VD

VD

No, not the disease, the holiday. You know, Valentine's Day. Although one could be a result from the celebrating of the other I suppose. Yuck, better not go there.

So, Valentine's Day. Never been my high on my list of holidays. I think it's financially driven, guilt based, and basically a bunch of clap trap.

 Bossy chef and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary (more on that later). Through the years I have been adamantly opposed to celebrating Valentine's Day. No cards, no candy, and definitely no evening out for an over priced dinner for two.  I like to express my love and affection daily, not once a year. But I know that I'm alone with these sentiments. The majority of men and women enjoy splurging on their significant other on this designated day of  love. And truthfully, why not? If Valentine's Day encourages people be kinder, gentler, and more caring with their loved ones for even one day, then I'm all for it.

And of course another positive aspect to VD is special occasion food. More specifically CHOCOLATE. My weakness, my Achilles heal, my diet desimater. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, anything but white chocolate. I don't know what that stuff is but it's disgusting. The darker, richer, creamier the better, I love it and eat it often. I've heard there are some people who don't care for the stuff, I stay away from those people. There is something deeply, and terrifyingly wrong with them and I'll never be convinced otherwise.

If you're like me and love chocolate I have a super easy, incredibly delicious recipe for the most decadent pots de creme. The kids came over for dinner last Sunday and I made this for dessert. It was a huge hit, and I think our daughter Nicole will be making this for her handsome beau tomorrow. The recipe is from David Lebovitz' 'Ready for Dessert' cookbook. David is a pastry chef and author. He trained as a baker in France and Belgium, and worked for twelve years in the pastry department at the famed Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. He currently resides in Paris, France.
This is chocolate pudding on steriods. Click on link for the downloadable pdf recipe:

http://db.tt/lCw0bIy7

Whether you'll be celebrating Valentine's Day with a sweetheart, spouse, four legged furry friend, or in the company of your loving self, remember to give yourself a big hug tomorrow because it's hard for anyone to love you if you don't love yourself first.

As always, thanks for reading and Happy Eating!

Real Estate

Becky Goldsmith

Becky@beckygoldsmith.com

720-979-3184

Christmas Traditions

I love the holidays. That magical time between Thanksgiving and New Years that doesn't occur any other time of year. Perfect strangers smile and make small talk with one another. There's a tangible feeling of 'happiness' in the air, a collective consciousness of well being and camaraderie. It's as if there is an unspoken truce that we will all try a little harder to get along; to be more caring, considerate and forgiving. It's a time where we reach out to reconnect with old friends and family, a time of reflection and appreciation. A time of inner soul searching, of finding the 'good' in all things.

And it is a time to eat. Yes indeed, it is a time to toss away our every day dietary restrictions and embrace the heady abundance that the holiday season has to offer. I know, I know, we are warned adnauseum of the potential dangers that holiday excess can inflict on our ever expanding waistlines. But come on, if we can't indulge in a little gluttony and excess during the holidays, then what is the point?

Holiday food traditions are sacred. Ham at Easter, corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day, candy for Halloween, turkey for Thanksgiving, and the daddy of them all; Standing Rib Roast for Christmas Dinner. With all the trimmings, Yorkshire pudding, decadent potatoes, and the ubiquitous aspargus for the veg course. Dessert? Yes, but who cares, give me that big, beautiful, med rare, slab of fat laden prime rib with a little horseradish cream and call the heart surgeon 'cause I'm dying a happy girl.

The bossy chef keeps trying to interfer with Christmas tradition by offering substitutions for the rib roast dinner. This year he suggested Porchetta. Definition in Wikipedia: Porchetta [porˈketta] is a savoury, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition. The body of the pig is gutted, deboned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted, traditionally over wood. Porchetta is usually heavily salted in addition to being stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs, often wild. Porchetta has been selected by the Italian Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali as a prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale (“traditional agricultural-alimentary product”, one of a list of traditional Italian foods held to have cultural relevance).

I love pork and I know this is absolutely delicious, but no. Sorry, no way, not going to happen. Not at Christmas. Period. There are 364 other days of the year that we can enjoy Porchetta. Try again next year hubby.

We're having prime rib, end of story.



From Michael Symon's 'Carnivore':

" Prime rib is one of the most expensive cuts of beef, for good reason. It has everything you could want from a piece of meat. The bones and fat add a ton of flavor and when cooked properly, the meat is melt in your mouth tender. While I love a rare steak, prime rib actually benefits from a  little more cooking. Taking this cut to medium-rare ( or slightly past ) allows the fat to melt and baste the meat while pulling more flavor from the bones. "
I couldn't agree more. The flavor is in the fat and the fat needs to melt to do it's work.

