All about beef - Part 2 of 2 - CNY Flavor 1/24/2012

>>Hi.
Welcome to CNYFlavor.
Last week we learned all about beef
and the different ins and outs of it,
how to cut it.
This week stay tuned
because I’m going to show you how to cook it.
[♪] [♪]
Now, a lot of people will take their lettuce
This is a traditional iceberg lettuce
They’ll use the knife, they’ll just chop it down.
they’ll take the core and chop it off.
Don’t do it with a knife.
There is a metal allergic reaction that
the actual lettuce has to the metal.
It creates a chemical bond.
If you ever go to a restaurant and you see
and you get lettuce and it’s brown around the edges,
that means they’ve cut it with a knife.
Don’t cut it with a knife.
They even have specialty knives out there now.
You can buy them in any store,
whether they’re porcelain
or they have the plastic ones that are for greens
that you can just cut right down.
I’m going to show you how to do it with your hands.
That is the best way to do a salad.
This thing gets a lot of people confused.
So you are going to take it and
give it a nice hit.
Okay. Right down.
Spin it over and you see
how this all went right into it.
Take your fingers and you are going to
do it like a corkscrew
Just twist it right out
See how that came out?
Just like a corkscrew,
your main thing is out.
Now, you are going to take this
and take it and split it right in half.
Now a lot of people will take the insides here,
which are called the hearts,
and they’ll just throw them out.
Let me tell you a little secret.
The hearts inside
are one of the sweetest parts of the lettuce.
So it’s important that you keep the hearts.
Anything in excess,
like we always talk about on CNYFlavor,
is cost averaging and making things
work for you.
Don’t throw any of this out.
I threw the core out,
but all your leaf that is even on the outside
like this that’s a little brown toward the edges,
you want to put that all off to the side.
Again, it can be used as a stock.
It can be used for greens.
So you take this here
Now have you ever eaten in a restaurant
and the salad comes out and it’s just cold
and it’s crisp
when you bite it, it’s like crisp
I’m going to show you how to do that.
What you do is
you are just going to break these apart here.
You are going to throw these
right in a colander/strainer.
Take some of the brown that’s the heart here
and leave this off to the side.
And now I’m going to wash this.
What I’m going to do is just put this under the sink.
Cold water.
Make sure that it is all rinsed off properly
You let it sit in the refrigerator for about an hour.
That’s called crisping.
By crisping the lettuce you are
going to get that restaurant quality
when it comes out on a nice cold bowl
and it just crunches in your mouth
and you say “Wow. This is so fresh.”
The technical term is crisping
and that’s what we are going to do
with the lettuce right now.
[♪] [♪]
I’m going to show you real quick here
how to prep your vegetables for your
marinated steak salad.
So basically what I’m going to do
is I’m going to take a potato peeler here
and I’m just going to go straight down.
I’m going to do it 3 times.
Then you take a fork,
you take the tines , end down here
and you are going to come and
follow this straight down.
Right where you had peeled it.
Show you real quick here.
To show you how this looks
when you’re cutting it.
You see for the color and the eye appeal
how that looks.
It comes out absolutely beautiful.
Excuse me for one second.
That is good.
So there is your cucumber all ready to go.
We are going to put these in reserve.
That just means off to the side.
Now on the avocado,
there are a lot of different ways
that you can open it up.
I am going to show you the easiest,
quickest way to open it.
Be very careful though when you are
using a sharp knife.
You just pick it up.
And you’re just going to cut right into it
because there is a core in there.
There’s a seed.
Just follow it right around.
See this.
I’m following it right around.
This will pop right open.
See how easy that was?
Then what you do is
you take your knife
hold this in your palm
and you hit it in
and you crack it right open.
You just take this and it pops right out.
Boom. Right into the trash.
So now what do you do?
A lot of people take and try to peal this off
and cut into it.
I don’t do it like that.
I just take a spoon.
I go down and I just circle straight around
and what it is I’m just scooping it out.
