Lately I’ve been craving something hearty and meaty, so I recreated my old favorite stuffed cabbage rolls recipe and thought I would share it with you, the folks I love so much. Cabbage rolls are just so perfect for chilly weather, which make sense when you know that they come from the cold climates of Russia and Eastern Europe. They can also be found on Middle Eastern family menus, where they’re more often served with yogurt and herbs native to that area.

I always end up getting a ton of cabbage in my winter CSA box, and I’m always trying to ways to put it to use. I usually end up making colcannon mashed potatoes or corned beef and cabbage (especially for Saint Patrick’s Day!), but right now got a ton of ground meat in the freezer, and you can only make so many burgers. So stuffed cabbage rolls it is!

I hope you enjoy these stuffed cabbage rolls – they’re up there as one of my favorite recipes. My Ukrainian step-grandma used to make them, so I always remember them fondly.

I’m sure I’m not the only one with a favorite memory of their mom or grandma’s stuffed cabbage rolls recipe – what do you remember from your childhood?

Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this easy stuffed cabbage rolls recipe!

It’s almost St Patrick’s Day – do you have your corned beef recipe ready? Please don’t tell me that you’re going to head out to your local box-type grocery store and buy some cryovaced mass of artificial coloring and flavoring. No, no, no. You’re going to find some high quality beef and brine your own at home, right? Ok, good.

Always the curious type, I decided to brine my own corned beef for Saint Patrick’s Day a few years ago. Before then I had never brined/cured/charcuterized anything, so this was a big step for me. Meat is such a volatile thing when it comes to letting it sit out, and as someone who already has a few digestive issues, let’s just say I’m a bit paranoid. Actually, let’s say I’m A LOT paranoid.

A while back, I did a review of the River Cottage Meat Book. It’s no secret that I love this book, so Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was the first person I consulted about how to go about making my own corned beef at home. An always patient guide, he didn’t let me down – and my adoration for his book runs even deeper after this project.

After a fair amount of panic that I’d screwed up the whole process (as anyone who saw my frantic Chow forum posts over that week can attest), the corned beef was amazing. I blushed while my guests gushed, and all the while I was writing a love letter to Hugh in my head. Now it’s a yearly tradition in my house. I hope you’ll consider doing the same.

What’s the best way to cook corned beef?

Below is the original recipe for corned beef that appears in both the River Cottage Cookbook and the River Cottage Meat Book. Ten Speed Press has graciously posted a PDF of the recipe online as well.

Give yourself about two weeks before the big day to allow your brisket enough time to properly brine and rinse. Once it’s done, you can store it in the fridge for a week or two. After all, it’s already been cured.

This corned beef recipe was so easy, you probably couldn’t screw it up if you tried. Why settle for the crappy store-bought corned beef and cabbage when you can make something tastier and more natural at home?

What’s stopping you?

Here are a few other recipes you might like:

• Colcannon Mashed Potatoes
• Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
• Pan to Oven Baked Pork Chops

3/17/09

It’s an age-old question – how long do you cook pork chops to make sure they’re safe to eat while still keeping a tender, buttery texture? When it comes to cooking pork, there’s a fine line between perfect doneness and the consistency of tack leather. It’s not hard at all to learn to cook perfect pork chops with your natural instincts. And if all else fails, cheat!

Pork cooking safety details

To kill the dreaded trichinella, salmonella and other nasties, pork must be cooked to 160°F. Trichinella is also killed when pork is frozen at -5°F for 25 days, or to -22°F for 25 hours. (source: Center for Disease Control)

I prefer my pork a little pinker than 160°F, so I heat it to 155°F – meaning that I cook the meat to 150°F, remove it from the oven and let it rest for ten minutes covered with foil, which brings the core temp up to 155°F before it cools down.

How long do you cook pork chops?

So how long do you cook pork chops, and how do you know when your pork chops are done? It really depends on the cut you’re cooking, its thickness and the temperature of your oven. The best way to test how done your meat is… is by touching it. This simple touch-test tutorial from the Exploratorium is really helpful for learning to gauge meat’s doneness by touch. (tutorial found at Simply Recipes – thanks, Elise!)

