The Inexpensive Filet Mignon: Flat Iron

First off I'd like to apologize to anyone following the blog that I've been absent for so long. But the other day I was walking in the supermarket and was excited to see this inexpensive cut of meat among the other cuts and realized this was a great topic to do a blog post about, to help educate others about this very delicious but unknown cut of meat.

This cut of beef comes from the Shoulder area of the beast, particularly in an area not thought to be very tender. You may have seen this steak at your grocery store but not have heard about it, it is usually referred to as "Top Blade Steak". This piece of meat has been neglected for 100s of years until 2002. Researchers found a way to cut the Top Blade section in a way that removes the hard connective tissue that runs down the middle of it. As a result, you get the 2nd most tender cut of beef on the entire cow, after filet mignon. Now, what most people don't realize, is this cut of beef generally sells for HALF of what fillet mignon sells for. Imagine eating fillet mignon for half price??? Why wouldn't you pack your freezer with this meat??



This just looks mouthwatering to me, doesn't it to you!






This is typically how grocery stores are selling them seal tight.






You will have to pay close attention to your beef as most of the time the beef processors don't get all of the connective tissues and silver skin.





I used a simple boning knife to quickly clean up the connective tissues and we had this fabulous steak for dinner for you want to guess how much for? $4 for THE WHOLE THING!




Unfortunately Costco or Sam's Club doesn't sell this cut of meat...yet.

Cookbooks I want!

One thing is for certain, people don't go into the restaurant industry to get rich, unless you're the owner of the establishment. As a recent culinary student grad from New England Culinary, I still as of yet, have not amassed a very good library of books. I spent today drooling threw 100s of cookbooks and culinary texts on Amazon.com this afternoon and have chosen 7 that I am most interested in purchasing or receiving as a gift. If you have one of these books and DON'T WANT IT anymore, let me know.

If you HAVE one of these books, and aren't looking to give it/sell it away tell me your thoughts about it. Was it worth purchasing, do you ever use the book, do you or don't you recommend paying full price for the book. The very first book on my list is Sauces by James Peterson. This book isn't a casual how to make a good BBQ sauce "Hi I'm Rachel mindless Ray" kind of book. The first several chapters go into detail about sauces and can be a bit technical for the average cook. What the book does though is help take meals to the next level. I stumbled on this book in my culinary school library and have been wanting it every since. However it's about $50 at Barnes & Noble. I know you can get books online on ebay etc for "half" price but I don't really like getting things used unless they're in excellent condition. I'm going to have to save up for it I guess.


The 2nd book on my list is the Flavor Bible by Karen Page. I have always been very unartistic when it comes to pairing food flavors. That is a major problem if someone wants to be chef. You have to be creative all the time, and it can get tiring or boring if you are uninspired, which happens to me frequently. I have to constantly be motived and curious. This book, I want because several people have recommended it to me as a guide to pairing flavors and recommendations on how to own the recipe as we say in the industry. Or, make it your own, make it different which can be hard if you don't have creativity. This book apparently helps with that with advice from Chefs from all over the country.


Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis is pretty much a no brainer why I want this book. Italian food made by a gorgeous 1st generation Italian cook with her own show? Yeah, plus it comes highly recommended. She's one of the very few people on The Food Network, who can actually cook in real life. Most are just personalities like Rachel Ray. I love italian food, it would be fun to get this and try out some of the recipes.






These 2 books I have lumped together for a reason, they are both culinary classics, tried and true. Generations of people have learned how to cook using these 2 books. The first, The Joy of Cooking has been around 78 years! It's gone through 9 revisions and has nearly 4000 recipes in it. Any decent chef should have a copy, for some reason I don't yet... On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee is a super classic book that should be used as a reference guide in a kitchen. Yet another classic book, I don't know why I haven't bought a copy of yet.


href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJD21Rr1dl7lRzg4yY7awENUrP6wYpAiyH6tiY_cJq1R5C82WhyphenhyphenPeRV1c-mHJ1nAxqKNp7plWALv35Ot1-zbE-dZ45grEUBbUzHgGPicNsttNETILrMmQpafrQ9R3o29DHUQZ-NIlsZCM/s1600-h/images_7.jpeg">Charcuterie The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing is a book about a subject I am very interested in learning more about. At New England Culinary, I had a Meat Fabrication Chef who was incredible at Charcuterie. He spent 3 days once curing and making his own bacon and smoked it. It was by far the most spectacular bacon I ever had. I could only dream to ever make bacon like that again. This book is a highly recommend guide to the topic, so I'm interested in knowing your thoughts, do you own it? Have you ever heard about it?