So, if you're going to invest in this pricey cut of meat you want to cook it correctly. I wrote about prime rib in a previous blog and shared Thomas Keller's method of using a propane blowtorch on the exterior of the roast before roasting in a low and slow oven. The blowtorch insured that even in a low temperature oven the roast would achieve a beautiful brown crust. I included a video showing the technique which was so successful that I've included it once again below.

Now for a couple of new twists from Michael Symon's book 'Carnivore'. If you don't have a blow torch or don't want to mess with one, here's another way to roast that rib to crusty brown perfection.

Symon has the butcher remove the meat from the bones, but he keeps the bones and uses them for the roasting rack. Makes sense to me on a couple of levels, one; it makes for easier carving. Two; you still get the great flavor imparted from the bones, and they are amazing to gnaw on. So don't throw out those bones!

One of the key steps that you absolutely do not want to skip is to liberally salt the prime rib with kosher salt and some pepper and refrigerate it overnight. You can do this two or three days ahead if you have the time. This overnight 'salting' helps insure a crusty outside and juicy inside.  Bossy chef and I started pre-salting everything from our Thanksgiving turkey to chickens, steaks and various pork cuts. It makes a huge difference in taste and texture and requires only a little bit of pre-planning. Don't be shy with the salt, you can rub off the excess before cooking if you're afraid you've overdone it.

Here is a link to a downloadable pdf copy of Michael Symon's Roast Prime Rib:

http://db.tt/JxN2oQtJ

Whether you'll be cooking a rib roast, turkey, or ham for Christmas dinner, or going to someone's home, we would like to wish everyone a joyful, safe and peaceful holiday. With a special 'thank you' to all of our armed forces who cannot be home with their loved ones this season. We are grateful for the sacrifices you make and truly appreciate what you give up so that we can enjoy our homes and families.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Becky & Jack

Bird of Paradise

Heritage, Organic, Free Range,Fresh, Frozen, Pastured, Butterball, or Honeysuckle; which Gobbler is right for you?

Each year we deliberate as to whether we should splurge on a Heritage turkey, go mid range with an organic bird, or do as most Americans do and pick up a cheapo supermarket bird, which they practically give away in hopes that you'll buy the rest of your Thanksgiving fixings there. Up until now, my research into these different types of birds has been cursory at best. Blindly assuming that a Heritage, organic, natural or free range bird must be better (if not better tasting, at least better for you) than an industrially raised commodity bird. But why? Could a bird that costs up to $6-$7 per pound really be that much better than one costing 50 - 80% less? Hmmm, time to find out what the actual difference is between these gobblers.

 I started with the most widely sold, readily available, and least expensive turkey, the commodity bird. 99% of all turkeys raised in the United States is the commodity turkey. Butterball, Honeysuckle, Jennie-0, generic labeled brands, and other inexpensive supermarket labels are all industrial commodity birds. These birds are all one variety called 'Broad-breasted White', and have been bred specifically to produce extra white meat (larger breasts), and for rapid growth. The over sized breasts render the birds incapable of flight, natural mating, and as the bird matures it has great difficulty walking. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, without artificial insemination performed by humans, this variety of bird would become extinct in just one generation.
Industrial turkeys are often injected with saline solution and vegetable oils in an attempt to help improve the taste and texture of the meat. These factory farmed birds tend to be dry and tasteless, so cooks have developed a variety of methods to try to improve the taste. Turkeys are now marinated, brined, deep fried and covered with syrups, spices and herbs.

According to Sustainable Table, "They live in unnatural, uncomfortable conditions and are fed a steady diet of grain and supplements like antibiotics, and growth hormones, rather than the grubs, bugs and grasses they should eat. And they reach such extreme weights so quickly their overall development fails to keep pace with their rapidly accruing muscle mass, resulting in severe immune system, cardiac, respiratory and leg problems."

On factory farms, according to Farm Sanctuary, turkeys “frequently have the ends of their beaks and toes cut off without anesthesia - practices known as debeaking and detoeing – to prevent them from injuring one another as they are crowded by the thousands into dark, filthy warehouses. “Turkeys, along with other poultry, are not protected by the federal Humane Slaughter Act, and are frequently killed without first being stunned.”

