Steak Temoana

This is an old recipe of Mum's that I haven't seen her cook for years. It is delicious and dead easy to make, also very low fat if you trim the meat well. In Nonna's day many recipes had their flavour boosted with tinned or packet soups and you will see them used a lot in this blog. These soups are little sachets of salt, stock powder, dried veges, and inexplicable additives so I usually prefer to replace them with alternate ingredients as described below. This way I can control how much salt I'm using and avoid all the additives, fresh is best!

1- 1.5 kg Blade Steak

½ tsp Curry Powder

1 pkt dried Mushroom Soup (**use replacement for GF)

2 tsp Mixed Spice

1 cup Dry Sherry

1 tabs Tomato Sauce

¼ cup Vinegar

1 tabs Worcestershire Sauce

2 chopped Onions

12 stoned Prunes

12 Pineapple chunks (tinned)

1. Measure Curry, Mushroom Soup and Spices into a plastic bag

2. Cut meat into 3-4cm squares

3. Toss meat into plastic bag and shake until meat evenly coated

4. Place into casserole dish with other ingredients placing Prunes and Pineapple on top

5. Cook 2 hours in moderate oven 165ºC

** Instead of using the dried Mushroom Soup you can replace it with 2 tsp beef stock powder, 3 tsp GF flour, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp salt. Place in plastic bag with other ingredients as above.  Add a handful of fresh mushrooms sliced or 50g dried porcini mushrooms that have been soaked in hot water for 5 mins and then sliced, add soaking liquid as well.

Mustard Sauce

Nonna's Recipe Book page 3

Mustard Sauce on Corned Silverside/Beef

Mustard Sauce
Served with Corned Silverside

1 tabs dry english mustard powder
1 tabs plain flour
1 tabs sugar
2 tabs white vinegar
1 egg
1 cup or more of cooking liquid from the corned silverside

1. Mix mustard,  flour, and sugar with vinegar and a little extra water if necessary
2. Add the beaten egg and whisk into the cooking liquid in a small saucepan
3. Stir well and let simmer for one minute
4. Serve with hot corned beef

(Source: Nonna's Cookbook)

Corned Beef simmering

Corned Beef (Silverside)
1piece corned beef, it is usually silverside
1 tsp vinegar
6 cloves
12 peppercorns
1 bay leaf

1. Wash the meat to remove some of the salt
2. Allow 40 mins cooking time for each 500g
3. Place meat into a pot of warm water and bring to simmering point
4. Skim froth off and discard, as it comes to the boil
5. Add other ingredients and cook gently for prescribed time
6. Serve hot with Mustard sauce or if serving cold, cool in the liquid

(Source: p27 The Commonsense Cookery Book)

The sauce asks for english mustard powder (Keens),  I never use it so I  added a good tablespoon of grainy mustard instead and reduced the vinegar to 1 tabs, it is a lovely sauce.  So often in this book I am surprised that the good old fashioned recipes are just so good. Am I getting old?

The whole family really enjoyed this meal, I haven't had corned beef for many years, a delicious meal for a change. Pretty simple to prepare, my mother-in-law just cooks the meat "very slowly, with nothing added to the water," but I enjoyed the aromas of clove and bay in the kitchen, the point is don't stress if you don't have everything available.

Beef Guide for Slow Cooking

With so much meat being bought from the supermarket it is more difficult to work out the best cut for cooking with, I find it confusing and I worked in a butcher shop at some point in my food career!

I have been thinking more about which beef cut I’ll use as I make my way through Mum’s recipe book. Her book re-introduces me to beef cuts that I rarely use so I thought I would write a short beef guide for slow cooking.

In general people seem to find it difficult to work out the best cut for cooking with, I find it confusing too and I worked in a butcher shop at some point in my food career!

Perhaps it is because we eat less red meat these days.  We have easy access to a wide range of fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood and chicken, and beef has slipped down the ranking in my kitchen and I’m sure in yours too!  I never do a Roast Beef it is almost always a Roast Organic Chicken, weighing in just under 2kg, smothered in garlic, herbs and seasonings (details another day).  So I have become less experienced with beef buying and today I had some questions to ponder:

Which cut of beef is suitable for various cooking methods? 

When the label says casserole meat, what cut is it?

What part of the beast did it come from?

What did that beast feed on?

Looking at meat in a supermarket display, lined up on trays under plastic film and bright lights it is hard to even think about the animal it came from.  I prefer to talk to the local butcher, get a feel for some honest and sustainable supply chains. The butcher makes me think that the meat is fresher, he knows where the meat comes from and if they are grain fed, I feel closer to the farmyard.  Of course buying our meat at the Wayville Farmers Market on Sundays is a better option.  I never feel very organized when I am there to buy meat up for too many meals… I should think about that really.

