by Jenise » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:38 am
Yesterday, it was officially 10 days since I'd been to a store or even out of my neighborhood due to weather. But things are looking up: FedEx finally delivered, even though the guy had to drive his wife's Dodge Durango 4x4 instead of the usual truck to get here. One of the good things about the big freeze outside is that it's given me the opportunity to seriously work down the big freezer inside, and yesterday I removed a lump of beef in order to make this recipe.
I had no idea what cut it was until it thawed out. Skirt steak! Well, okay, I wouldn't normally use skirt steak for a braise but it would be interesting to try, especially since just days ago I read a Gourmet mag recipe that suggested using leaner skirt steak in place of chuck for something you'd usually use chuck for. I don't remember what the recipe was, though it must have been a chili or a stew, I only remember shaking my head and thinking "wouldn't have thought so".
So, two things to learn--even better. Cut into 2" squares it went into the pan with the other ingredients: olive oil, and 2 tblsp each gin and red wine vinegar. I also threw in, even though in the recipe it was an either/or with the gin, about 8 juniper berries. The meat took about two hours to reach as-tender-as-it-was-going-to-be which was nowhere near the succulence that chuck can have, so the first result I have to report is that Gourmet's full of it.
Cynthia, however, is not: this is a delicious recipe. I loved the gin flavor, it added a very sophisticated edge to the beef, so toward the end of cooking I added another tablespoon each of gin and vinegar to refresh that, and then tested it with and without a pinch of dried dill. Bob, as usual, was my guinea pig--"taste both, tell me if you can what's different." He said the dilled bite "tasted more like gin." I agreed. The dill completely disappeared into the dish and just punched up the juniper flavors, which is what I suspected would be the case, so I added a big fat pinch to the pot and simmered it another ten minutes before serving the stew over boiled new potatoes with a bottle of '93 Fieuzal (a Bordeaux).
Great learning experience. If I were, god forbid, out of wine and wanted to add an alcohol to a braised beef dish, I would have turned to something brown like whiskey or bourbon, not gin, but it definitely worked. Oh, and here's a funny side note that tells you how much gin we drink/use around here: Bob told me that the bottle of Gilbey's I used was given to him as a gift when he went to work straight out of college at Sinclair Oil 35 years ago.
The stuff's immortal.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov