Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Went down to Sunrise for my youngest son's birthday on Saturday to watch the Panthers. 7th row seats behind the goal. Great seats. Bought 6 tickets so lots of folks there.

Went to an Argentinian restaurant after the game. I had no idea that 16 oz was the normal size for a steak. My wife and I split a 16 oz skirt steak. Really good aged beef perfectly prepared. (Not cheap!)

Watched the best team money can buy beat the Jays. BOO!

Last night we picked up our dog at a friends' house where they were watching her whilst we were gone. They grilled amazing pizza and made a really good birthday cake for my youngest.

Tonight I am making clam linguini to eat before watching Gator basketball.

 

Chicken tinga tacos tonight.

 

My Publix had tri-tip which is very unusual for them. Picked up a 2+ pounder for doing a reverse sear on my KJ. Using a simple rub of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

 

The cut I have is actually half of a tri-tip (hence only just a tad over 2 pounds) so I won't need to change slicing direction very much. One bad thing about how the butcher prepped the roast is that there is no fat cap. Typically I would trim the fat cap down to 1/4 inch. But on a positive note there is no "silver" on it. My plan is to cook it very low (225 F) to about 110F to 115 F internal with so little fat, let it rest whilst I take out the heat deflectors and open things up to get to 500 F to 600 F with one of my antique cast iron and well seasoned skillets over direct heat for the sear. Then a quick sear. I don't have any beef tallow handy so I will use some grapeseed oil instead when searing.

Like I said the rub is super simple: sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. The salt preps the meat moving moisture around and the pepper is a nice flavor. I want to taste the meat and not some frufru marinade or rub. One might use a bit of sugar in the rub for some extra caramelization.

 

I like Thai cuisine a lot. Our local Asian market has lots of Thai ingredients and I have a kafir lime tree for using the leaves as a spice that you can't mimic with anything else.

 

The tri-tip got to internal temp way faster than I thought it would. Maybe because it was so lean. It will have a long rest and then a bit longer on the sear.

 

The tri-tip worked out well. A tricky cut of beef because it is so lean and this one was missing any fat cap making it super lean.

Long rest after the low and slow gave me time to really fire up the KJ for a real sear in a very old cast iron skillet. I will have to remember this technique.

Tonight we are getting take-out before going to the Gator basketball game.

 

I love real mac and cheese. Real mac and cheese is light years better than Kraft.

Tonight I am making potatoes with onion, cubanelle peppers, chorizo and jalapeno peppers.

 

Tortilla soup tonight. Margaritas as the dinner beverage.

 

<joke>Sounds like a dinner at Morrison's.</joke>

All joking aside the home made versions make for a comfort food dinner that I would like.

 

I know you can grill cheese sandwiches on a cast iron skillet but sometimes I really wish that I had a plancha.