Beef Guide for Slow Cooking

The Braising/Casserole meats have lots of connective tissues that will melt to tenderness when braised in a flavoursome stock, with herbs and vegetables and perhaps wine, cook slowly and carefully

Chuck Steak      can be a little fatty but good flavour      cook 2-3 hours

Gravy Beef       melts in the mouth easy to use      cook 2-3 hours

Boneless Shin      flavoursome and tender, my favourite    cook 2-3 hours

Osso Bucco (shin, bone-in)      lovely flavour, bone keeps the structure   cook 2-3 hours

Topside      not my choice for a slow cook, too dry     cook 1½- 2 hours

Round**        lean, clean flavour, can be expensive   cook 1½- 2 hours

Blade (Oyster Blade)      similar to shin, great flavour   cook 1½- 2 hours

Skirt Steak                     easy to cut, lean and tasty  cook    1½- 2 hours

Casserole Steak              never too sure what it is, I avoid unspecific labelled meat

** On display at my butcher they have lovely “round” round steaks for $23.99/kg sold as BBQ steaks. And other braising steaks are available at around $17/kg, maybe as low as $12/kg in the supermarket. To cook the Danish Beef Steak I wanted to cook it just like Mum would.  So I asked my butcher if he could find me some regular, old fashioned round steaks. He sliced 1.5 kg straight off the round part of beef from out the back of the shop, and he reduced the price to $18/kg for his trouble, which was much appreciated. The round steak had an intense beefy flavour and was very tender.

To clarify and avoid confusion over the correct terminology I have referred to one of my favourite cook books to check some terminology: Stephanie Alexander (1996), The Cooks Companion (Viking/Penguin).

1. Braising is to cook meat, slowly in the oven with aromatic vegetables, herbs and stock

2. Meat cooked on the stovetop it is called a Stew, it usually has more liquid.
3. Cooking meat slowly in liquids is also called a Casserole, but actually it is the container, heavy based and with and with tightly fitted lid that is the Casserole.

             

Glad to have that cleared up!

·  

When I was in Japan recently beef was selling for around $80/kg. Very expensive and really the only beef they have has all those fatty sections through it, (see above) called Kobe or Hida beef.  So for these reasons I ate lots of seafood, chicken and vegetables in Japan. 

Special Fillet Steak

SPECIAL FILLET STEAK

1. Heat oil in a frypan with chopped garlic

2. Sear Fillet Steak on both sides in oil and place it in a flat oven proof dish

3. Cover with black olives and Cook in a very hot oven 220ºC for 8 minutes

I don't go out and buy fillet steak for the family, (no wonder @ $38/kg).  It is something we would order when we are out, but then I rarely order steak. I'm usually looking for something that will inspire me. This recipe is a perfect way to cook and enjoy fillet steak, so lash out, buy some fillet and enjoy!

Swiss Bliss

SWISS BLISS
1 kg (2lbs) Blade or Chuck steak

1 tabs butter

1 pkt French Onion Soup Mix

½ green Capsicum (Pepper)

2 Tomatoes

½ cup Tomato Juice

1 tabs Worcestershire Sauce*

Salt & Pepper

1 tabs Cornflour

Arrange meat pieces in the centre of large sheet of buttered alfoil,
I found that 2 alfoil parcels was easier to handle. Over the meat

sprinkle soup mix, chopped Capsicum and sliced Tomatoes,

season with Salt & Pepper, mix Tomato Juice

and Cornflour pour over meat,

seal with ends of alfoil, place envelope in shallow baking dish,

bake 2 hours in mod oven 170ºC,  sprinkle with chopped Parsley before serving,

Swiss Bliss is surprisingly good!  I always thought that braising steaks needed a lot of liquid for them to tenderise sufficiently to my liking, we used Oyster Blade steak and it was melt in the mouth, and lovely flavours. I don’t usually buy tomato juice, no one will drink it and the only container I located was a 1 litre can.  Wishing not to waste the left over juice that I’m sure would have decayed in the back of our fridge I used tomato puree instead and included a dessertspoon of water.

* “Lea & Perrins” brand Worcestershire sauce is the one Dad loved in his homemade cocktail sauce for Sydney Rock Oysters: Tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Lemon juice, Pepper and Salt and a dash of Cream. Delicious X

Danish Beef Steak

Many family recipe books show the influence of our European migrants so we expect to see Italian, French, Greek, and Spanish influences.  Mum was more inclined towards open Danish sandwiches (recipes to come in a later post) and today it is Danish Beef Steak and soon it will be Swiss Bliss.  They both sound very exotic, and there is something to be said about a good name.  Probably influenced during one of their many overseas business trips, Mum must have come home all inspired.  (After my recent trip to Japan I went immediately to the Asian grocery stores at the Adelaide Central Markets to stock up on nori, soy and tofu etc).  These are two recipes for good old-fashioned slow cooked meals using cheaper cuts of beef that are transformed into tender, tasty comfort meals that we all really enjoyed.

Danish Beef Steak

Serve with steamed vegetables

1 kg (1½ lb*) Round Steak*

1 large Brown Onion

2 Bay Leaves

¾ cup Red Wine

2 tabs Butter

2 tabs Flour

1 cup Stock

Salt, Pepper, Dried Herbs, pinch of each

2 cloves Garlic

1 Carrot

1 stalk Celery

Cut steak into pieces approx. 4-5cm square. Place meat in a casserole dish, add Onion, Bay Leaves and Wine. Stand overnight in the fridge.  Heat butter in a fry pan and brown the meat in small batches.  Add the flour to the pan and mix into the butter, keep stirring then add all other ingredients.  Bring to the boil, place the meat back into the casserole dish.  Pour in the vege mixture. Cook about 1½ hours in moderate oven 150°C.

*Recipe has been adjusted and rounded up to metric, and altered where I thought was necessary to complete the dish.

When I cooked this I took the meat out of the marinade and dredged each piece in flour. Then browned the meat in the butter.  Because the meat was wet from the wine, it was too heavily coated in the flour and the resulting dish has a gravy that was too thick, so I have changed the method to ensure that you get a better result.  Do let me know how it works for you.