In which we go old school
Feb. 28th, 2011 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kylezyNew recipe #3
Meat paste. It's one of those things that I wish had a better name because it sounds pretty gross as it is. Well, it's meat blitzed to be spreadable, so I guess the grossness is inherent. But regardless; it's always been on the supermarket shelves, right next to the other jarred spreads like Vegemite and Peanut Butter, and my family loves it, I grew up on the stuff - so when I came across this recipe, I knew I had to give it a try.
OLD FASHION MEAT PASTE
500g gravy beef
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp Angostura bitters
seasoning to taste
2 onions
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup beef stock
Remove fat and sinew from meat and roughly chop. Combine with the other ingredients in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for 2-3 hours or until meat is tender. Allow to cool then puree in a food processor. Transfer to container and refrigerate.
Things I did differently:
Doubled the recipe as I'd bought too much meat, but by the by, it's easier to measure the rest of the ingredients this way, as doubled, they're now whole number measurements.
The recipe doesn't specify if you need fresh or dried thyme and while my intention was to use fresh (because you always assume fresh), my plant was dead, so I had to use dried stuff.
Verdict:
Two-and-a-half out of five. It pretty much tastes like beef casserole/stew. In fact, it IS beef stew, actually, until you blitz it. Put a bit of rice underneath and I would have had a hearty meal right there. I was tempted, let me tell you, the meat was beautiful and tender, but I restrained myself in the interest of turning it all to mush.
And to mush it all turned.
Look, it was nice enough. I put it on a cheese cracker while it was still warm and it was pretty good. It's moreish; you're eating it and you think, 'well this is just alright' but the minute you've finished, your mouth sort of waters and you're like, 'hmm, maybe it was a bit more than alright then, I better have more'.
It's when it goes cold that it loses some of its charm. The mixture understandably dries out a bit; it's harder to spread and the flavour seems to mellow in a bland sort of way. I've yet to try heating it in the microwave before I put it on crackers, but I might give it a go and see if that improves it.
Saying all that though, my mum and my uncle loved it cold, so to each their own?
I would maybe consider this recipe again if I was having a party or if I worked in catering: put a bit of this in a mini savoury tart shell, maybe some pureed peas on top, a dab of sour cream and you've got yourself a nice little appetizer. Or it could work as the filling for a meat pie?
In any case, I've finally found myself a nice stew recipe.
Meat paste. It's one of those things that I wish had a better name because it sounds pretty gross as it is. Well, it's meat blitzed to be spreadable, so I guess the grossness is inherent. But regardless; it's always been on the supermarket shelves, right next to the other jarred spreads like Vegemite and Peanut Butter, and my family loves it, I grew up on the stuff - so when I came across this recipe, I knew I had to give it a try.
OLD FASHION MEAT PASTE
500g gravy beef
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp Angostura bitters
seasoning to taste
2 onions
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup beef stock
Remove fat and sinew from meat and roughly chop. Combine with the other ingredients in a saucepan. Cover and simmer for 2-3 hours or until meat is tender. Allow to cool then puree in a food processor. Transfer to container and refrigerate.
Things I did differently:
Doubled the recipe as I'd bought too much meat, but by the by, it's easier to measure the rest of the ingredients this way, as doubled, they're now whole number measurements.
The recipe doesn't specify if you need fresh or dried thyme and while my intention was to use fresh (because you always assume fresh), my plant was dead, so I had to use dried stuff.
Verdict:
Two-and-a-half out of five. It pretty much tastes like beef casserole/stew. In fact, it IS beef stew, actually, until you blitz it. Put a bit of rice underneath and I would have had a hearty meal right there. I was tempted, let me tell you, the meat was beautiful and tender, but I restrained myself in the interest of turning it all to mush.
And to mush it all turned.
Look, it was nice enough. I put it on a cheese cracker while it was still warm and it was pretty good. It's moreish; you're eating it and you think, 'well this is just alright' but the minute you've finished, your mouth sort of waters and you're like, 'hmm, maybe it was a bit more than alright then, I better have more'.
It's when it goes cold that it loses some of its charm. The mixture understandably dries out a bit; it's harder to spread and the flavour seems to mellow in a bland sort of way. I've yet to try heating it in the microwave before I put it on crackers, but I might give it a go and see if that improves it.
Saying all that though, my mum and my uncle loved it cold, so to each their own?
I would maybe consider this recipe again if I was having a party or if I worked in catering: put a bit of this in a mini savoury tart shell, maybe some pureed peas on top, a dab of sour cream and you've got yourself a nice little appetizer. Or it could work as the filling for a meat pie?
In any case, I've finally found myself a nice stew recipe.
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Date: 2011-02-28 04:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-28 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-28 05:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-28 05:24 am (UTC)My family = singularly keeping the meat paste industry afloat?
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Date: 2011-02-28 07:31 pm (UTC)