27 May 2009

Melts In Your Mouth

Okay, we're off into new territory for "Pitchpull"...
cooking!

We invited old friends to visit in Destin. One couple came to spend the week, while another couple spent time with us on two different evenings. The first of those nights we went down the street to our favorite haunt... "Kenny D's". Kenny's is a wonderful little cajun bar, and we absolutely love Ms. Gracie's New Orleans style cookin' there. But we wanted the chance to sit and talk without the pressure to vacate the premises on the second night, so we decided to cook/eat in. It was Sara Jean's idea to make Italian Beef sandwiches.
Other than knowing that fat content is what makes for tender meat, I know almost nothing about selecting a cut of beef. We asked the butcher for advice and he guided us to a chuck roast, finely marbled with fat. Into the cart it went.

I've read Jinks comments about the benefits of slow cookin', so the night before our guests were to arrive we pulled out the crock pot and started heating that chunk o' meat. We cooked it ten hours, then paused to shred the meat and add the pepperoncinis. It then went back into the pot another two hours before we spread it on hoagy buns and served the sandwiches. They were tasty, tender, and excellent overall, but still not as good as some commercially bought sandwiches we've eaten.

So here's the 64-cent question-
I'm now turned on by the idea of using the crock pot to deliver the tender and tasty. Do you have any ideas on how we could have improved the sandwiches? And if not, do you have a favorite "fail-safe" crock pot recipe you'd like to share?
I'm all ears/mouth!

UPDATE, 0748 HOURS:
I just checked my links and wandered around Kenny D's site a little.
Found this page and thought it might amuse you.

6 comments:

michael said...

Hey Greybeard, I can't suggest how to make it better, but I can suggest a ribs recipe. Take a rack of baby back or pork loin ribs place them in the crock pot with your favorite barbeque sauce and a half of an onion. Let it cook for 10 hours on low and you have falling off the bone ribs. My wife loves it when I come home with ribs from the grocery.

jinksto said...

Pork Loin:
Two cans of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, One packet of Lipton Onion soup mix, 1/2 cup of water. Dump it all in at once and let it go until the meat pulls apart with a fork. Check every couple of hours and add 1/4 cup of water as needed.

Red beans:
1 lb red kidney beans
bay leaf
1tsp red pepper
1 clove crushed garlic
ham bone, chopped ham or 1/4 lb bacon
1 each of the trinity chopped fine
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 lb smoked sausage, sliced.

Wash beans.
Add beans to the crock pot. Add water to cover them 2 inches or so.
Add all ingredients except meat and cook on medium for 2 hours.

Stir, add meat except sausage and cook for 2 hours.
Add sausage 1 hour before ready to serve. Server over rice.

For the Italian Beef:
I don't know if it would be better but try this:
When you start the meat drop in 1 beef bullion cube and add 1tsp each of: Itallian dressing, Oregeno, basil, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoning salt (optional really). and then add the peppers about 2 hours before serving just like before.


- J

CJ said...

My sister did a wonderful pulled pork in a crock pot once or twice. I'll see if I can't get her recipe.

And the update page is a hoot!

cjh

Greybeard said...

For those of you unfamiliar with cajun cookin', the reference to "the trinity" above is not a typo, nor is it a truncated thought...
"The trinity" is bell pepper, onion, and celery.
Thanks Jinks for the recipes. We'll try them and let ya know how much we love 'em.

Cissy Apple said...

How to make the Italian beef sammich better? Eat it in Venice!

gypsy soul said...

no suggestion. just want to say i enjoyed reading all posts on your RnR: roadtrip, beach, food and wifi signals =)