This a really simple recipe, via my late Grandma, that can pretty much be thrown together and in the oven within an hour.

Note: The name of this is from me phonetically spelling out how my Grandparents said it. It’s probably pure dialettu, and I’m sure the proper name is much different in mainland Italian.

Bignalotta (BEE-nyah-LAH-tah) is essentially a loaf of bread with meat, cheese and vegetables rolled up inside. It’s very filling, and you’ll most likely end up getting full after eating 2 to 3 slices.

This recipe is definitely NOT Paleo, so if you’re extremely strict about this diet, you’ll want to stay away from this (and most Italian dishes).

——————-

Hardware

• A medium mixing bowl
• A roll of wax paper
• A hand towel or tea towel
• A skillet of some kind
• A sheet pan

Software

• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 1 Small to Medium Yellow Onion
• 1 lb Ball Fresh/Frozen Pizza Dough (or make it yourself)
• Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 package Frozen Spinach (chopped) or Fresh Baby Spinach
• 1 Egg
• Canola Cooking Spray
• Olive Oil

Do Work!

1. Preheat your oven to 350*F.
2. If using frozen spinach, defrost the package and drain in a mesh sieve, push as much water out as possible (important, since excess water will turn bread to mush). Press spinach between paper towels to dry further, set aside.
3. In a greased mixing bowl (cooking spray) place the pizza dough ball in and cover with wax paper and a towel, and let rise (if using frozen dough, unfreeze it the night before in sink or fridge).
4. Peel and slice the onion.
5. Heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet, add onion and ground beef.
6. Cook both until beef is brown and onions start to become translucent, season with a dash of salt and pepper. Remove from heat, drain and let cool to room temperature
7. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet with cooking spray and spread out the dough evenly to the edges (very important, as you’ll see).
8. Spread beef/onion mixture on the pizza dough.
9. Place spinach on top of beef and sprinkle with a layer of mozzarella cheese.
10. Take the long edge of the pizza dough and roll the whole thing up across to the opposite side. Be careful not to rip holes in the dough.
11. Position the loaf so the “seam” is facing down on the sheet.
12. Fold the edges under the loaf.
13. Optional (not necessary, mostly aesthetics): Crack and beat an egg in a bowl, brush a thin layer on top of roll
14. Bake in oven for 45 minutes.
15. Loaf will sound hollow when it’s done (as odd as this sounds, tap on it with your knuckles).
16. Cool the loaf on a wax paper covered cutting board (about 10 minutes)
17. Slice thickly like a loaf of bread (thumb-width), and serve.

Should look like this when you’re done (results may vary depending on dough used).

The beauty of this recipe is that you can really put anything in as filling. The one above is like the one my Grandma used to make (she would put sliced black olives in also). I will say that I haven’t tried using pizza sauce, as I think it will end up being extremely messy.

Few other examples of fillings:

• Roasted Red Peppers and Mozzarella Cheese
• Pepperoni, Peppers, Onions and Mozzarella Cheese
• Ground Beef, Green Peppers, Onions and Provolone Cheese

I hope you kept your grills hot and ready because winter isn’t here yet, and I’ve got a few more grill recipes to throw at you

This recipe is a South American inspired grilled flank steak I”m dubbing Carne Asada Verde.  This is a legit CIJ original that I threw together one night, that ended up being glorious.

I served it with grilled scallions and grilled baby sweet peppers, I’ll include the steps for preparing those as well.

Hardware

• A grill
• 2 one gallon zipper top bags
• 2 medium sized mixing bowls
• A zester or the finest side of a box grater
• A whisk
• A pair of tongs
  

Software

• 2 medium flank steaks
• 3 bunches of scallions
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 2 bunches of cilantro, chopped up, stems and all
• 3-5 jalapeños, sliced thin or minced (you can cut them in half and take out the seeds to reduce the spice if you like)
• 5 limes
• 1 can of cheap beer (American lager preferred)
• 4 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of mustard (plain yellow or spicy brown)
• 1 bag of baby sweet peppers

Do Work!