Look at that.
See how easy that was.
They’re reasonably priced.
These I got for $1.48 apiece.
It’s a great taste.
Now I’m going to slice them.
All you are going to do is
slice them straight down.
Some of the thicker ones I will cut in half.
And we’re ready to get started
on the marinated salad there.
Look at this.
This has been marinating now
for several hours.
This was the end cut of the prime rib,
or the ribeye,
or Delmonico, if that’s what you want to call it.
It’s been marinating.
All set to go.
Our lettuce is all crisp.
We’re going to put it
we’re going to do a couple of bowls here.
As you can see, it’s all nice
and hear that crisp.
All right.
There’s some nice salad greens all set to go.
Now we’re going to take the beef
Where’s the beef?
It’s right there.
We’re going to take that
and put it right on the hot, sizzling pan over here
and get going
and marry all this and put it all together for you.
So we have the steak strips from the rib.
We’re going to just put them on a medium heat
and get this cooking as I finish
putting the salads together.
Now listen
oooohhhh.
You hear that sizzling?
Oh this is
Oh you can smell it.
It smells wonderful.
With the Balsamic Vinaigrette
it gives off a distinct flavor and taste.
I’m actually going to cover this one
and let it steam up and cook
from the inside out and
the outside in.
Just let this sit on a medium heat.
As this is cooking,
we are going to come back over
and I’m going to show you how
to mix your salad together and then lay the strips on top.
[♪] [♪]
I’m going to show you a little trick now
to put all your ingredients together.
You have the marinated steak
that is already cooking over here.
And what you want to do is
just take your onions
spread them in here.
Make sure they are broken up.
Nice little color here.
Put a few cucumbers in each one.
Take your tomatoes,
you can be liberal here,
as much as you want
or as little as you want.
And then the secret ingredient, avocado.
I know that’s not really big in upstate here
but it adds a great, distinctive taste
to the salad.
I’m going to show you a little trick here.
Kids, don’t try this at home.
Again, you’ve heard me say this before
unless you have your parent’s permission,
because this is glass.
What you do is you flip it up
and you’re going to shake it.
and you shake it and you just
rumbaba, rumbaba, rumbaba.
You shake it up.
Singing was not my main career,
as you can tell.
All right. Look at that.
It mixes it all together.
And then we’re going to lay the steak
right across the top of it.
Then you can add whatever dressing you like,
whether you like Ranch or
you want to go with a golden Italian dressing,
whatever your personal flavor is,
that’s what you can add to it.
Steak is just about done.
I’m looking over here
I’m going to go pull that over here.
Lay it across the top
and we are ready to go.
Here it is.
Hear it nice, sizzling up.
I really wish you could smell this.
Then you are going to take this
and lay it across the top.
Remember this is a choice cut of prime rib.
Here let’s make it even.
Look at that.
Here.
Let me put this back over here.
And you take this
and we’ll clean it up a little bit here.
You can add croutons to this.
You’ve seen it in the past where I show you
how you can use bread, excess bread,
and make croutons and stuff.
Add anything that you like.
This is a marinated steak salad.
You’ll be able to chop it up.
You’ll taste the Balsamic Vinaigrette in the meat,
filtered down through your lettuce.
Like I said, use the golden Italian,
another dressing, in it.
And enjoy.
A lot of times the mistake we make at home
is we’ll just start the corn, the carrots, the peas,
whatever your vegetable is,
green beans,
and we put it on and let it cook
and by the time it comes to the table
it’s soggy, it’s mushy.
Remember that a lot of the times
the asparagus, the corn, it’s already cooked
so you are just basically heating it up.
So one of the things that I do
is that I will take just butter,
you can use margarine
and I always take
because there is liquid inside the can
that you are using
and I’ll just take right there, about a tablespoon,
and put it right in with it.
It gives it a nice flavor.
Compliments it.
Put the veggies both at low.
Get this going at a medium burn.
Let it get nice and hot
because we’re going to sear it.
