Christmas Dinner. Just those words evoke images of red and green table cloths, sparkling china (the best) and candles amidst greenery at the centerpiece. Maybe a turkey, ham or prime rib roast with all the trimmings as the main course.

What about on Alderspring?

This year we had Christmas dinner at our older friends, Gordon and Auntie Em on their spread up the Lemhi Valley. Their house is a very cozy log home, handcrafted some 40 years ago by Gordon himself. It is an octagonal home built of local lodgepole pine and weathered boards salvaged from an old gold mine in the nearby mountains. The floor is paved with multicolored flagstones gathered by Gordon all over the adjacent mountains. A wood fire’s heat permeated the house, overwhelming the zero degree chill trying to creep in from outside.

It was in this setting that we sat down to dinner. Auntie Em always takes great care to make us very comfortable while setting us down to a beautifully placed table.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

It really all started the night before when I pulled a 7 lb beef brisket that we raised out of its vacuum pack and introduced it to the world. Auntie Em had a huge steel pan that looked as if it was made for brisket. I plopped it in there, and then we looked at it.

“What now?” Asked Em. “Any water?”

Caryl thought we should add some. “No more than half the height of the beef.”

I agreed. Otherwise we would end up with boiled beef. I had barbeque ideas. Not barbeque sauce type like in Aisle 6 of Wal-Mart, but ‘Cue Joint ‘BB Cue. The real live smokin’ Joe southern backwoods ‘Cue Joint brisket, with the bark on.

Auntie Em pushed us over that edge. “How ‘bout some dill pickle juice?”

Now this wasn’t ordinary pickle juice. Auntie Em and my girls made these pickles last August from home grown and picked spices, dill and cukes. And garlic. This juice was the real dilly garlic deal. And not some cheesy white vinegar, either. Pure apple cider. Just one step down from apple jack.

So in went the Mason jar of juice and up went the oven and in went the brisket. No lid. Five hundred degrees. Nine-thirty-five PM. After it browned nicely, Em popped the lid on and turned the oven down to 200 and said nighty-night. And then Caryl and I and 7 girls wandered off in the cold along the candlelit trail through the aspen grove to the Honeymoon Cabin for a wonderful nights rest.

Next morning around 11 AM, Caryl, Em and I couldn’t stand it: we had to look. It was beautiful; nicely browned. I poured about ¾ of the liquid off for gravy. I pulled the lid off and poured the sauce all over the brisket: ground tomatoes, garlic, sea salt, olive oil, oregano, basil, and black pepper. Caryl came in with the honey and put enough on it that it began to drip off into the water. Then in again, now up to 350, until the top was well browned and the bark was set.

I checked again in about an hour. Very dark brown; time to put the lid on and turn the oven down…this makes a nice chewy bark (but edible)—otherwise, it dries out too much.

One P.M.. The table is set. All the trimmings are ready. Red spuds and cole slaw from their own root cellar (slaw made with thick cream, not mayo), beets (grown by Em), an assortment of homemade pickles (including a nice hot pickled pepper, glowing redder and greener than they did on the vine), fruit salad, corn muffins (gluten-free by daughter Binner).

The brisket comes out. I slice it. All the fat and collagen is broken down nicely. A very nice sweet and sour bark graces the fall-to pieces beef. I know already while sampling it that it will be hard to quit at just seconds. There will be much grazing…

And the sauce that Caryl makes even makes it better. And the cole slaw, well, lets just say that I found myself in a Christmas ‘cue joint of dreams…

Back to reality. The major problem now at hand was that I knew I had to stop grazing the BBQ and save room for Binner’s cheesecake (nice and dry and flaky and handcrafted from scratch) and Auntie Em’s garden raspberry pie (no sugar or filler—just raspberries, whip cream and a wonderful flaky crust).

Thank God for time, cause there was just enough. I had room.

Complemented with a nice strong pressed cup of coffee, I think it was time to nap while the kids went sledding. They did and I did.

And I picked the guest room in the octagon house-a little cooler, and a nice firm bed. I pulled a wonderful hand-knitted afgan over me and drifted off to the sound of the kids outside in the snow, where the sun was casting long shadows on the waning day.

Life’s good.

Photo courtesy of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association

A beef shank makes the most amazing stock and stew you could imagine.  Since I am a busy (maybe lazy) cook with lots of people to feed, I use shortcuts when I can.  Here’s an easy stew made with beef shanks.  No marinating, no trimming, no fuss.

Shanks need to cook a long time, so I usually start them right after breakfast is cleaned up.  I prefer the stock that comes from browned shanks.  You can brown them in the oven, but I really like browning with my large dutch oven.  I’ll brown the shanks one at a time in a bit of oil to keep them from sticking, turning them so as to get all sides brown.  It’s important to not crowd them in the pan because then they will steam rather than brown, so I often just do one at a time.

Since I cook for a large group, I usually use 3-4 shanks.  After I’ve browned each one, I put them in a stock pan.  I set my Dutch aside for a bit.  I’m going to use all that nice browned meat juice and leavings later.

