Grilling Great, Cheap Steaks

Chris Kimball of "America's Test Kitchen" And Cook's Illustrated Shows The Way

(CBS) 

Really Good Cherry Tomato Salad

How do you transform juicy cherry tomatoes into a great salad? For starters, get rid of some juice.

The Problem: Cherry tomatoes exude lots of liquid when cut, quickly turning a salad into soup.

The Goal: Every bite of our salad should deliver sweet tomato flavor.

The Solution: We needed to remove the tomato juice without laboriously cutting open 40 or so cherry tomatoes and painstakingly pushing out the jelly and seeds. Our answer? First, quarter the tomatoes, salt them, and let them drain for 30 minutes. Then, use the centrifugal force generated by a whirling salad spinner bowl to remove the remaining juice. But this method also eliminated the jelly, which research has found to be the most flavorful part of the tomato. We couldn't just add back the jelly (which would re-create the excess liquid problem), but by straining the seeds from the jelly and reducing the jelly to concentrate its flavor (adding garlic, oregano, shallots, and vinegar), we restored a flavorful base tomato flavor without adding extra liquid. Once we had this base, we moved on to develop several variations, including a salad featuring basil and fresh mozzarella and a version with tarragon and blue cheese.

Greek Cherry Tomato Salad

If in-season cherry tomatoes are unavailable, substitute vine-ripened cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes from the supermarket. Cut grape tomatoes in half along the equator (rather than quartering them). If you don't have a salad spinner, after the salted tomatoes have stood for 30 minutes, wrap the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and gently shake to remove seeds and excess liquid. Strain the liquid and proceed with the recipe as directed. The amount of liquid given off by the tomatoes will depend on their ripeness. If you have less than 1/2 cup of juice after spinning, proceed with the recipe using the entire amount of juice and reduce it to 3 tablespoons as directed (the cooking time will be shorter).

Serves 4 to 6

2 pints cherry tomatoes , ripe, quartered (about 4 cups) (see note)
Table salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 medium shallot , minced (about 3 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Ground black pepper
1 small cucumber , peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
4 ounces feta cheese , crumbled (about 1 cup)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

1. Toss tomatoes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and sugar in medium bowl; let stand for 30 minutes. Transfer tomatoes to salad spinner and spin until seeds and excess liquid have been removed, 45 to 60 seconds, stirring to redistribute tomatoes several times during spinning. Return tomatoes to bowl and set aside. Strain tomato liquid through fine-mesh strainer into liquid measuring cup, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible.

2. Bring 1/2 cup tomato liquid (discard any extra), garlic, oregano, shallot, and vinegar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until reduced to 3 tablespoons, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to small bowl and cool to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Whisk in oil and pepper to taste until combined. Taste and season with up to 1/8 teaspoon table salt.

3. Add cucumber, olives, feta, dressing, and parsley to bowl with tomatoes; toss gently and serve.

STEP BY STEP: Avoiding Waterlogged Cherry Tomato Salad
1. Spin
Spinning the quartered tomatoes in a salad spinner removes excess liquid that can make salad watery.
2. Reduce
Simmering the strained tomato liquid creates a concentrated tomato base for the vinaigrette.

Grilled Garlic-Rosemary Potatoes

How could our recipe for grilled potatoes be improved? With rosemary, garlic, and a new technique.

The Problem: We found it harder than it sounded to add garlic and rosemary flavors to plain grilled potatoes. Coating the potatoes with oil, garlic, and rosemary produced burned, bitter garlic and charred rosemary. If we tossed the potatoes in garlic oil after cooking, the raw garlic was too harsh.

The Goal: We wanted potent garlic and rosemary flavors in our potatoes, without bitterness and charring.

The Solution: We needed to introduce the potatoes to the garlic-oil mixture not once, but three times. Before cooking, we pierced the potatoes, skewered them, seasoned them with salt, brushed on a garlic-rosemary oil, and parcooked them in the microwave. Before grilling, we brushed them again with the infused oil. And after grilling, we tossed them with the garlic and rosemary oil yet again.