So, I’m just melting a little butter.
You can use margarine.
You can use garlic butter.
There’s a couple of different variations
that you can do.
The main thing is getting it nice and hot.
Then what we are going to do
is I’m going to sear it on one side
and then flip it over
and I’m not using a fork.
Remember what we talked about.
Don’t stick a fork in there,
flipping things over
because that releases the juices.
Use a pair of tongs
The butter is starting to
sizzle a little bit.
I’m going to take this
and just sear it around.
Using my hand.
Sear it around.
Pat it down.
Let that cook for approximately 2 minutes like that
and then I’m going to flip It right over.
Touch your hand.
Touch the beef.
I know that is rare now as you can see
because it’s raw.
Move myself up.
As the process goes,
I’m going to learn the difference
between rare, medium rare, medium and well done.
So I’ve seared the top of it now.
I’m going to flip it right over.
Another thing you can do
on past episodes you’ve seen Flihan’s Restaurant Supply
where you can buy restaurant equipment
for the public
is you get a thermometer.
One of the things is
you check your internal temperature of meat.
This is a little thin.
You can see the blood starting to come
but if you are going to use the thermometer method,
when you push it in make sure
you don’t put it down on the bottom of the pan
because it’s going to give you
a false positive reading
that it is done and it might not be done.
To be rare, you’re looking at about 132 degrees,
up to 141.
Then you start getting into the medium rare to
rare, around 145.
You get up to 160,
you’re looking at it’s pretty well done.
Not dead, but it’s pretty well done.
[♪] [♪]
See the beauty about cooking at home
is you can wear anything you want.
You can wear clothes or no clothes.
You can wear cowboy hats.
The reason why I’m wearing the cowboy hat
is because where’s the beef?
It’s right here.
We’re going to do the marinated steak now.
It’s been marinating now for about 4 hours.
As you can see, it’s all ready to go.
I have the pan on nice medium heat.
A little butter.
Getting that nice and ready to go.
Getting the pan hot.
It’s important you get the pan hot
just for searing purposes.
We sear the top.
We flip it over
leave it there for a couple of minutes
flip it over and do the other side.
So are you ready to go?
Here we go.
Oh, did you hear that?
We don’t use a fork.
Remember we talked about that?
Because you don’t want to
release the juices and stuff that are inside.
Now, this particular piece is almost 12 ounces
13 ounces.
In a store that would cost you
in excess of $12.00.
Cut yourself, you are talking about $4.00
by doing the whole rib.
[silence]
Just going to sear that up.
This is the one that we did
with the Sweet Baby Ray’s.
[silence]
The butter that you use
you can use margarine too
is just
you want to get a little fat.
Don’t use Wesson oil or Crisco or anything.
Try to use a margarine or a real butter.
You can use a European butter
which is a butter blend that has a little
water content in it
which will help it sear up.
Can you see that sizzling?
Oh my God.
Go to cnyflavor.com too
where you can learn some of thedifferent tricks
and the little things that we do
that are side things.
Just click on Quick Tips.
We talk about a lot of this little stuff.
It’s been about 2 minutes here.
Oh.
[silence]
I cannot wait to taste this.
This is going to like melt in your mouth.
Now, when you’re doing this too
I know we talked about checking
it to see what the temperature is.
If you want medium rare, medium, medium well
You gotta practice on this.
Touch your hand,
real close down the end is rare.
Medium rare you start working up
your hand to the inside
and the higher you get
medium, medium well.
Practice by touching the meat
and then touching your hand.
Right now this is rare.
So you are touching your hand
and as it continues to cook
and the connective tissues are breaking down
it’s releasing the fluids inside
the blood
and it’s going to start rising to the top.
As it rises to the top,
it’s breaking down through the enzymes
making it really, really tender.
I like just moving it around a little bit,
searing it.
Remember, you got the butter in there
and the Sweet Baby Ray’s from the marinade.
Searing it up.
Beautiful.
