comfort food essentials: beef, bourbon, and bacon

How To Make comfort food essentials: beef, bourbon, and bacon

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  PREP/PREPARE
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  Whenever you slow braise, oven cook, or smoke beef, pork, or chicken, there will be variables that need to be factored into the recipe. For example, what is the cut of meat you are using and its size? Did you brine before cooking? What is the “exact” temperature of your oven, slow cooker, instant pot? If you are braising, what acidic are you using? So, when a recipe calls for a slow cooker time on a roast of 6 hours. Start checking around four hours. On the other hand, a recipe may call for 6 hours in the slow cooker, and it takes you 8 hours.
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  Why chicken stock in a beef dish? Well, the other sauce ingredients were heavy hitters, and I did not want to make it too overbearing.
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  For this recipe, you will need a heavy-bottom pot with a tight-fitting lid.
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  Gather your Ingredients (mise en place).
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  Place a rack in the bottom position, and preheat the oven to 250f (120c).
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  In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour and white pepper, then throw in the beef and toss, until lightly coated.
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  Add the bacon to the pot. Set the heat to medium, and cook, until it begins to crisp, and renders out its fat, about 5 – 7 minutes.
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  Remove the bacon, add about a third of the beef, and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch.
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  Repeat for the other two batches, and reserve.
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  Chef’s Note: If your bacon does not have much fat, you may need to add a bit of grapseed oil to the pan.
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  Add the onions, and sauté until softened, about 3 – 5 minutes.
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  Add the garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 60 seconds.
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  Add the chicken stock, and use a wooden spoon to scrape up all those brown bits (fonds) that are stuck to the bottom of the pot.
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  Add the remaining SAUCE ingredients (including the reserved bacon), and combine.
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  Add the beef back to the pot, combine, and bring up to a simmer.
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  Cover the pot, place in the preheated oven, and cook, until the beef is fork tender, about 1.5 – 2 hours.
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  Chef’s Note: Check the beef after 45 minutes, and then every 20 minutes thereafter.
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  Add the flour to the apple cider.
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  Remove the beef from the oven, and place on the stovetop. Bring up to a simmer, and add the cider/flour mixture.
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  Simmer for a few minutes, until thickened.
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  PLATE/PRESENT
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  I like to serve this dish with some rice, and crusty bread. Enjoy.
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  Keep the faith, and keep cooking.
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