Grilled Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary on a Charcoal Grill

This recipe enables you to grill an entree while the hot coals burn down in step 1. Once that item is done, start grilling the potatoes. This recipe works best with small potatoes that are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. If using medium potatoes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, cut potatoes into quarters. If potatoes are larger than 3 inches in diameter, cut each potato into eighths. Since potatoes are cooked in microwave, use wooden skewers.

Serves 4

Vegetable oil for grill rack
4 tablespoons olive oil
9 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 3 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
Kosher salt
2 pounds Red Bliss potatoes (about 18), scrubbed, halved, and skewered according to illustration below (see note above)
Ground black pepper
Large disposable aluminum baking pan (13 by 9-inch)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1. Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal (6 quarts, or about 100 briquettes) and allow to burn until coals are fully ignited and covered with thin layer of ash, about 20 minutes. Empty coals into grill; build two-level fire by arranging two-thirds of coals over half of grill and arranging remaining coals in single layer over other half. Position cooking grate over coals, cover grill, and heat grate until hot, about 5 minutes; scrape grate clean with grill brush. Remove lid and let coals burn until fire on hotter part of grill is medium (you can hold your hand 5 inches above grate for 5 to 6 seconds), about 10 minutes. Dip wad of paper towels in vegetable oil; holding wad with tongs, wipe cooking grate.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in small skillet over medium heat until sizzling, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook until garlic is light blond, about 3 minutes. Pour mixture through fine-mesh strainer into small bowl; press on solids. Measure 1 tablespoon solids and 1 tablespoon oil into large bowl and set aside. Discard remaining solids but reserve remaining oil.

3. Place skewered potatoes in single layer on large microwave-safe plate and poke each potato several times with skewer. Brush with 1 tablespoon strained oil and season liberally with salt. Microwave on high power until potatoes offer slight resistance when pierced with tip of paring knife, about 8 minutes, turning them halfway through cooking time. Transfer potatoes to baking sheet coated with 1 tablespoon strained oil. Brush with remaining tablespoon strained oil; season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Place potatoes on hotter side of grill. Cook, turning once, until grill marks appear, about 4 minutes. Move potatoes to cooler side of grill; cover with disposable pan and continue to cook until paring knife slips in and out of potatoes easily, 5 to 8 minutes longer. Remove potatoes from skewers and transfer to bowl with reserved garlic/oil mixture; add chives and toss until thoroughly coated. Serve immediately.

STEP BY STEP: Skewering Potatoes For the Grill
Place potato half cut-side down on work surface and pierce through center with skewer. Repeat, holding already-skewered potatoes for better leverage.

[jackobyte]

The chinise say they eat anything on 4 legs except tables.

The centipede they chew up as a gatling gun.......

[rillifane]

Here in Texas I buy what they label boneless arm roasts. I''m not sure that these are traditional arm roasts since that cut is supposed to be cut from the chuck primal and these look far too "clean" for that.

These are dirt cheap and usually are available for $1.99/lb or less.

I trim them up, removing excess fat that forms a cap on the broad side of the cut and removing any bits and bobs that form the narrow end of this triangular (in cross section) cut. I render some of the fat to use in cooking what will be the steaks and the rest, along with the bits and bobs, goes into the freezer in a bag in which I save all beef trimmings to later grind into my own hamburger.

The trimmed cut is then sliced into steaks.

The real secret now is to use a Jaccard on the steaks. This is a device with dozens of razor sharp, thin, flat, spring loaded blades with which the meat is pierced repeatedly creating hundreds of minute cuts. This process will turn the toughest cut into a butter tender steak.

The many cuts also provide an excellant channel for introducing additional flavor into the meat and I hand massage infused oils into the steaks.

I then pan saute the meat, using the rendered beef fat heated to smoking hot.