 4 minutes after water comes to a boil.) Meanwhile, mix tahini, soy, rice vinegar, pepper flakes and ginger in a bowl. (If the tahini does not want to blend with the other ingredients, heat it briefly in microwave.) Add the drained noodles and toss well to evenly distribute sauce. Add edamame and scallion and lightly mix. Refrigerate a couple hours and serve cold or at room temperature.

Posted in Eating, Recipes, Sides | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Taste test: Trader Joe’s Comte Cheese

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Comte Taste Test

Trader Joe’s Comté at the top, coop at the bottom

The cheese monger at my local coop noticed me browsing the Gruyere section and commented that he likes to buy Swiss Gruyere or its French equivalent, Comté, to shred on pizza. About a 50/50 ratio of swiss and mozzarella. The benefit of the Swiss is that is melts beautifully, and also keeps its integrity (instead of separating and puddling) if a slice is reheated. I was sold and picked up a small block of Comté at $22 a pound plus an equivalent block of Gruyere at $19 a pound (the cheese guy says he uses them interchangeably, depending on what’s on sale.)

Comte Taste Test

Other side of the labels shows aging duration.

Then I went to Trader Joe’s and found Comté for $10.99 a pound. Label says it is aged over 6 months vs the co-op cheese aged 6-9 months, so equivalent. (I have tasted the stages of aged Comté at the Gourmino booth at the suspended Fancy Food Show. The longer-aged versions, like 2 years, develop a nutty feral flavor akin to dry aged steaks. But they are rare and expensive and you’re unlikely to find them at retail.) So how do they compare?

To my palate, the two cheeses are almost identical! There’s a subtle note of complexity in the more expensive cheese, and it is slightly darker perhaps due to a darker rind, but these differences are tiny and certainly not worth paying twice the price. Comté from Trader Joe is a winner, just like the Roquefort we mentioned a while back.

Gooey Cheese Sandwich

Gooey Cheese Sandwich made with Trader Joe’s Swiss blend.

There is also a shredded “Swiss blend” at Trader Joe’s which is definitely worth trying. It’s $5 for a 12 oz bag, so less than $7 a pound. I tried it out on a cast iron skillet-grilled cheese sandwich and the results were excellent: lots of that gooey-ness my cheese monger talked about. Check it out.

Posted in Eating | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Recipe: Pickled Red Onions

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Pickled Red Onions

Pickled Red Onions. Pro tip: choose onions that will fit in your jar when sliced.

Pickled red onions are easy, delicious and oh so instagrammable. They also have a short refrigerator life, turning bitter after a few days, so no reason not to make them often. Unlike most, our recipe contains no sugar, getting its slight sweetness from rice vinegar and warm spices in a pickling mix. Makes 2 c.

Ingredients:
2-3 small red onions (small enough to fit in your storage containers)
¾ c rice vinegar
¾ c water
½ t Kosher salt
1 t pickling spice mix (optional)
1 bay leaf (optional)

Pickled Red Onions

Cross section to show spices in jar.

Method: place half a bay leaf and ½ t pickling spice mix in the bottom of each of two 8-oz canning jars. (Or simply use any container that can withstand boiling liquid.) Peel the onions and slice very thin; a mandoline is recommended. Pack tightly into jars, paying attention to appearance from the sides and top.

Dissolve salt in vinegar in a small saucepan; add water and heat to boiling. Pour quickly over the onion rings in the jars. If you need more liquid, simply add equal amounts of vinegar and liquid till jars are filled to the top. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate. Pickles will be ready to enjoy in 3 hours and last up to a week, refrigerated.

Pickled Red Onions

We tried two preps: pouring the boiling liquid into the jar, and waiting for it to cool first. Hot liquid = marginally better flavor.

Uses: pickled red onions can be used anywhere you’d use raw onions: burgers, sandwiches, salads. Because they’re so pretty and so flavorful, consider serving them on the side and let diners assemble the final product themselves.

Posted in Condiments, Eating, Recipes | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Steak with Five-Spice Asian Marinade

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Steak with Five-Spice Asian Marinade

Steak with Five-Spice Asian Marinade

We are big fans of Certified Angus Beef, which gives us permission to borrow this recipe from their website. Technically, we aren’t actually stealing it because we made a couple of crucial improvements. Switched the meat from strip steaks (their recommendation, for obvious $$ reasons) to a less expensive, more marinade-receptive cut. And we added neutral oil so the meat wouldn’t stick on the grill with all that sugar. Portion size is for a 30-ounce top sirloin; adjust as needed for smaller or larger steaks.

Ingredients:
Approx. 30 oz top sirloin steak (flank, flap, tritip and flatiron also good candidaes)
¼ c soy sauce
2 T brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t toasted Asian sesame oil
2 T neutral oil (canola, vegetable etc)
2 t five spice powder
½ t ground black pepper

Steak with Five-Spice Asian Marinade

Best way to serve this steak is sliced across the grain, served with lots of the delicious juice

Method: dissolve the sugar in the soy sauce, in a bag or a shallow dish just big enough to hold the steak. Add other marinade ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add steak and turn to coat all sides. Marinate 4-6 hours, turning frequently. Grill according to your usual method, rest a few minutes and serve.

Posted in Eating, Mains, Recipes | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Belon Oysters are in!

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Burnt My Fingers
Belon Oysters

Our beloved Belon Oysters, ready for degustation.

We encountered Belon Oysters at the wonderful Shucker Paddy’s demo at Fin Your Fishmonger a couple of years ago, and immediately fell in love. Originally from the Belon river in France, Belons are big and flat with shells that are crusty and difficult to open. (Shucker Paddy advised us to work the knife around the shell instead of always going in at the hinge; our experience is that the easiest opening place will be near the hinge but not on it.) The reward is a generous meat with a taste that combines seaweed and copper… transcendent.

At least that’s what we think. Shucker Paddy told us that of the 10% of diners who like oysters, only 10% of those will like Belons. All the more for us, when the short season begins in late September. (I’ve read they are in season from September to May, but in the northeast US at Fin Your Fishmonger they’re only available for a couple of weeks.) Hard to get, hard to open, maybe hard to choke down but if you are Belon material you will be as giddy as we are. If your fishmonger carries them, bring home a bag. If they don’t, ask for a special order.

If you like oysters in general, you’ll learn a lot in our Shucker Paddy video, which comes with written notes. And do consider ordering Shucker Paddy’s oyster knife which really is a genius design.

Posted in Eating | Tagged , , | Leave a comment