cooking question and PICSPAM

[cornerofmadness]

First the question, for all the cooks on my flist, how do you prepare thin, quick-cooking beef as for a stir fry or fajita. I always manage to ruin it. I'm pretty good in the kitchen but this one stymies me.

Take tonight's sukiyaki. I started with thin cut braising beef then pounded it even flatter. Being that broken down it should have been tender as heck. I fried it only for a moment then added it to the sukiyaki. I'm beginning to think part of the problem is the Asian (and hispanic) sauces. I think that my med. rare beef parboils in a blink of an eye or something. Cook time less than 3 minutes and tonights beef the cats couldn't chew.

And now ICE STORM 2009 PICSPAM

Roy’s footprints frozen into the snow

The Icy Hills of Home

Japanese Lantern in Ice

THIS is what my car was trapped in. Poor Yukio

On the Way to Jackson

Winter Fairyland

Pines

Breaking under the Ice

Dogwoods (Jackson library)

I think this one is beautiful SERIOUSLY. It's my favorite. It's almost art. If you only click on one...

Roy back after two days in the snow



















http://dragcave.net/user/cornerofmadness

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Lookit the evil kitty.

Yes, I like that beauty one, myself. Lots.

[aaronlisa.livejournal.com]

The second to last picture is truly beautiful.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Gosh, those ice shots are beautiful!

The main thing I can say about beef is that the quality of the cut makes a great deal of difference - cheap meat will be tough no matter what you do to tenderize it. Good beef shouldn't have that problem -- and braising in sauces should make it MORE tender, not tough. I tend to cook by feel more than anything else, so unless I'm watching what's happening, I'm not sure what's going wrong...

*is confused*

[sp23.livejournal.com]

Ice storms do bring the beauty. They also bring a giant pain in the ass!

Poor Roy. All cuddled up on his blankie. LOL

[lyrangalia]

Gorgeous ice pictures. Almost makes me wish we had gotten a touch of that.

Almost.

[ishte.livejournal.com]

Roy's footprints almost look like they crossed a pond in your yard. haha.. that dogwood though, it looks just like mine. Beautiful shot with the sun and all. Really nice.

On that beef thing... thin sliced... I stir fry it usually with a little fresh (or that fresh stuff in a bottle you know?) garlic and green onions in a little olive oil, in a WOK... maybe with a splash of soy sauce. I usually cut it into squares no bigger than about 2 inches... and should be no more than a quarter of an inch thick... an eighth if I can get it that thin. I stir fry it on medium to medium high temp, and try to keep it moving constantly. Once it's brown on both sides then I drop the temp to medium or medium low... add other veggies, like mushrooms carrots, broccoli (anything that needs a little cook time to get tender. Any sauce could be added now (like stir fry sauce? or more soy sauce if you like it salty. The temp is lower now, so I don't stir it quite as much, but I do keep it moving, flipping and turning everything about once every thirty seconds.

Certain veggies I don't add until the very last couple of minutes. Red and Green peppers should still be crunchy and their flavor self contained. Snow pea pods should be added in literally the last minute or two, and not more... they only want to get warmed up, because otherwise they get strong and that flavor permeates everything else and just ruins it.

Stir frying meat should seriously not take more than 7-10 minutes once you put it in the skillet. And that includes sauces and veggies. So it's super important to already have everything prepped and ready to go, so you can just add each ingredient as soon as it's time.

Hope that's helpful.

[sillymagpie.livejournal.com]

I'm not an expert in stir frying, but I think you need a better cut of beef than braising beef. Any cut you will braise is meant to be cooked for several hours to make it tender. You need to slice it very thin, also. I know wildrider would freeze the beef then slice it--I think against the grain (check with her to be sure).

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

Poor Roy!

[atpolittlebit.livejournal.com]

Love the beauty shot. It reminds me of my current (winter) journal background.

[mulzrule.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like your favorite too. I can't believe we have snow after yesterday.

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

I don't know if we have the same recipe, but here are the instructions for sukiyaki beef from my Japanese cookbook:

1 lb. 6 oz. well-marbled beef sirloin, without bone, sliced thinly. Add a quarter of the wari-shita sauce to the pan. When it starts to bubble, add a quarter of the vegetables, tofu and shirataki. Add four slices of beef to the pan. As they change colour, remove them immediately from the pan and dip into the egg.

This is an excerpt from a much longer recipe, just the parts that refer to cooking the beef. The recipe assumes you have a sukiyaki pan and a portable table stove. I have neither, so I've never actually made this dish. The beef recipe just before the sukiyaki is actually more intriguing, if you like rare beef:

1 1/4 lb. chunk of beef thigh

Mix the marinade ingredients in a small pan and warm through till the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Sprinkle the beef with the salt and rub into the meat. Leave for 2-3 minutes, then rub the oil in evenly. Fill a large bowl with water. Heat a griddle. Sear the beef, turning until a depth of 1/4 in. of the flesh is cooked. Immediately plunge the meat into the water for a few seconds [this immediately stops the cooking]. Wipe the meat and immerse fully in the marinade for 1 day.

You eat the beef by slicing it cold and dipping it in the marinade, with a few simple garnishes (cucumber, grated garlic) for flavor. If you're interested in the full recipe, I'd be happy to send it to you.

For my orange teriyaki beef with noodles recipe, I cheat and use fresh stir-fry beef strips that are already cut. You saute them 2-4 minutes in a skillet, remove them, then return them to the skillet, with the other ingredients, to cook for 2-3 minutes more before serving hot. I've never had trouble with the beef strips being tough.