Bear Cuisine

Celebrate the 4th with Josh Baum

A few weeks ago, Johnny Vee hosted Josh Baum of Josh's BBQ in Santa Fe at his Las Cosas Cooking School. Josh gave up his trade secrets for making great BBQ and his delicious sides. Armed with his tips and recipes we decided to observe the Fourth of July by making a smoked brisket and his Green Chile Cole Slaw  and Cowboy Beans. This year pays homage to Kay's Texas roots and our New Mexico culinary traditions. You can bookmark these recipes for next year's celebration of our Independence or for your next BBQ party.

Josh Baum

Cowboy Beans

COWBOY BEANS

(Makes 2 quarts)

1. 1/2 small yellow onion, medium dice
2. 5 garlic cloves, minced
3. 8 cups cooked pinto beans (may used canned)
4. 1/3 cup Ketchup
5. 2/3 cup BBQ Sauce
6. 1/3 cup molasses
7. 1/3 cup brown sugar
8. 1/4 cup yellow mustard
9. 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Saute onion and garlic until translucent. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Stir often to avoid burning. Season with salt and pepper.

She should be proud of her Green Chile Slaw

 

GREEN CHILE SLAW

1. 1 head green cabbage cored and thinly sliced or 1/2 head purple cabbage comined with 1/2 head green cabbage
2. 2/3 cup cilantro, chopped
3. 1 cup green chile chopped
4. 1 1/2 teaspoons celery salt
5. 3 1/2 Tblespoons granulated sugar
6. 1/3 cup rice vinegar
7. 1 1/2 cups Mayonnaise (Hellman's or Best Foods)
8. 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Combine sauce ingredients in the blender and puree  until smooth. Add to cabbage. Season with salt and pepper.

The best Smoked Brisket

Smoked Brisket

Smoke for 2 hours on your grill at its lowest temperature. Then wrap tightly in foil, transfer to a 220 degree oven and cook for another 14 hours.

Josh simply uses black pepper for his rub. I used this rub which calls for paprika. Both are delicious.

Paprika Rub

1. 1 tablespoon kosher salt
2. 1/4 cup sugar
3. 1 tablespoon pepper
4. 1/4 cup paprika

Combine and rub on brisket before cooking.

 

Johnny Vee and Kay

Cindy Reed Wilkins's Cin Chili

Cindy competed with Bobby Flay in a Throwdown and the winner was--a tie.

Bobby Flay's most recent cookbook Throwdown offers her recipe for award-winning chili as well as his own recipe. Here is Cindy's claim to fame.

 

CIN CHILI

(serves 4 to 6)

1. 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2. 2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 3/8-inch cubes
3. Seasoned salt
4. 1 ( 14 1/2-ounces) can low-sodium beef broth
5. 1 (8-ounce) can no-sodium tomato sauce
6. 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
7. 1 teaspoon beef bouillon
8. 2 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
9. 2 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
10. 6 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons chili powder
11. 1/2 teaspoon jalapeno powder
12. 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
13. 2 serrano chiles, roasted, peeled and seeded
14. 1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
15. 3 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
16. 1/4 teaspoon brown sugar

In a heavy 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the oil until smoking hot. Add the beef shuck cubes and 1 teaspoon seasoned salt, and cook until the beef is browned on all sides.

Add the beef broth and tomato sauce, and bring to a slight boil. Add the chicken bouillon, beef bouillon, 2 teaspoons of the onion powder, 1 teaspoon of the garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of the chili powder, the jalapeno powder and the white pepper. Return to a boil; then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour.

Add the serano chiles, 1 teaspoon of the garlic powder, 5 tablespoons of the chile powder, 1/4 teaspoon of the cayenne pepper, 2 teaspoons of the cumin, and the brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. If the mixture seems dry, add some water.Taste and add additional seasoned salt if needed. Remove the serrano peppers.

Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of chile powder, 1/8 teaspoon cayenne, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Beef Gyudon

BEEF GYUDON

 

Sue Ellen's Beef Bowl looked so good that I searched around for a recipe after we returned home. i found one in Zhizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art. He identifies this as an item served at Japan's fast-food chains. Our fast-food should be half this good.

