Pan Seared Chuck Steak with an Easy Corn Side Dish and Product Review: Country Bobs All Purpose Sauce

All right, first the steak. No real recipe for this I'm afraid (apparently that's going to be a theme for Saturdays, along with reviews), it's really just a method. But here's what you need:

Steak (let's say 1 lb)
2 cups or so frozen corn
1/2 cup or so diced frozen peppers
1 tbl fresh herbs of your choice (or however much you want/need to season your steak)
salt and pepper

All we're going to do is sear the steak then plop the frozen veggies into the hot, fondy pan. Then you stir the veggies around till they are cooked how you like and that's that. So I guess there's the recipe... but here're the details.

First, steak. I used a chuck steak. Normally not the best for pan searing, but I'm not a steak snob and I don't really mind if it's not perfect. Plus it has a great, strong beefy flavor. And it's what I had. So I rubbed it with herbs. I used some salt and pepper and the grilling spices from Daregal. The spices in that blend are thyme, rosemary, savory and parsley, they went really well with the steak and the corn. Once the steak was ready I pulled it off to rest and tossed the peppers into the pan, then the corn. The water that the frozen veggies put out deglazed the pan (although a splash of red wine wouldn't have hurt, heh heh) and then they got coated with the meaty, herby, salty and peppery flavors. Stir them around, let the liquid simmer off and that's that. Well, unless you don't think it's rich enough and want to put a pat of butter on there. That never hurts. So there it is: pan seared chuck steak with corn and peppers. One pan, two dishes, dinner is done.

Now the review. I recently got a couple bottles of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce to try out and I figured that this was a great time to do it. So I dipped my steak in and gave it a shot. The verdict? It's ok. It's like a cross between A-1 and a bottled barbecue sauce. Sweet, but it still has that steak sauce flavor. I enjoyed it well enough, I'll use what I have, but I won't seek it out when these bottles are gone.

Whiskey Glazed Steak Tips

1 lb steak tips
1/2 cup Jack Daniels
1/2 cup apple cider
2 tbls light brown sugar
1 tbl Dijon mustard
pinch of cayenne
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp apple cider vinegar (original called for 4 tsps)
salt and pepper
1 tbl butter (optional)



Whisk together whiskey, cider, brown sugar, mustard, cayenne, vanilla and vinegar. Put 1/4 cup of it into a zipper bag together with the tips. Push out the air, seal and put in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Reserve the rest of the whiskey mixture. Remove the tips from the bag, discard the marinade. Pat the tips dry with some paper towels. Heat up some oil in a fry pan till just smoking. Season the tips with salt and pepper, cook till well browned on both sides and till almost done. Move them to a plate and cover tightly with foil. Pour the rest of the whiskey mixture to the pan and deglaze. Reduce heat and let simmer till reduced by half. If you're using the butter add it in now and stir it around to melt and mix. Add tips to glaze with any collected juices. Let cook till done how you like, turning a couple of times to coat them up. Any glaze left in the pan can be spooned over the tips or used to glaze carrots or something. I recommend carrots.

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First off, props where they are due. This is adapted from an America's Test Kitchen recipe for whiskey glazed pork chops, which was in turn adapted from a certain chain restaurants concept. My girlfriend really wanted steak tips (and we had some, as opposed to chops) and I wanted to try something new, so this is what I made. I added less vinegar than the original called for and forgot to add the butter at the end to finish the sauce. But they still came out wicked good. Sweet and tangy, with a distinct taste of Jack Daniels but none of the harsh alcohol flavor. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I'm going to try it with pork and chicken too, I bet they will also be good. Plus, I didn't have cider so I used apple juice. I can only imagine cider would have been much better.