Yummy. Wow, talk about an appetite killer. It’s enough to turn a happy little omnivore like myself into a die hard vegetarian.

OK, I don’t want to purchase one of these birds no matter how much money I’ll save. So what are my options? We’ve all been paying more attention to how our food is grown, raised and where it comes from. For good reason, if you’ve not yet seen the movie or read ‘Food, Inc.’, or read recent exposes’ on America’s food production, it’s time you wake up and smell the pesticides / hormones / and antibiotics.

The opposite end of the cheapo turkey spectrum is the Heritage Turkey. From Sustainable Table; “There is a movement to reintroduce different varieties of turkeys back to the public. Many of these birds originated here in the United States. Groups like Slow Food USA and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy are working to reintroduce genetically diversified varieties of animals, including turkeys, that were raised years ago. These animals are often referred to as “heritage” breeds. Heritage turkeys are raised outdoors, freely roam on pasture, and eat the varied diet nature intended them to eat, unlike most turkeys today that are raised indoors in confinement and are fed grains, filler and supplements like antibiotics and hormones.”

The heritage turkey is closely related to its wild ancestors; it is heartier, healthier, and capable of natural mating, running, and flying.

According to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy:

"All domesticated turkeys descend from wild turkeys indigenous to North and South America. They are the quintessential American poultry. For centuries people have raised turkeys for food and for the joy of having them.
Many different varieties have been developed to fit different purposes. Turkeys were selected for productivity and for specific color patterns to show off the bird’s beauty. The American Poultry Association (APA) lists eight varieties of turkeys in its Standard of Perfection. Most were accepted into the Standard in the last half of the 19th century, with a few more recent additions. They are Black, Bronze, Narragansett, White Holland, Slate, Bourbon Red, Beltsville Small White, and Royal Palm. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy also recognizes other naturally mating color varieties that have not been accepted into the APA Standard, such as the Jersey Buff, White Midget, and others. All of these varieties are Heritage Turkeys.
Heritage turkeys are defined by the historic, range-based production system in which they are raised. Turkeys must meet all of the following criteria to qualify as a Heritage turkey:

1. Naturally mating: the Heritage Turkey must be reproduced and genetically maintained through natural mating, with expected fertility rates of 70-80%. This means that turkeys marketed as “heritage” must be the result of naturally mating pairs of both grandparent and parent stock.

2. Long productive outdoor lifespan: the Heritage Turkey must have a long productive lifespan. Breeding hens are commonly productive for 5-7 years and breeding toms for 3-5 years. The Heritage Turkey must also have a genetic ability to withstand the environmental rigors of outdoor production systems.

3. Slow growth rate: the Heritage Turkey must have a slow to moderate rate of growth. Today’s heritage turkeys reach a marketable weight in about 28 weeks, giving the birds time to develop a strong skeletal structure and healthy organs prior to building muscle mass. This growth rate is identical to that of the commercial varieties of the first half of the 20th century."

With rich tasting meats more moist and flavorful than the mass produced large-breasted turkeys of today, Heritage Breeds owe their taste to diverse diets and extended life-spans. Dining on fresh grass and insects, these birds exercise and even help control farmer's pest problems. And while large corporations have dominated turkey production and breeding since the 1960's, choosing the Broad Breasted Whites because of high breast meat production in a short period, Heritage Breeds have been quietly gaining a renewed market and respect due to their flavor and superior biological diversity.

Raising Heritage Breeds is more costly and time consuming than raising White Breasted Toms. While supermarket turkeys grow to an average of 32 pounds over 18 weeks, Heritage birds take anywhere from 24-30 to reach their market weight. But those who have tasted Heritage Breeds say the cost-and the wait-are well worth it.

OK, the danger of converting to a vegetarian has passed, whew! But at what cost? Holy turkey baster, Heritage turkeys run $6.00 - $7.00 per pound! Which equates to $120 - $140 for a 20 lb bird?? Sorry, no can do. Granted, Thanksgiving comes but once a year, but our standing rib roast for Christmas is less expensive than this bird!

http://www.marysturkeys.com/

If you're not ready yet to buy a heritage turkey, or can't find one, your other option is to buy an organic and/or sustainable free range bird. An organic turkey is certified by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and must be raised under strict guidelines – no antibiotics, no growth enhancers, only organic feed, and the animals must be given access to outdoors.
 

Farmers who raise sustainable turkeys are not overseen by any group or agency, and have no legal guidelines to follow, though many actually exceed the USDA organic standards when raising their birds. Sustainable farmers look to preserve the land, treat their animals and workers humanely, and help support the local community. 

