10 Simple Steps to Great Braised Meat

There are 10 basic steps to braising meat:

1.  Season the main ingredient with salt and pepper.

2. Heat a few tablespoons of oil and/or butter in a heavy pan or Dutch oven.

3. Saute meat or vegetables in the pan on medium-high heat until the meat browns.

4. Deglace the pan by pouring broth, beef stock, wine or juice and scrape any pieces of meat that are stuck to the pan and stir.

5. Add cooking liquid (water, stock, wine, juice or some combination) to the half-way point of the main ingredient.

6. Cover and place the meat on the middle of a rack in an oven that has been pre-heated to 300° – 350° Fahrenheit.

7. Cook until completely tender. This can range from 1 hour to 6 hours, depending on what you are cooking.

8. Cooking time can vary, but rule of thumb should be, about 1 hour per pound at 325 F.

9. Remove the pan from the oven and strain the meat and vegetables out of the liquid.

10. Remove the excess fat floating in the liquid, and then reduce the sauce to desired thickness by cooking it down over low heat until it thickens. Or, make gravy by adding a mix of equal parts fat and flour (a roux).

Jeff Jessome's Salsa

Jeff is one of the guys from work.  Don't know where he got this recipe, but I asked him for it.  All he had was this picture taken from his cell phone.  But he has done several batches and said that it is really good.

Click on the picture and it will go "full screen"

Ingredients

2 - 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes

2 - 7 1/2 oz cans of tomatoe sauce

1 red pepper (diced)

2 green peppers (diced)

2 cups onions (diced)

2/3 cups vinegar

3 tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Stuff you will need

Can opener

Cutting board with sharp knife

Patience

Directions

Simmer (burbling) 2 hours uncovered.  Put in jars when done.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket

I've posted how to slow cook a beef brisket in a smoker..  

Today, I'm going to post how to cook a beef brisket in the oven.

Normally the brisket is a tough cut of meat.  So you are going to be cooking this a long time.

Ingredients

seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, etc)
1 beef brisket
2 onions
6 stalks of celery

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Cut up your onions and celery.

Spray your cooking pan with pam (non stick cooking spray)

Put your onions and celery in the bottom of the pan.  This is going to act like a cooking rack.

Season the raw brisket on both sides.  For the first hour, leave the pan uncovered.

Cover pan tightly and continue cooking 1 hour for every pound of brisket.  

4 pound brisket - 1 hour uncovered, 3 hours covered
10 pound brisket -1 hour uncovered, 9 hours covered

Trim the fat and slice meat thinly across the grain.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Butternut Squash scalloped "potatoes" done the Keto WOE

I discovered the butternut squash.  This has been able to replace my potatoes that I miss so much while doing the Keto Way Of Eating (Keto WOE)

I find that butternut squash reminds me of sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

1/2 butternut squash
4 Tablespoons of Butter (Divided)
1 Teaspoon xantham gum
1 Teaspoon Salt
¼ Teaspoon of Pepper
2 Cups of creme
1 Onion
¾ Cup Cheddar Cheese (Shredded)
1/3 cup Bacon Bits

Stuff you will need

Mandolin (Or patience to slice each potatoe to uniform thickness)
1 x sauce Pot
1 x oven safe casserole dish

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.

Peel the squash.  Using a mandolin, or if you have the patience, slice thin.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a pot and fry up the onion at medium heat.

Add the xamtham gum and continue to cook the onions till they are done.  Less than 5 minutes.

Add the creme a ½ cup at a time.  Continue to mix.  Add the cheese, bacon bits salt and pepper.  Continue to stir till the cheese is melted.

In an oven proof casserole dish, spray with Pam Cooking Spray.  Then layer, squash, cheese mix, squash, cheese mix, etc.

For added flare, I topped it with some schredded cheese.

Bake for 75 minutes.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.