Tasty Steaks For Summer

 There's no denying it - summer is the perfect season for steaks. There;es something about cooking them on the grill , in the oven  or stove top that adds to their flavor. They've even better when there's a tasty sauce to accentuate the rich mineral flavor.

Regular contributor Ali Slagle wrote about these cuts and fillets in today's New York Times Wednesday Food section She gives seven small tweaks so that America''s favorite meat resembles what;s offered in the best steakhouses .There are also recipes too that come with sauces on the side  to eh=enhance the meats deep beefy flavor. Surprisingly enough she recommends skipping the marinade. Most marinades, that also include salt and sugar don't; work their way into the cut's interior.Just pat the fillets dry and cover with salt. One must is also coating the sides with lots of black pepper. Some fo the best recipes like Texas brisket and pastrami along with pepper steak and  and steak au poivre have black peppercorns as their main ingredient  As the steak cooks the peppercorns toast .growing darker and more intense ,enhancing the meat's richness.Opt for coarsely ground ones instead of finely ground pepper flakes. Another tweak is adding compound butter Even just plain butter swiped over the top of a steaming steak will meld with the juices creating a silky,flavorful sauce.Try herbs, blue cheese citrus or green curry paste. The heat from the butter and meat will only intensify their flavors.

A n Herby sauce is also another tweak that will elevate any filet mignon or T-bone cut,Make it with olive soil and such soft herbs as cilantro, parsley  dill or mint. This is then mixed with any kind of acid like vinegar or lemon juice. A punch like chilis, capers or scallion are also necessary  for some zest and zing.A meat thermometer is a must too.An overcooked steak is not tasty. It's dry  and tough. To take the cut's temperature , hold of the steak with tings and use the needle to pierce the meat. The steak should be between anywhere 120 to 126 degrees Farenheit t be considered medium.Also cut the steak thickly and cook over a high heat. It can be frozen for fifteen minutes before being cooked.What would emphasize the meat's flavor? Sliced tomatoes!Tomatoes ' sweetness is the perfect foil for the meat's savoriness.Ms Slagle gives a variety of different recipes.Use the air fryer for the air fryer steaks with garlic butter/ A tasty weekend dish is grilled skirt steak with cucumber chimichurri sauce A different spin is black pepper steak in a fried cabbage stir fry. A simpler dish would be harissa grilled steak with an overlay of a rich tomato salad.

Summer and steak go hand in hand. Follow these tips and try these recipes  for a tasty meat dish. Each is perfect for the hot days ahead.

Mortadella The Queen Of Coldcuts

 There is something about a slice of mortadella. It's is silky , savory- sweet slice of goodness.Thanks to a new interest it;s making a big comeback. Ever culture is discovering it and tring new recipes made with it.

Regular contributor Julia Moskin wrote about this mouth watering treat in today's New York Times Wednesda Food section. Surprisingly the cold cut went out of favor for a long time and has faced some snobbery(although why is the big question here) For a long time fussy chefs and gourmands considered mortadella to be in the smae catagory as baloney, olive loaf and even head cheese! Sadly and unfairly it was more or less thrown in the catagory of mystery meat. THrow in the import ban from the US Food and Drug Adminsitration. Mortadella, along with other cured meats were banned from import between 1967 until 2000 when an excess of caution about swine flu(which never contaminated the cold cuts) was called.Thankfully love of this delicious meat is now on the upswing. Americans are now curious about all thing French charcuterie and the meats that make up the boards. Some chefs are even creating their own fat tubes of mortadella.

What exactly is mortadella?It's a cooked meat of sorts. Chunks of pork (at least fifteen) are ground with the pigs; fat. Butcher Joe Paish who works at the trendy Rolo's restaurant in Brooklym adds ice to his mix to prevent  the emulsion from breaking. The sausage 's history goes way back to the Renaissance where it was at the height of its' popularity. Exotic ingredients like peppercorns from East Asia and pistachios from the Mediterranean were added.It was fabulously expensive and artful, with such powerful familys like the Medicis and the Borgias being its' biggest consumers.It evolved into an everyday luxury in in cubes with Lambrusco an Italian fruit wine as an aperitivo along with being ground into tortallini filling. The last is added to broth for the popular CHristmas soup zuppa imperiale. Now other cultures like the Chinese and Japanese are using it  as filling in such dishes as scallion pancakes and coated  with panko crumbs and fried at the popular West Village Japanese restaurant Katana Kitten. Still the best way to have it is just on a good thick slice of Italian or French bread.

Mortadella is  thankfully popular again, Fall in love with this sweet-savory cold cut. It's really the perfect food.

A Dash Of Heat

Sometimes all it takes is a pinch of this or a dash of that to zing up a meal. This elevates any bland dish and makes it amazing. It could be an herb or spice, a chopped jalapeno or serrano.

Winter stews are always in need of some punching up. Yes, they're hearty and rib sticking but they can be a bit tasteless. Think about adding something as simple as freshly ground black pepper. Just doing this adds a bit of heat and color. For a bit more color, think pink peppercorns. These add a different kind of heat , similar to chilis and have a sweet fruitiness too.If you want a different flavor, dried ginger give any stew an Asian vibe with a more eye opening fire. This would be a great throw in if your stew has more cabbage and carrots in it. It can also be added to chicken stew too. Don't be afraid to flick a teaspoon into your stir fry either.  It's a nice way to balance out the other flavors. Another fire ball of a spice is smokey paprika. Many home chefs just associate it with dusting it on top of deviled eggs or giving color to roasted ham. Yet it can give layers of flavor and fire to even the simplest of dishes. One of the best recipes is chicken paprikash. This incredibly flavorful dish from Hungary , calls for hot or sweet paprika but you can also use the smoked kind. They're made from the same  crushed dried chilies but the smokey version has been smoked dried with oak. The flavor will just be heightened a bit more, highlighting the other ingredients such as tomato paste and sour cream.