1. First zest the limes, all the limes, entirely.  Dont skimp, this adds A LOT of flavor.  Add the zest to your bowl.   Next juice the limes, again, all of them, every drop.  Add this to the bowl as well.
2. Next take the scallions, start by cutting the little root bit off the bottom and throwing it away.  Next, starting at the green end,  thinly slice the scallions until you reach the half way point.  Once you’re there STOP.  You’re gonna save the thicker bottom halves to be grilled.  Add the sliced scallions to the mixing bowl, set the remaining unsliced bits to the side for now.
3. Add the cilantro, onions, garlic, jalapeños, beer, oil, and mustard to the bowl.  Season with a little salt.  Whisk until the mixture homogenizes.  This’ll take a little extra effort because the marinade is kind of chunky, but it’ll come together.  Taste the marinade and adjust the seasoning to your liking, but remember you want it to be a little salty when eaten straight, that way it imparts good seasoning to the steaks.
4. Place each steak into its own zipper top bag and dump half the marinade into each.  Zip the bag and “massage” the steaks to help work the marinade all the way around.
5. Once the marinade is evenly distributed around the steaks, unzip the bags just a little and squeeze all the excess air out that you can, then reseal them.
6. Let these marinade for at least two hours.
7. While the steaks are marinading take your peppers and pop the stems off with a knife.  You can achieve this by placing the blade of the knife just under the green bit and “popping” the knife up, kind of like you’re opening a bottle.  If you cant get the technique down just cut the stems off.  (this step is completely optional, but it makes eating the peppers much easier)
8. Once your steaks are marinaded turn your grill to high and let it heat up.  Place your stemmed peppers into the other mixing bowl and toss with a little olive oil (not listed) and salt.  Do the same for the scallions, though I recommend doing them separately since you’ll want to carefully place the scallions on the grill so they don’t fall through the grates.
9. With the grill hot dump the peppers onto the grates.  Using your tongs move them around every 2 minutes are so.  You’ll eventually have to manually turn each pepper over, which is a pain in the ass, but its worth it.  You want them to be charred and delicious, not burnt.  
10. For the scallions, lay them across the grates at the back of the grill.  After 2-3 minutes use your tongs to simply roll them forward till they’ve rotated 180 degrees and are cooking on the other side.  The scallions will cook a lot faster then the peppers, be aware of this.
11. Once the peppers and scallions are grilled keep them off to the side and warm.
12. Let the grill sit covered and get ripping hot once again.  Place the steaks down on the hottest part of one half of the grill then close the lid and let them cook for five minutes.
13. After five minutes rotate the steaks 90 degrees and place them on the hottest part of the other half of the grill.  By utilizing both halves of the grill effectively you get good charring without having to wait for the grill to get hot again.  Give them another five minutes.
14. Flip the steaks over and again place them on the opposite half of the grill.  Give them five minutes
15. At this point you can turn them 90 degrees again and place them on the opposite half, but you’ll want to monitor them.  Depending on the thickness of the steaks and how hot your grill runs, they’ll be getting close to being done at medium.
16. Once cooked let the steaks rest on the cutting board for 10-15 minutes.  Slice them in half longways, with the grain, then thinly slice them across the grain into bite sized strips.

Serve with the grilled peppers and scallions you’ve got fantastic fucking party grub that’ll earn you brofists from the dudes and panties from the girls.

]]> http://chefinjeans.com/2012/10/18/cooking-for-single-men-verde-carne-asada/feed/ 5 chefjeans 2012-10-06_20-17-00_484 2012-10-06_21-17-30_664 http://chefinjeans.com/2012/10/13/chicken-fricassee/ http://chefinjeans.com/2012/10/13/chicken-fricassee/#comments Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:36:36 +0000 dannyfrom504 http://chefinjeans.com/?p=1236 Continue reading »

Danny drops a very old school French dish on us that is perfect warm comfort food for the fall season.

Chicken Fricassee’ is an old school Cajun dish. It’s essentially poor people food. Which we all know is the best food. I’ve watched Maw-Maw Leblanc make Fricassee’ too many times and it’s seared into my recipe-rolodex. It seems complex, but it’s actually VERY easy to make, and fucking delish.

Hardware

• A medium sized dutch oven
• A small mixing bowl

Software

• 1 cup of medium brown roux
• 2-3 chicken quarters
• 1 cup trinity, chopped (1/2 med onion, 1 stalk celery, ½ bell pepper)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic,  chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• 1 tsp of cayenne (optional)
• 2 tsp of thyme
• 1 cup of cooked rice
• Roughly half a cup of flour (for dredging purposes)

Do Work!

