Lamb Dijon Stew

The mustard from the last post reminded me of a lamb stew my mother had made growing up. She sent me a copy of the recipe (book unknown--I will ask her). She had changed basically every measurement, but the concept is the same. I changed them again according to what I had available.


INGREDIENTS:

• 6 tbsp all-purpose flour, not sifted
• 1 1/4 tsp salt (estimated)
• 1/2 tsp pepper (estimated)
• Olive oil for saute
• 2 lbs butterflied leg of lamb, cut into 1" cubes
• 2 lbs Russet potatoes, peeled
• 6 tbsp homemade mustard
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (I used bottled)
• 2 tbsp processed chopped garlic (use 1 head fresh if time)
• Most of one package (32 oz) Pacific low sodium beef broth--mixed use (see procedure).

PROCEDURE:

1. Began heating 20 oz broth (recommended quantity) in slow cooker.
2. Mix flour, salt, pepper in a zip-loc bag
3. Add meat to bag and shake to coat. (Did not work--too much meat. Use mixing bowl.)
4. Heat oil in wide steel pot. Brown all meat together over med-high heat, stirring occasionally until browned. (~10 minutes). The oil was absorbed by the first layer of meat to make contact--not sure it actually did anything. Maybe try omitting?
5. At this point, there was a caked-on layer of flour at the bottom of the pan. I deglazed it using ~8 oz more of the beef broth. Might as well use all of it next time. Transfered deglazed mixture into slow cooker.
6. Combined all ingredients in slow cooker.
7. Cooked 4 hours on low.
8. Switched to high 2 more hours.
9. Allowed to cool, partially covered, for 1 hour before transferring to refrigerator.

Served with wide egg noodles.

NOTES:

• Really exceptional
• Recipe must have been written for very high sodium broth--this needed a lot of salt at the end
• Use even more mustard next time
• Recipe originally called for new potatoes, unpeeled; I used peeled russet because I had to minimize texture for a dental procedure.
• Recipe also called for frozen green peas, added 15 minutes before end of cooking; left out for same reason
• Recipe called for 3/4 tsp dried rosemary, which I did not have
• Put both back in next time

Mustard, take 1

I'm trying this recipe:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Spicy-Guinness-Mustard

Method actually used:

1 bottle Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
10 oz brown mustard seeds
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper by eyeball (~ 1/2 tsp)
~1⁄4 tsp. ground cinnamon
~1⁄4 tsp. ground cloves
~1⁄4 tsp. ground nutmeg
~1⁄4 tsp. ground allspice

I did not have a 1/4 tsp. measuring spoon, so I estimated based on a 1/2 tsp. measure. Combined dry ingredients in a 4 cup Pyrex dish. Added vinegar. Added beer very slowly. It foamed vigorously. Waited for foam to settle (approx 3 minutes). Stirred gently for another 30 seconds. At this point, there was a residual foam scum at the top, which I left. Covered with rubberized plastic Pyrex lid at 6:30pm on 7/21. Placed in shaded area with ambient temperature 69-71F.

There was about 1/4" of residual liquid above the seed line after 2 days of brining. The mixture was a deep color of brown. Transferred mixture to food processor at 5:45pm on 7/23. Recommended 3 minutes of grinding left an unpleasantly coarse texture. Ground for substantially longer (perhaps 5-7 minutes total). Color and consistency changed to that of traditional deli mustard.

Overwhelmingly strong in first minutes, but had mellowed substantially after just 15 minutes. Left a small portion for some guests. By 45 minutes after grinding, the flavor of the left-out portion was sublime: sharp but multifaceted, with the blend of spices each coming out in their separate turn.

Update 7/25 AM: Flavor had mellowed enough to be used in beans and greens for breakfast. I changed my mind about the coarseness; I think it looked coarser than it was. I would grind it for less time--perhaps try the three minutes.

I might try making it with Weierbacher Heresy (Russian Imperial Stout), and double the nutmeg and allspice, leaving out the black pepper. Still brown seeds, though.

Chili pibil

I had a craving for a chili with a cocoa base, and this hit the spot. It reminded me of cochinita pibil, although it has little in common with it--hence the name.

1 1/4 lb "German" sausage from Whole Foods (prefer Andouille if available)

1 lb fresh tomatoes

1 ripe red bell pepper

1 large Spanish onion, chopped

1 head garlic, crushed

~10 oz dried small red beans, cooked to medium tenderness

~3/4 cup frozen sweet corn kernels

1 tbsp. cocoa

1 tbsp. paprika

Cinnamon (by eyeball--probably <1 tsp)

Cumin (by eyeball--about 1/2 as much as cinnamon)

Olive oil for saute

What I actually did:

1. Shred tomatoes and pepper using a hand grater or food processor.

2. Heat a heavy iron stew pot to med-high.

3. Uncase sausage into pot, and put casings in. Add spices and cocoa; sear. Remove from pot and set aside.

4. Put in olive oil and let heat briefly. Add onions and garlic. Spices had stuck to bottom, so scraped to deglaze with water that onions were casting off. This was a little dicey.

5. When onions were moderately well-cooked, put in tomatoes, pepper, meat mixture and all remaining ingredients. Brought to a simmer, reduced to low and let cook, covered, for 10 minutes.

I served this with shredded cabbage, quinoa and Louisiana Hot Sauce. It was excellent. I'd probably put the spices when the onions were almost finished, so that they could still dry-cook a little bit but not cake onto the bottom of the pan. The corn looked distracting but the added sweetness was pleasant. Perhaps grated carrots could serve the same purpose. I wish I could have made the whole thing a deeper hue of reddish brown.

Blog --> lab notebook

I've decided to resume this blog--not so much as a blog, but merely as a public cooking notebook. My descriptions will be sparse, and my measurements likely will be even more imprecise than before. But it will be enough for me to figure out what I've done and what I liked, and there's no reason to do that in secret.