Category: beef

brisket

I’m in no way Jewish, but I’ve no problem in magpie-ing the best of other cultures’ celebratrory food. A passover classic then: brisket.

I browned the enormous bit of meat in a pan first, then chucked in an onion, some celery, some garlic, some bay, red wine, Dijon mustard and beef stock. Lid on, I pretty much left it alone for three hours. Once the meat could be torn to bits with fingers, it was ready. I served with a pile of mash and some steamed broccoli, plus some juice from the pan.

balti beef

A dreadfully-named dish this one; but it inverts a standard cooking cornerstone in a way that really baffled me. It came from a Weight Watchers book of all places, though it has dubious dietary heritage.

Rather than the time-honoured tradition of: sweat onions in oil, then add meat, the method for this is to dry-fry mince until it starts to leak oil and then chuck the onions in. I suppose this is marginally healthier. I add grated garlic to this, then some patented Gary Masala and turmeric, with seasoning. Allowing these flavours to develop for a few minutes I then add a good puddle of beef stock, frozen peas and a tablespoon of mango chutney. It sounds utterly perverse, but after just a couple of minutes simmering you get a spicy, fruity, meaty bowl of food that is immensely satisfying.

beef food mushroom

stroganoff

A handsome, rich and satisfying meal. I’ll admit that’s one of the worst photos of food in the world, sorry. Tastes good though, promise.

I start by dusting strips of steak in flour and paprika, then frying quickly and leaving to one side. Then I fry an onion, garlic, thyme and sliced mushrooms until softened. Then a nice bit of flambé with brandy (although I used whisky tonight), some scary flames, and then the meat goes back in to warm, accompanied by some sliced gherkin. Some creme fraiche now, and after a touch of seasoning it’s there. Perfect with rice.

I must have made this with eight or nine different recipes, and it tastes the same every single time.

beef blackberries carrots food

autumnal stirfry

Seasonal is the name of the game here; everything’s bursting with readiness. Using my stirfry principles as per Yaki Soba, I add strips of beef, then put to one side. Then I fry carrots and red cabbage until tender, then add beansprouts. Now come fruits: blackberries and a sliced plum. Then the beef goes back in and it’s all pulled together with a slosh of honey and balsamic. It’s interesting and colourful – very Autumnal.

Tags jun tanaka