Behold, the digital meat thermometer

All that said, I cheat and use a digital meat thermometer that beeps when the meat is at a temperature I specify. I tend to multitask in the kitchen, and it’s completely characteristic for me to forget about what’s in the oven while I’m manning multiple pots and frying pans on the stovetop. My little $20 meat thermometer has drastically reduced the “oops factor” I tend to experience when short-roasting meats in the oven. Thank you modern technology.

How long do you cook pork chops for, and what are your favorite ways to tell when they are done?

Other posts about pork:

• Pan to Oven Baked Pork Chops Recipe – Wasabimon
• Grilled Pork Chops Recipe with Soy Sauce, Cumin, Lime, and Oregano – Kalyn’s Kitchen
• Braised Pork Chops with Apples – Just Braise

When I created this pan to oven baked pork chop recipe, I was celebrating something special. Here in the Bay Area we’re lucky enough to have dozens of farm-fresh CSA boxes to choose from, but recently a group of pork ranchers and foodie organizations banded together to bring us a bi-monthly pork CSA program. The CSA provides some of the best meat I’ve ever eaten – organic, free-range, locally-raised pork from a handful of different heritage breeds (Berkshires, Ossabaws, and Mangalitsas, in case you’re interested).

And in case you’re wondering how long you should cook your pork chops for, here’s a great post on pork chop cooking times.

More pork chop recipes from other food blogs:

• Mom’s Perfect Pork Chops Recipe – Simply Recipes
• Vietnamese Chops – The Food Section
• Chops Simmered in Milk – Meathenge

*Sometimes the word “thingie” just works best.

I’d like you to meet my friend Carrie Oliver of the Artisan Beef Institute. If you’re not familiar with what she’s doing, you should be! Carrie is single-handedly carrying out her mission to educate the world about the nuanced flavor of beef by organizing beef tastings all over the country.

Did you just stumble over the term beef tasting? What, haven’t you ever thought about the fact that one particular beef tastes different from another? Well, listen up: “Like fine wines, beef flavor and texture are influenced by breed, growing region, diet and the unique skills of those who raise it.” With this in mind, Carrie launched the Artisan Beef Institute.

She explains it a lot better than I do, so here’s a snippet from her website to explain the purpose behind the project:

“The beef that you serve can be as interesting – and rewarding – as the finest wines at your table. It begins with knowing and learning more about what’s on your plate and discovering that, like a fine wine, a lot goes into raising better cattle. From the selection of the breed to the grasslands and the feed, today’s artisanal ranchers are producing the finest offerings ever.”

“We have gone to the source and selected some of the best styles – “varietals” if you like – of beef available today and tapped expert butchers to carefully age and cut each to perfection. From our homes to yours, let us celebrate the diversity, the art, and the achievement of those who are crafting the very best in beef.”

Photo by Lady Leet

Seriously – it’s just like a wine tasting, only with beef.

I recently attended one of Carrie’s beef tastings, hosted by local foodie braintrust Canvas Underground. I’d have to say that this was one of the more eye-opening experiences I’ve had in a long time. Being an overzealous meat activist, I was already aware that there were flavor differences between cattle breeds, and even between the individual cows themselves. What I hadn’t expected, however, was that beef carried with it a wide variety of subtle flavors, very similar to wine.

Think about it – have you ever really tasted your beef? Do you detect different tones in the flavor, like grassiness, lambiness or earthy mushroom-like notes? Does the meat have a short flavor, or does it linger on your tongue? How was the texture? Was it buttery or more chewy?

With the help of chef Peter Jackson, food maven Vera Devera, and artisan beef purveyors Seth Nischke and Tracy Smaciarz, tasting attendees sampled six different beef varieties, ranging in breed, diet (grass fed/grain finished/etc) and aging method (dry or wet aged, and for how long). With Carrie as captain, our little culinary ship was surprised and impressed by the differences in the varieties we sampled.

