Coming to Terms with Thai Beef - Part Two

The beef stroganoff of Friday before last was so well received that I sold out leaving some customers feeling rather disappointed. In an attempt to remedy this, stroganoff will be back on Friday hopefully better than ever. Yes, as before, we will be using local beef from the market and I thought I would share with my readers some of the prep that goes onto making our beef so tasty.

Now in Europe and America, stroganoff is made with fairly tender beef; not so with our local beef. But all one has to do is make a few adjustments and the outcome is in my opinion even better than Western beef.

First, the beef is aged, unwrapped or hung, in the fridge for as long as possible, but a minimum of two days. This dries the meat out a bit and makes it easier to see and work with. After aging, any silver skin, excess fat or gristle is trimmed out as much as possible and the meat cut into strips.

The next step is an idea incorporated from Thai cooking: I "dehd diow" the meat. This simply means putting the strips of beef in the sun for one day in much the same way one would make South African biltong or North American jerky. This step dries the meat out in preparation for the actual cooking.

We begin the cooking by browning the meat, which is why the dehd diow is so important; wet beef will not brown. Poorly browned meat will affect the taste and color of the final result. After browning, the met is set aside and seasoned. Meanwhile, in the same pan, we brown our onions until they are golden, using the moisture in the onions to scrape up all the coagulated juices. Finally, we add back our beef and some liquid (wine, stock, water etc.). Cover and let cook slowly until tender. This could take as much as two or three hours. Patience is the key.

To finish we add a flour and butter roux and some sauteed mushrooms and cook only until the flavors blend and the sauce thickens. Sour cream is added at the end for additional flavor and texture. Et voila! The best Beef Stroganoff this side of Vladivostok.

Liver and the Russian Tea Room

Growing up, I hated liver. Normally my mother's cooking was superb, but I guess no one can get it right all of the time, not even her. Her liver was sufficient reason for an impromptu fast; 'sorry Mom can't eat tonight, going swimming tomorrow'. Never mind the logic, any reason not to eat shoe leather which tasted and smelled like it had already walked a thousand miles.

But then fast forward about fifteen liver-less years away from New York and I found myself working back in the City; in midtown Manhattan. One day, a colleague suggested we take lunch at the Russian Tea Room, one of the most famous eateries in town. The RTR is down the street from the renowned Carnegie Hall and is one of those places frequented by actors, musicians and celebrities.A place where the cast of a new Broadway show would go to await the morning papers and the make or break reviews.

Although I was almost a native New Yorker, I had never eaten in the Tea Room and was excited to do some possible celebrity watching. I was not disappointed, for as soon as we walked in, there were three or four faces I immediately recognized seated in the plush red upholstered booths. The walls were adorned with photos of stars of screen and stage and I suddenly felt that this was a really cool place to be.

But then we were seated and the menu came out; my reverie instantly vanished as I tried suppress a gasp at the prices. It would take about two or three month to recover from this one meal. Not to worry, said my friend who could see my distress, the special of the day is always reasonably priced. The special of the day, of course, was LIVER! So now, the choice was simple: go bankrupt or eat liver; I chose the latter.

Mind you, this was not my mother's liver. This was calves liver sauteed in butter with onions and new potatoes. But to me at the time, liver was liver and I hated it all. It could not be rehabilitated; it could never be made palatable. I am not only not embarrassed, but happy to say that I was dead wrong.To this day that meal ranks as one of the best I have ever had. And of course since then I have been a devotee of liver.

I know I can never duplicate the succulence of RTR liver but this Friday 19 February 2016 we will be serving beef liver with bacon, onions and baked potato with sour cream. I can personally attest that liver is one of those things one either likes or hates. But if you are in the latter category, come on by and give us a try. Maybe Milford's Corner will become your Russian Tea Room.

Coming to Terms with Thai Beef

 Ever since I've been in Thailand my Western friends and acquaintances have had nothing good to say about Thai beef. There seem to be three major criticisms: first, it is sold too fresh. Due to the traditional lack of refrigeration, Thai beef is not aged but tends to be sold on the day of slaughter; sometimes it is still warm and twitching. Second, the butchering tends to be random; the cuts we are familiar with in the West are generally not recognizable. And third, of course, it is chewy. All of these criticisms are valid.  However, I believe there are things one can do to make Thai beef not only more palatable but positively delicious.

My home sits in the middle of the rice paddy. These days, development is coming to the area but has not yet quite arrive. So in the meantime, what used to be rice paddy is being used by cattle to graze. They eat good grass (and other stuff like my mangoes) and look strong and healthy. This led me to think that maybe we are getting spoiled. Beef from home is grain fed, marbled and super tender. That’s what we are used to and that’s what we demand. But what about good grass fed beef; that which most of the world eats? Maybe we simply have to treat it a little differently. Ok, it will never taste quite like home, but it is good, fresh and flavorful. So in pursuit of these ideas I am undertaking the challenge of coming to terms with Thai beef.

Last Friday’s special was the first salvo in the mission: roast beef au jus. There were certainly a few tricks involved in preparing it, including meat selection, aging, trimming, and final cooking procedures. Most important of all though was patience; some things just take time and you cannot rush mother nature. I must say however that I thought the roast beef came out rather well as did my customers for there was none left. In fact, I thought it surpassed imported beef in terms of taste and overall flavor.

The special for Friday 12 February 2016 (after 1700hrs) will be a continuation of the challenge, this time with beef stroganoff. This is a dish I have never prepared with any beef, so it will be a bit more of a challenge than it might otherwise be.

Come on out and judge for yourself!