Funky Old Cow

[tekobo]

On 7/14/2019 at 11:15 PM, Tyrus said:

The fish...could it have been a sweet pickled herring?

Hi Tyrus.  I have done some searching on the net.  The fish comes in a beautiful pink and gold tin that must be kept in the fridge (ask me how I know) and is called ansjovis original.  The Husband buys a small stack for me when working in Stockholm.  They go really well in potato salad.  T'interweb tells me that the fish are small sprats.

4 hours ago, Basher said:

Good summary thanks Tekabo. What spices did you add?

When you took the meat off to rest at 51C, did the temp climb much?

Hi Basher.  I just did salt and pepper, my go to for good aged meat.  I didn't check the temperature again at the end of the resting period but I am interested in investigating what I should have done to avoid quite so much juicy leakage when we came to cut the joint up.  

[tekobo]

I am back on the cow trail.  My usual supplier of dairy cow won't be offering them until the new year at the earliest.  COVID has affected his usual sales patterns to restaurants and there isn't the room to keep dairy cows and finish them with a few months of special diet.  Instead he offered me some beef from a blue-grey cow.  He said it had gone down a storm with his restaurant customers. 

So... I ordered a hind quarter of cow.  For the last few months I have been sharing pork, beef and lamb boxes with friends.  Not this time.  Dan had made the blue grey sound so good that I wanted all of the meat to myself.  Not quite true.  I didn't want to fuss with other people's requirements and so I just had the meat cut the way I wanted. I wanted to try the Argentinian style of cutting and so sent him this link: https://therealargentina.com/en/a-meat-lovers-guide-to-beef-cuts-in-argentina/.  The article is impossibly rude about one of my favourite steaks - rump - but I forgave the writer because they had such good descriptions of each of the cuts.

The cow was ready to be sent on Monday and they sent me a preview photo from the packing room:

Here is the star of the show, sirloin on the bone:

I asked for whole muscles because the Argentinians cut meat that way and I wanted to stay true to their philosophy.  That means that I have ended up with huge joints and I need to figure out how to deal with them given I won't be cooking for huge crowds in our COVID affected world.  It may be that I get a big joint out of the freezer once in a while and offer some to friends who may be interested.   That said, I certainly didn't have room to freeze this monster cut whole.  It is the flank and weighed a mighty 15kg.

I was at a loss as to what to do with it and so searched on the internet.  Found this excellent Youtube video: 

The Husband and I once spent an exhausting day butchering half of a small Dexter cow.  We never saw this cut.  I think that is because, on an animal that has been hung for a few weeks, this belly part of the animal shrinks to nothing.  In fact, when I first got interested in meat many years ago I  read that beef skirt was the butcher's treat and it didn't used to make it to the butcher's slab for sale.  Given my hindquarter came from a cow that has been hung for at least 6 weeks, I think that my lump of flank may have come from a different cow.  I will ask Dan.  

All that said, I had a great big lump of meat to deal with when I finished work last night.  Twas fun.  It went from this:

To this:

And then we broke into this:

And ate this while watching Lennox Hastie on Chef's Table BBQ:

Yum and yay! 

Edited September 24, 2020 by tekobo

[Basher]

Wow Tekobo, I’ll take my time to read through all these links and look forward to your cook.

i managed to find Lennox Hastie book “Finding Fire” on the Gold Coast- it’s sold out after that show. It’s brilliant and has some sofisticated looking recipes. I went looking for a second book for you, couldn’t find it.

will you be painting that sirloin in fat to dry age for 200 days?

Edited September 24, 2020 by Basher

[MacKenzie]

45 minutes ago, Basher said:

will you be painting that sirloin in fat to dry age for 200 days?

LOL

[tekobo]

32 minutes ago, Basher said:

i managed to find Lennox Hastie book “Finding Fire” on the Gold Coast- it’s sold out after that show. It’s brilliant and has some sofisticated looking recipes. I went looking for a second book for you, couldn’t find it.

That is very kind of you Basher.  No problem there.  I already had the book having bought after I spotted it on a visit to San Sebastian last year.  It was inspiring, even in a language that I could not understand and so I bought it on return to the UK.

 

33 minutes ago, Basher said:

will you be painting that sirloin in fat to dry age for 200 days?

Thinking about it.  I don't want to risk the whole piece and so may try the painting trick on some of it, noting that it has already been hung for 6 weeks!

[Basher]

You buy books in foreign languages? Extraordinary Tekobo.

let me know if you need any pages interpreted.

[tekobo]

14 hours ago, Basher said:

You buy books in foreign languages? Extraordinary Tekobo.

let me know if you need any pages interpreted.

I do buy books in foreign languages but restrict that game to languages that I actually speak. The Husband speaks Spanish fluently but I don't.   I took the photo above so that I could find the book in English when I returned home.  All that said, I have not used it much and must get into it.  Lots to explore and learn and Lennox Hastie was pretty inspiring.  

[tekobo]

Some gratuitously meaty pictures to show the cutting and cooking of that mighty sirloin.  I have not included the picture of the cooked steak cut up for eating because it was wonderfully blue.  Good for us (every single scrap was eaten betweeen five of us) but I would like to leave you imagining that it was cooked exactly to your liking.  

Edited November 3, 2020 by tekobo

[Basher]

Tekobo I love it when you pull out that funky cow.
The colour looks superb.
How many days was that?


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[tekobo]

1 hour ago, Basher said:

Tekobo I love it when you pull out that funky cow.
The colour looks superb.
How many days was that?

Thanks Basher. The meat had been hung for six weeks before I received it and then I dry aged it for just under three weeks before that cook.  Now trying the 200 day age on the remainder.  Not sure if I will have the courage to last the distance though!

[Basher]

Lennox Hastie is the only other person I’ve seen paint it in fat to dry age for 200 days.
That last cut of yours looked pretty clean for 9 weeks.


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[Tyrus]

Keep it simple Tekebo, it looks simply perfect.

[MacKenzie]

tekobo, those are jumbo steaks and they do have a nice char on them. Enjoyed by all, I'm sure.

[tekobo]

3 hours ago, Basher said:

Lennox Hastie is the only other person I’ve seen paint it in fat to dry age for 200 days.

I learned the technique from a restaurant in Wales and I wonder if they learned it from Lennox originally.  Thinking of writing to them to find out if they have ever tried going the as long as 200 days and whether the meat was hung beforehand or not.  No harm experimenting but I want to know my percentage chance of success.

3 hours ago, Basher said:

That last cut of yours looked pretty clean for 9 weeks.

Aging larger chunks of meat mean that you lose less (end) surface area and gain beautifully tender and "clean" meat on the inside cuts.  it is also a whole lot cheaper to buy a quarter of a cow, making prime cuts like this so much more affordable.  

[tekobo]

Delicious dinner today.  I used one of the rubs that @tony b sent to me: Sure Shot Sid's Gunpowder Seasoning.  A winner for me.

Tender rump steak, cooked on the Argentinian grill.

[tony b]

Gunpowder seems to be a hit with everyone that's tried it. A fav of Aussie Ora, too. 

Just keep tabs on the "winners," so I can send refills. 

[woody]

Which Argentina grill are you cooking on?  I am interested in adding to my KK and have been looking at the AZ BBQ outfitters grills. 

[tekobo]

3 hours ago, woody said:

Which Argentina grill are you cooking on?  I am interested in adding to my KK and have been looking at the AZ BBQ outfitters grills. 

Hi woody.  I live in the UK and so my Argentinian grill is from a UK company called Ox Grills.  I took a look at the AZ BBQ outfitters grills.  I like their Argentinian v shaped grate for channeling the fat away from the coals so you get fewer flare ups and would make sure that whatever you buy, you do get those grates.  Others on this forum have bought Santa Maria style grills which could also have Argentinian grates. Worth tagging @Tyrus, @Tucker and @ckreef to find out where they bought theirs from and what they think of them.  

[ckreef]

Mine is a Nuke Delta grill. I got it from BBQGuys. It's handmade in Argentina but is a lower end unit. It does not have the V shaped Grates but I do have a set of custom cut Grill Grates for it to take care of the fat issue when needed. I mainly use it for cooking steaks. 

 

 

[Tucker]

I ended up with an AZ BBQ Tuscan SantaMaria.

I got all stainless grates, 3/8" round and v-shape, as well as a 24" wide stainless flat top.

lessons learned:

1. You can specify which side you want your reel to raise /lower.

2. You can have the 48 wide cradle split into 2-24" cradles, allowing two different heights.

3. I would get a lid, if it is offered.

4. You can get a brasserie.

5. everything is customizable.

 

good hunting!!