Photo by Lady Leet

A Beefy Epiphany

What did I take away from the tasting? Well, it was surprising to say the least. Carrie had us rate the beefs according to texture, impression (how long did the flavor last?) and personality (was the flavor reserved, direct or adventurous?). The six varieties I sampled varied greatly, much more that I’d considered they would:

• The first variety had a nice, reserved flavor that seemed to disappear as soon as I tasted it. This one tasted a little more “irony” that I expected, and the texture had a nice tooth.
• Number two was chewy and verging on tough, though the flavor was straightforward and tasted slightly of the ocean – almost like seaweed.
• Three also had a direct flavor, though this one was more sweet and irony than the previous. The flavor lingered for quite a while after tasting and the texture felt nice and solid under my teeth.
• Four was earthy from the start, with a slight mushroom flavor and peppery undertones. The flavor was brief, and the texture was soft and buttery – this was my favorite variety.
• The fifth selection had a nice grassy flavor with a sweet aftertaste. There were some distinctly “lamby” notes, and the flavor lingered on my pallet for a few seconds after tasting. Texture-wise, this one was a touch chewy without being annoyingly so.
• The sixth selection was more “mushroomy” – not in a bad way – while its flavor disappeared almost immediately after I swallowed. It had a nice bite and didn’t seem chewy at all.
• Here’s a PDF copy of the varieties we tasted, which were kept secret until after the tasting was done.

I didn’t think it was possible for me to have even more regard for the artisan beef industry, but Carrie pushed the envelope and left me reeling. If the grass-fed, pasture-raised beef I eat now has so many delicate nuances, then I shudder to remember the flat, muddy, stessed-out flavor of the generic beef I grew up on. Ew.

Photo by Inuyaki

So, tell me: have you ever thought about what your beef actually tastes like? I challenge you to sit down and savor your next bite, sans seasoning. What do you find when you really think about the flavor of the meat you’re eating?

Photo by Lady Leet

Other posts from tasting attendees:

• Whispering from a Beef Sommelier
• Recap: Artisanal Beef Tasting

Edited to add the list of the list of the ranchers who beef we tasted, their styles of beef, and how to find more of their beef:

• US Wellness Meats: JF O’Neill Packing, Omaha, NE; Quality Processing Services, Omaha, NE.
• Open Space Meats: Yosemite Valley Beef Packing, Merced, CA; Sonoma Direct, Sonoma County, CA
• The Oliver Ranch Company: C&C Processing, Diller, NE. Also available directly from Colorado’s Best Beef though they use a different slaughterhouse and butcher.
• Montana Ranch Brand: JF O’Neill Packing, Omaha, NE; Brian O’Neill & employees.
• KK-Bar Ranch: Johansen Meats, Orland CA.
• Scott River Ranch: B & D Meats (Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth), Roseburg, OR; Bart Guthrie.

Why do I suddenly have the urge to create a new rack of lamb recipe? Well, last week we received a few of our animals back from the butcher, so we’re swimming in farm-fresh meat here at Chez Wasabimon. Our freezer is packed with a lamb, a goat, half a cow and another animal that my mother in law has sworn me to secrecy over. To say we’re stocked would be an understatement.

This rack of lamb recipe was inspired by Monica Bhide’s newest book, Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen. I’ve gotten up close and personal with this book over the past few months, and it’s inspired me to experiment with a lot of spices that I didn’t have a lot of experience with. I have a ridiculously stocked spice cabinet, and while I use most of what’s in there, I tend to stick to solid recipes and not really explore on my own. I’m stoked to be playing more now, with much success!

This rack of lamb recipe is nice and fennel-y with just the right amount of heat. If you like it uber-spicy, feel free to add another chili to the mix or up the amount of black pepper. If you don’t know how to French a rack of lamb, it’s actually really easy – here’s a video to show you how. If you just can’t bring yourself to trim your gorgeous rack, ask your butcher to do it for you. Or better yet, have him show you how so you can do it yourself next time.

I like to make veggie stir-fry in the skillet I used to brown the lamb, making sure to put the lamby fond to good use. Heat the pan over medium heat, add 1/4 cup of white wine and scrape loose the meaty bits with a spatula. Toss in two tablespoons of olive oil and two handfuls of broccoli florets, then stir-fry until broccoli is bright green and tender but still a little crunchy. This, alongside some brown rice, makes the perfect side for the recipe below.

Take a peek at a few of the other recipes I’ve made from Modern Spice:

• Whole Roast Chicken with Fenugreek
• Rice Pudding and Mango Parfait Recipe
• Beef Stew with Coconut