1. Use your small mixing bowl to dredge the chicken in flour, then sauté over med heat in the dutch oven, just until the flour browns (about 3-4 minutes per side).  Once browned remove from pot and set aside.
2. Add the trinity into the dutch oven and sauté until translucent.
3. Add roux, then add chicken stock, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, and cayenne.
4. Bring to a boil then drop heat to low and cover. Let cook for about an hour, then add chicken.
5. Bring to boil again and once boiling, drop heat to low and walk away for about another hour.
6. Ladle the fricassee over rice and enjoy.

C’est si bon!

]]>

Also did I mention bacon?  Mmm bacon.

Hardware

• A sheet pan
• Some non-stick spray
• A small mixing bowl
• A large mixing bowl
• A whisk

Software

• 2 pounds of small Yukon potatoes, cut into quarters
• 1/2 cup of crispy bacon, roughly chopped
• 4-5 tbsp of whole grain mustard
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 2 tbsp of cider vinegar
• Some cooking oil
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1/2 tsp of celery seed
• 1 cup of chopped parsley

Do Work!

1. Toss your potatoes in the large bowl with some cooking oil, salt, and pepper and spread them evenly on your sprayed sheet pan.  Roast these in the oven at 400 until their golden brown.  Once they’re cooked, remove them from the oven and set the pan off to the side.  Only then should you continue on with the next step.
2. Combine the olive oil, mustard, vinegar, celery seed, and honey in a bowl and whisk until its homogenized.  Season this with a little salt and pepper to taste, but keep in mind you seasoned the potatoes before they were roasted, so don’t get heavy handed with the salt.
3. Dump your warm roasted spuds into the larger mixing bowl, add in the dressing, bacon, and parsley and toss well to combine.

Easy enough right?  Delicious for sure.  Roasting the potatoes, versus steaming or boiling them, not only adds additional flavor, it gives them a little more backbone, keeping them from mushing while being tossed with the dressing.

After dressing the potatoes put them in whatever vessel you’re gonna serve them out of and just let them sit on the counter.  This dish is best served mildly warm or room temperature.

if you missed it checkout my recipe for sauerkraut in Oktoberfest – pt.1

Decking out a kitchen with even just the basics can be a daunting task. If you walk into any kitchen equipment store, like Williams & Sonoma, you’ll see TONS of specialty equipment or variations on the same equipment. For many men they simply do not know where to start, what to get, and how to avoid being ripped off. To this end most simply call it and get something conveniently prepackaged at the aforementioned megamart.

The problem with this convenience purchases is that you get what you pay for. There’s a reason your set of six pans or ten knives cost as much as one pan or one knife at a culinary supply store. A lot of guys also make the assumption that you need a lot of equipment to cook even the most basic of recipes, and that’s simply not true. What I’m hoping to do today is to decode a bit of the jargon and misconceptions most guys have about cooking equipment and help you build the strong, but simple, foundations for a well-functioning kitchen.

The List

• A cast iron skillet
• A small saucepan
• A large saucepan
• A large stockpot
• A good chef knife
• A honing steel
• A bar or immersion blender
• A sturdy heavy-duty cutting board
• An omelet pan
• A heat resistant rubber spatula
• A balloon whisk
• A heavy wooden spoon
• A few sheet trays
• One Pyrex baking dish
• A stainless steel mixing bowl set

With all these items there is little the culinary world can throw at you that you will not be able to handle.  Now let’s go down the list and break down some of these briefly.  I plan on expanding on some of these in future articles.

-The Cast Iron Skillet
This is potentially the last pan you’ll ever buy.  If you buy this and nothing else you’re already off to a really good start.  The heavy solid construction of a cast iron makes it ideal for almost any culinary task.  You can roast meat in them, flip them over to bake on the flat bottom, the heavy solid body provides great capacity for heat storage and distribution making them great for frying in, the list goes on.

-The Saucepans
While the name “saucepan” implies a specific use they’re great all around work horse pans that’ll do everything that the sides on the cast iron are to short for.  The main feature of a saucepan is the “corner” where the bottom of the pan becomes the sides of the pan, has a gradual curve, rather than a sharp turn.  This makes it very easy to get things like spatulas, whisks, and spoons in there to make sure nothing is sticking or hiding.  The best example of this is stirring roux into a sauce, hence the name saucepan.

