Category Archives: meat

Date Night at Il Lusso

17 Sunday Feb 2019

Posted by in meat, Miscellaneous, Review

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New to the Tallahassee scene is a Northern Italian steakhouse called Il Lusso.  This is a welcome addition to the fine dining options for the metro area, and a fantastic add to the downtown area.

Il Lusso Outside

Bright and airy, the details of the interior really provide the feeling of being in a much bigger city while retaining enough warmth to keep it from seeming too industrial. Wood floors are balanced with marble tile sections and cozy couches are in the waiting area.

Il Lusso interior

The bar was well-staffed and had some lovely custom cocktails. I got the Lavender Bliss (with vodka instead of the gin), and although pretty strong – it was tasty.

Il Lusso Lavender

The menu has a great selection of starters, and the entrees are focused on high-steaks and fresh pastas, with options for seafood, chicken or vegetarian entrees.

We began with the Blue Crab Arancini and a Caesar Salad (super sad that they were out of the Sweetbread starter, which looked delicious.) BUT the arancini were heavenly. I can’t tell you what was in the squid ink sauce but it was scrumptious. The caesar salad had a perfectly executed traditional dressing with toasted croutons.

Il Lusso Caesar
Il Lusso Blue Crab Aracini

The a la carte sides looked exceptional, making it hard to choose, but we settled on the cauliflower with anchovy, parsley and lemon, and the rosemary potatoes with fondue sauce. The cauliflower was nicely charred although I could have used more of the flavorings (more anchovy and lemon please!). The potatoes had great herby flavor and the taleggio sauce provided a good balance.

Il Lusso Cauliflower

Il Lusso Rosemary Potatoes

As a splurge, we got the 24 oz (!) Prime Dry-Aged Cowboy Ribeye to share and a small portion of the Lamb Ragu Malfadine (ruffled noodle). Very pleased to see the option of small and large dishes of the pastas so that we could sample one.

First, the pasta was one of my favorites of the night. With a deconstructed lasagna vibe, the ragu was flavorful and rich and the pasta was a perfect al dente.

Il Lusso Lamb Ragu

And for the star of the show, here is the ribeye…perfectly cooked and the aging gave it a pleasant tang of flavor (reminiscent of parmagiano reggiano.)

Il Lusso Dry-aged Cowboy Ribeye

Conclusion: This is a great fine dining option, but with the cost (well justified with the quality of the ingredients and the location), but I am looking forward to trying the lunch menu so that I can eat there more often. (They have also hinted about brunch coming soon!) Either way, we will definitely be going back.

Restaurant Info:

Il Lusso
201 E. Park Avenue
Tallahassee, Florida

Tel — 850-765-8620
Reservations — OpenTable
Follow — Instagram / Facebook

Make Your Own Fancy Burger Blends (It’s worth it.)

09 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in meat, Miscellaneous

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May is apparently Burger Month, which honestly, isn’t every month burger month? But I figured it was the perfect time to share how I make my “fancy” burgers.

Years ago I found several articles that showed how easy it was to make custom burger blends at home, and once I tried it, I was hooked.

The advantages to the custom burger mix are: less compressed meat, better texture (less heavy/dense), more flavor, and increased confidence in the quality of the cuts used.

My general formula is basically a 2-1-1 with chuck roast as the main meat represented (solid flavor + fat) plus two other lower fat-high flavor cuts. For this time, I used chuck, brisket and ribeye, but I have also used short ribs or flank steak for the smaller cuts.

 

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I trim the steaks of gristle and silverskin, cut into roughly 1-1.5 inch cubes, and freeze for at least an half an hour. I keep the cuts separate so I can evenly distribute them in the food processor. You can also add frozen cubes of butter or bacon fat, if you want to bump up the fat content a bit.

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Then comes the fun part, which is pulsing the meat in batches (with proportional handfuls of each cut) in the food processor for a medium-fine grind.

Gently form the patties, you won’t need to indent the top because these don’t constrict as much as store-bought hamburger meat. Salt and pepper the patties generously and refrigerate until ready to cook.

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I am a fan of charcoal or griddle for cooking these, you can’t go wrong with either method. I would advise cooking medium rare, especially since you have processed them yourself, but they will be juicy even a bit past medium. Add melty cheese, grilled or griddled buttered buns (potato or Publix bakery hamburger buns are amazing) and your favorite condiments and you are ready to go.

(Tip: Make extra and freeze the rest as patties for your future burger emergencies!)

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Full background:
The Burger Lab: Mastering the Art of Burger Blending with Eight Cuts of Beef

Recipe:
The Blue Label Burger Blend Recipe

Other great resources:
They Came, I Ground, We Ate – The Paupered Chef
The Complete Guide to Burger Blends – First We Feast

Journey to Making Bacon 

04 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by in Breakfast, meat, Recipes

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Do you love bacon? Have you ever had non-grocery store bacon? (If yes, then YOU KNOW.)

Home cured and smoked bacon is so good, and for someone that loves to learn the nuances of my favorite foods, making bacon from scratch was really fun. For one, it’s easy, with very small amounts of active cooking time. Most is just waiting for the cure to finish and then waiting for it to smoke. For two, it’s delicious – much less wet (for lack of a better word) than store-bought. You also have the flexibility of slicing it as thin or as thick as you want.

First: Recipe!

You will need to get pink nitrate from Amazon, but the rest of the ingredients are simple. I used a combo of the maple bacon recipe Ruhlman’s Charcuterie (pictured below) and the one from AmazingRibs.com . The linked recipe from Ruhlman has a lot more stuff than the book version, but his technique was my home base.

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I combined the sugar, salt, nitrate, brown sugar, cayenne, black pepper and maple syrup, then just slather on the pork belly. Put it in a bag and wait seven days for the cure to fully penetrate the meat (flipping once a day.)

For some versions, I used sorghum syrup (similar to molasses) and varied the amount of spice via red pepper flakes and cayenne. The sorghum definitely added a deeper flavor and color, it was a nice variant, but I’m partial to the maple flavor.

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In the first version I made, I just stuck the belly on the smoker after curing, but it didn’t have enough extra oomph on the outside. For subsequent versions, I sprinkled raw sugar, cayenne and black pepper on the pork belly before smoking.

So pretty, right!?!?

Then you smoke for three hours at 225 degrees or until the internal temp hits 150 degrees. (I took the skin off after smoking and froze it to use later for greens or soups.) I used applewood chunks for a mild, fruit smoke flavor.

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Then slice and cook! I recommend baking the sliced bacon so the sugar doesn’t brown too fast, and if you need to crisp it up, you can throw it in a sautè pan at the end to finish it.

Tip for slicing: freeze for five or ten minutes before slicing if you would like thinner slices.

Second: Results!

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It’s so good, y’all. And honestly straight-forward to do once you have the ingredients. You should be able to get pork belly at your grocery (you may need to request it) or local butcher shop. If not, it can be ordered online.

The payoff is worth it.

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