No doubt this is more than you ever wanted or needed to know about turkeys, but now you're armed with the facts and can choose to purchase whatever bird best suits your Thanksgiving table. Below is a list of prices I collected from the local markets. Some of these prices may change as we get closer to Thanksgiving, as the larger supermarkets will be competing for your business. I've also included a couple of videos from the masters to help you roast a perfect bird.

Whether you're budget allows for the Rolls Royce of turkeys; the Heritage bird, or the well known Butterball, I wish you and yours a fun filled and DELICIOUS Thanksgiving Holiday!

I hope you enjoy our blog, thank you for reading! Please feel free to call or email us should you have any food or cooking questions or if you would like a help finding a special recipe.

Real Estate

Becky Goldsmith

Becky@beckygoldsmith.com  720-979-3184

King Soopers: They do not carry Heritage or Organic turkeys and I was told fresh turkeys would be available only by pre-ordering as they threw away too many unsold fresh birds last year.
     Kroger frozen $.69 lb
     Private Selection frozen $.99 lb
     Butterball frozen $1.29 lb

Safeway: No Heritage or Organic
     Safeway brand: $7.99 each for 8-16 pounds
     Safeway brand: $10.99 ea for 16-20 pounds
     Safeway brand: $11.99 ea for 20-24 pounds
     Honeysuckle: $11.99 ea for 8-16 pounds    

Sprouts: Zacky's fresh free range $1.49 lb 

Vitamin Cottage: They carry two brands and you must pre-order your turkey. They are out of the Heritage turkeys but have organic and free range turkeys available. All of their turkeys are free range, and hormone and antibiotic free.
Mary's Free Range $2.29 lb
Shelton's Free Range $3.29 lb
Mary's Organic $3.39 lb

Click on the links below for easy step by step instructions on how to prep and roast a beautiful turkey.

This first one is Jacques Pepin and Julia Child, doesn't get any better than these two.
   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afdh_i3Kmy0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This is with Alton Brown, and I think he has a very simple and easy to follow approach to roasting your bird. (He's fun to watch too).
http://www.foodnetwork.com/thanksgiving-turkey-tips-and-how-tos/video/index.html?videoId=85328

Fair and Carni Food

Summertime....county fairs, carnivals, food and wine festivals, eat, drink and eat some more. Each year in Colorado there are 55 county fairs alone. This does not include the Renaissance Festival, the Palisade Peach festival, the Aspen Food and Wine Classic, the Telluride Wine or Jazz festival, Winter Park Jazz festival, the Taste of Colorado, Breckenridge and Steamboat Wine Festivals. I could go on and on, the list is endless. And what do all of these little get togethers have in common? Well, food and drink of course. From Aspen's chi chi poo poo $1225 per person ticket to the usually free admission to the local county fairs, Colorado has a plethora of venues for all tastes and pocketbooks. A hungry fair lovin' person can spend all of June, July and August traversing our great state eating a dizzying array of tasty eats ranging from a Lobster roll made with Hoegaarden beer at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic,

to fried bubble gum, funnel cakes and steak on a stick at the local county fair. Our budget has yet to afford us the luxury of the gastronomic experience at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic, but we have tromped through many a hot and dusty county fair and small town festival in search of diet slaying cuisine that you eat with your hands. Often you can get an ice cold beer to wash down those fried cheese curds  with, makes for a mighty fine meal.

For the last several years, hubby and I have made an annual summer trek to the small farming community of Rupert, Idaho located in the southern part of the state; to spend a few days with kids and grandkids. We've taken our 8 year old granddaughter, Macy Jeanne with us the last three years and schedule our visit to coincide with the Minidoka County Fair. Our grandsons, Caleb and Waylen, participate in 4H and the youngest, Waylen now 7,  has been a 'muttin bustin' champ two years running.  Caleb has shown a pig the last two years and this year placed third, bringing in a record sum just a few dollars shy of the Grand Champion. Yes we are proud grandparents!

The rural town of Rupert where the kids call home does lack a bit for culinary offerings. There is no shortage of small independently owned eateries, but the food is hearty farm fare; fried, heavy, substantial food. Biscuits and gravy? No problem. Chicken fried steak and eggs? You bet. Slab of beef, pork, or chicken with potatoes and gravy? All day long. But ask for yogurt with fresh fruit or a salad made from something other than iceberg and you're likely to receive a look of confounded curiosity from the waitress. "You folks aren't from around here are ya?" Is the typical response. No ma'am we're sure aren't.