-The Stockpot 
This is the beast for all your bulk cooking needs.  While it is a bit specialized, its a very nice thing to have around if you ever plan on making a big batch of chili, soup, or anything else.  While the initial size will make most go “I’m never gonna cook that much” the idea is not to fill it to the top, but to be able to put a gallon and a half of something in it and still have plenty of room so you don’t make a huge mess trying to stir or transport it.

-The Chef Knife and Steel
This is your rifle.  There are many like it but this one is yours.  A good chef knife is the culinary Alpha, It all starts here.  This is the one item you should invest the most in, but don’t think you have to go drop a few hundred on one knife.  I’ll cover chef knives much more in depth in a future post.

-The Blenders
While I would recommend you get both, as they each have their strong and weak points, if you’re only going to get one  get the bar blender, as a good deal of the applications (like making drinks) are a lot more feasible with it.   Bar blenders tend to have higher RPMs and the conical shape helps feed things down into the blades, allowing the machine to more efficiently buzz down food items.

-The Cutting Board
When choosing a board heavy is the thing you’re looking for.  While wood butcher block is king, it can be very pricey.  I don’t recommend non-butcher block wood boards as they tend to warp pretty quickly as they’re used and washed.  If you don’t want to spring for butcher block get a nice heavy plastic board.

-The Omelet Pan
This is the only specialized piece of equipment on the list, but even then thats only if you take the name literally.  The omelet pan, or French skillet, is the best thing for cooking eggs in and if you ever plan on cooking breakfast buy one.  Its great for grilled sandwiches as well, and the small size makes it ideal for cooking individual portions.

-Everything Else 
Everything else on the list is very general use kitchen equipment that you will use near constantly.  I recommend getting at least two sizes, one large and one small, on all the stirring equipment as different tasks and meal sizes will be much easier with a different sized implement.  Maker sure you look for the red handled heat resistant spatulas.

I hope this gives you a good starting position to begin stocking your kitchen with the proper tools to begin your adventure into the culinary world.  There’s a lot to be learned but all of it is easy if you’re well prepared.

If you purchase anything using the Amazon links above a portion of the sale goes directly to myself, at no additional charge to you, which I will then re-invest back into you, the readers, by using it to help fund new experiments which I will in-turn bring back to you guys in the form of a tested CIJ approved recipe.

Hardware

• a baking dish or medium sized mixing bowl
• A cast iron skillet(you know about that right?)

Software

• 6 tsp Maggi Seasoning Sauce
• 6 tsp oil
• 1 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 3 lbs of Top Sirloin

Do Work!

1. Stir together Maggi seasoning sauce, oil, pepper, and garlic in a wide, shallow dish or mixing bowl. Add steaks; rub all over with marinade. Cover; let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Remove steaks from marinade; scrape off most of the garlic. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add 1 steak and cook until well browned, 3–4 minutes; flip steak and cook until medium rare, 2–3 minutes more.

3. Transfer steak to a cutting board; tent with foil. Repeat process with remaining steak. Thinly slice both steaks across the grain. Serve with rice, any accumulated juices (stir rice in the skillet with the pan juices), and a dash or two more of Maggi seasoning sauce.

I’m going to start you down the culinary road, toward Munich way, with my version of sauerkraut.  Its not a sexy food but it is damn good.  Rather than take some half cocked approach at making your own kraut, I’ve devised a simply recipe for turning canned run-of-the-mill kraut into something glorious.

Hardware

• A medium sized saucepan
• A casserole dish with a lid OR a baking dish and some aluminum foil

Software

• One large can of kraut
• One carrot, shredded or julienned
• One large onion, sliced
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 1 tsp of carraway seed
• 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds
• 1/2 cup of dark beer (I prefer Sam Adam’s Brown)

Do Work!

1. Start by melting the butter in the saucepan over medium heat.  Once melted add in the sliced onions and cook on medium-low heat until the onions just start to brown and caramelize.  After the onions have cooked for about 3 minutes and start to turn translucent, add a pinch of salt.  It’ll draw the moisture out of them and speed of the caramelization process
2. Once the onions have begun to brown add in the shredded carrot and continue cooking for another 5 minutes
3. While the onions and carrot cook down dump your can of kraut into your baking dish or casserole
4. Add in the caraway, fennel, and the beer
5. Once the carrots and onions are cooked add them to the kraut and mix everything together, while seasoning with a little salt and pepper.
6. Cover the dish with either the lid or the foil and place in a 325F degree oven and let it bake for about 30-60 minutes.
7. Check the kraut every 10 minutes or so, you want to cook it until the excess moisture is gone.   You can check this by taking a spoon or a spatula and just pushing the kraut away, clearing a spot in the bottom of the dish.  If some liquid runs into the void it needs to cook longer.
8. Once the kraut is cooked till its dry you’re done.  Place on a bun with a brat or just eat it straight up.

