finefortips

This video recipe is my fairly weak attempt at the famous Vietnamese spicy beef noodle soup, Pho. As I shopped for the ingredients, I ha d a nice package of bee f oxtail in my hand, but since I was just making a s mall batch, and I already had two beautiful beef shanks in the basket, I decided to not get them. That was a mistake. While this beef noodle soup wasn't bad, it wasn't spectacularly great w hich is what Pho should be. The signature of this soup is a very rich, deeply flavored, collagen-infused beef broth. I overestimated the beef shanks, and it was lacking exactly what the oxtails would have added. Also, to add to this Pho's fauxness, I went pretty light on the spices. Real Pho has more of the aromatic spices you'll see in the video. I also didn’t add the extra sliced beef that is traditional, like brisket, flank, and thinly sliced, rare filet mignon. I also didn’t char the ging er, which is recommended. I also didn't pronouce Pho correctly - I say, "...

Balls have always been problematic for menu and recipe writers. You can't write "Pork Balls" on a menu, you have to write "Pork Meatballs." Even though there would be no possibility of confusing these Bison balls with the reproductive parts of a male buffalo, the "balls" would never be written without the "meat." Well, I think it's high time this practice is sacked. Are we still so immature as a nation that we can't just serve balls? Do we have to keep a dding those extra letters for fear some 15-year old can't control his giggling at Hooters? Besides, now that 72% of all information (my estimate) is transmitted via text message, I would think we'd all benefit from chopping off a couple letters, e.g., MMA Tonys 4 bison balls. This recipe is inspired by the retro classic, cocktail meatballs in grape jelly. I took that idea, along with my love of spicy orange beef, and came up with this combination. I chose bison as the meat du...

When I'm cooking corned beef, watching it simmer in the aromatic broth, I'll sometimes close my eyes and picture the delicious plate of food I have coming. The funny thing is, it's not the sliced corned beef and cabbage I'm dreaming of, it's the corned beef hash I'm going to be making with the leftovers. There are certain dishes I would never talk someone into trying, or argue on behalf of its virtues. It's one of those, "there are two kinds of people in the world" things. Either you really love corned beef hash, or you don't eat it. It's not a dish for the indifferent. Now, th at the non-hash people have stopped reading, let's talk crust. As you well know, what separates a great hash from a transcendent hash is the "crust." You can't rush a corned beef hash crust - it's built slowly, over medium heat, with multiple turnings and pressings, the meat and potatoes crisped and caramelized in the combination of butter and b...

I guess this is a combination of "Tuesday Tease" and "What I Had for Breakfast." This corned beef hash video recipe is finished, but still processing. I hope to post it later this evening. It was as good as it looks, and I think it looks pretty damn good. Enjoy!