A Grind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

As promised, I'm back with a new post (working pants must be on this week...ha).   I really hope this one catches on, you know. It's going to seem ridiculous to some of you for me to suggest that you should go to the trouble of buying, cutting, and grinding your own meat.  After all, isn't it just easier to reach for the "tube o' beef?"  Look....supermarkets have sold the burger lovers across this land sub par product for long enough. Trust me - the difference between the texture, flavor, and mouth-feel of a freshly ground burger and one constructed from prepackaged mystery meat is night and day. Besides, it's really easy to do yourself.

Before I explain the home grinding process, allow me to explain my disdain for the aforementioned tube o' beef. Obviously, the texture is junk because the meat has been squeezed and mashed together for...well, who knows how long. There's more, though. That tube, especially when labeled as "ground beef" or "hamburger meat,"  is just about as structurally diverse as a hot dog. By definition, ground beef can contain cuts from all parts of the cow.  Butchers generally accomplish this by grinding up all the trimmings that are left over at the end of the day from all the cutting they do. There could be some rib bones in there for all you know. Ground chuck, another common burger grind, is made up of one type of cut (the chuck/shoulder) but still consists of trimmings from various cows.  Better, but not perfect. Why?  You see, most of that prepackaged stuff comes from a big slaughterhouse, where countless cows are brought to meet their end. Where there are lots of cows, there's the potential for E.coli. And since we know that ground beef/chuck/whatever consists of leftover cuts from multiple bovines, your chances of winning the bacterial lottery are much greater with the tube than they are with a single cut. To combat this, we've been told that we need to cook our burgers to hockey puck consistency to make double dog sure the bacterial baddies are fried. See where I'm going with this?  If you buy a single cut and grind it yourself, you can cook the burger to whatever level of doneness you prefer. Medium rare burgers become as safe as a medium rare tenderloin when the grinding is done safely at home. Now...let's get down to grinding!

The process begins at the grocery store, where you should be careful to choose the correct cut for the job.  The safest bet is a 50/50 blend of a chuck cut, commonly labeled as "English Roast" or chuck steak, and sirloin steak. Once home, make sure your meat is thoroughly chilled. You can control the amount of fat in your finished grind by trimming your cuts. Once trimmed, cut the meat into 1/2-inch cubes and place 8-10 of them at a time into your food processor. Season with salt and pepper and put the spurs to it.

Pulse the processor blade 10 times, one second per pulse. The finished product should come out looking like this:

Technically, it's chopped beef.  This is a good thing, though.....you'll discover that when you bite into the finished product.  Now this beef is obviously not limited to burger-making...you could chose to make meatballs, meatloaf, or even steak tartare, if you're so inclined. I made burgers, so that's what we're going with here.

Softly form the meat into 5-oz. patties.  Try not to smash them too much...that would ruin the texture your food processor created. A gentle toss back and forth between your hands will form a nice ball that looks something like this:

Once weighed, gently flatten the balls into patties and lightly salt both sides. Make them thinner than you want the end product to be, because they'll plump up during cooking. If you don't need/want to use all of your ground beef, do what the butcher does - wrap it in parchment paper, tape, and freeze until it's needed. Easy, huh?  From here, you can cook the burgers however you'd like. I prefer the tender juiciness of a medium burger, cooked to around 160 degrees. Top it with teriyaki, cheddar cheese, and a slice of grilled pineapple, and you have the Hawaiian, a burger I enjoyed several times while on honeymoon.

Doesn't that look delicious? Wait till the first bite hits your tongue...the texture is amazing. And the juiciness will blow you away. Now you know how the steakhouses do it - just make sure and have plenty of napkins on hand!

BBQ and tree limbs

For several years now, I have battled the constant nuisance of overgrown trees in my backyard. Specifically, I have battled the 4 metric tons of leaves dropped by said trees. This year, spurred on by a fear of another year of back-breaking yard cleanup, I finally decided to do something about it. After a few calls to some very good friends, I had a team ready to trim, saw, and prune the veritable forest that had accumulated out back. We worked for 7 hours at cutting, trimming, dragging, trimming some more, and raking nature's bounty.  Our work paid off, and I now have a neatly trimmed treeline out back and three giant piles of limbs out front. I hope the Maumelle sanitation department is feeling kind when they pass my place.