Its fall.

The crisp 67, or so, degree air hit me and I could smell changing the seasons.  I looked around and noticed a few crunchy brown leaves littered the grass. At 1pm the sun was already sagging low in the sky.  It’s autumn, and that means its time to change gears.

While the coals on the grill will smolder white hot all through football season the type of food we here in the temperate zone like to enjoy will change.  No longer do we look for fresh lite flavors.  Our primal instincts kick in and tell us to hunker down for the coming cold and this means heavy hearty meals.

This also cues us to get ready for the holiday season where feasting is the name of the game.  As a newly enlightened man of the kitchen this might prompt you to take a big step forward and attempt to test your skills on a large group, maybe impress some people like the parents of the girl you dig or your fam.

As I stated before in The Archetypal Dinner Date, you dont want to cook a meal for others that you’ve never cooked before yourself, so to that end I figured I’d throw a good fall dish at you now so you can get comfortable with it for when you need it in a couple months.

**Note: I’m being very general with the recipe  so its easily adjusted to fit the size loin you need/find.  Be smart about what you use to measure for the stuffing, but remember its better to have a little left over then to run short.

Hardware

• A full or half sheet pan
• A roasting rack (use 2 of them if you’re going to be using a full sheet tray)
• A large skillet or saucepan
• A small mixing bowl 
• A medium sized mixing bowl
• Butchers Twine

Software

• A pork loin, I prefer to use a full sized pork loin (sometimes called a canadian back) with the fat layer still in tact, versus the smaller center cut loins.  Large loins (heh) are easier to stuff (heh) because there’s more to work with (heh)
• 1 part dried cranberries
• 1 part sherry or cognac
• 1 part French’s fried onions, smashed up (you can use a food processor, I just put it in a bag and beat the shit out of it with my hands)
• 1 part panko bread crumbs
• 1 part chopped pecans
• 1 part butter
• 2 parts white onion, diced very small
• 2 parts celery, diced very small
• 2 parts green apple, diced very small
• Beaten egg, as needed
• Rubbed sage, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Do Work!

**I highly recommend you brine the pork loin for 6-24 hours before doing anything

1. Start by putting your dried cranberries into the small mixing bowl and dumping the sherry/cognac over top.  This process is called “reconstituting”
2. Next get your skillet hot and toss in your pecans, dry by themselves.  Toss or stir every 30 seconds or so until they get a little dark and the kitchen smells kind of nutty.
3. Once the nuts are toasted, dump them into the larger mixing bowl and add the butter to the skillet.
4. Once the butter is halfway melted add in your celery, onions, and apples and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.  This process is known as sweating.  It’s basically sautéing, but you do not want to brown what your cooking
5. While that cooks add your fried onions, panko bread crumbs, and cranberries to the mixing bowl with the pecans.  Make sure to drain the booze off of the cranberries.  Throw it out or save it, just dont add it to the stuffing mix.
6. Once the apple, celery, and onion is cooked down spread it out on your sheet tray to cool off.
7. Once its cooled a bit scoop it up with your hands and add it into the bowl with the rest of the stuffing mixture.  Dont dump it in, make sure you scoop it up.  The idea is to leave the liquid that cooked out behind so you dont end up with a soggy drippy stuffing.  Dump out that liquid and clean the sheet tray.
8. Add in you beaten egg.  Now, you’re gonna ask “how much egg” and I’m gonna say “enough” and that’s the best answer you’re getting.  Its roughly going to be one egg for every cup of bread crumbs, but the idea here is to “feel” it out.  If you think its to much egg, it is.
9. Season the stuffing with the rubbed sage, black pepper, and salt.  If you brined the pork loins go easy on the salt.  If you did not brine the loins then make the stuffing a little on the salty side.  Be careful with the sage as well, its a very strong flavor that can be very overpowering if you add to much.  Make sure you taste the stuffing “but there’s raw egg!” dont be a bitch, taste the damn food.
10. This is where I should tell you how to fillet the pork loin for stuffing as a roulade, but I forgot to take pictures of this process, and trying to accurately describe it in words would be long and ineffective.  So I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of ExpertVillage
11. Now that you have your filleted pork loin and your completed stuffing we are going to take a photo journey down a road named “stuffing and tying a pork loin roast”
    