Ok, first the sauce/marinade. Start with the JD. You could probably use bourbon or some other kind of whiskey, but JD has a great flavor for this kind of thing so I recommend it. Now cider, vinegar, vanilla, mustard and brown sugar. Oh, and take blurry pictures because you haven't bought a decent tripod yet. Please. It will make me feel better. Whisk to combine. Now put your tips in a zipper bag and pour in a quarter cup of the sauce. Squeeze out the air and seal it up. Mix it around till they are evenly coated and toss it in the fridge for an hour or two. I just did one and they were fine. Once they have marinated, take them out, toss out the marinade and pat them dry with paper towels. Now you want to heat up a pan with a couple teaspoons of vegetable oil on medium-high, till just smoking. Season the tips with some salt and pepper and drop them in. Sear them on both sides. You are going to be finishing them in the glaze, but you want to do most of the cooking now. How long it takes depends on how done you want them. A couple minutes a side will be more rare, more will be less rare. Aren't I helpful? Heh. You will probably just want to cut one open and see how it looks. It boils down to individual tastes here. You want it about three quarters of the way done, however done is for you. Once they are that done put them on a plate and cover them with foil. Your pan should have a whole mess of fond, like this. Isn't that lovely? I do so enjoy a good fond. Now deglaze the pan with the rest of the sauce. Bring it to a low boil and let it reduce by about half. Here is where you would add the butter, if you are so inclined. Now put the tips back in and turn them a couple times. You should also pour in whatever juices have collected while the tips rested.Let them sit for a bit then turn them again. Do this a couple times, till they are done how you want and coated in sweet, delicious glaze. Now take them out again. Now, you could just spoon the rest of the sauce over them, but I thought some glazed carrots would be nice. So I threw in a bunch of (frozen, I admit it) carrot slices and tossed them around till cooked and coated with glaze. It was quite nice. Now you should eat it. This picture here doesn't do the tips justice, that's why it's at the bottom instead of the top with the recipe. I don't know what happened, probably a combination of the weird lighting in my kitchen and my lack of photography skills. But anyway, there is it. Enjoy.

Pot Roast, One Pot/Oven Style

2 lbs eye round roast (or other pot roast roast)
6-10 baby red potatoes, scrubbed and chopped in half
1 cup of carrots, cut however you like
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp basil
1 medium bay leaf
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
1/2 cup water, beef broth or red wine
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Brown the onions and garlic in a medium, oven safe pan, big enough to fit the roast in and with a good lid. Remove them from the pan and rub the roast with marjoram, salt and pepper. Brown it in the pot in a little oil. Deglaze the pot with the water, broth or wine. Put the meat, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, bay leaf and basil in. Cover the pot loosely with foil then press the lid on tightly. Cook for 2-3 hours, till fork tender. During the last hour or so toss in the potatoes and carrots.

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So, can you tell it's fall yet? Where I am, just northwest of Boston, the leaves are changing colors and the temps are down in the 50-60s during the day and 30s at night. Which means it's time for pot roast. I wasn't crazy about pot roast when I was a kid, I would eat it but I didn't get into it. Not that my mom doesn't make a good pot roast, she does. I just didn't feel it. Now, I love it. My girlfriend loves it too, she's a real meat and potatoes girl and this is pretty much the epitome of that. I had an eye round roast in the freezer and was wondering what to do with it. I asked around the forums on Bakespace and the consensus was pot roast. Unfortunately my crock pot is only 1.5 quarts, more for show than use, so I did it in the oven. I also figured if I did it in the oven I could just mess up one pot. How did I do it, you ask? Like this.

Just a little side note, I have a new (sorta, it's a hand-me-down) camera and am still getting used to it. If any of my pics are wonky, let's just blame it on that, ok? Thanks.

First, brown up the onions and garlic. I left the garlic mostly whole, figured it would break down in the long cook. I cut them in half to take out some shoots though. The onions are rough chopped, again because they will break down. Now rub the meat with salt and pepper. I also used a bit of marjoram because I thought it would be good. I pulled the onions and garlic out of the pan and browned the roast. Once it had some nice color I pulled it out and deglazed the pan. I wanted red wine or beer, but not enough to leave the house (I have a cold, so it's not pure laziness). My second choice was beef broth, but I don't have any base left. So I just used water. I figured there would be plenty of flavor with all the other stuff going on. Now, everything goes back in along with the bay leaf, tomato sauce and basil. I know it doesn't look very browned, but it was. It's the camera, I swear. Now if you're using a pot with a good, tight fitting lid then you are good to go. My pot is less than ideal so I put a piece of aluminum foil over the pot then put the lid on that and it helps it fit tightly. Then I tossed it into a 300 degree oven for about 3 hours. After maybe 2 or so I put in a bunch of baby red potatoes that I had scrubbed and cut in half and some carrots. The carrots were frozen. It's what I had. But it came out great, so that's good. Not too shabby for my second pot roast ever. I spooned the liquid over the meat just how it was, but if I had hit it with and immersion blender it would have been even better. If you wanted it thicker you could leave a couple potatoes in when you blend it.

