Angela Day
The key to knowing how to cook beef is knowing the cut you’re working with. Each cut has its own particularities and needs to be cooked a certain way to get the best results.
There are lots of different ways of cooking beef. But they all boil down to two main types: dry heat and wet heat. Tougher cuts that need long, slow cooking are best cooked with wet heat, and steaks and softer cuts that only require quick cooking are best cooked with dry heat.
When stir frying meat, it is advisable to get your pan really hot, then add the strips of meat a few at a time to the hot oil in the pan and quickly fry while stirring to move the meat around.
If you add all the meat at once you will overload the pan, lowering the temperature, and the meat will start to stew rather than quickly fry.
When slow cooking meat, always make sure you have enough liquid in the pot or casserole. If you are cooking on a hob, make sure you use a low setting and stir the mixture occasionally to make sure that no bits are catching and burning.
To improve the flavour of a stew, always brown your meat first before covering it with liquid.
Cola beef short rib
Serves 4
10ml salt
10ml paprika
2ml ground black pepper
5ml cayenne pepper
10ml ground cumin
1kg short rib, cut into 5cm pieces
30ml olive oil
15ml crushed garlic
1 onion, diced
500ml cola cool drink
45ml soy sauce
45ml Worcestershire sauce
45ml tomato sauce
30ml cornflour
30ml water
Combine salt, paprika, pepper and cumin. Add the beef rib and rub the spice into the meat. Set aside for 30 minutes. Heat the oil and cook the meat until nicely browned. Remove and set aside.
Add the garlic and onion and cook until the onion is soft. Add the cola, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce.
Return the meat to the pot, cover and simmer for 3-4 hours until the meat is tender. Combine the cornflour with the water and stir into the meat until boiling and thickened. Serve with mash.
Beef and mushroom stir-fry
Serves 4
30ml peanut oil
500g rump or sirloin steak, cut into strips
250g mixed mushrooms
15ml chopped ginger
10ml chopped garlic
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
300g baby spinach leaves
60ml oyster sauce
30ml soy sauce
cooked egg noodles to serve
Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan and fry the meat in batches quickly until browned. Remove and set aside.
Add a little more oil to the wok and fry the mushrooms, ginger, garlic and spring onions until soft.
Return the meat to the wok and add the spinach, oyster and soy sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes until the spinach has wilted into the mixture. Serve on a bed of cooked noodles.
ANGELA DAY
The Angela Day cookery column is published in The Star, the Cape Argus, the Daily News and the Pretoria News.
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