Tag: beef
Smoked Tri Tip
Smoked Tri Tip
I feel that tri tip is a lesser known cut to Americans and is greatly unappreciated. Tri tip is also known as bottom sirloin, as opposed to it’s more popular norther beef muscle, top sirloin. It is significantly richer in flavor from its high marbling fat content than top butt. In my personal opinion, tri tip is equally as tender as a ribeye, strip, and top sirloin. It’s definitely a lot cheaper then your higher end cuts.I purchased a really nice prime tri tip for smoking. This is a good cut to smoke medium rare, so this will take only about 2 hours in the smoker. I brined the tri tip for a day, then dry rubbed it with a blend of white and black peppercorns, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds. Once the desired internal temperature is reached, allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing. I used the sliced tri tip for French dip sandwiches, but it can be eaten as just a regular steak.
Equipment
- gallon sized storage bag
- Spice grinder
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 1 whole tri tip 2 – 2 1/2lbs
Brine
- 1/2 gallon water
- 1/2 cup sea salt
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp whole fennel seeds
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 bay leaves
Dry Rub
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp white peppercorns
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
Wood Chips
- oak or mesquite
Instructions
- Trim off any excess fat on your tri tip.
- Mix together the brining ingredients.
- Place the tri tip in a gallon sized storage bag. Pour in the brine. Brine in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
- Take the tri tip out of the brine and pat dry. Grind all of the dry rub ingredients. Rub all over the tri tip and allow to rest in the refrigerator on a rack for 24 hours. Allow to rest at room temp for 2 hours before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Placd the tri tip in the smoker.
- Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees with a probe thermometer; about 2 hours.
Lebanese Cabbage Rolls
Lebanese Cabbage Rolls
I’m a huge fan of cabbage rolls. These Lebanese-style cabbage rolls are called Malfouf in Arabic. They are very similar in preparation to Lebanese stuffed grape leaves. The filling is a mix of ground beef, rice, and 7 spice. The rolls are simmered below a layer of tomatoes, garlic, with some lemon juice, until the rice is cooked, creating a garlicky, tomatoey, lemon sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 head green cabbage
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp Lebanese 7 spice
- 1 cup uncooked short grain rice
- 10 garlic cloves
- 2 tomatoes sliced
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 4 cups water
- 2 lemons juiced
Instructions
- Heat up oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Brown the ground beef.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the rice, salt, pepper, and 7 spice. Set aside and let cool.
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Core out the cabbage and carefully remove the leaves. Drop the cabbage leaves in the water for a minute to make pliable. Remove from the pot.
- Place a couple of tbsps of the beef/rice in a cabbage leaf.
- Fold in the sides and roll up. Do this until all of the ground beef is used up.
- Line the bottom of a pot with any extra cabbage leaves. Place the rolls tightly in the pot.
- Cover the top with the tomatoes and garlic.
- Place any remaining rolls on the top. Season with cumin. Pour in 4 cups of water into the pot; enough to cover the rolls. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.
- Squeeze in the lemon juice. Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes.
- Uncover and let rest for 30 minutes.
Ground Corned Beef Burger
Ground Corned Beef Burger
I’ve seen restaurants make a reuben burger where they make a regular beef burger topped with a couple slices of corned beef, swiss, and sauerkraut. So what. Doesn’t impress me. How about turning chuck roasts into corned beef, grind them, and make a ground corned beef burger? Well I did it, and it was next level. It will take 10 days to brine your chucks. I decided to use chuck instead of brisket because of the price point. Chuck is half the price. It has the same amount of fat content as a brisket. Once it’s ground, it won’t make a difference at that point. Once you cook the patties, they turn pink like a corned beef. I topped the burgers with everything that you’d put on a reuben. Any ground corned beef that doesn’t get cooked can be wrapped in freezer paper and tossed in the freezer for later use.
Equipment
- large bin for brining
- meat grinder
Ingredients
- 1 gallon water
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp pink curing salts
- 8 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp allspice berries
- 1 tbsp whole cloves
- 4 bay leaves
- 5 lbs beef chuck roast
Corned Beef Burger
- hamburger buns toasted
- Swiss cheese sliced
- sauerkraut
- thousand island dressing
Instructions
- Mix all of the brining ingredients together in a large bin.
- Place the chucks in the brine. Allow to brine for 10 days.
- After 10 days, remove the chucks from the brine and pat dry.
- Cut the chuck up into pieces to fit through the grinder.
- Grind the chuck through twice.
- Form the ground corned beef into patties.
- Place the patties on a griddle over medium high heat. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Flip the patties over.
- Top the patties with slices of Swiss cheese. Briefly cook some sauerkraut along side.
- Top the patties with the sauerkraut.
