Beef – Southwick Family Farm

March 22, 2019

Shave Steaks

Shave steaks are thinly sliced steaks, cut from sirlion tips. If used for sandwiches, 2 steaks take about 5 minutes or less to cook. This batch of shave steaks has 8 steaks in a package and the package weighs about 1 lb. We eat the steaks on rolls with lettuce, cheese, tomato, and condiments.

Here is how I cook them: I put 2 shave steaks on a skillet over medium heat. They will start cooking and will visibly shrink. They will also turn gray/brown and will have red liquid sort of pool on top. At that point I flip them over and cook the other side. If red liquid comes up again, then I flip them one more time. And usually then they are done. I remove them to a plate and do 2 more.

This is the meat that you would make a Philly Sandwich with. You can also cut the uncooked meat into small squares and use as the meat of a stir fry. Enjoy!

February 22, 2019

Pot Roast with Maple Syrup and Mustard Sauce

Recently I made this tasty chuck roast in the crockpot. It has a mustard, maple syrup and vinegar sauce to flavor it. It is based on this recipe.

Pot Roast with Maple Syrup and Mustard Sauce

This recipe is based on this recipe from the Kitchn.

Print Recipe

Ingredients

3-4 pound beef chuck roast or arm roast - whatever will fit in the crockpot
2 tbsp oil, butter or available fat
3 large onions, peeled and sliced into half moons
Or other veggies to equal about 3 cups - could include onions, mushrooms, celery, garlic
2 cups chicken broth or available broth
1 tbsp mustard - whichever variety is available
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp vinegar - whichever variety is available
1 tsp paprika
Salt and/or pepper, opt.

Instructions

Set a large Dutch oven or heavy skillet over medium-high to high heat. Sear both sides of roast until golden-brown, about 10 minutes per side. Transfer the roast to a 6-quart crockpot.
Reduce heat to medium. Add the onions and/or other vegetables and cook until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Pour in a few tablespoons of chicken broth and bring to a boil, scraping up any of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour the onions and pan juices into the bowl of the slow cooker.
In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining chicken broth, mustard, maple syrup, vinegar, paprika, salt, and pepper until combined. Pour the liquid mixture over the roast. Cover and cook on the LOW setting until the meat falls apart and is meltingly tender, about 8 hours. If you only have 6 hours, you can do this 3 hours on high and 3 hours on low and it will still turn out fine. If you only have 2 hours, see Dutch oven directions below.
Transfer the roast to a serving bowl or platter and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. Cut the roast into chunks or shred the meat and add back to the liquid. Serve over rice, potatoes, or bread.

Notes

Other variations:

Bacon - Before searing the meat, replace the fat with 4-5 slices of diced bacon. Cook it until some fat starts rendering and it begins to turn golden-brown. Push the bacon to the sides and add the beef and sear it.
Gravy - Pour the cooking liquid into large saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook until the gravy is reduced to desired thickness. OR Once the sauce boils add flour dissolved in water (1/2 cup water with 1/4 flour dissolved in it) and stir until it is thickened. Return gravy to crockpot and add chopped meat.
Dutch oven - (Not tested yet, but I like the idea!) Prepare the meat for the pot roast in the bottom of a Dutch oven, then place all the ingredients on top of the seared roast. Cover and bring to boil. Then either simmer over very low heat OR cook in a 325°F oven until the pot roast is tender. Cooking time will be reduced, so begin checking the roast after about 2 hours.

Enjoy!

November 2, 2018

Meaty Shank Soup Bone

The meaty shank soup bone has long been one of my favorite cuts of meat. It is a thick piece of beef with a marrow bone in the middle. It can be boiled to make a delicious broth for soup. It can be sauteed and then simmered with veggies to make Osso Buco. The flavor comes from the marrow fat in the middle of the bone. Here are the recipes for Beef Barley Broth and my rendition of Osso Buco.

Each package of meaty shank soup bones are 2.50-3.00 lb. each. The cost is around $25.

November 2, 2018

Beef Barley Broth

This is a simple broth, simple to make, simple to eat. It is more broth than stuff. It is good with a hearty bread.

Print Recipe

Ingredients

2 pounds meaty beef soup bones, can use beef shanks or short ribs
8 cups water
6 whole peppercorns, opt
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped turnips (or 1 cup other veggies)
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup medium pearl barley

Instructions

In a large soup kettle, combine soup bones, water, peppercorns and salt. Cover and simmer for 2-1/2 hours or until the meat comes easily off the bones. Remove bones; remove meat and marrow from bones; dice and return to broth. (Yes, dice the marrow and add it back into the soup. The fat gives the flavor!)
Add the veggies and barley. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer about 1 hour or until vegetables and barley are tender.

