Chateaubriand
with Dauphinoise Potatoes cooked on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Chateaubriand in the Snow on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

January 25, 2013 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Vegetables, Beef, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Roasts

Chateaubriand with Boulangerie Potatoes cooked on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

“Man” Its freezing out here and I'm cooking on the braai this week in the snow again, I'm definitely meshuggah! This week I'm cooking my version of this classic French dish with some healthy but extremely tasty Boulangerie Potatoes.

Chateaubriand is a juicy-on-the-inside, seared and roasted beef tenderloin (fillet) with wine sauce frequently ordered for a table of two at French restaurants. Which, according to Larousse Gastronomique, was created by personal chef, Montmireil, for François-René de Chateaubriand, the author and diplomat who served Napoleon as an ambassador and Louis XVIII as Secretary of State for two years. This chateaubriand recipe is the traditional version of the restaurant favourite, seasoned very simply, roasted to perfection, and then sliced on the diagonal. Be sure to make the quick shallot and wine sauce and serve the meal with Boulangerie Potatoes.

SERVES 2-4: PREP: 25MINS: COOK TIME:1-2HR

Preheat the Braai/BigGreenEgg to 180°C (356°F)

Ingredients for the Boulangerie Potatoes:

6 large x potatoes, peeled, sliced and placed in a bowl of cold water to prevent them from browning (use floury potatoes such as Russet, King Edward, Maris Piper or Desiree)
2 x cloves garlic
2 x Red onions sliced
30g x Fresh Thyme
20g x Fresh Parsley
300ml x Warm Chicken Stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method of cooking Boulangerie Potatoes:

Peel, slice and place the potatoes in a bowl of cold water to prevent them from going brown. Chop up the onions and saute them in a knob of butter until they soften add the thyme and set aside. Take two small baking dishes (can use just one large) and add a layer of potatoes. Sprinkle them with some of the onion mix and some parsley and repeat until the dish is full. Pore over half of the chicken stock and finally put a couple of knobs of butter on the top to help brown them off. Place in the braai for 1hr at 180°C simple as that.

Ingredients for the Chateaubriand:

500-750g Beef fillet (tenderloin)
20g x Sea Salt
20g x Fresh Black Pepper

Ingredients for the Béarnaise sauce:

2 tbsp x tarragon vinegar
50ml x white wine
1 tsp x white peppercorns
1 x small banana shallot, finely diced
4 x eggs, yolks only
¼ x lemon, juice only
200g x butter, melted
2-3 tbsp x chopped tarragon leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method for the Béarnaise sauce:

Traditionally this dish is served with a Béarnaise sauce but I did not make it as I'm trying to be good lol. We made just a simple Red wine reduction with chicken stock but this is the recipe that I would have used if I was going for it. To make the béarnaise sauce, place the vinegar, white wine, peppercorns and shallot into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by half and remove the peppercorns then pour into a medium bowl.

Add the egg yolks and whisk well, then add the lemon juice. Place over a pan of simmering water and whisk together until thickened and light in colour. Gradually add in the melted butter, whisking constantly. Season with salt and black pepper and add the chopped tarragon leaves. Turn off the heat and leave the bowl over the pan until ready to use

Method of cooking Chateaubriand:

Grind the salt and pepper with a pestle and mortar, its amazing the aroma this gives off. Sprinkle the fillet with this mix liberally and set aside for later.

Once the potato’s have been cooking for 1hr, turn up the braai to 260°C (500°F) and place the fillet in the Braai for 20 mins, turning regularly so that it does not burn. It shouldn’t take any longer that this as this dish is best served rare!

Once cooked remove both the potatoes and beef from the braai and set the beef aside to rest for 15 mins. The potatoes will not go cold as the are in a baking hot dish. As a South african I love rice so we served this up with a helping of Tastic rice and vegetables.

As you can see I only just managed to not overcook the fillet, that is the trick. Its so easy to leave it in the braai for a extra couple moments as you try to decide if its cooked enough. Remember when its resting its still cooking so don’t be tempted to leave it in the braai for a little longer. Please feel free to like and share this blog with other like minded nuts who enjoy Braaiing all year long.