Touch it.
Your hand.
You’re looking at medium rare now.
Remember it was rare.
Again, you want to practice by
touching your hand,
moving it up.
As you get to the top here,
that’s where you get into the well done
medium well then well done.
Right now, if you can see this bounce,
you’re looking at medium rare,
working it’s way to medium.
One of the things too is that
it is going to continue to cook.
Usually it takes a couple of minutes.
It still continues to cook for a couple of minutes.
One of the mistakes we make at home
we pull it off when it is actually perfect
but then it continues to cook.
If you want it medium,
pull it off a little before medium.
Because by the time it is on the plate
and you are actually eating it,
it will be medium.
Instead of waiting until medium.
Then it becomes medium well
by the time it sits and continues to
cook for a couple of minutes.
Just the internal temperature from that
will keep it cooking for approximately 2 minutes.
As you noticed, I only turned it over twice.
The first time I sear it, I turn it over once
let it cook up.
About 4 minutes it’s been.
This is all done.
See.
And now this is almost medium.
This will continue to cook.
It’s medium rare right now heading towards medium.
Because I want it medium.
Hi.
Scott Tranter here, host of CNYFlavor.
Here at CNYFlavor we try to focus on
local organizations, the local restaurants,
the mom and pop organizations
and sometimes you look pretty hard
but you find a lot of diamonds in the rough.
I believethat I have found a diamond in the rough
right here with Kabobviously.
Obviously it’s Kabobviously
who is right inside the Village Tavern
on College Street down from Hamilton College.
I’m with Kurt and Dale,
not Chip and Dale,
but Kurt and Dale.
It’s okay to laugh guys.
There you go.
I think it’s a privilege and an honor to get
to sit here and interview you.
You can tell me a little bit about yourselves
and first I think that I’d like to talk to you Kurt
and ask you what
you look like a pretty bright guy
and I’m just wondering what insanity brought you
into this business,
how long you’ve been doing this
how long you’ve been cooking
and some of the special things that you do.
>>That’s a good question because the food business
as you know can be pretty crazy at times.
I started doing Kabobviously in 2008
at the Farmer’s Market here in Clinton.
Actually made a bunch of shish kabobs for my mother
and some friends of hers
and one of her friends suggested
that I try selling out on the green.
So we did that.
Everyone really liked it
and kept coming back every week
and the lines kept getting longer and longer.
As it progressed people kept staying
“you’ve got to get your own place.”
So we took their idea and went with it.
>>Now how long have you been at this location?
>>We opened here July 1 of 2011.
>>So, six months now.
>>Yeah.
>>Wow. Congratulations.
And Dale there,
you’re a cook too and you guys are partners.
I looked at your menu and it’s a wonderful menu.
Everything’s done fresh here.
Everything’s done to order.
>>Everything is fresh.
You can have any burger, kabob
any way you want it.
Any items that we have in the restaurant can be put
on anything you want.
>>What’s your favorite thing here?
>>Just burgers in general.
>>You like burgers?
>>I love burgers.
[laughter]
>>Two half pound burgers.
>>You do 2 half pound burgers on one burger?
>>No, he does.
>>For myself.
>>Oh for yourself.
But if I’m a customer and I wanted that.
>>It’s not on the menu but it’ll cost you a little extra.
>>But you could do it.
>>Oh yeah.
>>I like that because a lot of restaurants
they get so structured and so strict
you can’t deviate or vary it from what’s on the menu
and they say “no, that’s all there is to it.”
But you guys can actually do some special
things too if a customer requests it.
>>That’s one of the things I love about this place.
When people ask me if they can customize a burger or
kabob or pizza or whatever,
I say “take a look at anything on the menu,
any ingredients you see on there,
we can cook it however you want
on any of our multiple things on the menu
however you want to do it.
>>Okay , so you’ve done a very unique concept here
being at the Village Tavern.
You do have your own signage out front
Like I said it’s a diamond in the rough,
you have to find it.
