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Just another pot roast

I know. Is it really necessary to have another recipe for pot roast on the intertubes? Probably not, but the fear of doing stupid unneeded things never stopped me before. Spiked with some of every thinking person’s favorite and frequently over used condiment, Sriracha, and braised in a combo of your favorite beer and beef stock with fragrant spices and ginger, this slightly spicy fall apart pot roast is easy and perfect for the rainy ass early spring still wanting to be winter weekend we just had in Charleston. Serve over creamy grits. Perfect for dinner or add a fried or soft-boiled egg for breakfast. Or lunch. Or late night or whenever you damn feel like it.

Five Spice Pork Bánh mì

The Bánh mì and it’s soup cousin phở are the new stars of the not fast food, fast food revolution… or something like that. Quick, fresh and full of options they seem to be popping up everywhere in Charleston. Bon Bánh Mì is a relative newcomer to the Charleston food scene and one of if not the first shops specializing in  Bánh mìs. Their menu offers 5-6 different fillings to go in the  Bánh mì including five spice pork or tofu, curry beef short ribs, Vietnamese ham country pâté, ginger lemongrass chicken and egg and Canadian bacon. They also offer tacos and salads with the same options. This is the Pork N Whiskey blog so I of course I had to go for the five spice pork for my first visit. Quite tasty and worth having again. However, my next trip I went for the curried beef short rib and well. Damn. I get in ruts occasionally when it comes to lunch food. This is a rut starter. The combination of the Bánh mì pickled veggies, perfectly crusty but soft bread, the crunchy fried shallots, with the slow cooked warm funky sweet chewy short-rib.

sigh.

Curry Short Rib Bánh mì

My point is, go there now. Try everything. Make sure you get their house brewed jasmine iced tea, it is a perfect accompaniment for the sandwiches and I’m sure the tacos and salads, I just haven’t gotten there on the menu,  yet.

If you’ve seen my other steak recipes, it’s obvious I love rib-eyes. There’s not better cut of steak for grilling in my not so humble opinion. The high fat content and strong beefy flavor combination is unbeatable. It’s pretty much a tradition that when Mrs. PorknWhiskey goes out of town, I’m cooking a rib-eye that first night I’m home alone. My favorite way to cook a steak, especially a rib-eye, is in a raging hot cast iron skillet and finished in the oven. Not only do you get a great sear but you also have the makings of a kick ass pan sauce. However, I do also love the smokey flavor of a steak done right on a  charcoal grill. This gives a little of both. You’re going to need a grill to get pretty hot. At least 500-600° F. I use a Broil King Keg which is kind of like a Big Green Egg… but different. Either of these kamado style grills will get you enough heat but you can probably swing it with a regular kettle charcoal grill like a Webber or a nicer gas grill. You might need to lower your grates closer to the heat source.

Rib-eye, Anchovy butter and smoke. Not much more needs to be said.

More below the fold… Obviously

Rib-eye is king. Period. I will listen to no arguments against this so keep them to yourself.  It really only needs to be seasoned, cooked and served as is but a rich sauce that can stand up to it can be a nice addition. Blueberry sweetness with the smokey spice of the chipotles is becoming a classic combination and it does well to compliment the rich rib-eye. There are a number of steps to this meal but it’s really not that complicated and if you time everything correctly you should have no problem bringing everything together. I chose to pan sear the rib-eye for this but you could just as easily throw it on the grill with the corn, I just prefer the crust you get with this technique.

Shopping list and recipe below the fold.

I decided this Saturday was perfect for a burger with some home-made fries, so I headed down to Ted’s Butcherblock to pick up some quality beef and a few other things.  Instead of having the butcher grind it I decided to do it myself. There are a number of theories on what to grind and the two prevalent camps are 85% lean Chuck and Sirloin. I got two pounds of both sirloin and chuck roast to combine them getting the best of both worlds. The chuck has enough fat in it to give the juiciness and mouth-feel and the sirloin has the good beefy flavor. Before jumping in I put the grinding attachment in the freezer for a few hours. This is an important step when grinding any meat. If I’m doing large batches of meat (especially pork for sausage) I’ll even half freeze the cubed meat and the collection bowl. This keeps the proteins from becoming too sticky and creating what I like to call, meat glue. Also I always re-clean the grinding attachment before every use just in case. If you are going to make fries it is a good idea to do the blanching stage before you start any of the burger prep. Follow my instructions for the fries here.