Asian Beef Ribs ... Carnivorous Delight

Growing up, beef was very common. We had it nearly daily and it was good.

Around where I live now (Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines) beef (baka) is not at all common. Pork (baboy) and chicken (manok) are far, far more common. I would go so far as to say that Filipinos love their pork ... very, very much. They're very good at cooking it.

I like pork, too. But, I can't get away from loving beef. Sometimes, I just want a big chunk of well-prepared beef. Today, when I was at the local butcher, I saw the ribs. There they were ... large, red, and screaming "slow cook us and you'll be happy".

Now I don't believe every bit of food that speaks to me. Cauliflower keeps promising to be tasty and, without the help of a generous amount of cheese sauce, I find that it lies. Beef, on the other hand, tends to tell the truth when it claims to be good.

I poked around the web a bit looking for inspiration. Most recipes make a classic stew-like sauce in which the ribs slowly cook. I didn't feel like that today. Finally, I decided just to wing it with something slightly Asian. One part soy sauce and one part brown sugar is the foundation of teriyaki sauce. Teriyaki sauces are like coconut milk ... they make everything taste better.

With that and adding a little heat, I was good to go.

Ingredients

• 3.7 kilograms beef ribs
• vegetable oil
  
• 3 cups soy sauce (Kikkoman's, Japanese style)
• 3 cups brown sugar
• 3 dried red Chinese chiles

Procedure

I had the butcher cut the ribs short. They were oddly cut in the first place (beef is often cut strangely here ... stew beef comes in rectangular blocks). I wanted to be able to pack the ribs into the cooker.

I snagged a large frying pan, put in some vegetable oil and seared the large sides of each of the pieces of beef ribs. This was probably the hardest part of the whole process. Yes, oh so difficult ...

While searing the beef, I mixed the brown sugar, chiles, and soy sauce in my slow cooker. I could've used a bowl and poured the mixture into the cooker later. But, why make more dishes to clean?

When each piece of beef was done, I'd put it directly into the slow cooker. I arranged the pieces so that they were packed in well. The whole process took ten minutes, maybe fifteen. No more.

Finally, I turned my slow cooker on. 200F (93C).

Seven hours later ... we had fabulous beef ribs.

Test Results

Primary Test Group: Oh my god! So good! Marasa!

The other test teams were off on the other side of Leyte playing golf this weekend. So, they lose out.

Potential Improvements

Some of the meat didn't cook completely in the first bit of cooking. That's because I think I cooked too much for the slow cooker. I probably should have stopped at 3 kilos of beef ribs. I just couldn't help myself.

More of the dried chiles to give a little bit of heat. The three that I used just didn't convey anything to the large amount of liquid that was present.

Potential Variations

Could try this with pork ribs and chicken, too.

Conclusions

This beef was not lying. It was quite good.

So good, definite winner! Something to make again. I like making things in the slow cooker. You can use lesser cuts of meat and get fabulous results.

We haven't even used it yet, but the resulting sauce is probably amazing over rice.

Most beef here is P350 per kilo and up. The beef ribs were P210 per kilo. About the same as most pork. A definite win on the price front, too.

Bacon Cheeseburger Buns ... Bread-Filled Beefy Goodness!

I love cheeseburgers. I love them very much. So, after making the other buns, I knew I had to make a cheeseburger variant.

Now, I wanted to make bacon cheeseburger buns. But, I had a small problem. One of the members of my family is insane. Not just a little insane, a lot insane. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest insane. Crazy, nuts, loony!

Why, you might ask? She doesn't like bacon. I won't mention who it is. It's just too disgraceful. Bacon is one of Nature's Most Perfect Foods. To say you don't like bacon is like saying that you enjoy Stir-Fried Kittens over Puppy Fried Rice. It's just wrong.

Ingredients

• 800g ground beef
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cheese
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 2 teaspoons mustard

Procedure

I browned the ground beef in a frying pan. Broke it up into small pieces. I added salt and pepper to taste. Large pinches, really.

The onions I sweated in a small frying pan. I used a little bit of spray oil in the pan before cooking. I cooked over a low flame until the onions were translucent.

When both the onions and ground beef were done, I mixed them.

I then cut up some semi-frozen bacon into small pieces. Fried them in the previously-used onion pan (why let that good taste go to waste?). Cooked it fairly well, but not yet to crunchy.