href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7oSGiQzLX0HbUWCwd2s-HuVdSvaf-p-3A39nd8FBAG5H3SkAte6NBYSSDeBGiche102sB8s-KXAbFp7uJChlWgfDVc1Y30ltkQ51V8errtaCDZI8TBoVhdahENZPIOcscT4ABioHv8Tg/s1600-h/images_2.jpeg"> Alice Waters The Art of Simple foods has been on a list of mine since I started Culinary school and I haven't ever gotten a hold of it, mostly because of lack of cash. However, I find her very inspirational. She believes in taking the absolute highest quality of natural good food, and making simple food out of it. If you have read my post about The Best Pizza Restaurant Ever post about American Flatbread in Vermont, they emulate her passion and style. Her book explains things simply and teaches how to modify and substitute which is very important to being creative.




To eat meat, or not to eat meat? That is the question of this book. It examines the meat industry from all angles from what the animals eat, to how they're slaughtered etc. I've heard people call it a strong argument for becoming a vegetarian. My interest is purely curiosity. Among foodies this book comes highly recommended to educate oneself about the world of food.

So this is my current list. Do you have any of these? Do you have them and not want them? Send em to me! I'll take them off your hands. Do you have them and love them? Tell me why I should buy them. Are they so-so and should only get them used? Tell me your thoughts,

Until later,

Mormon Chef,

Matthew Glenn

The Best Pizza Restaurant...EVER!

What makes a great pizza? Good sauce? Good dough? Good ingredients? Good Value? Well, in American Flatbread's case, try all of the above. American Flatbread is the MECCA of ALL NATURAL PIZZA. Located in the downtown area of Burlington,Vermont I discovered this little place back in March of 2007 when I returned from an internship in Charleston, South Carolina. Organic everything, mostly local (regional at least) and ever so fresh. Why am I giving this restaurant total props and national free advertising? Because this is how a restaurant SHOULD BE. There are very few negatives about this place. The pizza is even cooked in a giant wood burning hearth.If I had the money to, I would live at this restaurant, that's how good their pizza is.

How good is this place? I went to the New England Culinary Institute probably one of the best Culinary Institutes in the country, and the chefs at N.E.C.I. LOVED this place. So, if other chefs are excited about your restaurant, YOU'RE GOOD. American Flatbread has a great dough recipe which makes a great pizza, we haven't had bad one yet. Their sauce has just the right amount of seasoning and isn't over powering. It's made with slow roasted, all organic, tomatoes. The dough is made from 100% organic wheat milled into white flour, locally I might add, and uses filtered water, Kosher Salt, and fresh yeasts.

Here's a sampling of their menu which is very simple, but elegant. The Medicine Wheel Pizza: Organic Tomato Sauce, with 3 cheeses & fresh herbs is a great basic pizza for the cheese lovers. The New Vermont Sausage pizza is my personal favorite: Dulcos & Thompson Farm Fresh Pork in homemade nitrate-free Maple-Fennel Sausage, baked with Sun Dried tomatoes, Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms, Cheese & Herbs. Not bad for $17.50 and it feeds at least 2 people. Pepperoni & Peppers is my 2nd favorite made with Nitrate free Pepperoni baked with Organic Green Peppers, Red Onions, Cheeses & herbs. Now, you may not be THAT impressed by these 3 pizzas, however, every week (sometimes daily) they have new pizzas that their employees create as specials. What is very cool about these, is MOST of the time they are things grown right there locally in the Burlington area. They aren't totally vegetarian either, they have specials that involve beef/steak and sometimes free range chicken.

For you NON-LDS readers, they have an incredible brewery there, where they brew 3 of their own recipe beers, right there in the restaurant. They have a window where you can see the guys working. Even more exciting for you beer lovers, is that have a huge stock of micro beers, most from Vermont locally, and even regionally. American Flatbread is located in beautiful downtown Burlington Vermont, you can see it here on google.

America's Healthiest Restaurants????? BAH!

So the other day on Yahoo.com "Health Experts" David ZincZenko and Matt Goulding post a list of America's Healthiest Restaurants, fast food joints that is. To read the report yourself go here. Anyway, I about fell on the floor reading this. Really? Subway, McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Chick-fil-A????? How much did these companies pay these "Health Experts"???

