The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (57 page)
Read The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook Online
Authors: The Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Tags: #Cooking
SERVES 6
Purchase pancetta that is cut to order, about ¹⁄
4
inch thick. If pancetta is not available, substitute an equal amount of meaty salt pork, cut it into ¹⁄
4
-inch cubes, and boil it in 3 cups of water for about 2 minutes to remove excess salt. After draining, use it as you would pancetta.
1 | (3¹⁄ |
4 | ounces pancetta, cut into ¹⁄ |
2 | onions, chopped |
2 | carrots, chopped |
2 | celery ribs, chopped |
1 | tablespoon tomato paste |
3 | garlic cloves, minced |
1 | tablespoon all-purpose flour |
¹⁄ | teaspoon sugar |
1 | (750-ml) bottle Barolo wine |
1 | (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained |
10 | sprigs fresh parsley |
1 | sprig fresh rosemary |
1 | sprig fresh thyme, plus 1 teaspoon minced |
1.
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 300 degrees. Pat beef dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper and tie both pieces together with kitchen twine. Place pancetta in 8-quart Dutch oven; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towel–lined plate and set aside. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat; set Dutch oven over medium-high heat and heat until beginning to smoke. Add beef to pot and cook until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer beef to large plate and set aside.
2.
Reduce heat to medium, add onions, carrots, celery, and tomato paste to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften and brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, flour, sugar, and reserved pancetta; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine and tomatoes, scraping bottom of pan to loosen browned bits; add parsley, rosemary, and thyme sprigs. Return roast and any accumulated juices to pot; increase heat to high and bring liquid to boil, then place large sheet of aluminum foil over pot and cover tightly with lid. Set pot in oven and cook, using tongs to turn beef every 45 minutes, until fork slips easily in and out of meat, about 3 hours.
3.
Transfer beef to carving board; tent with foil to keep warm. Let braising liquid settle, about 5 minutes; using large spoon, skim fat from surface. Add minced thyme, bring liquid to boil over high heat, and cook, whisking vigorously to help vegetables break down, until mixture is thickened and reduced to about 3¹⁄
2
cups, about 18 minutes. Strain liquid through large fine-mesh strainer, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; you should have 1¹⁄
2
cups strained sauce (if necessary, return strained sauce to Dutch oven and reduce to 1¹⁄
2
cups). Discard solids in strainer. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
4.
Remove twine from roasts and discard. Slice meat against grain into ¹⁄
2
-inch-thick slices. Divide meat among warmed bowls or plates; pour about ¹⁄
4
cup sauce over top and serve immediately.
TO MAKE AHEAD:
Follow recipe through step 2. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate for up to 2 days. To serve, skim fat from surface and gently warm until meat is heated through. Proceed with recipe from step 3.
WHEN SEASONINGS GO AWRY
It’s happened to all of us: a dash that’s more like a pinch, or a tablespoon when you meant to add a teaspoon. If you’ve added too much salt, sugar, or spice to a dish, the damage is done, but in mild cases, the overpowering ingredient can sometimes be masked by the addition of another from the opposite end of the flavor spectrum. The following chart offers ideas. To avoid future seasoning mishaps, remember to account for the reduction of liquids when seasoning a dish—a perfectly seasoned stew will likely taste too salty after several hours of simmering. Your best bet: season with a light hand during the cooking process, then adjust the seasoning just before serving.
