Pearl Fein’s Standing Rib Roast

Pearl Fein’s Standing Rib Roast

Today is my husband’s birthday. He’s an almost impossible person to buy a gift for. But he is the most possible, positive and terrific person to cook for.

He eats and enjoys whatever food I prepare. He is a good sport and will taste and comment on all the recipe creations and experiments I work on for my newspaper articles and blogging.

So, what to make him for him birthday dinner? (He prefers to stay at home instead of go out, especially ever since our favorite local restaurant closed.)

I thought about Chinese take-out but he nixed that (maybe because he knows it’s not my favorite).

He would be happy with anything he could pour ketchup over, so maybe hamburgers or beef stew? (But those don’t seem festive enough.)

He would really love a corned beef sandwich on rye bread but our local deli’s stuff is awful and I don’t feel like driving into New York City and downtown to Katz’s to get one (even though they have some of the best corned beef sandwiches in the world).

He isn’t much of a dessert eater, so even though I make decent pie and cake, none of that would do it for him (although he does like European style, dense chocolate cake with apricot filling …).

He adores candy, but I usually don’t make my own, so I bought him his favorite dark chocolate-almond bark and a bagful of red-colored, chocolate coated candies filled with pomegranate.

After thinking it all over, I decided I’ll make Rib Roast. The way his mama made it. He really really loves that. It was his mother, Pearl Fein, who taught me how to make a Rib Roast. She would always make this dish for special family occasions. They were always so wonderful (the beef and the occasions).

So, that’s it. And here is her recipe, which I’ve posted before, but it’s worth doing again:

Pearl Fein’s Standing Rib Roast

• 1 2-3 rib beef roast

• kitchen string

• 1 tablespoon paprika

• 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

• water

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Carve the meat from the bones as close to the bone as possible so that you are left with a round beef roast and L-shaped bones. Tie the meat back onto the bones with kitchen string. (This procedure makes it much easier to carve the cooked meat.) In a small bowl, combine the paprika, salt, pepper and garlic powder plus enough water to form a paste. Brush the paste on all of the meat and bone surfaces. Place the roast bone side down in a roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 degrees and cook for about 15 minutes per pound or until it is cooked to the doneness you like. Use a meat thermometer (place it in the middle of the meat) and remove the meat from the oven when it reaches 115 degrees F for rare and 130 degrees F for medium. Let the roast rest for 15-20 minutes before you carve it (the temperature will rise a bit during that time). Snip the strings and place the now-boneless roast on a carving board to slice.

Makes 4-6 servings

Bulgogi

Bulgogi

This is not your grandmother’s flanken. But it is flanken, aka shortribs. And this meat can be tough and chewy, which is why grandma poached it in soup or in a slow-cooker with some good brown gravy or sweet and sour sauce.

I loved grandma’s flanken.

But, maybe because I don’t eat meat that often and yet think of myself as a devoted carnivore, I decided to put flanken and summer together using a grill.

So I made Bulgogi, a Korean dish in which the shortribs marinate in a soy-sesame oil based sauce before being grilled.

Yes, the meat is not as tender as other cuts, like rib. But much cheaper and, for meat lovers, gives quite a satisfying resilience. I served the Bulgogi with sauteed bok choy and steamed rice.

YUM.

Bulgogi

1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons sake (or rice wine or sherry)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 scallions, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, finely crushed
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 pounds flanken or boneless short rib
toasted sesame seeds for garnish, optional

Place the soy sauce, sugar, sake, vegetable oil, sesame oil, scallion, garlic, sesame seeds and crushed red pepper in a bowl and stir, making sure to dissolve the sugar. Place the beef in a non-reactive dish and turn the pieces to coat all sides. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Preheat the oven broiler or outdoor grill (or use a grill pan), skewer the meat and grill for 3-4 minutes per side or until crispy and done to your liking. Garnish with a small amount of toasted sesame seeds if desired.

Makes 4-6 servings

How to Cook Brisket, plus Mango-Honey Barbecue Sauce

How to make brisket

I never liked my mother’s brisket. In fact I didn’t like brisket at all until recently. To me it was always this brown, wet meat and the slices were too narrow and lean. And unless the meat was cut into very thin slices, it was tough and stringy.

My mother always used first cut brisket.

Then I met my mother-in-law, who used second cut brisket.

My parents and in-laws actually got along and were good friends who travelled together. Even so, you can imagine what each of the women had to say about the other one’s recipe. 

