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The Little Woman has never eaten shark.  That was good news to me when we were at the market yesterday and found black tip shark on sale.  We bought three nice fresh fillets for about $5.  Most people will not go out of their way to eat Jaws.  I love shark, as I do any seafood.

Speaking of which, did you know in the world approximately:

•  655,000 people each year are killed by mosquitoes
• 2,900 people each year are killed by hippopotamuses
• 780 people each year are killed by deer
• 132 people each year are killed by cows
• And only 6 are killed each year by sharks.

AND, approximately one food blogger is killed each year by his readers because he tells a long story before getting to the recipe.

Shark

3 nice shark fillets

Before cooking, baste the shark in:

• 3 TBSP olive oil
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp French mustard
• 1 garlic clove minced
• A dash of McCormick’s Montreal Chicken seasoning.

Whisk all together a brush on the shark.  The olive oil protects the shark from burning.  I always brush the food with olive oil before grilling.

Grill the shark 8 minutes a side on high heat.

Shark Dipping Sauce

• 3 TBSP Hoisin Sauce
• 3 TBSP chicken stock

In a small sauce pan, heat all ingredients together.  The stock thins the Hoisin for dipping.

String Beans

• 1 strip bacon, chopped
• 1 bunch of string beans for two
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP Balsamic vinegar
• 1 TBSP Worcestershire
• Salt and pepper to taste

Fry bacon in the bottom of a 2 quart sauce pan, add olive oil, on high heat, drop the beans in the pan and stir, add the rest of the ingredient and stir until steam starts to form, turn off heat, cover and the beans will steam to al dente.

Risotto

See recipe on the Recipe Page for Italian Rice.

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The thing about this dish is most people associate it with Julia Child.  And while Julia made a great beef burgundy, I have made hers many times and mine and they all come out pretty much the same.  The similarities are not necessarily in the ingredients but in the preparation.  When cooking this dish it is best to prepare all the food in advance and then build this dish in stages.

The quantities in this recipe are intended to feed two people:

Meat:
3 – 6″ strips bacon, soaked in hot water 10 minutes, sliced into lardons (or lardoons) of bacon
1 lb. lean stew beef cut into 1inch squares

Mirepoix:
3 medium carrots, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 stick celery, cut into ½ inch pieces
½ yellow onion, chopped

Bouquet garni:
(1/2 bay leaf, 1 tsp. thyme, 2 TBSP fresh parsley chopped)

1 Roma tomato (plum tomato), chopped
3 Tbsp. flour
1 small plastic bag
1 cup of veal stock (or use ½ cup beef stock and ½ cup water)
3 cups of burgundy wine (I use Almaden Vineyards)
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 cup baby Portabella mushrooms, cubed
10 pearl onions
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Cooked Egg Noodles for two

Lardon: Cut bacon in half and simmer 10 minutes in hot water. This reduces the smoke flavor. Then remove bacon, dry with paper towels and cut into quarter inch strips.

Mirepoix: Peel carrots and cut into ½” inch thick wheels. Peel celery and cut into ½” inch pieces, chop onions, whatever how you do it. Chop ½ onion and place all in a bowl.

Bouquet garni: In a bowl add ½ bay leaf, ½ tsp. thyme and 1 TBSP parsley.

Beef: Cut into 1 inch cubes and dry with paper towels. Wet beef won’t brown.

Plastic bag: Add flour inside the bag with salt and pepper.

Burgundy Wine: Pour a glass for the chef, 2 for the pot.

Preheat oven to 350.

Cooking:

Heat cast iron pot and fry lardons (bacon) for about 8 minutes to get most of the lard out but not crispy. Pull lardons out with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add a little olive oil to the bacon lard. Raise pan heat to medium high. Brown beef in pan (I use setting 8 electric stove) and brown beef on two sides. This is the most important part of this dish. Remove from pan and set aside to cool some. Repeat process until all of the remaining beef pieces are browned.

Place the mirepoix into the frying pan and sauté in the remaining juices and oil in the pan left by the beef and bacon, adjust oil and return the bacon and add the pearl onions and chopped tomatoes and garlic and sauté another 6 minutes.

Then move mirepoix to one side and fry the tomato paste about 5 minutes.

Place beef into a plastic bag with flour, coat vigorously by shaking. Place beef into the pan and place in the 350 oven for 10 minutes and then remove.

Add the veal stock and another cup of wine and the herbs and mushrooms and salt and pepper to taste.  Cover with a lid and cook in the oven 1 1/2 hours.

While all that is happening tell the dogs if they say their daddy is handsome, they will get some beef.

Serve dish over egg noodles.