I pour enough water over the shanks to cover them well, throw in 2-3 onions (chopped up), 3 or 4 bay leaves, and 4-5 cloves garlic (whole), cover the pot, and put it on the back burner set to high simmer.  The shanks will simmer there all day long.  Periodically, I’ll skim the brown froth that rises to the top, and add a bit more water if it’s getting low.

After I’ve got the shanks cooking nicely in their stockpot, I’ll return to the dutch.  I add a little bit more oil, and then brown a couple onions and more garlic (5-6 cloves if you like garlic – altogether, I usually use a good-size head for this stew).  I add a bit of water and scrape up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, then put the contents of the pan into a bowl and into the fridge for later.

By late afternoon, the marrow will have disappeared into the stock, the stock will look and smell wonderful, and the meat will be falling off the bone. I’ll fish the meat and bones from the stockpot and shred the meat into smaller pieces and return them to my pot.

Now I’ll add my onions and garlic into the stockpot along with some fresh ground pepper, some basil, and a bit of oregano.  (Notice, no salt.  We really prefer to salt everything at the table).

I’m an opportunistic cook, so then I add whatever garden vegetables I have on hand.  Carrots and celery need about an hour to cook, potatoes about 40 minutes.  Corn, scallions, green onions, shredded spinach, peppers, sliced cabbage and bok choy only need several minutes (to heat through).

The result is a robust but not heavy stew that works well for a summer day when I don’t want to run the oven and heat up the kitchen, but I know I’ll have a crew of hungry people at the table.

Last week I had a town trip planned. Town trip days are a big deal because we live over an hour from town, and a town day pretty much shoots the whole day.

I like to plan ahead, but Glenn often can’t…so, as happens not infrequently, he told me the night before the town day to expect another 9 people for dinner the next night. And these people weren’t going to be small appetite types. They were going to work hard outside all day, and they were going to be hungry.

I made All Day Short Ribs for a crowd:

6 packs of short ribs (about 2.5-3 lbs each)
2 cans Italian diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato paste
1 cup strong coffee
1 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 onions, diced very fine
8 garlic cloves, diced fine
1 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons mixed Italian herbs
lots of coarse ground pepper

I mixed all the tomatoes, sweeteners, and seasonings (except the pepper) with enough water to make it pour-able. (I would have liked to brown the ribs, but I didn’t have time. It still turned out great.) I single-layered the ribs in glass baking dishes, and poured the tomato mix over them and ground a bunch of pepper over everything. I covered the dishes tightly with foil (don’t let the foil touch the tomato-covered ribs–the acid will start to eat the foil-yuck). I put them in a low oven (about 180′F). The ribs baked at that temperature for around 9 hours. About 2.5 hours before dinner, I had a kid put into the oven about 25 baking potatoes. About 2 hours before dinner, I had one of the kids take the foil off the ribs and turn the oven up to 350′F for 30-40 minutes until the ribs started browning. They had to add a bit of water before turning up the oven, but this will be variable depending on your oven convection, and how well you covered the ribs with the foil. You want the sauce around the ribs to be liquid enough to not burn, but not watery like soup. After the top surface browned, they turned the oven down to warm and waited for me to come home.

We added a giant tossed salad and there was plenty of food for everyone.

This site doesn’t distinguish grass fed beef recipes, like we do on Alderspring, but All Recipes hosts over 40,000 recipes submitted by home cooks, reviewed by home cooks.  You can search by main ingredient or class of dish.  While many of the recipes are typical church cookbook type (e.g., using canned cream-of-something soup), there is a whole section of healthy recipes, and even a section called "Farmer’s Market" that highlights the most popular vegetable recipes.

All recipes – complete resource for recipes and cooking tips

The spring weather has us thinking of camping and about cooking outdoors. This is a fun steak to make while camping or picnicking because the steak is placed directly on hot coals to cook. You can premix the marinade at home. Use hardwood for the fire to make clean coals.

Large corn or flour tortillas
2 large red peppers
2 large green peppers
2 large mild red onion
Sour cream, salsa and sliced avocados
2 pounds skirt steak cut into a few large pieces

Marinade:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 green onions, coarsely chopped
3 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup lime juice (can substitute lemon)
1/2 teaspoon mild red pepper flakes (can substitute hot)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar or honey

To make marinade, puree all ingredients but the meat in a blender. Marinate meat in a large, heavy-duty, zip top bag for at least an hour, or up to 3 hours. Burn wood or charcoal until gray ash appears. Remove steak from marinade, drain well and then pat dry with paper towels. Blow coals clean of ash. Lay steaks directly onto hot coals for 1 minute per side, turning with a tongs. When finished cooking, quickly place meat in double thickness of aluminum foil, wrap, and allow to sit for 15 minutes.

While the meat is resting, heat tortillas on the same coals, and grill red and green peppers and onion quarters on sticks. Remove meat from foil, reserving foil and juices. Slice thinly across the grain of the meat. Return to foil pouch and toss with juice. Wrap the meat and grilled veggies in a hot tortilla with a dollop of sour cream, salsa, and avocado slices.