As a reward for their hard work, I prepared dinner for my friends.  We started with an appetizer of grilled brats and sliced cheddar cheese. Dinner included homemade bourbon baked beans, corn with garlic butter, and BBQ pork sandwiches. The pork was smoked for 7 hours over low heat and was tender with a wonderfully smoky flavor. Complimenting the sandwiches were slaw and homemade BBQ sauce. For dessert, we had skillet peach cobbler and homemade vanilla ice cream. I think I put more time into the meal than the tree trimming!  If  you ask me, though, a good meal is always worth the time and effort.  Everyone left with full stomachs and compliments galore. I can't speak for the others, but I didn't get hungry again until around 3pm the next day. Thanks to my brother Matt, Matt Collar, big Clay, and Andrew for all their help. Special thanks to my lovely and patient wife for putting up with our noise as well.

Did you know.....homemade vanilla ice cream is worlds better if real vanilla pods are used? Slice the pod open and scrape the beans out into your milk mixture before scalding. Place the pod into the milk along with the beans to infuse the milk with some serious vanilla flavor. Real vanilla isn't cheap, but there's no denying its superiority over extract.

Dinner is going to be a cabinet cleanout affair tonight. I have an English roast in the fridge that would probably make some nice burgers. Yes, an English roast. It's from the chuck, so all it needs is a quick chop and grind.  What, you've never ground your own burger meat? Check back tomorrow....I'll show how easy it is to grind meat at home.  This is one task that's really worth the effort.

Just Maui'ed, Hawaii recap, more

As all things do, my life as a single (in the government's eyes, anyways) man has come to an end. On July 24th, 2010, I had the great honor of marrying my best friend, favorite person, and soul mate as we exchanged vows in Kaui, HI, in a beautiful beachside ceremony. It was a breathtaking setting made even better by the presence of 19 of our friends and family.  I'll never forget the first glimpse I caught of my bride coming over the hill to meet me. Fellas, if that moment doesn't take your breath away, you might need to call the whole thing off. Here are a few pictures of our ceremony:

Mom with the groom and groomsmen

Rev. James Panui and the Hawaiian duet

The bride and her father walk the aisle. Stunning.

Tiffany places the traditional groom's lei over my shoulders. 

We exchange rings. Mine didn't fit at first...wrong hand!

Best kiss of my life!

Mr. and Mrs. Summitt are presented!

We held the reception at Duke's Kauai, located in the ornate and Greek temple-like Kauai Marriott resort. After a wedding night in Kauai, we took a short flight to the island of Maui for our honeymoon. There, we experienced everything from luaus to mountain climbs to scenic oceanside drives.  Snorkeling was fantastic - the fish were incredibly colorful and vivid.  And the food....well, a guy can just forget about counting calories when in Hawaii. I had melt-in-your-mouth ahi tuna rolls, chowed down on a juicy teriyaki burger (topped with pineapple), and discovered the sugary miracle known as coconut syrup. Hawaii is a foodie's dream come true.  I feel very lucky to have been able to spend 11 days in paradise with my wife. What a way to start a lifetime together!  Needless to say, if you've never been....go!  It's worth the money, I promise. Skip Christmas or something. I posted about 300 pictures of our adventures on my Flickr page, with more to come.   

As all good things do, our honeymoon eventually ended and we had to come back to Reality, Arkansas, USA.  I found that reality hits particularly hard when one feels the first blast of humid 100-degree Arkansas heat after basking in tropical climes for a week and a half. Ouch. Such is life, I suppose. We now begin the arduous process of combining our things and figuring out where to squeeze everything in. I feel a garage sale coming on.  

For those of you wondering about Exit Strategy, we're alive and kicking! My bandmates kindly endured a bit of a layoff during the last few months so their guitar player could go get married, but things will be shifting into high gear soon. Follow us on Facebook for show updates and news. 

Political insanity continued in my absence. Mr. Obama seems to be getting more and more desparate as the days go by. Apparently our president stopped in for a chat with the *ahem* ladies of The View. Can he be serious?  Is this an attempt to reach the common American or something? I suppose at the least he added some much needed estrogen to the broadcast that day. 

That's all for today.  I'll come back later this week with some more thoughts and maybe a food tip or two.  Aloha!

Showers, smart fiancé, more grilling, brine that bird!

