Beef Tallow and Spicy Mango Sauce (but not together)

Grass fed beef fat/suet. It smelled kinda gross to be honest.

I did something really gross today. I rendered beef fat. This is definitely as gross as it sounds, but very much worth the time and effort. Let's talk about why.

As I've mentioned before, Mark's Daily Apple is one of my favorite blogs. It likes to throw science at the paleo wall and see what sticks, so we can all be more knowledgeable about our awesome way of eating when the haters come a'hatin... (which is often). Mark has written a WONDERFUL article (linked below) that describes in easy to read detail all about fat. What kinds we should be consuming and why. What ratios of fatty acids we ought to consume to prevent inflammation. Why grass fed animal fats are far, far better for us than any canola oil could ever hope to be. And why, most importantly, not all saturated fats are evil and going to kill us. In fact, animal fats will do more to save us than kill us. About half way through the article, Mark says:

I’ve been brazen enough to recommend saturated fats, found in animal products and some tropical oils, as part of a healthy diet, and I’ll say it again. Saturated fats serve critical roles in the human body. They make up 1/2 of cell membrane structure. They enhance calcium absorption and immune function. They aid in body’s synthesis of the essential fatty acids and provide a rich source of fat soluble vitamins.

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fats/#ixzz2T9LWlXzf

This is me, loving tallow.

This is why I did something icky like render beef tallow today. Because unlike most fats out there, good GMO free, grass fed, hormone free, antibiotic free and pasture finished beef is a wonderful source of fat that will keep my body in shape and most definitely not kill me.

I purchased my amazing beef fat today from a great store on the North Shore of Oahu. Sadly, the military run commissary has very little to offer in the way of organic or grass fed meat. In fact, they don't have any. And lots of the local grocery stores don't seem to sell things like this either. Am I shopping in the wrong stores? Sometimes I wonder. To combat my lack of meaty options, I started a search for a butcher here. I found this great place called VJ's Butcher Shop and read up on what they're all about. They provide great meat that's never eaten junk in its life. They've currently got all different cuts of beef and lamb, as well as local chicken and eggs, and a slew of other tasty critters coming down the pipeline in the near future (see what I did there? I made a surfing reference for the North Shore... one day I WILL be a real writer). I've been following them on facebook since they opened a few months ago and I'm glad I finally made the trip to see them.

In addition to pounds of pure beef fat, I also purchased ground beef, kosher short ribs, osso buco ("bone with a hole"), oxtails, a ginormous t-bone steak, neck marrow bones, and a "neck roast" of lamb. When I first arrived, the butcher (I assume VJ himself?) told me that the popular cuts like NY Strip and Filet Mignon were in the front meat case. I told him those were for people who weren't interested in creative cooking. I wanted the weird, cast-off cuts like osso buco, beef cheek, fat to render for tallow and oxtails. His face light up like a Christmas tree, clearly recognizing a fellow foodie or at least someone who knew their cuts of meat. I would bet it's refreshing to find someone who is interested in eating the whole animal rather than just the popular steaks. Besides, I can't afford those cuts of meat... Cheap, weird cuts for me and mine! Sadly he was out of beef cheek, and there wouldn't be any pork until summer time, but that's just another reason to return in a month or two. Thanks VJ's Butcher Shop for some awesome stuff!!!!

I literally cannot wait to eat all of these things in one beefy rush. If only it hadn't been a bit expensive (but totally worth every stinking penny)... I'd eat all of it in a day. And then die of beef overload... That sounds so wrong...

Let's talk about a recipe that has literally NOTHING to do with everything I just composed. Let's talk about another perk of living in Hawaii: I have access to four (FOUR!) mango trees, all of which are producing big juicy mangoes right now. So what to do when those trees are droppin' 'em like they're hot? Make Spicy Mango BBQ Sauce! You too can make this sauce to slather on pork tenderloins or chicken thighs for your summer barbecue! In fact, tomorrow we'll see how to grill up some juicy chicken drumsticks with this sauce. So let's get cracking.