My mother said second cut brisket was too fatty. My mother-in-law said first cut wasn’t fatty enough.

I thought both were still too tough, too wet and too stringy.

So I experimented. Because that’s what I do. And in the process learned quite a lot about cooking this particular portion of meat.

Which can be tough and stringy if you don’t cook it right. And wet if you don’t do something good with the pan juices.

I buy a whole brisket. First and second cut. Yes, it’s way too big for my family, but I freeze some of it (portions from the fatty and lean parts together to please everyone tastes) because braised meat holds up very well in cold storage. A whole brisket has enough fat to enrich the meat, so that the leanest portions are more flavorful. And after the cooking has ended, you can cut away any excess fat that you don’t actually want to eat.

The real trick to brisket is LONG SLOW cooking.

Here’s what I do: you can see from the photo that all I do is season the meat with garlic powder, pepper and paprika (and salt if necessary). I scatter a lot of onions on top and throughout the pan. I cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

NO STOCK. NO WATER. NO WINE.

It doesn’t need anymore liquid. The onions and the meat give off enough.

I put the pan in a cold oven before I go to bed at night, set the oven to bake at 250-275F degrees and go to sleep.

The next morning the brisket alarm clock wakes me up about many hours (for a large brisket 8 hours) later with the most glorious aroma ever. (Actually it competes with the coffee, which is set to brew just about when the meat is done.) If you choose a smaller portion, say a first or second cut piece, obviously, it takes less time (let’s say 4-5 hours).

But don’t follow those recipes that tell you to cook brisket at 350 degrees! Your pot roast will rebel and show you how tough it is.

I usually don’t serve brisket with the pan gravy. Sometimes I strain the juices and use it for soup. Sometimes I boil the pan gravy down and use it for things like mashed potatoes. Sometimes I puree the juices with the onions. It really all depends on my particular culinary needs at the moment.

As for the brisket: none of us likes it wet. So I let the meat cool and put it on the grill (or under the broiler or in a 425F oven), and keep slathering the surface with barbecue sauce and cook the meat until it is hot and crispy to a mahogany glaze on the surface. 

This is not wet, stringy or tough. It’s just dee-lish!

The sauce I frequently use as a glaze is not appropriate for Passover. But here’s one that’s just fine.

Mango-Honey Barbecue Sauce

• 1 large ripe mango

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger

• 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel

• 1 cup bottled chili sauce

• 1/4 cup orange juice

• 1/4 cup honey

• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Peel the mango and puree the flesh in a food processor. Heat the vegetable oil in a nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for one minute. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Add the orange peel, mango puree, chili sauce, orange juice, honey and cayenne pepper. Stir to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Cook over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until slightly thickened. Let cool.

Makes about 2-1/2 cups

What to cook when it's just me for dinner

My husband won’t be home for dinner tonight so it’s just me. So this can be a delicious night of something that only I like to eat. Or it can be a night of picking tidbits from the fridge and thinking I am eating nothing but actually consuming millions of calories.

My husband Ed likes almost everything I cook, so looking for something he doesn’t like but that I do is nearly impossible. I am not complaining here. His good humor about dinner is a blessing.

But cooking for one shouldn’t be a lonely, burdensome deal. Better for it to be a guilty pleasure of sorts.

Maybe I’ll make meatloaf. Ed hates meatloaf. He always hated it and keeps telling us the story about how his grandmother made meatloaf for him and hid it under the spaghetti, which he did like, so that when he got to the bottom of the pile of pasta, there it was, a slab of beef he had to eat because his grandmother was watching.

His aunt Alice, who was also at the house on occasion would say “Ma, you know Eddie doesn’t like meatloaf!” To which grandma would insist that Eddie did.

When Ed and I were married he made me promise never to make meatloaf. He’s one of the only men I know who really doesn’t like it despite what his grandmother said.

So, because I can’t think of anything else he hates, I guess I’ll make meatloaf because I love it. Especially the next day, cold, on a sandwich with ketchup.

I hate ketchup. But that’s another story for another day.

Meatloaf

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground veal
• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup bottled chili sauce, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, tomato sauce and water and let soak until all the liquid has been absorbed. Add the beef, veal, turkey, egg, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, salt and pepper and the cooled vegetables. Mix gently but thoroughly to distribute the ingredients evenly. Place the mixture in a loaf pan (or shape the mixture into a large oval and place it in a roasting pan). Bake for 30 minutes. Top with the chili sauce, if desired and bake for another 30 minutes.

Makes 6 servings