Braised Beef Sandwiches

Ripped from the local paper. We tried this last weekend and it was really good, and we ended up with nice leftovers for a few days.

Braised beef Sandwiches

• 1 (2-1/2 pound) boneless chuck roast
• 2 tablespoons oil
• Kosher salt
• 4 cups diced onion
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon granulated onion
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 1 cup Jack Daniels
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup ketchup
• 6 to 8 Kaiser rolls
shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. heat the oil in a heavy bottomed Dutch oven pan over high heat. Season the roast with kosher salt, then sear in the Dutch oven for 2 to 3 minutes on all sides on medium-high heat. Remove the roast, and set aside.

Add the onions to the pot and saute or 2 to 3 minutes until lightly caramelized. Mix in the paprika, cumin, granulated onion and garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and carefully pour in the Jack Daniels. Return to heat, burn off the alcohol (it will catch on fire then burn out), and reduce by half.

Add the beef stock, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup. return the roast to the pot and cover the meat with parchment paper, leaving no air pockets. Top the pot with the lid and place into a pre-heated 300 degree oven. Braise for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat easily falls apart. Remove from the oven, and let cool for 5 minutes. Place the meat in a large bowl and shred with a fork. Return the pot to the stove and bring the liquid to a simmer over medium-high heat. Return the meat to pot, and reduce until liquid is slightly thickened.

Slice the rolls in half and pile the meat onto the bottom half off the roll. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and cover with top part of roll. Makes 6 to 8 sandwiches.

Chocolate Crackles

This is probably my favorite cookie recipe ever. They are just so addicting once you start eating them.

Chocolate Crackles

(Moist, Fudgy Type Cookies)

• 4 squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup salad oil
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, unbeaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups sifted flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• (1/2 cup walnuts optional, we've never made it with them)
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Melt chocolate in top of double boiler. Remove from water and let chocolate cool some. Blend in oil and sugar and add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into chocolate mixture. Add nuts (ew) and mix thoroughly. Chill soft dough for several hours or overnight. Shape into small balls and roll in powdered sugar. bake on greased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. The powdered sugar coating will crack apart, giving an interesting effect. Makes 6 dozen small cookies.

Anime Bread

So I've seen anime with giant robots, anime about baseball, anime about playing Go, and anime about tennis (to name a few). But I never thought I'd see one about baking bread. Yakitate!! Japan is about Kazuma and his quest to make a national bread for Japan. He figures that since many other countries have types of bread they are known for, Japan needs one too. He's also blessed with 'Solar Hands', which are abnormally warm and help make the bread rise faster after kneading.

This show is just too much fun. They've compensated for bread not being the most exciting topic by making it insanely over the top. The main character's bread seems to be so good that it makes the people tasting it hallucinate. For instance, when tasting a bread he made with goats milk butter one character hallucinated flying through space to the constellation Capricorn. But mixed in with all the over the top antics are little bits of information about baking bread (I think most of it is fairly accurate).

Now here's a chance for anime to break a bit more into the mainstream. It could be on FoodTV. It was be a perfect match! And finally a show I can share with my mom (who used to teach a bread baking class).

Cider Sorbet

Here's a recipe for some Cider Sorbet that my mom makes. It's really good.

Cider Sorbet

• 4 cups cider
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup dark rum (Myers is what she uses)

Simmer cider with sugar for five minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Process in an ice-cream maker until slushy and firm, then place in containers and freeze. This can also be made by freezing in a shallow container until mushy, then processing in a blender or food processor until smooth and put into containers for freezing.

Ingredients can also be adjusted to taste.

Balzano Apple Cake

Since I haven't been posting much in the last few days, here's a recipe that my mom made the other day that kicked ass. I think she got it from the New York Times originally.

Updated 11/1: Just found it posted again to the NYTimes web site with corrections (thanks to ellen).

Bolzano Apple Cake

Time: 1 1/4 Hours

• 1 stick butter (4 ounces), plus more for greasing pan
• 1/2 cup flour, plus more for pan
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 1/4 lbs Granny Smith apples (3 to 4 small to medium)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk at room temperature
• Powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 375 Degrees. Line 8-inch square pan with foil, then smear with think layer of butter. Dust with flour; turn pan over, and tap lightly to remove excess flour.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Set aside. Beat together eggs and half of sugar in a bowl. Continue to beat while slowly adding remaining sugar until thick; it should form a ribbon when dropped from spoon.
3. Split vanilla bean in two lengthwise. Scrape seeds into the egg-sugar batter and add pod to melted butter.
4. Peel, quarter and core apples, then trim ends and slice thinly.
5. Remove vanilla pod from butter and stir butter into sugar-egg batter. Combine 1/2 cup flower and baking powerder, then stir it into batter alternately with milk. Stir in apples, coating every piece with batter. Pour batter into pan, using fingers to pat top evenly.
6. Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate the pan; bake for about 25 m minutes more, until cake pulls away from pan and is brown on top; a thin bladed knife inserted into the center will come out clean when it is done. Cool 30 minutes, then cut lengthwise and sprinkle slices with powdered sugar.

Yield: 6 to 8 services