Double Smoked Ham on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

January 11, 2013 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Smoking, Pork, Big Green Egg, Recipes

Ham to Die for on the Braai/BigGreenEgg

Well, it's another week closer to Spring and man I cant wait for this to arrive, its a miracle that I'm still braaiing every week with the weather we’ve had and it gets dark at 4.00pm. You can check me out braaiing with my cycling helmet on and light to see what the hell I'm doing lol. Guess what, it's now going to snow as well this week, so it will be interesting to see how the BGE works when it arrives.

This week I've cooked a leg of pork, to be precise its a smoked ham which I am going to smoke again. I've cheated a bit because I made this at the same time that I made the bread that I blogged about last week. Trust me, when I say these two together were just a match made in Heaven or Hell depending on wether you like or eat pork. So lets get on with it.

SERVES 10-12: PREP: 15MINS: SMOKE Time 2HR: COOK TIME:2-3HR

Preheat the Braai/BigGreenEgg to 200ºF/94ºC.
Place the hickory chips in a small bowl, cover with water and let soak for at least 1 hour.
Ingredients for the first stage of cooking:
4 x Bay leaves
12 x Cloves
10g x Black Pepper corns
1lt x Cider preferably Savanna (I forgot to being it back so we used Bulmers)
1lt x cold water

Method for first stage of cooking:

Take the ham and place it in a very large saucepan and poor the cider and water over it. Add the Bay Leaves and cloves cover and bring to the boil. Leave this to simmer for 2 – 3 hr making sure that you turn it every 30 mins. This helps the salt to be drawn out from the smoked ham. Once its been cooking for 3hrs take it out and peel of the skin of the ham, this would not be great to eat anyway, so through it away. Score the ham in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife, ready for the next stage.

Ingredients for the second stage of cooking:

100ml x Maple Syrup
100ml x Bourbon
100g x Cloves

Method for second stage of cooking:

Mix the Maple syrup and Bourbon together and brush over the ham. Take the cloves and push into the ham in the middle of each diamond. Brush the ham again with the mix and do so continually during the smoking so that it keeps the ham moist. Next add the wood chipping to the braai, place the ham in the middle of the BigGreenEgg and close the lid. Do not open for at least an hour and the baste every 15 mins with the mixture. Once its been smoking for 2 hrs take the ham out of the braai and place on a board and cover so that it can relax for 30mins at least before you carve.

All that is need now is to carve the ham and serve with either freshly baked bread (see last weeks blog) or with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and some English mustard. Mmmm it tasted as great as it looks. Please leave any feed back below, this really helps me work out what to do, many thanks. Larry.

Christmas Lunch on the Braai, cooked on the BigGreenEgg!

December 28, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Food Websites, Chicken, Beef, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Roasts

Braaiing in the rain in storm force winds.

As I said last week I'm glad that I had a test run making half of the christmas lunch, thus giving me no excuses to get it wrong this week. In addition to cooking a Capon on the Braai I'm also going to braai a whole Rib Eye of Black Gold Beef which we sell in our shop and on the web site www.biltong.co.uk .

I'm sure that most of you can remember having Christmas lunch around the pool or on the beach in 80 degree sunshine, well for me, those days are long gone and now I find myself braaiing in the rain and getting blown away at the same time. I must be nuts!! But I'm holding up the flame for US BRAAI NUTTERS from SA who insist on braaing on Christmas Day no matter what and I can tell you it was well worth the effort.

Sorry if i'm repeating myself but I will be listing the recipe for the Capon again plus the cooking instructions for the rib eye. The spicing of the Beef is going to be very basic but simplicity is the best way to braai beef in my opinion. As this is being posted after Christmas Day, I hope that you all enjoyed the festive season, whatever you were doing. Needless to say the curry that I hinted at was not required as the meat part of the lunch turned out perfectly as well as the accompanying vegetables that were prepared and cooked by the rest of the family.