BEEF BOWL

(4 servings)

• 6-8 cups hot cooked rice
• 1/2 pound thin-sliced beef
• 1 medium round onion
• 3 Tablespoons sald oil

Sauce

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup dark soy sauce
• 1/3 cup mirin
• 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger juice*

To Prepare: Boil plain white rice.

Have the butcher cut the beef into paper-thin slices. Cut slice into 2-inch lengths.

Slice the round onion.

To Cook: In a large frying pan or wok, heat about 3 tablespoons vegetable oil over high heat. Stir fry the onion for a few minutes until soft Add beef slices and continue stir-frying for another minute or so until the meat is no longer red. Add sauce and continue stir frying for another minutes. Remove from heat and stir in ginger juice.

To assemble and serve: Put portions of hot rice, 1 1/2 to  2 cups per serving, into individual deep large soup bowls. Cover rice with stir-fried beef and onion. Moisten with a few tablespoons sauce. Serve immediately.

*Choose ginger that is firm and tight. Avoid pieces hat are flabby or have soft spots, as well as those having shriveled skin Pare away skin of the amount you will use just before using. Obtain juice by squeezing finely grated root.

Turkey Neck Sugo

One of the great pleausres of visiting our friends Tina and David is that Tina and I get to cook together. We always have a lot of fun--sipping wine, chatting about the state of the world and our smaller worlds and we get to make something that tastes great into the bargain. On this visit we concentrated on trying recipes from the most recent volume of Canal House Cooking: The Good Life. I wanted to try this recipe for a sauce made from turkey necks. So, we did. It has wonderful flavor and you can use it on any number of pastas or as they suggest and we did, on gnocchi. The original recipe doesn't add the meat back into the sauce, but when we finished cooking the meat it still had a lot of flavor left. So, I decided to shred the meat and add it back into the sauce, making it more like a ragu. However you decide to cook this, you can't go wrong.

TURKEY NECK SUGO

(makes 3-4 cups)

1. 5 pounds turkey necks
2. Salt and Pepper
3. 1/4 cup olive oil
4. 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
5. 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
6. 1/4 whole nutmeg, grated
7. Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
8. 2 bay leaves
9. 1 cup whole milk
10. 1 cup white wine
11. 1 can Italian San Marzano plum tomatoes, 28-ounce

Season the turney necks with salt and pepper. Heat the olve oil in a large, heavy ovenproof pot with a lid over medium-high heat. Put the necks in the pot and brown on all sides, about 20 minutes.

Remove the necks from the pot and set them aside.

Reduce heat to medium. Put the onions and carrots into the pot and cook until softened, about 15 minutes. Stir in the nutmeg, red pepper flakes and bay leaves and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about a minute.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Increase heat under the pan to high and add the milk to the pot.Cook, stirring occasionally until the milk has reduced and been absorbed by the onions and carrots, 5-10 minutes. Add the wine and cook until it has also reduced and been absorbed by the vegetables, 5-10 minutes.

Return the necks to the pot, add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand and  add 4 cups of water. Cover the pot and cook in the oven for about 3 hours. Remove the pot from the oven. Remove and discard the necks from the sauce. If the sauce needs further reduction, coo over medum heat, stirring from time to time with a wooden spoon, until it is the consistency that you like. Serve with gnocchi and sprinkle with parmigianao-regianno.

 

 

 

Corned Beef Hash

One of the best things about having corned beef in the fridge is that you can make hash. This happens to be one of my favorite special breakfasts (or supper for that matter), but it is rare that you can get good Corned Beef Hash in a restaurant. Most of the time you get tinned meat and frozen potatoes. Yuck! But when you make it at home from corned beef that you have made, you have a splendid dish. This recipe from from David Rosengarten.

 CORNED BEEF HASH

(4 servings)

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  
• 2 cups diced onion
  
• 3 tablespoons flour
  
• 2 cups dicd, peeled, cooked potato
  
• 3 cups diced, leftover corned beef
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter in a 10 1/2-inch  cast-iron skillet over low heat. Add onion to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion is transparent.

Sprinkle flour over the onions and stir to blend well. Cook for 2 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium. Add potato and corned beef. Continue to cook for another minute, stirring constantly. Cover skillet and place in preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes.

 Serve with a poached egg on top.