You will need:

Mangoes straight from the tree! So awesome.

1 shallot, sliced
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, 2tsp crushed garlic
2tbsp coconut oil (or fat of choice, look I chose something other than bacon fat!!!)
3 ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
5 thin chilis (I used the thin kung pao ones from my garden), seeds removed for less spicy, seeds of two or three kept for much spicier
2 inches of ginger slightly bigger than your thumb, cut into tiny squares
1c water
2tsp Worchestershire sauce (I put this in everything)
2tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
3 cloves
1/4tsp fennel seed
1/2tsp cumin
1/2tsp salt
1/4tsp ground pepper, or about 10 peppercorns
1/4tsp mustard seed
6 cardamom pods, seeds reserved and green pods discarded

1. First, fry the shallots, onions and ginger pieces in the coconut oil over medium heat. When the onion is translucent, throw the garlic in and fry until fragrant for about a minute or so. 
2. Then add the diced mango and chilis. The chilis can be kept whole or chopped into small pieces. All of this goes through a blender or food processor later, so it won't matter in the end. 
3. Add the water and Worchestershire sauce and reduce the heat a bit. 
4. Simmer this mixture over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes until it starts to boil. Stir it often as it gets hotter to prevent the sugary mangoes from sticking to the bottom and burning. 
5. In the meantime, put the remaining whole spices in a spice grinder (aka. repurposed coffee grinder - just don't go back to using it for coffee... your coffee may taste like tacos or chai if you do) and grind to a powder. If you don't have a coffee grinder to use for mixing spices, you should. Go to Target. Spend the $15. I can't function in a paleo kitchen without mine. You're welcome. Now, grind those spices and add them to the simmering mixture. 
6. After about 15-20 minutes on the stove, your sauce should be thick and very fragrant. 
7. Add the vinegar and mix well. If it's still liquidy and the mangoes haven't broken down and turned mushy, keep it simmering on the stove for another five minutes. 
8. If you're not feeling 100% paleo, add 2tbsp molasses for a deeper flavor and/or if your mangoes weren't sweet enough for you. 
9. Now. In batches, blend this in a blender or food processor until smooth. 

You can leave some chunks if you want a more "chutney" texture. Originally I called this a chutney, but really it should have big chunks to be a chutney. And I liked this smoother so I could brush it on like a barbecue sauce. So, spicy mango bbq sauce it is! You could also add other spices like star anise or cinnamon. But I hate cinnamon. So there you go. This makes about 3-4 cups of sauce, so make sure you have a big container or a few small ones on hand to store it. Put it in glass jars and stick it in the fridge for up to a month. You can use this on meat, like I said above, OR you can use it as a spicy and tangy dipping sauce. Good grief this stuff is yummy...

Do you like my numbered list of steps better than non-numbered lists? Does anyone even read my recipes??? Comment below and let me know what you think! Tomorrow we'll look at some of this sauce on the grill! Mmmmmm.

Hamburgled

I bought some grass fed hamburger patties from Wegman's the other day on sale because it was the last day they could sell them.  I'm sure the culinary schooled folks who read this would be appalled that the sell by date was the 14th and I'm using them three days later, and cooking them medium rare to boot.  But for us normal people out there who stretch the limits of what's safe to eat in our kitchens (I can't be the only one who has stood there, pondering whether or not to risk food poisoning, and then deciding the risk is worth it...), I cooked up these babies today with one of my absolute favorite condiments EVER: worcestershire sauce.  I love this not just for the impossible-to-consistently-pronounce name (unless you've ever listened to "Tollbooth Willie" (nsfw) you probably pronounce all those letters), but also for its spicy and tart kick that makes meat and mushrooms pop.  So let's see what havoc we can wreak on my kitchen today.

