Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cooking and beef

Bone with a juicy center?

tasty — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:20:12 -0800

I purchased some expensive beef bones by accident $3/lb, and was planning to make stock with them. However, after a quick roast, I saw the inner circle became something soft and edible, while the outer circle remained bone. What did I get, and should I still make stock with these?

Holy cow that's a lotta beef.

lwclec072 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:46:25 -0800

Help us think of roast recipes and chili recipes would be welcome, too. Boyfriend and I found a wholesale beef farm in our town and we got lots of meat, 20 pounds to be exact. We have 2 roasts and some stew meat. One of the roast we are going to slow cook with carrots, potatoes, celery and the works, but the other roast we're not exactly sure what we should do with it, other than just turning it into a slow cooked roast like the other, any ideas like maybe philly cheese steak would that be possible to turn a roast into shredded beef? If so help us do it! :)

We also have stew meat and my boyfriend wants to make chili with that and i'm never heard of such, any ideas with that?

Recipe for truly succulent, traditional Jewish brisket?

roxie110 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:01:41 -0800

How do you make truly tender, succulent Jewish-style brisket? I've had a craving for brisket-like-my-grandmother-used-to-make for about a year now. I finally got the meat and my mother's recipe and cooked it today. The taste is great and the thin end of the meat turned out close to what I was hoping for; the thick end is cooked through but not moist and falling apart like brisket in my world should be, and when I stick a fork in it gives a lot of resistance. I don't know if I over- or undercooked it. I should mention that my "dutch oven" (really a stockpot) was too narrow so I used a Calphalon deep covered 13" nonstick skillet instead--maybe a big mistake? I am such a brisket novice.

Below is a quick recap of how I cooked it. I've looked up a ton of recipes but each one is slightly different, and life's too short to try every one. My question is this: who has a foolproof (mostly) recipe for truly tender, traditional Jewish brisket!? And just as important, how do you know how long to cook it and when it's done? (Can you overcook a brisket, as long as there's still liquid in the pan?)

Recipe I used for half a first-cut brisket, about 3 pounds, fat trimmed:
Preheat oven to 350. Place thickly sliced onions, carrots, and a couple chopped garlic cloves in bottom of Dutch oven. Rub ketchup, ground pepper, paprika, and one envelope onion soup mix on all surfaces of brisket. Add liquid to 3/4 inches deep (I used 1.5 cans low-sodium beef broth; most of liquid was absorbed by the end of cooking). Place chunks of potato around meat. Cover tightly and roast for 2.5 hours. Baste two or three times during cooking. Remove from heat, cool meat, and slice across the grain.

Help! And thank you!

braise and re-braise

Foam Pants — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:14:28 -0800

Can I keep re-using the same cooking liquid over and over forever and ever amen? Say I braise myself a tasty piece of beef. Yum! I have some savory liquid left over that I de-fat and then freeze. a week later, I take out this liquid, bring it to a boil, cut it down to a bare simmer, insert another slab of beef, braise, eat (yum), de-fat, and refreeze. I do this week after week, infinitely, until the world runs out of beef or I die of cholesterol induced heart failure (more likely).

I have heard of a Chinese cooking method similar to this called red cooking. Does this practice of saving the braising liquid for frequent re-use over an extended period of time set off any alarms with anybody cuz all I am hearing is a distinctly tasty dinner bell.

Cooking topside of beef

mooreeasyvibe — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:01:46 -0800

I have a topside of beef - it weighs 0.65 kg - it's not huge really. What's the best way to cook it? I don't have a slow cooker or anything fancy. I have a roasting tray and foil. Anyone got any ideas?

It

I_Love_Bananas — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 09:22:42 -0800

Help with crock pot roast recipe! I won't lie, my cooking sucks. Even I have screwed up crock-pot recipes.

I have a nice roast, 2.4 lbs, in the crock pot and have about 6 hours or so to cook. I want to do the basic beef and noodles.

- Should I cook on Hi or Lo (those are my only options) given the time frame?
- Should I turn the roast over during the cooking process?
- If so, when?
- Regarding the amount of liquid- should there be enough to cover the meat?
-When do I add the noodles? I have regular, dry egg noodles, about 3/4 inch wide not the really wide ones).

Any other tips wuld be welcome. Thanks!!

Pit roasted beef

Tenuki — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 13:52:06 -0800

Does anyone have a good method for cooking a largish (10lbs) beef roast in a pit of coals? I know I’ve seen a technique for doing this either on a cooking show or in a cook book but now I can’t seem to track it down. My searches only find procedures for cooking 200lb pigs, luau style.

Sub $5 Red Wine recommendations?

rorycberger — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:27:59 -0800

I need recommendations for a very cheap (<$5/750mL) but hearty, flavorful, and tasty red wine. This will be used as a braising liquid and then reduced to make a sauce for beef short ribs. Normally when I make braised short ribs I use a decent but not too expensive ($10-$15) Zinfandel, but I am planning on making them en masse for a party and can't afford to spend too much. However, because it is such a fundamental part of the dish I want to make sure it's got decent flavor. Doesn't need layers of complex aromas or anything, just a healthy dose of good flavors and no bad ones. In my experience I've found that wines with too much oak and/or tannins (Cali Cab) do not work well for this recipe, nor do wines that are too sweet/jammy (Aussie Shiraz).

Unfortunately, I don't have the time/budget to do a big tasting of every cheap red and pick my favorite, so i'm relying on recommendations to at least narrow my list down to a few contenders. Bonus points for wines available at Costco, Beverages & More, or Trader Joe's.

Rump Steak Cooking

Jimbob — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 23:25:00 -0800

What's the best way to cook the juicy looking 450g rump steak I have sitting here beside me to a tasty medium? I've received mixed signals in the past. In Home Economics class in school, we were taught to "seal" the steak on both sides to lock in the flavour and juices.

But I've seen cooking shows where they've said to cook it on one side until the blood starts coming through to the top, then turning it over and cooking the other side.

Also, should I sear it and then put it in the oven for a while to cook through, or fry it in the pan the whole way through?

How long should I cook it? (So I can time the hardcore creamy mushroom sauce I have planned)

Corned Beef Recipes

spicynuts — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 12:18:28 -0800

Help me corn my beef. I love corned beef. It is rapidly becoming my favorite comfort food. I want to make my own, however, every recipe I can find at epicurios.com and foodtv.com list 'corned beef brisket' as the primary ingredient. I want to start off with straight beef and corn it myself. Anyone have any recipes for this, or am I misunderstanding the meaning of the term 'corned'?

Beef, French-style.

bshort — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:54:52 -0800

Why does my steak taste so good? Hsoltz and I are on our honeymoon in Paris, and we've noticed that the steak here tastes different than it does in the US, even compared to USian restaurants that seem to offer fairly traditional French fare. The beef itself seems to have a slightly different consistency, with a different "crust" on it, and the taste is distinctly "beefier."

Has anyone else exprienced this? And, any idea how I would replicate this difference once we get back to NYC?

What to do with an eye of round?

rorycberger — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:03:43 -0800

So on Saturday at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, Prather Ranch had a special on Eye of Round beef. Being a sucker for getting a giant piece of meat at less than half-price, I am now the proud owner of a 5 lb Eye of Round. So, uh, now what should I do with it?

What's your technique for grilling steak?

beaverd — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 12:27:52 -0800

steak grilling: what's your technique? [mi]