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Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

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Jenise

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Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

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
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Mike Filigenzi

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Re: Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

by Mike Filigenzi » Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:02 pm

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.


Good lord, woman!!! No gin and tonics in 35 years???!!

:wink:

Mike
"People who love to eat are always the best people"

- Julia Child
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Larry Greenly

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Re: Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

by Larry Greenly » Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:38 am

Or Sapphire martinis? Taste one, and you'll buy more than a bottle every half-life.
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Re: Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

by Jenise » Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:30 pm

Hey, it's my husband who never drank gin. Before we met, I used to love a good martini. It's just something I never made at home, and based on the martini I had out a few nights ago, something I've lost my taste for. It didn't taste bad, but it didn't taste good. And I couldn't wait to switch to wine.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Bill Spohn

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Re: Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

by Bill Spohn » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:36 pm

I keep a bottle of Tanqueray in the freezer.

Nothing like it to cool down the wineglass full of olives (you didn't think I drank it for the booze, did you? It's just to keep the olives cold)
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Re: Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

by Jenise » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:06 pm

Used to date a man who loved Tanqueray. There's something different about it, but I don't remember what. Does it have the vermouth already mixed in?
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Bill Spohn

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Re: Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

by Bill Spohn » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:19 pm

Jenise wrote:Used to date a man who loved Tanqueray. There's something different about it, but I don't remember what. Does it have the vermouth already mixed in?


Good Gawd, woman!

Premix martinis???

NOOOOO - it doesn't have anything mixed in, unlike all of those laughable flavoured yuppie Vodkas.

It is just a nice Gin.

BTW, Gin normally does not have sufficient additives to give enough flavour to greatly affect anything cooked in it, so recipes like this are a waste of good gin. The flavour you got certainly wasn't from the Gin - you could have used water to the same effect. It was from the juniper berries, which are a flavouring agent in most gins.

There exist both old style (Genever) and new style (the aforesaid yuppie flavoured dreck) gins that will have enough flavour to impart to food, but I'm not sure I'd want to.....
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Re: Recipe Report: Cynthia's Slow Cooked Beef With Gin

by Jenise » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:32 pm

Okay, I just remember that Donovan would take his Tanqueray straight, but he'd ask for vermouth with any other.

Genever--now I thought Genever was Dutch gin which is made with a different grain set than English gin. And then among Genevers, there were some that stayed in cask a lot longer and those were called Aude (old) Genever. I liked the Aude Genever, which I found quite similar to a good Corenwijn. Ever had that?
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

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