So each year when we set our sights on southern Idaho we throw out our standard expectations of travel and dining and we join the Future Farmers of America and eat BIG.

Eating at the Minidoka County Fair is no exception. This is America's heartland, sugar beets, corn, potatoes, cattle, pigs and lamb and chicken. And the fair is where everyone comes together to show off the best of the best in competitions where the coveted Blue Ribbon reigns supreme. Chores start early in the morning on the fair grounds, where kids feed, clean pens, bath and groom their animals in hopes of gaining the judges winning nod.

All that hard work can make a cow poke mighty hungry. Fortunately for us, (cow pokes and city slickers alike) there are some early rising cooks ready and waiting to dish up some fine eats. Long before trendy street trucks came into vogue, fairs have been outfitted with trucks dishing up everything from burgers & corn dogs to everything fried you can think of. Fried lemonade? Oh yeah, it's out there. Now, I tend to think that the smaller the fair the better the food. In my experience the small locally produced fairs tend to be run by the people who live there and who take pride in what they're selling. Their ingredients are locally sourced, they seem to know just about everyone who walks up to the window and they sure seem to be having a good time. Takes all kinds, 'cause it looks like hot, gruelling work to me.

At the Minidoka fair, a one woman espresso / coffee wagon kept busy throughout the morning hours, and I saw the same woman working the machine late into the evening during that nights rodeo performance. The fair lasts an entire week,  hopefully she gets a break during the afternoons, whew! Those farmers are made of tough stock.

There was another truck serving up breakfast. The selections ranged from eggs, sausage, ham or bacon and cheese grilled on Texas toast, to wrangler sized breakfast burritos filled with homemade hash browns, eggs, meat, cheese and chili's. Breakfast quesadillas, pancakes, french toast, smoothies, if it wasn't on the menu those nice ladies were more than happy to make what you wanted as long as they had the ingredients. These gals were dishing up the true breakfast of champions.

Lunch and dinner offered more choices. Steak or chicken on a stick. Large juicy chunks of sirloin marinated and grilled to order. The chicken was grilled and topped with a spicy barbecue sauce and each was served over a mountain of homemade potato chips. Hands down it was the best eats at this fair.

Hamburgers, corn dogs, corn on the cobb, chili cheese fries, funnel cakes, and one truck serving up something called 'dinner in a pot'. A hearty conglomeration of meat, potatoes and vegetables. Looked pretty tasty but too heavy for the blazing summer day. And of course there was the wagon serving anything and everything fried. From Twinkies to bubble gum and lemonade, if you can stomach it they'll batter and fry it. It didn't take a lot of will power to walk by that wagon, the smell of grease and batter was enough of an appetite killer for me.

We're at the tail end of fair and festival season for this year, but there's still Labor Day Weekend with one of the biggest food fests of the year, the Taste Of Colorado, right around the corner. Come on, you know you're craving one of those monster turkey legs.

There are more sophisticated food choices at the larger fairs these days, but there was something nostalgic and very charming about the seven small trucks and wagons at the Minidoka County Fair in Rupert, Idaho.

No doubt the easy smiles and gracious attitudes from the fine folks working those trucks, was a big part of what made our experience a first place Blue Ribbon winner.  Thank you Idaho, we'll see you next year!

Thank you to all of my past, present, and future clients. You're the reason I love what I do and I do what I love! I appreciate your referrals more than you'll ever know, please pass my name along should you hear of someone needing advice or help in the world of real estate.

Becky Goldsmith

720-979-3184

Becky@beckygoldsmith.com

Father's Day Grillin'

Jack told me that my father and I share a peculiar habit. According to him, when either my dad or I find ourselves about to partake in a particularly good meal, we start to hum. No specific tune, we just start humming. I was never aware of this habit and I'm pretty sure my dad doesn't realize he's doing it either.  Apparently I inherited my love of food from him.

With Father's Day just around the corner it's time to think about preparing a meal with dad's favorite foods in mind. Most dads, are pretty darn easy to please. My dad is a man of simple tastes. If money were no object and he had the choice between a fancy restaurant or a backyard bbq with burgers and dogs on the grill, he'd choose the burgers and dogs every time. Hands down, no question. I love my dad, not just for his simple tastes, but because in my mind he truly is the world's greatest dad and I'm extremely fortunate to be able to cook for him this Father's Day.

