A beef

You know how people say "they have a beef," instead of saying, "they're fighting," or something like that? I hate when people say "a" before it. I feel like it's, "they have beef with each other." Am I wrong? I'm not wrong. They have beef. That's what it is. Okay. Let's have some beef.

Beef gets a full 3 days this summer. So, we're up to day 2. If you ask some of my friends, they'll tell you that day 2 of beef was The. Best. Day. Ever.

I left you off last post with the shredded beef. After I shredded it, I let it cool, covered it, and put it in the fridge. First thing the next morning, I popped it right back in the oven to continue to melt for another two hours. When I took the beef out, I toasted some slider buns, put on some bread and butter pickles and made the cutest, most delicious pulled beef sliders. Yum.

Right?

What else to pair better with sliders than a good, dark beer? I personally dislike the dark beers (and many others), but it was fun to use it while I cooked. I used it while I cooked, I didn't drink it while I cooked. Relax, Dad.

To start a Carbonnade De Boeuf Flamande (bless you), you start by seasoning swiss steaks with salt and pepper. Careful not to put too much salt on kosher meat since salting the meat is part of the kashering process. I dredged the steaks in some seasoned flour and seared them in a hot pan to get some color. Once they were at the desired color, I removed them from the pan and added the sliced onions. Once the onions were covered in the fond from the steaks, I added brown sugar to start caramelizing the onions. This trick came in handy (adding the sugar immediately as opposed to adding them with the rest of the ingredients) and it made the onions so much sweeter in the finished product. I added the steaks back into the pan, poured in the beer, bay leaf, and veal stock. Once that came to a boil, I covered it and put it in the oven for about 45 minutes. Dry cook + wet cook = combination cooking to tenderize the meat.

I added some green beans and almonds to the plate to add some color. We also fried some leeks to put on top and boy, were they delicious! 

This is one of my favorite dishes that we've made so far. Definitely in my top 3 of the summer so far. Now I'm craving it. Great. 

Tip of the day: After searing meat in a pan, you have something called "fond" at the bottom. This is all the fat and delicious crispy pieces that are left over once the meat has been taken out. Don't. Throw. This. Out. It's the best part! Add it to the dish. In this dish, we used it to start sweating the onions. It's built-in flavor.