From the monthly archives: February 2012
Tzatziki (4p) 2-300g greek yoghurt (thick, creamy and fat) 1 cucumber 1-3 garlic cloves. 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste.
When is the right time for tzatziki? I prefer it to rare or medium rare meat, but I don’t restrict it to lamb. Any meat really. Yeah, pork as [...]
Tzatziki (4p)
- 2-300g greek yoghurt (thick, creamy and fat)
- 1 cucumber
- 1-3 garlic cloves.
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste.
When is the right time for tzatziki? I prefer it to rare or medium rare meat, but I don’t restrict it to lamb. Any meat really. Yeah, pork as well, even if I don’t like my pork rare.
- If the yoghurt you get isn’t thick and creamy, put it in a coffee filter overnight to get rid of excess water.
- Grate the cucumber and put the shavings in a strainer. Salt heavily and toss it around to spread the salt out. Leave to strain for a few minutes.
- Finely grate the garlic cloves. How many you should use is up to their size and your taste.
- Press as much water as possible out of the cucumber and mix it with the yoghurt.
- Add grated garlic and taste. When it is just a little bland, stop adding more garlic. The flavor and strength of garlic will develop as it rests.
- Add a few tablespoons of olive oil.
- Add pepper and possibly salt to taste.
- Leave to rest. If it, by any chance is too strong of garlic, add more yoghurt.
- Enjoy!
Alternative
Instead of using cucumber, use grated carrots. It will not be a pure tzatziki, but it is really quite good. The tzatziki gets a little more bite to it and obviously a different color.
Drink pairing
- Wine: I am no expert, but any red wine recommended for rare or medium rare lamb usually go really well with tzatziki.
- Beer: Lager, definitely lager. Any beer with stronger flavor will make the combination of the garlic and the acidity of yoghurt with the beer quite wonky.
- Whisky: With charcoal grilled meat and tzatziki, find a nice smoky, salty and dry single malt. In this scenario, the Islay single malts make a funny match, turning the whisky slightly sweet and savory.
Yeah, this summer parts of a cow will be eaten. With wife and friends, in the sun, with cold beer or wine. Hell yeah. I have already started planning, maybe even in too much detail. But at the same time I don’t want to tie myself down to a rigid plan. Anyway here are some [...]
Yeah, this summer parts of a cow will be eaten. With wife and friends, in the sun, with cold beer or wine. Hell yeah. I have already started planning, maybe even in too much detail. But at the same time I don’t want to tie myself down to a rigid plan. Anyway here are some of the things I have in mind:
- Hamburgers. I can’t imagine a summer without charbroiled hamburgers. With a recipe adapted from Heston Blumenthals perfect burgers, these are just short of perfection. I grind the meat and shape the burgers by hand. I bake the buns and make the cheese slices myself. There will be pics!
- Oxtail. It’s a wonderful part of the cow. I don’t want to boil/simmer it though. There must be another way to put the oxtail on the grill. Maybe sous-vide first and then use the pulled meat in some fancy way.
- Butcher’s steak, or hanger steak if you will. It’s just about impossible to get that cut of meat in Sweden. Good thing I’m on the lookout for it about 4 months in advance. There has to be a local butcher somewhere who could produce this cut for me. I need to try it!
- Flank steak. Obviously. It’s delicious but hard to come by as well.
- Shank and leg. Tough meat, not really the first meat that comes to mind if we’re talking about grilling. However, low temp cooking them for quite some time may render it as tender as tenderloin. I don’t know if it is possible, but I will try!
- I foresee some more regular cuts being used as well. At last club steak and T-bone steak has started to appear in the local shops. Those has to be tried. With garlic butter and a buttery potato mash. Maybe a corn and onion relish. But not too much of too fancy stuff, that will just distract the attention away from the VIP. The VIP who says Moo.
I would like to not use potatoes all summer long, but I don’t really believe in rice or pasta with grilled meat. I might change my mind there as well. And strange grains are out of the question. Cous-cous with grilled meat? I don’t know. I think I’m too conservative for that. On the other hand, a few weeks into this project, I might be completely fed up with french fries. Well, time will tell. Until next update, tata!
Tagged with: beer • broiling • charcoal • eat-a-cow • flank steak • grilling • hamburger • hanger steak • oxtail • sous-vide • tenderloin
I’ve finally decided, not only on this years project, but also on the content of this site. I’m gonna eat a cow, piece by piece with my friends.
For the last dozen years, the same thing is uttered from september until about may: “Next summer, we need to bbq and drink beer far more often.” [...]
I’ve finally decided, not only on this years project, but also on the content of this site. I’m gonna eat a cow, piece by piece with my friends.
For the last dozen years, the same thing is uttered from september until about may: “Next summer, we need to bbq and drink beer far more often.” And more often than not, the dreams and aspirations never really come true.
This year it will! We are going to eat a cow, starting in the late spring, with the project ending sometime in the middle of august before the fall comes. Right now, I envison a 15 chapter story, on average once a week or so for the summer. There will be photo documentation, recipes and maybe even party images.
I will find and reuse recipes as well as invent new ones. I don’t restrict myself to any kind of cooking method, but I predict there will be quite a bit of charcoal grilled meat. And beer. There will most certainly be beer.
As the planning process of this project moves along, I’ll obviously keep you posted.
Hey! We’re gonna eat a cow!
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