In a small bowl, I mixed the ketchup and mustard. The McCormick's mustard here is fairly strong, so I didn't use much. You can see in the picture how little I used compared to the ketchup (Heinz, of course). I used a fork to mix this thoroughly to evenly distribute the mustard.

I made the dough according to my previous post. This time, I weighed out 90 gram pieces for each top and bottom. This still resulted in a fair-sized bun when rolled out to about 1/8-inch thick. Each piece of dough, I rolled out into something resembling a circle.

On half of the dough-rounds, I spread a heaping tablespoon of the ketchup-mustard mixture. I used the back of the spoon the spread it outwards, like one would apply pizza sauce to a pizza crust ... drop the ketchup in the middle, then spiral outwards with the back of the spoon to spread it around.

For most of the buns, I then put a thin layer of bacon on. On all the buns, I then put on a nice thick layer of the ground beef-and-onion mixture. I made sure to put on plenty so that everyone got a generous serving.

For the last bit of topping, I put a dollop of the cheese (I was using Cheese Whiz this time) on each. A big dollop because these are cheeseburger buns.

Finally, into the oven at 350F (175C) for about 15 minutes. When they come out, immediately brush the tops with melted butter. You'll be happy you did.

Let them cool ... then devour.

Test Results

Primary Test Group: Fantastic! Insisted on eating them all.

Test Group C: Lost out due to the avorice of the Primary Test Group.

Test Group M: Also lost out.

Potential Variations

I'm definitely going to have to vary the cheese. I wasn't that happy with the Cheese Whiz. While it's good, I know we can do better. Maybe a medium Cheddar would be good for most (I know I want SHARP).

Conclusions

I love this bun recipe. It's so easy. Anything that can go in a sandwich looks like it'll go in this bun.

I'm thinking Philly Cheesesteak next ... or a sliced chicken with cheese and chili powder.

Yum!

Shepherd's Pie

Everyone has their favorite comfort foods. For me, the ultimate comfort food is a Dick's cheeseburger. Still, shepherd's pie comes close.

Is this a beautiful dish? One worthy of being put into some gourmet coffee table book? No.

Is it satisfying and good to eat? Will it fill you up and remind you of a happy childhood? Absolutely.

It's really a very simple dish and open to wide variation. I suspect that what one likes and what one expects in Shepherd's Pie depends upon what one's mother made.

My mom made it with ground beef and few vegetables. So, that's how I made this batch. Although, I didn't add as much liquid to the meat as I normally would. And, I didn't completely drain the beef of its fat after browning. Both are things I normally do and both are things I regret not doing.

Ingredients

• 1 kg ground beef
• 1 very large carrot, diced
• 4 small onions, diced
• 1 tablespoon beef broth crystals (I brought these from the states, they're like cubes, just crystals)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

As you can see, very, very simple ingredients for the meat. Honestly, you can put in whatever you like. Some people like sliced or chopped beef. Some add more veggies. It's really purely based on taste.

I put the ground beet, carrots, and onions all in a large frying pan and browned the beef. I scooped out about 80% of the fat. I then added the broth crystals and Worcestershire sauce.


This produced a nice beef mixture. It wasn't exceptional and was fairly dry. But, I was in a hurry at the time and didn't have the opportunity to really do much more.

I put the beef mixture into the bottom of some baking dishes (some were going to my test subjects for tasting). I pressed the meat mixture down a slightly. Then, I put a layer of the mashed potatoes on top.

The spiral pattern you see in the picture was just made with a spatula. Some folks like to make peaks with a fork. Again, 100% personal taste.

I put these in the oven at 400F (180C) for 40 minutes. I shut off the oven. I then took them out and grated some sharp cheddar cheese on top. I love this, so I put on a lot.


I tossed them back into the now-shut-off oven for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese. Oh, so good. And, done!

Test Results

Primary Test Group: "very good", "marasa" (Waray Waray for delicious). Eaten very quickly.

Test Group M: Fail. I believe they expected a different version of Shepherd's Pie. Wetter, chopped meat not ground, more veggies, etc. Too much cheese.

Test Group C: "delicious". Also eaten very quickly.

Conclusions

A good batch. Just needs more work. The potatoes weren't great and the meat mixture needed more work. I won't be accidentally freezing potatoes anymore. And, I'll definitely make more gravy with the meat next time.

I happen to prefer ground meat in this to chopped or sliced meat. So, I won't be giving into Test Group M's demands for that. Although, I've been informed that Test Group M plans to make a batch for me to try so that I can make it properly for them in the future.

Such gall! Hehe.