SERVES 4-8 - PREP: 5 MINS - COOK TIME: 1 - 2hrs

Ingredients for the Beef

1 x Beef Rib Eye 2.5kg
1 x tbsp Sea Salt
1-2 x tbsp Black Pepper corns

Method for cooking beef

Preheat the Braai to 230°C (446°F)
Take the beef out of the fridge so that it comes to room temperature before aplying the spices and cooking
Pour the salt and pepper corns into a pestle and grind into a course mix, this is so much better than using pre ground as the aroma’s really come out.
Rub the mix all over the beef 5 minutes before you place on the braai to cook, this is so that the salt does not take all the moisture out of the beef. You want it to season, not preserve.
Place on a roasting rack, cover with tin foil and place in the braai for 1hr. After an hour take the foil off and allow the beef to colour for about 30 mins, this should give you medium rare beef, add 15mins to bring to medium and another 20 for well done.
Once cooked take out of the braai and allow to rest for 20 mins before you carve.

SERVES 4-8 - PREP: 10 MINS - COOK TIME: 2 - 2.5hrs

Ingredients for the Capon and sauce

1 x Capon 4.6kg / large free range chicken or even your turkey
2 x large lemons, 1 thinly sliced and the other halved
150gm x salted butter
3 x large red onions, peeled and quartered through the root
1 x 30g pack fresh thyme (reserve a few sprigs and roughly chop the remaining leaves)
2 x cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 
1 x teaspoon olive oil  Seasoning

For the gravy

425ml dry white wine
Juice of 1 lemon

Method for cooking Capon

Preheat the Braai to 230°C (446°F)
Take a knob of butter and slide it under the skin on the Capon along with some thyme, this will help the breast stay succulent.
Next mix the sliced lemon with the remaining thyme and place it inside the cavity of the capon and position it in the centre of the tin.
Add some seasoning then arrange the vegetables all around.
Add more seasoning, then place the capon on a rack in the middle of a roasting tin, Cover the Capon with some silver foil. Then place it on the centre shelf of the braai and time it for 90 minutes without opening the lid. Then remove the foil and allow the capon skin to crisp up for 20 mins (Because Braai`s vary, test the thickest part of the chicken with a skewer – if the juices run clear it is cooked. If not give it another 10-15 minutes).

Method for making the gravy

Now remove the vegetables to a serving dish and keep warm. Then spoon out the lemon slices into the tin, put a wooden spoon into the cavity and, using a spatula to hold the breast end up, tip the capon and let all the juices run out into the tin.
Transfer the capon to a carving board and leave it in a warm place to rest for 20 minutes.
Next stir the juices in the tin to release any crusty bits and transfer everything to a medium saucepan. Now add the wine, bring it up to a simmer and let it bubble and reduce by half – this will take about 8-10 minutes. Then add the lemon juice, taste and season.
Carve the capon and serve with the vegetables on warm plates.
Add any escaped chicken juices to the sauce then spoon it over the chicken and serve the rest in a warmed jug.

I can only say a big sorry for the fact that there are no images of this plated up but the family were not willing to wait for me to set up the shots as they were eating as I carved it. Even if I say so myself this was a great meal, simple and easy to prepare for me that is (Janet made 11 different veg and potatoes to go with the meat) man what a feast! Could not move the rest of the day LOL. Please leave your comments below as usual, always interested to hear what you think. Merry Christmas Larry

Capon cooked on the Braai

December 21, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Duck, Braai, Vegetables, Chicken, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Roasts

Fancy a change for christmas try a Capon cooked on the Braai

What I love about this recipe is the fast cooking, which turns the capon crisp and golden on the outside and juicy and succulent within. The added bonus is roasting the potatoes and onions at precisely the same time and in the same roasting tin. This is an easy recipe to try if you're planning a treat for Christmas as I am. This week I am doing a trial run for the festive season as I don’t want it to be a disaster on the day. I'm cooking Christmas dinner this year on the BigGreenEgg, lets hope that I don’t mess it up! Otherwise its a curry take away lol.