    Start by laying the loin out flat, skin side down

    

    Spread the stuffing evenly and firmly press it into the meat

    

    Begin rolling the loin from the bottom, curling the leading edge in so that creates a pinwheel effect as the roast is rolled up

    

    When your finished the loin should sit flat on its bottom and look just like it did when you began, except a little fatter from the stuffing

Begin by tying the end of your length of butchers twine around the thinner end of the roast

Bring the twine off to one side and then under the roast to the opposite side

Create two loops, one near the tied of point and one on the excess length of twine, coming under and around. Pull one loop through the other creating a cinch that creates a loop around the loin with the excess length of twine leading down the center of the loin. Create these cinches every 2-4 inches

Here is the finished cinch

Here’s a close up so you can see the over/under nature of what I’m talking about

Keep tying the loin every few inches until you get to the end. Once at the end make sure you tie the final loop close enough to the edge so that it holds the stuffing in, but far enough back that the twine wont slip off and let the pork unravel

Once you’ve made the final loop roll the pork over and bring the twine back down the length of the loin

Take the twine and wrap it once around one of the loops, do this every two loops until you get to the end of the loin, or you run out of twine

Once you’ve reached the end (or ran out of twine) tie the end off on one of the loops, making sure to create a strong knot that’s going to hold (I use a square knot)

Lay your tied loins (heh) on a roasting rack on a sheet tray and you’re set! (foil is optional, makes clean-up a lot easier)

Cook your loins (heh) at 350F (325F if you’re using a convection oven) until cooked all the way through (internal temp of 165F)  Make sure not to over cook them.  The brining will help retain the juiciness of the meat, but if you take the loins over 210 they will dry out.

Make sure to cut ALL the twine out of the roast

Slice into quart inch pieces (don’t go thinner or the stuffing will lose integrity and fall out) and serve (sorry if they look a little drab here was to busy to snap a picture fresh from the oven so this is the day after and the roast is cold)

This stuffed pork loin makes a great holiday dish and is a wonderful change from the standard turkey and ham.  Try it out now and get a feel for it and own your next dinner party like a BOSS.

Read my introductory interview with Mr. Kent here , then go check out whats on the Nexxt Level.

This is by far the simples recipe I’ve ever devised.  Ever.  Its only two ingredients but its so incredibly good I cant not share it.  It was the answer to drunken munchies during the XXXMas in July party me and my friend B threw a little while back.

Hardware

• A grill
• Plastic wrap
• Grill tongs

Software

• Brown sugar
• Any commercially available ham steak, just make sure its the Read-To-Eat kind (you could probably get away using thick cut (quarter inch or more) Canadian bacon for a smaller snack sized variations)

Do Work!

1. Clear off a 2′x2′ section of counter space and cover it, liberally, with the cling wrap.  Make sure to have some overlap and start farthest away from you.
2. Once the counter is wrapped lay out your ham steaks and open your brown sugar.
3. Sprinkle a little brown sugar on each steak and rub it around with your hand, pressing a little bit.
4. Flip the steaks over and repeat on the other side.
5. Shake the steaks gently to get any excess brown sugar off, what you need will stick.
6. Fire up your grill and get it good and hot.  (heating the grill is listed this far down purposefully.  I want to let the rubbed steaks sit for a few minutes so the sugar leeches some water out of the meat and forms kind of a glaze, similar to the method used in my salmon recipe)
7. Mark the steaks on both sides, watch the level of your fire as the sugar will burn if to much heat is applied.  You want to char them a little, but mostly you want to caramelize them.

Put it on a sandwich, eat it with a fork, or just tear into it with your bare hands like we did, however you can, just get this in your mouth.  Your tongue will thank me later.

Redneck Santa approves

]]> http://chefinjeans.com/2012/08/23/cooking-for-single-men-xxxmas-in-july-candied-ham-steaks/feed/ 0 chefjeans default