my dry-aging experiment

After having filet at Texas Roadhouse for Valentine's Day, Bryan and I asked what was special about their steaks. I prompted the waitress to ask if they were aged, as the top (cut edge) of the steaks was sort of separated and the grain exaggerated when the plates were brought to the table. She came back from the kitchen with the news. Their steaks are wet aged.

Of course, this means I went home and poured over all the information I could find about both dry aging and wet aging beef. Dry aging lets the whole piece of meat sit, exposed, for a certain length of time to let some excess moisture out of the meat, concentrating the beefy flavors, and also to let the connective tissues begin to break down. (Thus eliminating the need to use some kind of mechanical or chemical tenderizers.) Wet aging also allows the connective tissue to break down, but it is vacuum packed.

So I decide to do some more research, because the Mr. Science of Food - Alton Brown must have an opinion on all of this. And he does - he did a show on dry aging beef at home. I even found a website with a transcript of the episode. And so I set out to find a butcher shop to buy a whole beef tenderloin and begin my dry aging experiment.

I went to Armando & Sons market on Pine St in Pawtucket - right off of exit 27. A great find, in my opinion. I picked up a small tenderloin for 6.99 a pound - it was about 2.11 lbs - and I picked up a few other things while I was there. There was a great seasoning-salt blend with no MSG that I have now fallen in love with.

Anyway - I digest. I got home, trimmed the silver skin, washed the tenderloin, dried it, and set it on a tray that I thought would allow some airflow on the bottom of the piece of meat. Since I didn't like the thought of the possibility of something dripping or falling through the upper shelves, I rigged up a flexible cutting board with some silicone ties to act as a tent for my tenderloin. Nothing could drip on it, but it still allowed for airflow. (AND I didn't have to destroy a rubbermaid container)

The buying of the meat and prepping it was Saturday. That means Sunday night was end of day 1, Monday night was end of day 2, and last night was end of day 3 - also known as Filet Mignon night.

Got home, took the meat out of it's tent rig and set it on the counter. Trimmed off the hard, leathery parts and cut the entire thing into 2" filet mignons. Weighed out about a pound for last night, a pound for the future. Froze the future pound in freezer paper. (Also something I picked up at Armando & Sons) Then I mixed *APPX* 1/2 tbs garlic, 3/4 tbs each parsley, rosemary, oregano, & seasoning salt, 1/4 tbs pepper, 1 tbs olive oil. Smear this on outside edges of filets. (the part that will go around as it sits on your plate or the pan - not the cut side) Overall, the steaks rested at room temp for about 45 mins before I heated a pan (working on getting an enameled cast iron saute pan to do this all in one) until a drop of water disappeared in 3 seconds, added a smidge of oil and inserted the steaks. Sear 2 mins on each side, transfer to a baking dish since my pan isn't oven safe, and bake at 400 until medium.

Results: WOW - easily and by far the best steak I've ever cooked.

Chardonnay's Restaurant - Seekonk, MA

So for my birthday dinner, I wanted to go to Chardonnay's in Seekonk, MA. The menu was very unique, but the thing that caught my eye was the pumpkin ravioli. I was expecting a savory dish of round pumpkin ravioli served in a brown butter sauce with some herbs. Instead, I got the most unbelievable dessert-like meal ever.

First, I sampled my dad's noodle salad, which is served cold with hot seared shrimp and scallops. The shrimp were unbelievable. The croutons on my husband's salad were made on site and were delightfully crunchy, toasted in seasoned olive oil versions of the bread that was brought to the table for us to munch before dinner. My mom's dinner choice was a wonderful shrimp scampi that would have tempted me to order it if they could make it without the white wine (though I was fine to taste a small piece of the sweet, succulent shrimp). I believe the scampi was also seasoned very simply with plenty of garlic, parsley and salt and pepper to complement the white wine.