My dad loves good food and Jack says he's always humming when he comes to our house. We're having the Wood clan over for Father's Day this year and we're going to treat everyone to steaks on the grill. Everyone is bringing a dish and I know we'll have lots of great food and drink. Whenever the Wood clan gets together it's always a good time!

There are literally hundreds of sauces, marinades, dry rubs and cooking techniques when it comes to steaks. A good rule of thumb: the better the quality of the meat, the less you want to mess with it. If you're splurging on prime beef, say a rib eye or N.Y. Strip, you don't need more than kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. You've spent a small fortune on the meat, it will stand on it's own.
Our Costco here in Parker, carries a small selection of Prime beef. When Jack and I have something special to celebrate we pick up a package of their Prime rib eyes and a great bottle of Cabernet. It's an amazing meal at a fraction of the cost of what you would spend at one of the high end steak houses. There is a huge difference in flavor and tenderness between prime and choice grade steaks. On the rare occasion that we indulge in prime steaks it's salt and pepper, nothing more.

However, with other cuts of meat we can be more creative. I love playing with different marinades, brines, and spice rubs on all cuts of beef, chicken and pork. There is more to life than Teriyaki!

I'm going to share two recipes with you for seasoning steaks that we love. One is a spice rub from Anne Burrell and the other is a marinade from Rick Tramonto. I think you'll enjoy these very much, they'll work beautifully on any cut of steak. I adore Anne Burrell, I think her cooking is down to earth, delicious and easy for all of us non-professionals to follow. Rick Tramonto is an award winning chef with several restaurants in the Chicago area. Nobody knows beef like Chicago, nobody. His book, 'Steak with Friends' is a must for every carnivore.

A couple of tips:

1. Take the steak from the refrigerator and let it reach room temperature, which should take no more than 30 minutes (if the day is hot it, it will take only about 15 minutes). You never want to grill or roast cold meat straight from the refrigerator because it won't cook properly. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel and season according to your recipe. The exception to this is ground meat, which should be left in the fridge until you are ready to cook it.

2. Clean the grill and oil the grilling grid well so the meat does not stick. Use any vegetable oil such as canola or safflower.

3. Make sure your grill is good and hot. Our home grills will never reach the 800 - 900 degrees F. that  restaurants achieve, but always pre-heat your grill.

4. Lay the steak on the grill using tongs, never pierce the steak releases valuable juices. Turn the steak only once, and use tongs.

5. Let the steak rest for at least five minutes after removing from the grill.

Real Estate

Becky Goldsmith

Becky@beckygoldsmith.com

720-979-3184

If you are thinking of buying or selling a home or know of someone who is, I hope you will give me a call!

Plan ahead! If you're going to use a dry rub, marinade or brine, most recipes recommend allowing 24 - 36 hours for the meat to fully absorb the flavors of whichever method you're using.

Anne Burrell's Dry Rub for steak

Enough rub for two large (22-24 ounce rib eyes) or 4-6 smaller steaks.

2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons packed light or dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, ground
2 teaspoons pimenton (smoked paprika)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, mix thoroughly. Rub the outside of each steak generously and evenly with the rub (if you have left over rub, save it for your next steak). Wrap each steak tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, (up to 72 hours).

Remove steaks from fridge 20 - 30 minutes before you're ready to cook and allow to come to room temp. Remove plastic wrap (duh).

Downloadable PDF version of this recipe:

http://db.tt/aQkB4cAl

Rick Tramonto's Balsamic Marinade

Makes about 3 1/2 cups, enough for 4-6 (12 - 16 ounce) steaks

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 1/2 cups olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

In a glass, ceramic or other nonreactive mixing bowl, stir together the vinegar, orange zest and juice, garlic, shallot, and thyme. Whisk in the olive oil until it comes together. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

In a shallow baking dish, cover the steaks with the marinade. Gently rub it into the meat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 36 hours.
Remove from fridge 20 - 30 minutes before you are ready to cook to allow to come to room temp.

Lift the steaks from the marinade (using tongs) and let the marinade drip into the dish.
Brush the steaks with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
Grill the steaks, brushing the steaks with the marinade during the first half of grilling. Let the steaks rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

Downloadable PDF version of this recipe:

http://db.tt/SmQzrUkI

If you're lucky enough to spend this Father's day with your dad or someone who is a dad, I wish for you a day filled with wonderful food, drink, and most of all great friends and family. It's what it's all about.

And don't forget the dessert!

 

Happy Father's Day Woody!