Chilies also add to various recipes. There are so many different kinds that you can vary the same recipe with each one and get a different result each time. Most home chefs use jalapenos . They're fun to stuff with bacon and cream cheese or breaded and air fried. Yet, jalapenos can be sliced and mixed into all sorts of dishes.Try some in a meat loaf recipe. This is a great way to zing up a usually bland dish and transform it into something special. Serve with a side of guacamole or sour cream. Jalapenos can also jazz up any kind of burger.They can be mixed into the ground meat or layered with cheese and bacon for a hot of heat. Chopped jalapenos can also bring up the heat on crockpot chilis too. Other chilis such as the temp rising serrano can do wonders with simple cheese dips and even the famed artichoke one. Serrano chilies come in a variety of different colors and are smaller than jalapenos. The piri-piri is another spicy jolt that's used mostly in South African cooking. Piri piri or peri peri chicken is a delicious and fiery way to zing up an ordinary dish. It's usually a marinade that coats and soaks the meat for twenty-four hours before cooking.You could also use it for wings and thighs too,

Bring the heat to your winter cooking. Any dish can be zinged up with spices and chilies. Try them to liven up a blandly cool dish on a chilly night.

Chengdu China's Gastronomy Treasure

when you hear about the center of gastronomy you would normally think of Italy or France.Yet there's another capital, and it's Chengdu in the Szechuan region of central China.The best food in China, and perhaps Asia , is found there.The area famous for it's fiery peppercorns' is also known it's variety of gourmet dishes both hot and mild.Eating in Chengdu is like dining in Lyons or Milan.The food is amazing with interesting fillips and dashes. Chengdu is located smack in the center of China's most central Provence.Szechuan cooking hit the US almost forty years ago,adding zest to the Americanized versions of Mandarin and Cantonese cooking.Fire and heat came into fashion and Americans were now buying woks and cookbooks,imitating the spicy dishes .UNESCO declared it the city of gastronomy in 2011. Townspeople brag about it and rave about the dishes.Typical Szechuan cuisine can be most spicy and sweet.Tea smoked duck is a mild ,and addictively sweet dish made up the foul smoked over tea leaves and camphor twigs.It's an elaborate process that involves rubbing the body inside and out with camphor leaves,Sichuan peppers, Chinese rice wine.After this, it 's quickly blanched in hot water to tighten the skin and both towel and air dried..It's then smoked in a wok, with black tea leaves and deep fried to a mouth watering crispiness.Another drool worthy dish Kung pao chicken is also from there.It's a spicy stir fry that has chicken mixed with peanuts and chopped chili peppers.However the most important ingredient are the fiery Szechuan peppercorns that give it it's tongue numbing hotness. Chengdu also has garlicky dishes featuring all sorts of meats and veggies.Hot pot is a favorite and made by every family.It has meat ,along with leafy vegetables and dumplings.Fish and mushrooms are sometimes added as well.A dipping sauce is also served for the solid ingredients .Hot pot is more of a winter dish and the recipe varies from family to family.Twice cooked pork is another treat involving pork bellies.It involves a long cooking process where the pork bellies are first simmered with spices and jujubes.This last is not the famed movie candy but a Chinese date of the same name.It is then wok fried in a small amount of oil with napa or celery, cabbage, bell peppers or scallions.To add to this fieriness is water cooked meat and veggies.It's a kind of boiled dish and then fried with oil and peppers along with dried chilis. To some food snobs France and Italy are the gastronomic centers of the world. Yet there is also another famed area,Chengdu,China.It has given the world interesting and mouth watering dishes, worthy of any picky food critic.

Giving Dinner Some Zing

Meat is a given at any meal.It's the basis of a week day meal .It's the star of a Sunday dinner. Yet ,a plain roast chicken or London Broil can be blamed and almost tasteless .The lifesaver to this is a good marinade.Add zippy or tangy bath and then you have a flavorful treat. Marinade for chicken can come in a variety of styles.The New York Times Dining section writer, Melissa Clark used Green Goddess salad dressing to her roast chicken recipe in her column has also used yogurt too.These can give tangy flavor ,especially when adding garlic and different types of spices.Personally Id prefer a lemon or lime juice mixed with olive oil for a fresher and more subtle flavor.You can also try a Caribbean jerk inspired one too using fiery chiles along with paprika for color. A beef or pork roast can also be spiced up with a well seasoned marinade.Most home chefs try teriyaki one,which is tasty.You can spice this up with a tablespoon of fresh chopped or shaved Ginger.Worcester sauce is another good ingredient, brining out the beef.s tender sweet and savory flavor.If you want to add some zing think about a spicy Korean or Szechuan inspired marinade.This can have just crushed peppercorns along with a mélange of different chiles for an exciting bite. your everyday roast doesn't have to be everyday.Liven up. Chocekn,or London broil along with any other meat with zippy zesty marinade.It's a great way making anordinary dinnernigthextra ordinary.