IF YOUR FOOD IS… | ADD… | SUCH AS… |
Too salty | An acid or sweetener | Vinegar, lemon or lime juice, unsalted canned tomatoes, sugar, honey, or maple syrup |
Too sweet | An acid or seasonings | Vinegar, lemon or lime juice, chopped fresh herbs, a dash of cayenne, or, for sweet dishes, a bit of liqueur or instant espresso powder |
Too spicy or acidic | A fat or sweetener | Butter, cream, sour cream, cheese, olive oil, sugar, honey, or maple syrup |
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
For a stroganoff with big beefy flavor, we substituted sirloin steak tips for the traditional, but expensive tenderloin. Marinating the meat in soy sauce made it just as tender as tenderloin. Pan-roasting the meat in larger pieces developed rich flavor and ensured against overcooked, dried-out beef, and letting it rest before cutting it into strips preserved its juiciness. While mushrooms aren’t traditional, they’re a popular addition. Microwaving the mushrooms released enough of their moisture so that they quickly browned along with the onions. As for the mustard, the traditional Russian choice, a sweet-hot blend, isn’t widely available, so we replaced it with a paste made of dry mustard bloomed in hot water. We also found that the sauce benefited from the subtle depth provided by a small amount of tomato paste. Adding just a touch of sour cream to the sauce completed our ideal beef stroganoff by providing body and tang (which we enhanced with white wine) without overwhelming the other flavors.
SERVES 4
Steak tips, also known as flap meat, are sold as whole steak, cubes, and strips. To ensure uniform pieces that cook evenly, we prefer to purchase whole steak tips and cut them ourselves. One and a half pounds of blade steak can be substituted for the steak tips; if using, cut each steak in half lengthwise and remove the gristle that runs down the center before cooking. Since blade steak yields smaller strips of meat, reduce the cooking time in step 3 by several minutes. If the mushrooms are larger than 1 inch, cut them into 6 even wedges. Serve the stroganoff over buttered egg noodles.
1¹⁄ | pounds sirloin steak tips, trimmed and cut lengthwise with grain into 4 equal pieces |
2 | teaspoons soy sauce |
1 | pound white mushrooms, trimmed and quartered |
1 | tablespoon dry mustard |
2 | teaspoons hot water |
1 | teaspoon sugar |
Salt and pepper | |
1 | tablespoon vegetable oil |
1 | onion, chopped fine |
4 | teaspoons all-purpose flour |
2 | teaspoons tomato paste |
1¹⁄ | cups beef broth |
¹⁄ | cup plus 1 tablespoon white wine or dry vermouth |
¹⁄ | cup sour cream |
1 | tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or dill |
1.
Using fork, poke each piece of steak 10 to 12 times. Place in baking dish; rub both sides evenly with soy sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour.
2.
While meat marinates, place mushrooms in medium bowl, cover, and microwave until mushrooms have decreased in volume by half, 4 to 5 minutes (there should be as much as ¹⁄
4
cup liquid in bowl). Drain mushrooms and set aside; discard liquid. Combine mustard, water, sugar, and ¹⁄
2
teaspoon pepper in small bowl until smooth paste forms; set aside.
3.
Pat steak pieces dry with paper towels and season with pepper. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Place steak pieces in skillet and cook until browned on all sides and meat registers 125 to 130 degrees, 6 to 9 minutes. Transfer meat to large plate and set aside while cooking sauce.
4.
Add mushrooms, onion, and ¹⁄
2
teaspoon salt to skillet and cook until vegetables begin to brown and dark bits form on bottom of pan, 6 to 8 minutes. Add flour and tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until onions and mushrooms are coated, about 1 minute. Stir in beef broth, ¹⁄
3
cup wine, and mustard paste and bring to simmer, scraping bottom of pan to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat to medium and cook until sauce has reduced slightly and begun to thicken, 4 to 6 minutes.
5.
While sauce is reducing, cut steak pieces across grain into ¹⁄
4
-inch-thick slices. Stir meat and any accumulated juices into thickened sauce and cook until beef has warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let any bubbles subside. Stir in sour cream and remaining tablespoon wine; season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
Pot-au-feu, literally translated as “pot on fire” (referring to the stovetop simmering method), is the French version of boiled dinner. But boiled dinners are notorious for their washed-out flavor and bland meat and vegetables. We wanted a pot-au-feu with a broth flavorful enough to serve as its own course with crusty bread, followed by the sliced, meltingly tender beef and an assortment of perfectly cooked vegetables, all presented family-style alongside traditional condiments such as horseradish, cornichons, and mustard. We used three cuts of beef—chuck-eye, short ribs, and beef shanks—and batch-cooked the vegetables separately in salted water so they were perfectly cooked. To cook the beef, we sautéed carrots, onions, and celery in a little oil until they begin to exude their juices and cut the amount of water for the richest possible broth.