Pan Fried Chicken

1 broiler/fryer chicken,cut into 8 pieces
2 cups low fat buttermilk
2 tbls kosher salt
2 tbls Hungarian paprika
2 tsps garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
flour for dredging
vegetable shortening for frying

Place chicken pieces into a plastic container and cover with buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours. Melt enough shortening (over low heat) to come just 1/8 of an inch up the side of a 12 inch cast iron or heavy fry pan. Once the shortening liquefies raise heat to 325. Do not allow oil to go over 325. Drain chicken in a colander. Combine salt, paprika, garlic powder and cayenne. Liberally season chicken with the mixture. Dredge the chicken in flour and shake off the excess. Place the chicken skin side down into the pan. Put thighs in the center and breasts and legs around the edge. Cook chicken until golden brown, approx 10-12 minutes on each side. Internal temp should be ~180. Be careful to monitor the shortening temp while cooking. Drain the chicken on a rack over a pan lined with paper towels.

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So today me and my girlfriend went to my brothers for lunch. He made fried chicken. Fried chicken frigging rules. His recipe is awesome, even if he doesn't put sage in the rub. :P Heh. So I figured I would take some pics and blog the deliciousness. The pictures aren't that great since I was using my sister in laws camera and I'm not used to it (it's fancier than mine...). But I think they still get the point across. The first thing you do is soak the chicken in buttermilk. This helps all the stuff cling to it and form a nice crust. You want to let it soak for at least twelve hours, this time my brother did it for about sixteen. Please, refrigerate the chicken while it's soaking. It's really for the best. Now you want to melt the shortening in a warm pan, then once it's melted turn up the heat to 325. The recipe above calls for a cast iron or heavy frying pan, but my brother has one of these electric fryer/griddle kind of dealies. They are great because you set the heat and don't need to monitor the temperature while you are cooking. Otherwise you need to check the temp every couple minutes to make sure it doesn't go above 325, if it does things will burn. While the shortening is coming to temp drain the chicken and place it on a rack. Mix together the salt, paprika, garlic powder and cayenne and sprinkle it generously on the chicken. I like adding a little sage to it too, but this is my brothers recipe and this is how he makes it. Don't misunderstand, it is really, really good. This recipe doesn't need any changes. But if you wanted to add some sage, that is good too. Heh. Don't be shy with the seasonings, this is supposed to be a flavorful dish. Once both sides are covered with seasonings dredge them in flour then shake off the excess. When the shortening is up to temp place the chicken (carefully!) in it. A splash guard is a good thing here... even if it doesn't quite cover the whole pan. After 10-12 minutes, when the chicken is golden brown or even dark brown, flip it. Let it cook for another 10-12 minutes or until it has reached an internal temperature of 180 degrees. Once it's done take it out and put it on a rack over a pan covered in paper towels. Let it sit for a minute or two to drain off the excess grease and cool a bit. Then eat it. We had it with mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuits (I will post that recipe later) and corn on the cob. And for dessert: homemade ice cream cake. Guh. So good. My brother made the cake by taking some homemade brownie bits, turning them into crumbs and toasting them with a little butter (to keep them together, of course). Then he used that as a crust layer in a spring form pan with a circle of parchment paper in the bottom. Then he put softened chocolate ice cream on top of it, then a layer of brownie chunks and hot fudge. Then another layer of ice cream, this time vanilla with jimmies in it. Then he put it back in the freezer till dessert time. Wicked good.

Pan Seared Flank Steak with Broccoli

1 lb flank steak
salt and pepper
1 tbl butter or oil
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
dash of Montreal Steak seasoning

Heat up a steel pan on high heat. Add butter, swirl it to coat the pan. Season flank steak with salt and pepper. Place steak on pan, let sear for 3 minutes or till nicely browned. Flip it and brown the other side. Reduce heat to medium and let cook till it is as done as you want it. Remove steak, place on a plate and tent foil over it. Deglaze pan with 1/4 cupwater. Let reduce for a minute then add broccoli. Sprinkle on a dash of Montreal Steak seasoning. Stir around to get it covered with liquid. Cook, stirring occasionally for a minute. Take the foil off the steak and pour the juices onto the broccoli and cook it till it is done how you want it. Slice the steak against the grain into thin slices and serve with the broccoli.