My ravioli was square rather than the round I had imagined, and the brown butter sauce was more of a dessert sauce. Thick, syrupy and loaded with brown sugar. The dish was topped with candied pecans. How is this not a dessert? Well - the pile of sauteed spinach accented with finely diced tomatoes seated in the center of my ravioli wasn't dessert-like, but it was pretty darned good. Once I finished my meal, (well I did leave some spinach behind) we went back to my house where Sarah unveiled her "I made it all by myself from scratch" cheesecake from Trader Joe's. Very tasty & topped with pieces of oreo cookies. Yum

So all in all, a very tasty birthday :)

Boston Beer Works ROCKS!!!

So anytime Bryan and I go to Boston - either for the Sox or Bruins - we like to eat at Boston Beer Works if we're eating up there. There's one on Canal St by the Garden and one just outside of Fenway... I want to call it causeway, but I know that's the street that runs in front of the Garden. But if you're in the area and ask, someone should be able to point you to it if you can't follow the great smells and the lines of people around games.

So we watched the Bruins lose to the Red Wings on Saturday, but I have to tell you - it was awesome to see such a good team. And some of the players are of legendary proportions. I mean, come on, Chelios???

But after the game we went to Boston Beer Works to have some food, get our money's worth for parking, and to avoid the congestion of everyone leaving the area at once. Be forewarned, though, Boston Beer Works has employees outside checking IDs and stamping your hand around game time to make it easier for the waitstaff. If you're in with a stamp, you can be served alcohol.

Bryan always gets the beer basted steak tips and I don't think he's ever left hungry - or anything less than stuffed for that matter. I used to get the meatloaf all the time, and they have some DARNED good meatloaf. *If you're on the Cape, try the Collucci Bros. I should post on them sometime soon, too.* But then I found the specials. Last time we went to a Bruins game, we didn't realize we had luxury box tickets which include all the food you can eat there, so we went to BBW first and I got the Shark Schnitzel which was OUT OF THIS WORLD. I love shark and this dish did NOT disappoint.

This time there were several specials that looked good - the theme was Carnivale and Mardi Gras, but there's a Rajun Cajun entree on their regular menu that was just calling my name. It's shrimp, chicken, tasso ham, peppers and some other veggies I think in an AWESOME spicy cajun sauce and it's served with a pretty scoop of jasmine rice. UNBELIEVABLE. Most 'spicy' dishes barely register as spicy for me, but this had my nose running all night - in a good way. I actually would have liked more rice to soak up all the delicious sauce that came with the meal, but luckily I had leftovers and I'm planning to make some rice to go with dinner tonight and have some leftover rice to go with the leftovers from BBW to make an unbelievable lunch for work tomorrow. The loaded baked potato soup from Super Bowl (Defeat) Sunday will be there for lunch on Weds - Fri, reminding me of the holy offensive line, the missed FG opportunity to tie the game, and the missed interception opportunity in the 4th quarter.

So if you're anywhere near the 4 locations of Boston Beer Works (the Garden, Fenway, Logan Airport, and one in Salem, MA), stop in and enjoy some great food. *and if you know me, it would be great if you could bring me some food to go!*

A delayed Quizno's post.

I first tried Quizno's a while ago - the one on Oaklawn Ave since it's close to work - and I had the French Dip sandwich. And that was enough to keep me from going back for a VERY LONG time. The only thing that got me to try it again was the fact that Bryan tried a bite of their honey mustard chicken sandwich and was hooked. So when he wanted Quizno's for dinner and kept saying how good it was, I figured I'd try a flatbread sammy - only 2 bucks and pretty small if I didn't like it.

I tried one of the steak ones and it was pretty good... but the WOW factor came on my next visit where I wanted to try something a little different. And anyone who knows me knows that I have a special spot in my food preferences for spicy stuff. So, lo and behold, there on the flatbread sammy menu is a Sonoma Turkey flatbread sammy - turkey, chipotle mayo and pepper jack cheese. Sounds "mmmm, tasty" if you ask me. And when it came to toppings, I added red onions, tomato, lettuce and some shredded cheddar. (I also have a thing for sharp cheddar!)

The sandwich was SO good and the thing that makes it is the chipotle mayo, but keep in mind that I'm someone who usually gets poultry without mayo because (A) I prefer miracle whip, and (B) I'd rather spend the fat and calories on something else.

Since then, I've gotten it a few more times to make sure it wasn't a fluke and believe me - that sandwich just ROCKS!