SERVES 8 TO 10
A stockpot with at least a 12-quart capacity is necessary for this recipe. Cheesecloth is ideal for straining the broth, although a quadruple layer of paper towels will do in a pinch. Once the beef braise reaches a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer; if left to boil, the resulting broth will be murky. We prefer to use small red potatoes, measuring 1 to 2 inches in diameter, in this recipe. For serving, arrange the meat and vegetables on a large warmed platter and give diners individual shallow soup bowls to serve themselves.
BEEF BRAISE
2 | onions, chopped |
2 | carrots, chopped |
1 | celery rib, chopped |
2 | teaspoons vegetable oil |
1 | (3-pound) beef chuck-eye roast, trimmed and tied |
3 | pounds beef short ribs (about 5 large ribs), trimmed and tied |
2 | pounds beef shanks, 1¹⁄ |
20 | cups water |
3 | bay leaves |
1 | teaspoon whole black peppercorns |
5 | whole cloves |
1 | large head garlic, outer papery skins removed and top third of head cut off and discarded |
10 | sprigs fresh parsley |
8 | sprigs fresh thyme |
1 | tablespoon salt |
VEGETABLES
2 | pounds small red potatoes, halved if larger than 1¹⁄ |
2 | tablespoons salt |
1¹⁄ | pounds carrots, peeled, halved crosswise, thicker half quartered lengthwise, thinner half halved lengthwise |
1¹⁄ | pounds parsnips, peeled, halved crosswise, thicker half quartered lengthwise, thinner half halved lengthwise |
1 | pound green beans, trimmed |
GARNISHES AND CONDIMENTS
¹⁄ | cup chopped fresh parsley |
1 | baguette, sliced thick |
Dijon mustard or whole grain mustard | |
Sea salt | |
Cornichons | |
Prepared horseradish |
1. FOR THE BEEF BRAISE:
Combine onions, carrots, celery, and oil in large stockpot; cook, covered, over low heat, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. (If vegetables begin to brown before softening, add 1 tablespoon water and continue to cook.) Add roast, ribs, shanks, water, bay leaves, peppercorns, and cloves; increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil, using large spoon to skim any fat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 2¹⁄
2
hours, skimming surface of fat every 30 minutes.
2.
Add garlic, parsley stems, thyme, and salt. Simmer until tip of paring knife inserted into meats meets little resistance, 1 to 1¹⁄
2
hours.
3.
Using tongs, transfer roast, ribs, shanks, and garlic to large carving board and tent with aluminum foil. Strain broth through mesh strainer lined with double layer cheesecloth into large container (you should have about 12 cups liquid). Let broth settle for at least 5 minutes; using large spoon, skim fat from surface.
4. FOR THE VEGETABLES:
While broth settles, rinse out stockpot and add potatoes, salt, and 16 cups water; bring to boil over high heat and cook for 7 minutes. Add carrots and parsnips and cook for 3 minutes. Add green beans and cook for 4 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to large serving platter and tent with foil.
5.
Using tongs, squeeze garlic cloves out of skins and into small serving bowl. Remove twine from roast and separate roast at its seams; cut roast across grain into ¹⁄
2
-inch-thick slices and transfer to platter with vegetables. Remove twine from shanks and ribs and arrange on platter. Ladle about 1 cup broth over meat and vegetables and sprinkle with parsley. Serve, ladling broth over individual servings and passing garlic, baguette, and condiments separately.