People are always asking me how to grill a ribeye. Americans pride themselves on being steak eaters, so we ought to be experts, right? In fact, I think folks ruin more steaks than they grill right. Here are some easy hints:

Buy a thermometer. We get quick read digital thermometers for $10.00. One with all the bells and whistles might go $40.00. I’ve seen them as high as $120.00, but the fancy ones still don’t cook the steak for you. Thermometers eliminate all the subjective steak tests like feel. Ever seen the feel test that compares the pressure-respons of the chin to well-done steak, nose to medium and cheek to rare? It can work, but I know people with fat chins. And I’ve seen NY strips that are firm at rare. Subjective. Go with the technological absolute—digital thermometer.

Make sure the steaks are ready. That means thawed. Completely. Our beef is flash frozen and vacuum packed, so we just drop a steak in a bowl of tap water for about an hour to thaw it. You can also thaw it overnight in your refrigerator.

Get the grill hot. Use this time to clean it from last weeks salmon if you haven’t already (ever have a fishy ribeye? argh.) I use a brass brush and a spatula to scrape. There’s nothing like a good grill-on-high preheat to get rid of off flavor. If using a charcoal grill, I always use a volcano type coal igniter. Lighter fluid can really ruin the flavor of steaks and make them taste like a South Texas oil refinery. And don’t use those ‘match-light briquets’. They have tons of lighter fluid built right in. I like to sprinkle a little green apple wood or soaked mesquite on the coals or gas gill fire plate before I put that beef on.

Get that grill turned down to medium heat about 3 minutes before throwing the steaks on. With charcoal, you coals are white and hot—so raise your grate a little since you can’t turn them down. While waiting, get some water in that squirt bottle. I just use a plastic water bottle with a squirt lid on it. You’ll need this to quench any grill fires you may have.

What about seasoning? For a ribeye or NY strip, I don’t bother. These steaks should have enough flavor to go without. We use a little salt and pepper at the table finish, but nothing else.

Put those steaks on! I shape the steaks how I want them as I place them on the grill—you don’t want to stretch a cut out on the hot grill—it will stick fairly quickly and warp as it shrinks. I arrange them so all steaks are exposed to the same amount of heat, provided that they are the same thickness. If grilling different thicknesses, arrange them accordingly or put them on at different times.

The steaks should fairly sizzle when they hit the grate. If they don’t, your grill is too cold. If they hit the grate and cause a firestorm, maybe you have a little too much inferno on your hands. Shut the lid and start being patiently watchful. This is a good time to get that thermometer ready for a test probe and get that drink you may need to keep cool while grilling.

Flare ups can happen quickly, especially if you are grilling a well finished and marbled steak. Always be on the alert with your squirter. Just a quick shot at the base
is all it takes. Use care on charcoal-you don’t want to lose your coal bed with too much water.
Lets take a look. Insert probe into the middle of the side (not the top) of the thinnest steak—that is your canary in the coal mine. When it reads in the 80’s in the middle of the meat, it is time to turn. Use a tongs or a spatula—never a fork (don’t want to break that seary seal and drip precious juice). Flip quickly and decisively. My friend Greg always impresses me when he makes a steak or cup of coffee. He moves very quickly and decisively, never second guessing his movements. It all looks very impressive—like he might even know what he is doing. Your guests will be impressed as well, provided you don’t flip a steak right on to the lawn…or into Fido’s hopefully waiting (and equally impressed) mouth.

Maybe you are wondering what happens to that thermometer on the flip. We use a heat proof resident type with the cable. It can just live right there in the grill. The key is on the insert point. Insert from the side so you can flip.

OK, back to the grill. Shut that lid whenever you can to increase smoke (remember that apple/mesquite?) and reduce oxygen that can generate yellow fat fires. When your temp now reads 95 or so, turn again. I rotate the steaks 90 degrees as I flip so that my grill marks make an ‘X’. That way I know I did two turns.

Here is where I might digress a little about thin steaks (Anything under 1.25 inches is thin). These I turn once. First turn around 95 degrees. Second, off at 138. See the next paragraph for temps for different tastes.

Back to thick steaks. Do not forget to control fires (seems like guys are all about this as most of us wanted to be fireman when we grew up). Another turn and rotation at 105 degrees. The final at 136-138 degrees. That is medium rare. Figure 138-143 for medium, and 144+ for well. Be aware that if your steaks are lean, you probably do not want to go into medium territory. Without any fat, you are now making jerky if you go into medium. Moisture is a major part of the ‘mouthfeel’ (one of those intense culinary terms) in steak enjoyment.

Now, please pay attention to this deal about takeoff. I have a glass or ceramic plate waiting (not below room temp, but not heated) to receive the finished steaks and a stainless bowl to put over them. You want to hold heat for about 5 minutes to finish cooking the steak. If you cut into it right now, immediately off the grill, you will have a totally gut rare strip in the middle of the cut (although some of you I have met love that). But thermal inertia steps in now, and finishes the steak. Interior temp still rises even when off the grill, for the same reason that July and August days are the hottest, even though the longest day (and the most sun exposure) of the year, June 21 is long past.

So give it five minutes before cutting. This is the time to salt (we use sea salt—regular salt tastes bleachy) and pepper the cuts. Call the guests, pour that Cab, and enjoy.

And remember—like with everything, practice makes perfect!!