Now in their defense these experts are trying to help you eat at these places and eat healthy at the same time. My question is "Why Bother?" I don't eat at McDonalds and Wendy's to "eat healthy. If I want to eat health I go to a grocery store, buy the ingredients, and eat AT HOME! Replacing the Original Chicken Sandwich, fries and the milkshake at a Chick-Fil-A restaurant, with Chargrilled Chicken sandwich, fruit and water, which brings me to my question "WHY BOTHER??" I go to Chick-Fil-A TO GET A FRIGGIN Fried Chicken sandwich, Milkshake and Fries!!! If you don't want that kind of food DON'T EAT THERE!

Okay so maybe you're part of a group and everyone else is going to eat there but you're not into that kind of food, I get it you don't want to be left out. However, if you're going solo, what's the point??? There are 1000s of other local restaurants in major cities around the world far better for your health than, this list of "Healthy American Restaurants". And if you're such a health freak that you're counting calories, FRIGGIN STAY HOME!

Heavenly Hot Cakes

Pancakes with sour cream? Delicish!

4 eggs
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup cake flour
2 cups sour cream
3 Tablespoons sugar

Mix all ingredients until well blended, or even in a blender if you choose.

Back from Salisbury

He people, if anyone cares, I'm back from Salisbury. I'll have an interesting story or food recipe up soon, I'm just starting to get my life organized again.


Keep cooking!

Matthew

To Whom it may concern...

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything new in a few weeks. I've been out of town in Salisbury, North Carolina on a restaurant opening and have pretty much doing nothing but eat, sleep, breath, Olive Garden for the last 7 or 8 days....


There are some new items coming from Olive Garden that when I have a few more minutes I will blog about,

until then,

God Bless

Coming to an Olive Garden near you....

So I've mentioned already that I'm doing an opening for Olive Garden in Salisbury, NC last week and this week. I've learned a ton about the company and the standards they have and am grateful for the chance I have to be apart of the opening.

During the week I've had the chance to see some new menu items that are coming out to a Olive Garden near you:

Lasagna Frittas: Fried Lasagna essentially. This a fried appetizer, and it's a pretty decent one at that. Platted up on a rectangle white plate with 2 ounces of Alfredo Sauce for a bed. The 3 squares are cut in half and arranged like tombstones in the sauce. Then you take 2 ounces of marinara sauce and ladle it over the top of the squares. Italian cheese blend is then sprinkled over the top of that, and it's served! It's good, though I'm not sure of the price at the moment.

Zeppoli: A dessert and basically a fried doughnut. www.allrecipes.com has a decent recipe online. On this dish, 8 pieces of dough are fried off for 3 minutes and put in a sugar bag which is shaken and put on a plate with a cup of chocolate sauce.

There is also another dessert which is pretty good and will rival the Chocolate black tie mousse.

Today's Word

Today's word from the Food Lover's Companion is important if you ever plan to visit 4 or 5 star restaurants. It's actually 2, but here it is: "Prix Fixe". 

Pronounced PREE FEEKS it is a french term meaning "fixed price", referring to a complete meal served by a restaurant or hotel for a preset price. Sometimes a menu offers several choices for each course for this set price. 

Many upscales restaurants use this type of menu to ensure they get top dollar for their meals, however this can limit the guests willing to pay the usually higher prices. Usually restaurants that use the Prix Fixe menu change their menu daily, and offer 3 to 5 courses for this fixed price. For more info on the history of Prix Fixe see wikipedia.org on the topic. 

Today's Word

I hope this will be a regular feature on my blog as a way to educated myself and others about the culinary world. I found my copy of the Food Lover's Companion from my days at New England Culinary Institute, and decided that every day I would flip the book open and look for a random word I wasn't familiar with, and look it up. Hope you enjoy it:

Today's word is: Marmite: A tall, covered, straight-sided cooking pot from France, used for long-cooking stews and dishes such as Cassoulet and Pot-Au-Feu. It's usually made of EARTHENWARE. Petites marmites are identically shaped miniature  covered pots used as soup bowls. Here is what a Petite marmite looks like:

Dressings: Southern Ranch

Southern Ranch Dressing:

Super tasty, Super good, and oh so un-healthy!

This recipe makes a quart of dressing:

2 Cups of Mayo

1 Cup of Sour Cream

3/4 Cup of buttermilk

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

2 tablespoons of black pepper

1 tablespoon of Salt

1.5 tablespoons of fresh minced parsley 

Mix ingredients thoroughly and refrigerate when done. Makes a great dip for a Superbowl Party, or for salad dressing!