I'd like to start this post with congratulations for my lovely fiancé, who just found out she passed her NAPLEX exam and is now a licensed pharmacist. It is a goal she has been working towards for the last 8 years. Congratulations, baby! I love you and I am very, very proud.

We had a very nice wedding shower in Benton at Northside Church of Christ last Sunday. Lots of gifts were brought and the ladies there did a great job.  This was my first wedding shower, which I suppose is the way it's supposed to be for guys. We've got two more shower/receptions scheduled following the wedding. One will be at Pleasant Valley Church of Christ on Saturday, September 11th, and the other will be at 7th and Mueller Church of Christ on Sunday, September 19th. We both hope that all our friends and family can make it out to celebrate our marriage with us at one of these events. FYI - the bride and groom are registered at Belk, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart.

Did you know central Arkansas is one of the most naturally beautiful spots in our country?  Recent visits to Petit Jean Mountain, Pinnacle Mountain, and the Buffalo River have convinced me that there aren't many places in middle America that can compete with Arkansas' natural glory.  Head over to my Flickr page to see pictures from some of these visits.

One of our aforementioned shower gifts was a very nice Char-Broil grill given to us by Tiffany's parents Paul and Debra Parris.  Seeing as I have been grilling with a rusty old two-burner gas grill (purchased for $40 at a yard sale) for the past year, I was extra excited about this one. I've used it twice since getting it put together Monday evening (an adventure in itself).  What a difference good equipment makes! Consider last night's dinner: BBQ-spiced chicken breast (seen above).

Whenever I cook chicken (or pork, for that matter), I always begin with a brine. A brine is basically a saltwater solution that increases the juiciness of meats by osmosis. Basically, the salt in the brine moves back and forth between the water and the cells of the meat, taking moisture with it. While the salt continues to move in and out of the meat, the moisture is trapped in, resulting in a succulent and juicy cooked product. This process does take a bit of extra effort but trust me, it's worth it. Meats should be brined for at least an hour and up to overnight. Be sure to rinse your meat well after removing it from the brining solution.

The key to perfectly grilled chicken (regardless of the cut) is to incorporate dual-zone cooking. This concept is sound for both charcoal and propane grilling applications. The chicken should receive a quick sear on either side over high heat (roughly 4-5 min per side) before being transferred to lower heat to finish cooking. For gas grills, this is simple. Just set one burner to high heat and another to low, and you're done. If charcoal is your fuel of choice, bank the coals to either side of the grill so that there is a gap in the middle. Place a disposable pan filled 1/3 of the way up with water between the two mounds of coals, and you're ready to go. Cook the meat over the cooler section of the grill until the juices run clear and/or the meat hits an internal temperature of 160 degrees.  As always, allow the meat to rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting into it.

BBQ-Spiced Grilled Chicken w/Blueberry-Strawberry salad 


Ingredients:

For the chicken:

• 2lbs split chicken breasts, skin on
• BBQ spice rub of choice
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce of choice, warmed 
• 4 cups hot water
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• canola oil

For the salad:

• 1 pint strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 50/50 spring salad mix
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, sliced
• 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

To make the brine, combine water, brown sugar, and salt in a pot over medium heat. Heat, stirring occasionally, until dissolved. Allow brine to cool completely and pour into a large ziptop bag. Place chicken into bag with brine, making sure chicken is completely covered. Store in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to overnight.

Put all ingredients for the salad in a large bowl and toss to combine. Cover and store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Preheat grill, using dual zone setup described above. Remove chicken from fridge, pour out brine, and discard bag. Thoroughly rinse chicken and pat dry. Coat chicken with canola oil and generously top chicken with BBQ rub ( I use the Neely's recipe with a little added red pepper and garlic powder) and kosher salt. Be sure to rub spices into chicken. Place chicken, skin side down, onto high heat section of the grill and cook for about 5 minutes or until skin is crisp and dark grill lines appear. Flip chicken and cook for another 5 minutes. After both sides are seared, move chicken to the cooler section of the grill and cook until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees, turning occasionally. Once the internal temperature hits 160 degrees, brush BBQ sauce onto both sides of chicken and remove to a cooling rack Allow chicken to set before removing. Serve with remaining BBQ sauce on the side alongside the salad topped with vinaigrette of choice.  The end result should look something like this:

mmmm.....