Notes

Typically, I put everything in the pot about 2 hours before we are going to eat. Then about 15 min. before we are going to eat, I remove the bones, take off and dice the meat and marrow, and return them to the broth. Both ways work.

Original recipe

November 1, 2018May 1, 2024

Osso Buco

The meaty shank soup bone is browned, then veggies are sauteed, and all of it is simmered for several hours. Yummy-licious!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil, butter, or fat
1-2 meaty shank soup bones or short ribs
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
1 cup onion, chopped
18 oz. diced tomatoes
2 cups broth, chicken or beef, use up to 2 cups, up to the level of the vegetables and meat

Instructions

Brown meaty shank soup bones (or short ribs) in oil for 3-4 minutes on each side in dutch oven. Remove from pot.
Saute the fresh veggies. Add oil if needed.
Put the meat back in the pot under the veggies. You do this by pushing the veggies to the side and putting the meat down, then covering the meat with the veggies.
Cover with diced tomatoes. Add broth. Cover pot. Bring to a boil, turn to low, and simmer for 2-3 hours.
Take meat out, cut into fine pieces or shred. Cut marrow into small pieces. Add back to pot and stir it all together.
Serve as is or over rice or potatoes.

Notes

This is based on a kitchn.com recipe and a comment on someone else's website. Neither had good proportions. They were -ish recipes. So feel free to -ish with what you have on hand.

Use up to 4 cups of any sorts of vegetables - broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, cabbage, green beans, snap peas, squash, tomatoes, greens - or whatever else you have and like.

This tastes just as good with beef short ribs.

January 16, 2018

January’s Challenge – Beef/Wild Game

January’s challenge is beef/wild game. The challenge:

Choose a cut of beef, venison, or wild game that was locally grown in your area. This includes anything that comes from beef or wild game – roasts, steaks, bones, ground beef, meaty shank soup bones, stew meat, ribs.
Make a dish with that cut of meat. It can be cooked in the oven, on the stove top, in a crockpot, on the grill, in the instant pot. It can be a dish where it is mainly by itself or can be part of a stir fry where it is a small part of the whole dish. The key is that it is a cut of beef or wild game that was locally grown. Check our currently available page to get some beef from us.
Serve it with thankfulness and enjoy it!
Comment here or email me that you made this. You can include a recipe, and your thoughts on how it tasted and how those who ate with you liked or didn’t like it, and what you would do differently next time.
Deadline to comment or email me is February 6, 2018.

For details for the whole challenge – 2018 Local Food Cooking Challenge

What beef dish are you going to make?

August 15, 2017

Surprise Calf

While out doing my chores, I ran into this little guy (and his mother).

We bred his mother last fall, but had reasons to think that it had not taken. We wondered why it was proving so difficult to catch her “in heat” so that she could be bred again.

Mom and calf are both up and seem to be doing well. Mom will get some special treatment for a few days.

July 26, 2017

Hungarian Goulash

Here is a delicious, oven slow-cooked beef recipe. It comes from Jenny McGruther at Nourished Kitchen. She has written several books, including one by the same name – The Nourished Kitchen – available both at amazon and OCPL.

Here is her recipe with my notes:

Goulash

3 tablespoons lard, butter or oil
3 medium yellow onions, chopped fine (OR 3 cups of vegetable combination, like celery and mushrooms)
¼ cup sweet paprika
2 teaspoons whole caraway seeds
2 pounds beef chuck roast cubed (OR your choice of beef)
1 cup long-simmered beef bone broth, beef stock or water
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (OR plain vinegar)

Heat the oven to 275 F.
Melt the lard or fat in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the onion or vegetables for a short time to begin to soften. Turn heat to low and continue cooking until soft and tender.
Stir the paprika and caraway seeds into the onion or vegetables, and then stir in the cubed beef, stirring constantly to prevent the paprika from burning. Cook the beef in the onions and spices about 4 minutes, then stir in the beef bone broth and vinegar. Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven. Allow it to cook in the oven until the beef is tender, about 2½ to 3 hours.
Serve over noodles (OR some starch – rice, potatoes, bread).

Other notes: If possible, cook it on the top of the stove in the same pot as you will cook it in the oven. If not possible, you could transfer to a different dish to cook in the oven. Probably, you could also transfer it to a crockpot or slow cooker and cook it on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6 hours. I haven’t tried that to see how that would work.

Enjoy!

Jenny’s original recipe