I am from the east coast and my wife is from a lovely spot in the Central Coast of California. Over the years, we have spent a lot of time in her old home town, which is known for a lot of wonderful food and wine. Chief among these is Santa Maria Style Bar-B-Que and Tri Tip. Tri Tip is the tip of the Sirloin, and somewhat hard to find on the east coast. It usually comes in roast between 2 and 4 pounds, and is a wonderfully flavorful and juicy cut of meat. So over the years we have had to satisfy our tri tip craving on our annual trips back to the other coast.
Slowly, however, I have been working to develop a set of local suppliers for our fix. This has also required me to learn a lot more about how to best cook and prepare the tri tip itself. With the visit of her brother, also a major Tri-Tip junkie, I took the opportunity to try out my hand on this specialized delicacy.
In addition to locating a 2 pound, locally raised, grass fed tri tip from Midland Tree Farms in Virginia, I also located some Santa Maria Pacquinto beans from Rancho Gordo. While decidedly not local (they are based in Napa Valley), they are authentic to the region and the owners of RG are really focused on bringing back heirloom varieties of beans. I was thrilled to find these local delicacies, even if they required some shipping.
The means were cooked with some inions and garlic, and some chopped up pork belly to add some meat and richness to the dish. I pre-soaked the beans and then cooked them in their soaking liquid for about 4 hours on low heat. They still had a little bite left and were not too soft. Added a small amount of salt and the end, along with a little soy sauce and Worchester sauce as well.
The tri tip got a light coating of Santa Maria dry run about 2 hours before being cooked. The rub features garlic salt, salt, pepper and some herbs. The salt helps draw out some moisture and helps ensure a nice crust on the meat.
The fire was hardwood charcoal and some shredded oak chips. I CANNOT STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS. You need to use oak to make authentic tri-tip or Santa Maria BBQ. I was lucky enough to have the rancher from Midland Tree Farms provide some oak from her ranch. So the meat was going to be smoked from trees surrounding the area where the cows lived. Kind of cool, I thought. I soaked the shreds for 30 minutes in water. I had never used shreds before, and I admit I like them because they don't need to soak for hours. The downside is they cook down very quickly.
After letting the coals die down (about 325 in the grill), I coated the roast with more dry rub and then put the roast on the grill as far from the heat as possible. And I then threw the oak right on top of the fire and closed it up.
About 15 minutes later, I turned the roast, and threw on another handful of the oak. Fifteen minutes later, I moved the roast over the heat for 5 minutes a side and then check the temperature - now a perfect 130 degrees and took it off the heat to rest.
The longest 10 minutes in the world are the ones left waiting for the meat to rest. But once it had relaxed, we carved up this terrific piece of meat. The outside was crusty and brown, it has a nice 1/4" red smoke ring and was incredible juicy. The deep smoky flavor added just the right local note to this dish. The side of beans, which tasted like had been served up at our favorite local joint, were the perfect side.
I served it with some local lettuce (we grew) and tomatoes, and drank a terrific Linne Calodo from Paso Robles.
Everything we ate or drank were authentic central coast, even if some of it came from the East Coast and some had to be imported. Did this make it taste better? Probably not, but it allowed us to enjoy the meal even more for the effort and the theme. Regardless, it was one awesome meal. I am drooling just thinking about it.
Showing posts with label beans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beans. Show all posts
Monday, June 6, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Got Posole?
I love when I stumble across someone who is passionate about their food life. One such recently discovery was the owner of Rancho Gordo, a grower and missionary for artisinal-heirloom beans. Steve Sando is on a mission and that mission is beans. His blog and website is worth a look, and his travels and meals are the stuff to inspire envy. Just reading the entries made my mouth water, and within 30 minutes I had placed an order for 4- 1lb bags of beans. The Christmas Lima beans are works of art just to look at, and the Santa Maria Pinquito bean all but complete the ingredients for an up coming summer feast (more on that later - think Tri Tip). The Good Mother Stollard were so gorgeous that that they went into water right away and are slow cooking as we speak. But what really got me excited was the hominy/posole.