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This recipe is another fast, easy, very tasty dish. It has similar elements to Mediterranean Chicken, but in a French way. As you can see by now, I am a fan of gravy and sauce. In this dish instead of olives we add mushrooms, instead of a bouquet garni of Italian herbs we add fresh oregano leaves and a bay leaf; instead of a shallot we use pearl onions. These simple adjustments create a completely different and unique taste.

Serving 2

• 3 – 6″ strips bacon, soaked in hot water 10 minutes, sliced into lardoons of bacon
• 8 pearl onions, whole
• ½ cup mushrooms, trimmed and cubed
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 2 chicken thighs
• 1 cup white wine
• ½ cup water just to cover the food
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 5 sprigs of oregano, leaves only
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 TBSP corn starch
• 1 tsp chicken bouillon
• Salt and pepper
• Cooked rice for two

Salt and pepper chicken and in a 2 ½ quart sauce pan brown chicken in olive oil, then remove. Add the bacon and pearl onions and sauté 8 minutes on medium heat, then garlic.

Add wine and bouillon, bay leaf and oregano. Return the chicken and add water just enough to cover the food and bring to a slight boil then reduce heat to simmer. Add the mushrooms and corn starch. Salt and pepper, cover and cook 30 to 35 minutes.

BTW, the doggies love everything daddy cooks.  They’re all, “Yo daddy, may we can have some extra bacon you are not using?  We love BACON!!!”

Serve over rice.

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Smoking meats is an art in most states. Each state has its own style of shakes, rubs, smoking wood, sweet, sour, pepper heat, sauces from butter and brown sugar, to no sauce, to what we use here, a sweet tomato sauce.

The trick is in the wood. I mostly use apple wood but you will experiment with your best flavor.  A real good hardwood is always recommended in addition to coals.

Rib meat needs a good rub or shake. Actually it is a lot of spices to shake on the meat and then rub into the meat before cooking. The spices neutralize any gamy flavor in the meat and adds flavor and sometimes a little heat if you like to add cayenne in the shake.

When eaten, professional ribs are supposed to come off the bone with a little tug when biting the meat away from the bone. I actually like mine to come easily off the bone.  Now, some people go so far as to par boil ribs first but I advise against that.  Par boiling changes the texture and robs the meat of flavor.  I did that once, it isn’t any good.  The technique used to get the meat to fall off the bone is to wrap them in aluminum foil and steam them in their own juices. The other important steps is not to add any sugar or sugary sauce until the last 20 minutes of cooking.  Sugar will burn, which ruins the texture and the taste.

To baste the ribs, fill a spray water bottle with 1 cup apple cider vinegar and 1 cup of water. While smoking the ribs, turn over the meat and spray the meat on both sides with the baste to regenerate moisture.

Prepare the racks by pulling away the membrane on the bottom along the bone and trim any excess fat.

Shake (for one rack of ribs)

In a small food processor mix:

• 2 TBSP paprika
• 1 TBSP onion powder
• 1 TBSP garlic powder
• 1 TBSP dried basil
• 1 TBSP McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning

Rub the shake into the meat and let rest for about an hour in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

The 3-2-1 cooking method:

Get the smoker ready.  I use a smoker with a side box.  I start a small bundle of coals in the side box then place the wood on the coals.  The ribs should cook at  200° to 250° for three hours directly on the grill.   Then wrap the ribs in aluminum foil and either continue cooking on the grill or what I do at this point is place the wrapped ribs in the 225° oven for two hours.

After cooking 5 hours, test the meat to see how much longer they should be cooked.  (Cut one off and eat it)  Then open the foil and lather the BBQ sauce onto the ribs.  Cook another 20 minutes to an hour depending on your desired tug.  This technique lets the BBQ sauce caramelize and glaze onto the meat. Remove and cut the rack into single ribs.

When eaten the meat has a smoky wood flavor fused into the smoke ring (pink ring).  Lot of flavors, lots of enjoyment.  Finger food, serve with damp washcloth.

As of 6/25/21

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This is a dish I serve with smoked ribs.

I had an idea. The idea came one night at the local prime rib joint. There is nothing better to me than prime rib with a baked potato with sour cream and chives, and of course a gin martini. So, what I did is put a southern twist on it. I combined potatoes with sour cream and chives and then said, I need bacon bits and then said, if only it had herbs. So guess what, sour cream with herbs and a little mayonnaise is called Ranch dressing.

Proportional Serves 2:

Ingredients:

• 5   new red potatoes (peeled and diced, boiled 7 to 8 minutes or until al dente, “to the tooth”)  (Note: Once the potatoes are drained they keep cooking and might need a cold water rinse to cool)
• 5   chives (aka scallions or green onions) chopped
• 5   6″ slices of thick bacon fried, chopped
• 2 TBSP bacon oil
• ½ cup Ranch dressing
• Salt and Pepper

Mix all in a bowl and salt and pepper to taste.  Add more Ranch dressing if necessary. Refrigerate over night.