Victual Vignettes

Here to f/u on my most recent effort and answer some of your questions. Also thanks to all who weighed in with feedback and tips. My two sad attempts which both involved grass fed ribs - the ribs themselves were smaller than what I normally used to buy, the marbling was not great. I did not purchase grass fed for any particular reason related to virtue or preference but rather because they were on special at Whole Foods; I bought some for immediate use and froze the other half which ended up being my second attempt. Fast forward to a couple of days ago - I began attempt 3 before I start receiving comments here, and then adapted and shifted as the comments started rolling in. Over all, the finished product was a huge improvement. Changes or specifications that I think made a big difference: I used larger (or what I would call "regular sized") conventional / not grass fed ribs. They had good color and marbling. Starting out, I abandoned all recipes and just went with muscle memory on how I would start a beef bourguignon. Brown the meat, take it out, saute the diced veg, add some tomato paste and flour, deglaze with wine, etc. - I browned them for longer than I had in the first two batches. I let them get to a deep, evenly browned crust on all sides. - I used diced onion and garlic, but large pieces of carrot as intended to remove those towards the end anyway and add "fresh" carrots for the last bit. - I used a better quality wine - we're not talking expensive by any means, but better than I'd used previously. A cab. - I used a higher quality beef stock. Store bought, but I simmered it at the lowest temperature with a head of garlic and a pile of fresh sage and thyme for a bit before using. - I cooked the ribs in my 7.5 qt Staub, in the oven at 250. I did not even touch or look at them for the first 2.5 hours. Previously, I had done stove top on my gas range, and I feel that I got way to fussy with checking them and as such there was a fair amount of temperature fluctuation vs. just an even simmer for an extended time. They cooked for a total of 4 hours, uncovered for the last 45 minutes with some freshly chopped carrots added in to cook up. I allowed them to cool down for about an hour which made removing the fat much easier. I served them with a little gremolata made with parsley and lemon, and a mushroom risotto. Delicious. All in all, the better quality ribs, more thorough sear, controlled cook in the oven, and near - unlimited time to experiment and feel it out led to a much better result than I'd had previously. I got some great tips here. I will be trying them again soon to tweak some things here and there.

I don't know what's happened to me, but after a long spell of not making short ribs or any braises really, I have attempted them twice in the last couple of months with underwhelming results. Specifically, I'm ending up with a too - watery sauce and meat that is "done" but somewhat stringy and not particularly flavorful. I think I need to go back to the basic elements and get tips on how to amp each step up a notch - what type of wine, ratio of liquid to beef, are you simmering stove-top or cooking in the oven (does it make a notable difference?), type of beef (I have used grass fed on these two recent sub-par attempts). I am open to any and all suggestions. I should further note that I theoretically have the time to prepare these and let them cook then also cool in order to skim fat, if that is recommended. Essentially, I am able to start at 11:30 a.m. something that won't need to be on the table until 7ish pm. I am working with a large staub dutch oven and cooking with gas (range and oven). Please give me all of your best tried and true tips! Your ultimate instructions. Thank you. I will share my results.

I've had success with any Rick Bayless recipe I've tried, so I definitely second (and third, etc) that recommendation. I have tried a couple of recipes from Rick Martinez's Mi Cocina and enjoyed those - many others on my list to try. Finally, Diana Kennedy's Heart of Mexican Cooking has been a patient teacher in helping me learn some basics, with many, many more excellent sounding recipes I have yet to try.

Thanks for the feedback. I ended up going with Poche's this go -round, and I added my name to the "Notify Me" list for Cochon's!

I'm unable to source / buy Tasso ham locally, so an internet search led me to Cajungrocer.com where there are several brands available. Does anyone have a recommendation for best Tasso brand in general for use in cooking? I'm also open to any other websites where you source your Louisiana goods for mail order.

I struggled with keeping the temperature as low as I wanted. I ended up cooking a couple of legs and one breast for about 2 hours at 270ish. The meat was a little more cooked than I'd have wanted it if we were just plain eating it then (and as Mgaretz said - the skin was rubber, but that's fine). But it had such an excellent smoky flavor and color. I pulled the meat off for soup, and am currently making a stock with the bones, whole cloves, peppercorns, onion skin, parsley stems, celery tops, etc. Meat will go back in with roasted mushrooms, cooked wild rice, cream, and fresh aromatics after the stock simmers away and gets skimmed later today. Overall, the turkey parts were a good experiment / opportunity to learn and play with maintaining temp, because it wasn't a travesty if they got a little high. Looking forward to the next project!

Thanks for the replies. @kayb I'm in East TN near the GSMNP. I will take notes on today's go-round so I remember next time! @mgaretz Good to know about the skin. In this instance we do want that smoke flavor and won't be using the skin for the end result (stock & soup) so I'm going to play with a lower temperature I think. Fingers crossed! It's not raining so, so far so good.

We were recently gifted a BGE. I have a couple of turkey legs and a bone-in breast in a dry brine that I'd like to smoke tomorrow (the end goal is to pull the meat and use the smoked bones to make a stock the following day, all of which will eventually be turkey & wild rice soup). We're still pretty new to smoking and I'm curious about what temp and time we should be looking at for this project. Most smoked turkey breast recipes I see are for about 5 lb breasts. The breast we have is more like a split-chicken breast; maybe around 2 lbs. Any tips? Thanks!

So happy I discovered this topic! I'm adding several of these to my list. Current subscriptions I enjoy: Views on the Road: She's Mexican, husband is Korean American, all of her food just looks really delicious. Matty Matheson: If you know him, you know. It can be a lot to watch, but some of the recipes sound so good I can get into it. Rachel Khoo: I love her cookbooks and older videos, but she's also recently started sharing "Vodcast" videos with guest chefs, etc.