Posole is corn, but corn that has been slaked or treated with an alkalai (like Lye). Wikipedia explains that “Soaking the corn in lye kills the seed's germ, which keeps it from sprouting while in storage. In addition to preserving the grain as foodstuff, this process also affords several significant nutritional advantages over untreated maize products. It converts some of the niacin (and possibly other B vitamins) into a form more absorbable by the body, improves the availability of the amino acids, and (at least in the lime-treated variant) supplements the calcium content, balancing maize's comparative excess of phosphorus.”
To me, just the word conjures up an image of a cast iron dutch oven over an open fire bubbling away with aromas of stew filling the air. Something simple, yet sustaining, basic yet enticing.
The product and process dates back to 1200-1500 years before the common era and is a key ingredient in traditional central and native American cooking. Perhaps even more importantly, when cooked with pork for a long time, it makes an awesome dish known as Pozole Roja, which I am dying to cook. I have a few recipes I have been hording, but am open to more and once I find the right one, look for a full post.
In the meantime, I have been wondering why this product and this site has so captured my attention. I think it is a combination of elements. one is just the guys passion. Here is someone who has gotten spun up over a humble item that so many people treat as a commonplace afterthought, yet at the same time is probably as central to how life developed on this continent as anything else. Beans – as in not worth a hill of – are as humble as can be, yet represent a culinary product that is good for you, cheap, and delicious. At the same time, beans are good for you, delicious, nutritious and cheap, yet seems to be something most people won't cook because it takes some time. yes, they have to be soaked. Yes, you have to think about it in the morning or the night before and covered with water. But that takes 2 minutes, and if you put it in a crock pot in the morning, you are done by the time you get home. And, to boot, it adds to the incentive to get home. What is not to like?
Yes, I ordered them from California, so this is not a local product, but it is a product from local growers in California and one of the compromises we have to make in this interconnected world. I am sure that in time, we will be able to find as good a product from local sources or grow it ourselves. In the meantime, I am a convert.
Posole is corn, but corn that has been slaked or treated with an alkalai (like Lye). Wikipedia explains that “Soaking the corn in lye kills the seed's germ, which keeps it from sprouting while in storage. In addition to preserving the grain as foodstuff, this process also affords several significant nutritional advantages over untreated maize products. It converts some of the niacin (and possibly other B vitamins) into a form more absorbable by the body, improves the availability of the amino acids, and (at least in the lime-treated variant) supplements the calcium content, balancing maize's comparative excess of phosphorus.”
To me, just the word conjures up an image of a cast iron dutch oven over an open fire bubbling away with aromas of stew filling the air. Something simple, yet sustaining, basic yet enticing.
The product and process dates back to 1200-1500 years before the common era and is a key ingredient in traditional central and native American cooking. Perhaps even more importantly, when cooked with pork for a long time, it makes an awesome dish known as Pozole Roja, which I am dying to cook. I have a few recipes I have been hording, but am open to more and once I find the right one, look for a full post.
In the meantime, I have been wondering why this product and this site has so captured my attention. I think it is a combination of elements. one is just the guys passion. Here is someone who has gotten spun up over a humble item that so many people treat as a commonplace afterthought, yet at the same time is probably as central to how life developed on this continent as anything else. Beans – as in not worth a hill of – are as humble as can be, yet represent a culinary product that is good for you, cheap, and delicious. At the same time, beans are good for you, delicious, nutritious and cheap, yet seems to be something most people won't cook because it takes some time. yes, they have to be soaked. Yes, you have to think about it in the morning or the night before and covered with water. But that takes 2 minutes, and if you put it in a crock pot in the morning, you are done by the time you get home. And, to boot, it adds to the incentive to get home. What is not to like?
Yes, I ordered them from California, so this is not a local product, but it is a product from local growers in California and one of the compromises we have to make in this interconnected world. I am sure that in time, we will be able to find as good a product from local sources or grow it ourselves. In the meantime, I am a convert.
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