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Ok folks, it doesn't get much simpler than this. Seared steak with a pan sauce. The twist here is the sauce is going to go on the broccoli, not the steak. And it's not really going to be much of a sauce because the broccoli is going to soak some of it up and the rest is going to reduce away while it cooks. But it will leave behind loads of flavor. For the record, you can do this with any kind of steak, or really any meat that you can sear. But the beef flavor with the broccoli is just the best, in my opinion. So, lets start with the steak. One pound of flank steak. Man, I love flank steak. I love it, but I have to beat it. Cover it with something first though, otherwise you will spread raw beefyness all over the place. Wax paper is good, so is parchment or plastic wrap. I'm using a freezer bag because that's what I have on hand. Now most people will tell you to pound it out till it's even. And if everyone wants their meat the same level of doneness, that's what you should do. But in my house I like it medium-rare and my girlfriend likes it medium-well or well. So I beat it uneven. This way half is more done than the other and everyone is happy. Beating it also makes it more tender, which is always nice. Now heat up your pan over high heat. You want it nice and hot for this. I always use regular steel when I am making this since nonstick doesn't brown well and I have never had good luck making pan sauces in cast iron. Cast iron just makes them taste weird in my experience. You want a little fat of some kind in the pan. I like butter, but you can use olive oil if you want. Bacon grease is good too. But tonight it's butter. Season the steak with salt and pepper. I have heard that putting pepper on a steak before searing causes the pepper to burn and get bitter, but I haven't ever had trouble with it. Maybe I'm just used to it being burned. Who knows? Once the pan is hot slap the steak on there. Now don't touch it for a few minutes. You want it to sit still and form a nice crust. This will take about three minutes or so. After maybe two minutes lift one corner and take a peek and see how it's doing. Once it's seared flip it and sear the other side. Once that side is seared lower the heat to medium and cook it till it is how you want it. Like I said, in my house we do it half and half. That takes about seven to ten more minutes. But this is one of those very personal things, I can't tell you the 'right' way to have your steak done. Like I've said before, cook it till it is however the person who is eating it wants it. Once it is almost, but not quite, done remove it to a ceramic plate and tent some foil over it. It will cook a little more while it sits. Now deglaze your pan. Look at all that fond. That's what makes the broccoli part of this so good. When I'm doing this I use water, you can use wine or broth if you want. But I find there is plenty of flavor in the fond and juices, wine just overpowers the broccoli. Now here is when you decide how well you want your broccoli cooked. If you want it soft, toss it in now. If you like it crunchy, like me, reduce the sauce for a minute or two. The more liquid is in the pan when you put in the broccoli, the longer it cooks while the sauce reduces. The broccoli should be cut into large florets then those should be cut in half, by the way. I don't think I mentioned that. Once the sauce is how you want it, toss in the broccoli. Ok, I normally don't name names on products I use. But this stuff is just perfect for this dish. Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning. It seems odd, but you won't be putting it on the steak, but on the broccoli. In fact, I don't think I've ever put it on steak. What can I say, I'm a rebel. Add just a sprinkle, a little goes a long way. Don't have it, can't find it or don't want it? It isn't really necessary. You could always toss a teaspoon of minced garlic and a little rosemary in. That would be good too. Or some seasame seeds and ginger. You can also just leave out any extra seasonings and just have the beef, salt and pepper flavor the broccoli. Nothing wrong with that. But no matter how you decide to season it, now is the time. Now mix the broccoli around a bit, then let it sit. This is where most of the cooking happens. If you added the broccoli when there was a lot of sauce it will take a minute or two and you should stir it occasionally. If you let the sauce reduce then it should only take maybe thirty seconds and you don't really need to stir it. Once the broccoli has sopped up just about all of the liquid that hasn't reduced away it's time to add some more. Take the foil off the steak. There should be some nice juices on there. Pour them in the pan. Mix it around and turn off the heat. The juices will finish off the sauce with some really rich, beefy flavor (not to mention salt and pepper) and the broccoli will finish cooking in the residual heat of the pan. Now it's time to slice the steak. Slice it thin, against the grain and at an angle. This ensures maximum tenderness. Notice how this one side is rare and this side is well? That's what happens when you leave your steak uneven. And when you have one steak and two people who want it done differently it works out really nicely. Now plate and eat. Yeah, I know my plate looks like a mess. It's the plate that I rested the beef on. No reason to let any of that juice go to waste or dirty up another one just for appearances. Hey, I'm not serving it to paying customers and I'm really not fancy. Wish I had made more broccoli though...