Rice, the Other White Rice
Exciting times. Have a surprise to tell ya’ll next week. Sorry, I know seven days is too soon to start teasing about something, but this is a game I’m not particularly good at.
Unrelated, or peripherally related: I have some neighbors that are of a religion (I’m guessing) that requires them to chant loudly and frenetically multiple times a week for sometimes hours. I have no idea. I live in Hollywood, what do you want? Anyway, another neighbor theorized the chanters were Orthodox Jews, but as far as I know even Orthodox Jews don’t have a reason to chant for 2 straight hours on a Tuesday afternoon. Mike theorizes they are Hare Krishnas, but I think I would have noticed Hare Krishnas walking around my neighborhood before now. But it doesn’t matter what they are, because I don’t care; what I care about is how incredibly fucking annoying it is. As mentioned, the chanting isn’t soothing, it’s maniacal and demented. It sounds a lot like:
HIGH CHAI GAY GUY HIGH CHAI GAY GUY HIGH CHAI GAY GUY
And until recently I’ve been able to shut windows or listen to music or something, but today I could do neither and as a treat got to hear some lady in the chanters go completely rogue with a shrill, unhinged warble. She was still chanting along with the rest of them, but one of those kids was doin’ her own thing, if you catch my drift. Kudos for the own drum and all, but if you could keep it down? I can barely hear the car alarms and the gunshots.
However! I made takikomi gohan from the packet that Amy gave to me.
Straight out of the foil bag it was a little peculiar. It smelled good, sort of earthy. Still, bottoms up and whatnot. Into the pot of rice it goes.
In the meantime I had been to the butcher to buy my favorite cut of meat, the flat iron. Flat iron was traditionally a part of a chuck roast but is now often found cut off and offered separately. It’s a well-marbled, tender, flavorful cut of meat that until recently was quite cheap. Popularity for it has slowly driven the price up, and at my local butcher the New York cut was cheaper than the flat iron. Insane. Still, it’s usually $8/lb. or less, and within my budget.
As you can see, it’s a nice piece of meat, har-d-har. It has a lot of “beefy” flavor (surprising, I know, but if you eat beef regularly it is surprising which cuts are sort of bland and not worth the money) (I’m looking at you, tenderloin) but it comes in pancake-like filets never more than 1.5 inches thick. It’s just the way the meat works. When I first discovered these steaks in Cincinnati the butcher would for some totally bizarre reason cut them into long strips, like I’ve done above. I was infuriated. Why did he keep doing that? However, it led to a reluctant discovery: they were easier to marinate and cook in those strips. And while I still don’t know what the fuck he was thinking, I’ve cut them that way ever since I left. I buy three steaks, cut them into four strips and then bag four individual sets of three strips. Confused? Me too.
I marinate the steaks with garlic powder, pepper (my peppermill has still not yet been replaced, don’t judge the box of pepper) (UGH, JUDGE IT, I HATE IT, I AM ASHAMED), Worcestershire and soy sauce. Ratio is whatever you want, but I go light on the Worcestershire since it can have too identifiable a flavor for me.
Once in the bag I give them a might squish to make sure they’re all loose and getting juice between them.
And off they go into the freezer. You’ll notice I’m short one bag here because it was staying thawed for tonight’s dinner. When thawed, the steaks will be perfectly marinated and ready to fry. Or grill. Or whatever. I fry. My mom broils, but broiling is a dying art and I never took a shine to it.
Since they fry on all sides, the steak pieces cook fast. For dinner we had the takikomi gohan and some tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet). It was my riff on steak-n-eggs. <– Did you see that? See me get all Iron Chef on that shit? That’s right.
I actually served mine to myself in a bowl since I wanted more rice and eggs than meat. And how was the rice, you ask? Well, it was pretty fantastic. Cooked perfectly with my haiga rice (which, if you ever see it, get it) and really reminded us of a kind of low-key, nutritious fried rice. In flavor, of course. I mean, it wasn’t fried. Very, very good.
Ah, they’ve stopped chanting. I’m going to eat a bottle of Excedrin and call it a day.
Possibly Buddhists? Although the duration and drum doesn’t seem to fit my guess. But then, wtf do I know, I’m from South Carolina where we just roll around in the aisles and talk krazy shit.
Hey! I love your website. & I also have a question for you.
I never cook meat (mostly out of laziness) but I went to the Korean grocery store and couldn’t help but buy the beautiful cheap beef to make bulgogi. Now I don’t have time to make it this week so I want to freeze it. Do you freeze it in the marinade? Are those special bags? Do you put the bags in the aluminum? How do you thaw it?
I know I could just look it up but I thought I would ask someone who had delicious looking pictures first…
Thanks!
Man, I love fans and questions.
Most city-dwellin’ folk don’t realize that some of the best meat in their town will be at the Asian market, and that it will be economically packaged into smaller units. So for starters: smart shopping, Andrea.
To answer the questions:
Yes, freeze it in the marinade. Use only a small amount of marinade, just enough to cover the meat when you press all the air out of the bag.
No, those are not special bags, they are Target-brand standard quart bags. This brings up an interesting point: a lot of people believe that the plastic in those bags is dangerous and the extreme temperatures can release those dangerous chemicals. I don’t. Everything I’ve read about those food-grade plastics is that high heat is looking suspicious in laboratory testing, but extreme cold seems safe.
I put the bags in aluminum because it protects them from freezerburn. I reuse the aluminum pieces over and over again until they just wad up from stress. Wait, that’s me.
And lastly – the meat thaws really fast, so I do one of a few things. First, remove the foil. The best thing to do is put the frozen meat into the fridge the night before you want to use it. It might still be a little frozed the next day, but 10 minutes on the counter at room temperature should thaw it the rest of the way. HOWEVER. I never remember to put the meat in the fridge that far in advance, so I leave it on the counter at room temperature for an hour, turning every 15 minutes, or until it is thawed. 15 years of food service training tells me this is risky, but the concurrent 15 years of cooking food tells me that I’ve never made myself sick from this.
Oh, a third and final way of thawing meat quickly is to put it (still in the bag!!) in a shallow bowl, set it under a running tap and let cool/lukewarm water run over it. It should thaw in half the time, but wastes water. This method works particularly well for fish, too.
Phew! Hope that helps.
Thanks! It’s in the freezer right now waiting for me. I’ll let you know how it goes!