But you’re in the back here.
You have a beautiful location.
Great décor.
You’ve done a lot to this place.
It looks great.
The ceiling looks great.
Everything in it is really top notch.
You don’t have a beer or wine or liquor license
however the Village Tavern does
so you’ve worked out a wonderful co-op deal.
>>It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.
People want to have a cocktail or a beer with their burger,
this is the place you can do it.
>>And you can come in here and do it or
you can actually sit at the bar and watch TV.
>>Yea.
>>Play pool.
>>We have a connecting window
that connects the kitchen to the bar
so if people want to order while they’re at the bar
watching the game or whatever,
they can do that.
But if they want to come in and sit down,
they can come right in here.
>>What a great concept.
What are your hours here?
>>We are open every day of the week from 5 to 9.
and then Saturday and Sunday we are actually doing
brunch from 9 to 1 as well.
>>So you do an actual brunch here?
>>We do.
>>That’s great to know.
Although it’s a bar, the tavern,
back here is not.
You can feel free to bring your family and kids.
It’s a great environment.
>>Sure can.
We get a lot of families and kids coming in here
and it’s nice to see them.
>>A lot of people would get scared when they
just look at that in the front
and the Village Tavern
so they would be wondering about bringing
their children in here
but it’s not like that at all.
>>They can come in here.
They know it’s a nice place to be
and the food wins them over
so they come back.
>> A lot of restaurants
they try to get awards and
critics to come in and try their stuff.
I understand just in this short six months
that you've been here
you may have received an award or two.
Tell me about that.
>>Yeah, we received the award for the
best taste at the Taste of Utica 2011
back in June.
That was actually before we
opened our restaurant and it
was very good to bring people
in when we already had some acclaim.
>>And I noticed your prices
are very reasonable.
>>I would say so. Everything is
between $4 and $12.
>>And it's all fresh ground
beef, correct?
>>Fresh ground beef.
>>Every burger is a half pound
and every burger comes with bacon.
>>Every burger comes with bacon?
>>Every burger comes with bacon.
>>Unless you specifically say that
you do not want bacon,
it comes with bacon.
>>Now see, that's cool.
Bacon is very expensive.
You can pay 3-4 bucks a pound
right off the top and even on a
couple of slices you're dealing
with a couple of ounces
>>Yeah.
>>And so your cost averages
naturally go up but that doesn't
concern you as long as
the quality is there.
>>Yeah. That's just how I would
always want
Another restaurant that I would
walk into.
I always want bacon on my burger
and I don't want to pay extra
for it.
>>Now, Kabobviously implies kabobs.
>>Indeed it does.
>>Tell me a little bit about your
different kabobs because I noticed
that you've got a few different ones
on your menu.
>>We do and you can do different
things with them.
Typically, it's either chicken or pork
with onions and peppers.
Basically you start with a fresh
grilled kabob of either kind of meat.
And then one of the more popular
things that we can do with that
is after you grill it we dice it,
put it in a tortilla with melted
cheese and make a quesadilla out of it.
We serve that with tzatziki sour cream.
That's very popular as well.
>>So it's the customer service,
the quality, the consistency that you
can find here at Kabobviously.
>>We get to know them,
they get to know us and everyone's happy.
>>Is there anything that you'd like
to tell the customers that are out there,
the community that's watching this
right now about you, about your
business. To come on in and give it a try.
>>I would say confidently that we
very well might have the best food
in town and we definitely have
the best price.
You've just got to come in the door
and we'll impress you.
>>I'd like to wish you the very, very
best at this location and I'd like to
tell you, the community that's watching
this to come in and give you a try.
You won't be disappointed.
The food is great.
The price is great.
And they have a little weird sense of
humor, but it's good.
It's hometown, it's good. It's local and
that's what we try to do here at
CNY Flavor.
So thank you very much.
>>Thanks.
>>Kurt and Dale. Thank you very much.
We'll see you soon.
[♪] [♪]