Here are our ingredients: ground beef patties, onion, green beans, yellow squash, shallots, bacon fat (!), artichoke hearts and worcestershire sauce.  There are many reasons why a paleo lifestyle pairs well with the prescriptions of the Zone Diet but in this picture we have a fairly good example of eating a variety of colors and kinds of foods.  I think one of the pitfalls of most "diets" is that it's too monotonous.  But once you get the legos of paleo down, you can build everything from TIE Fighters to a seaside getaway complete with crabs. So, we have meat, fats and veggies as carbs. A little worcestershire sauce and a dash of salt and pepper to round out some flavors, but really, the stars are the real foods.


First, let's chop up half the onion and a shallot and put in a hot pan of bacon fat or duck fat. I used both. Because duck fat is delicious, and is only bested by bacon grease.  Sweat them out, get 'em all nice and clear and a little toasty. They get all caramelly (totally a word) and sweet and defreakinglicious, but only if you have patience and don't try to fry the living crap out of them in a hurry.  Like I said yesterday, don't be a jerk, love your food.






Next, let's put some water on to boil to steam those green beans and artichoke hearts. I like my green beans crisp, and what better way to keep 'em that way than to steam them in their own stovetop sauna. I like to get the water to a full boil, throw in the beans for about 3-4 minutes, cover it up (already made that joke) and then throw the artichokes and turn off the heat.  This lets them simmer while you cook the rest of the meal and makes it less likely that you'll cook the ever living green out of them by forgetting to turn off the heat later. Trial by error folks...



Going back to the squash, cover that up too and let that stuff sweat it out on medium heat until the squash is tender. Maybe 4-5 minutes? I don't know how hot your stove is, but if it's anything like my electric stove, which decides when and if it will actually work, then your guess is as good as mine. After said indeterminate amount of time, you want them fairly cooked through so that when you slap that hamburger in there, you can leave the cover off and let the hamburger fat and worcestershire sauce mingle with their new squashy friends.






Now, one thing I hate is when you follow a recipe, and it literally requires you to use every freaking pot and pan you own.  At the end you look at your kitchen and go "WTF was I thinking!?"  I'd rather you say "WTF Am I eating? It's so awesome!"  So here we have a one-pan wonder, where hamburgers and squash can coexist happily.  Just throw that hamburger in the pan and turn up the heat a bit to get it nice and toasty.  I put some worcestershire sauce directly onto the hamburger patty.  Best. Idea. Ever.  Marinating it makes it a little too potent. Worcestershire sauce after cooking doesn't do it for me flavor wise. So this works best for me.  Just enough flavor to let the grass fed beef be the star but also tasting AWESOME. When it's close to being done, hopefully it will look kinda like this. 

Crispy edges, cooked squash. Not well-done. Maybe 5 minutes tops on high heat, but again, depends on if your stove is bipolar or not. What the hell, throw on some salt and pepper too. Couldn't hurt.

As I mentioned before, I like to eat a variety of things. And one of the main tenants of the Zone diet in addition to this is to consume healthy fats in the form of nuts (nut jokes never get old btw).  But pecans and cashews and almonds just did not seem like they'd do much for this dish. So, while cooking, I just ate a handful instead. 
Problem solved.

Anyway, once the hamburger is cooked to your liking (which is hopefully  not well done because cooking the sh*t out of grass fed beef is a travesty), take 'er out and make sure the squash soaks up the juices, fat and crispies undoubtedly left by said hamburger.  Waste not, want not.

Now, put all of your cooked goodness on a plate and admire your work.  You're about to consume a gustatory masterpiece, and it maybe took you 30 minutes of your time.  That's probably less time than you'll have in the day that was undoubtedly wasted by talking to some of the idiots you work with.  And I'm not just projecting my job situation onto others.  There are always moments when people around you make you question your place in the world, and why these particular idiots happened onto your path...

I contemplated putting bacon into this dish too. Because really. Bacon. But I abstained... for now... Feel free to give in to the guilty pleasure, though, if worcestershire sauce is not your thing.  (I really love typing worcestershire sauce...)