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Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Wirecutter's Badass Pepper Steak

Okay, you gotta keep in mind that this recipe is not exact and can be altered to suit your taste. I'm giving it to you the way I cook it.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time - 1-2 hours
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
First and foremost - a 12 pack of beer.
1 pound of lean meat - venison or buffalo is best but a great substitute is stir-fry meat. But it's gotta be lean.
5-6 Jalapeno peppers (milder peppers if you prefer)
1 medium sized Red Onion
1 Bell Pepper
1 clove of Garlic
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 27oz can of Hot Tomato Sauce
Crushed Red Pepper
3 Bay Leaves


Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time - 1-2 hours
Serves 4

Okay. Crack open a beer and get to work.
Cut the meat into strips about 1/4" thick, a couple of inches long and about 1/2" wide unless you're using stir fry. If you are, leave it the fuck alone.
Coat the bottom of a big-ass frying pan with Olive oil.
Dice 1/2 of the onion, slice the other half. Set aside.
Slice the Bell Pepper into strips. Set aside.
Slice the Jalapenos into rings. Set aside.
Slice the garlic into paper thin slices and put it into the heated olive oil, cooking it until it melts into the oil.
Next come the onions. Dump them into the pan, stirring or flipping constantly until they are caramelized - that means browned for all you Okies out there.
Dump in the meat and both types of peppers. Braise the meat. Keep stirring or flipping.
Remove from the heat and drain (not strain) the liquid that may have accumulated. DO NOT RINSE! Return to the stove.
Add the can of hot tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Don't forget the bay leaves.
Reduce heat to a simmer. Leave uncovered.
Now the hard part is done. Let it simmer for about 5 beers, stirring after every beer. After the second beer, check the spiciness. If you want it hotter, throw in a level palm full of crushed red pepper. That'll light your ass up for sure.
Be sure to keep an eye on the sauce. You don't want it to get too thick right at first. If it does, turn the heat down just a tad and add a little beer. You actually want it kinda sorta thin until the meat is cooked. Keep adding beer to keep it watery for a while. You want everything to cook into the meat.
After 4 or 5 beers (or an hour or so) let the shit cook down and thicken up. You want the sauce to be just about the same consistency of ketchup, maybe a little thinner. When it hits that point, you're fucking done.

Ladle over rice, mashed potatoes or baked potato or do like I do. Eat it out of a bowl, spooning it into pieces of a flour tortilla.

2 comments:

  1. Chicken (dark) 1.25 lb
    Salt pork .33 lb
    Mushrooms .50 lb
    Carrot 1 (could be more)
    Onion 1 medium or half of a big one
    Basil 5 leaves
    Garlic 3 cloves
    Olive oil 2 oz
    Potato 1 previously baked (highly optional)
    Red wine 12 oz
    Flour 3 tbsp
    White wine 2 oz

    Dice the salt pork; braise it in the olive oil; let it get browned
    Slice the carrot(s) and onion; drop into result; let them soften up a bit
    Slice garlic; drop it in
    Drop in chicken pieces; brown on both sides
    Add basil and red wine. Back off heat to minimal boil
    Cover and cook for about an hour; check occasionally
    Add wine and/or back off heat if fluid gets too low to half-cover chicken
    Flip chicken around the 40-minute mark
    After flipping the chicken, distribute the peeled, diced potato atop chicken
    Test for tenderness. When chicken feels right, pull out and set aside in serving dish
    Mix gently to get potato into sauce without disintegration. Check thickness of sauce
    Probably: Mix flour in white wine. Mix result (minus lumps) into sauce
    Let it cook down in open pot to satisfactory thickness -- but at least five minutes to cook the flour
    Kill the heat and let it coast -- ten minutes at least
    Pour sauce on chicken and serve

    ReplyDelete
  2. Damn VC, that sounds great! I'll give it a try this weekend.

    ReplyDelete

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