Recipes: Corned Beef

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Prep Time 5 min      Cook Time 6 hrs      Serves 6-8

Ingredients
3 lb. beef brisket
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon whole allspice
4 crushed bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced onions

Tools

Weston 9" Food Slicer

Crock Pot

Place the brisket, seasoning, and 3 quarts of water into the crock pot and cook on medium for 6 hours. Remove from heat and let cool for about 30 minutes. Using the Weston 9" Food Slicer, slice the beef against the grain at your prefered thickness. We like ours over fresh rye bread with horseradish sauce and red skin potato salad on the side.

Recipes: Andouille Sausage

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Makes 4 - 8" sausages     Prep Time 45 min     Smoking Time 4 hr

Ingredients
4 lb. pork butts (the fattier the better)
1 tablespoon garlic power
1 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 crushed bay leaf

Weston Collagen Casings
Hickory Smoking Chips

Tools
Weston Meat Grinder
Weston Sausage Stuffer
Weston Vertical Propane Smoker

Preparation

First, soak wood chips for at least an hour.

Preheat your smoker to 130 degrees F. Your smoker will take 15-30 minutes to preheat so plan accordingly. Click here for help with using Weston smokers.

Before you start grinding, a few quick meat grinding tips to get you started:

• Keep your meat and equipment as cold as possible. Not only does this help prevent bacterial growth, it allows the meat to be ground more easily. I like to cool my tray, auger, and plates in the fridge for an hour or two before I grind the meat.
• I recommend using a kitchen grinder like a #5 or #8 if you regularly grind only small quantities of meat (like for this recipe). I used a #8 - it has a nice, powerful motor and cleanup is quick and easy.
• Spray your grinder with Weston Food Grade Silicone Spray before use to ensure smooth processing.

Making Andouille Sausage
Cube the pork into 1/2" pieces, then grind first with a coarse plate and then with a medium grinding plate. Mix the pork with all of the seasonings by hand in a Weston Meat Lug or with a Weston Meat Mixer (not necessary for a small quantity of meat as this recipe calls for).

Rinse the casings out by running water through them. Tie a knot in one end of a casing and push onto the funnel of the sausage stuffer (leave an inch or two of casing loose). I used a Weston 7 lb. Vertical Stuffer with a 20 mm stuffing funnel and 32 mm casings. Load the Stuffer by simply tilting out the canister and filling it with the seasoned ground pork. Hold the casing in one hand and turn the handle with the other handle. As the casing fills up, gently move it away from the funnel. Once the casing is filled to the size you'd like your sausage, twist the casing and either tie it in a knot and cut it to make one sausage or continue filling the same casing to make a link of sausages (which is nice for smoking because Weston Smokers have hooks for hanging sausage links).

Once your smoker is preheated, take the wood chips out of their water bowl and place them in the wood chip box. String your sausages onto the hooks or place individual sausages on the racks. Smoke them for an hour and a half at 130 and then increase the temperature to 165 degrees F. After two hours, check the internal temperature of the andouille. If it hasn't reached 155, continue to cook  for 30 min. increments until it reaches 155 degrees F.

Serve sliced over your favorite cajun-style dish.

Recipes: Steak Oscar Sous Vide

Ingredients
2 Hanger steaks (you can buy in bulk and butcher the beef yourself, as in this recipe, or purchase the steaks pre-cut at the butcher shop)
1/4 cup Cabernet
8 pc. asparagus

1 cup fresh chopped tarragon

1 clove fresh garlic

1/2 lb. crab meat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups semolina
2 eggs
1/4 cup White wine

Slice the steak along the seam (horizontally), then using a Weston 9” Food Slicer, slice the steaks into 2” pieces.

Put about 10 cups ( gallon) of water on the stove at medium heat until it reaches 130^oF (for medium rare - see a Food Temperature Chart for other steak temperatures), then reduce the heat to the lowest setting to stabilize the temperature. The easiest way to do this is to place the digital thermometer indicator into the water and set the temperature to 130^oF so that it sounds when you reach your desired temperature.

Vacuum seal the steaks with the Weston Pro 2300 vacuum sealer. Place fresh asparagus with 1/4 cup fresh tarragon and 1 clove fresh garlic into a Weston Vacuum Sealer Bag and seal. Vacuum seal crab meat with butter.

Place the vacuum sealed steaks into the water for at least 45 min. After 45 minutes, you can leave the steaks in for several hours and the steaks will not cook any further. Monitor the temperature of the water to ensure it stays at the correct temperature throughout the cooking process. While the steaks cook, heat water to 185^oF in a separate pot. This is where you will cook the asparagus.

 During your downtime, prepare the tarragon pasta with a Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine.

Mix together semolina, eggs, white wine, and fresh chopped tarragon. Knead the dough by feeding it through the rollers of the machine several times at the thickest setting. Feed the dough sheet through the machine until setting 7, then feed the thin sheet through the spaghetti cutter and string the noodles over a Roma by Weston Pasta Drying Rack.

Once the steaks are done, set them aside and use the same water to cook the vacuum sealed crab meat (140^oF for 25 min). Cook the asparagus at 185^oF for 25 min in a separate pot at the same time.

Prepare the sauce by boiling champagne vinegar and white wine until reduced to 2 tablespoons. Let cool slightly (so that eggs do not immediately cook in the liquid). Beat in egg yolks. Whisk sauce in a double boiler, beating in the melted butter until you reach a perfectly smooth mixture. Set aside (but try to use as soon as possible after preparing). Add lemon juice just before serving.

When there are about 5-10 minutes left on the crab meat and asparagus, boil the pasta for 2-3 minutes, until fully cooked, drain, and toss in a little olive oil (no need to rinse). Pan sear the steak in cabernet just to brown the outside (not cook it) – the steak will be cooked perfectly to temperature all the way through, which means that it will not be brown outside as a steak is expected to be. Pan-searing it merely adds a nice, browned crust without taking away from the tender perfection of the meat.

Serve the steak immediately with the asparagus, crab meat, and pasta all on top and drizzle with béarnaise-style sauce.  Enjoy with a loved one.

Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish or eggs may increased your risk of foodborne illness.

Tools
Weston Pro Vacuum Sealer & Vacuum Sealer Bags
Weston 9" Food Slicer
Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine & Pasta Drying Rack
Weston Marinade Injector
Digital thermometer

Techniques
Using the Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine

Recipes: Very Merry Pasta

Prep Time 30 min    Cook Time 2 min    Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Red Pasta Noodles
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/8 cup, 25 mL Disaronno (or other amaretto liqueur)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon crystallized ginger, crushed
10 drops red food coloring

Green Pasta Noodles
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/8 cup, 25 mL Disaronno (or other amaretto liqueur)
1/2 tablespoon sage
1 tablespoon thyme leaves (about 8 sprigs)
10 drops green food coloring

Pasta Sauce
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup egg nog

Tools
Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine

Techniques
Using a Pasta Machine (see below or follow the link)

Put two separate pots with 3 cups of water each on to boil.

Sift together 2 cups flour and cinnamon in one bowl (this will be your red pasta) and 2 cups flour and sage in another bowl (this will be your green pasta). Mix crushed crystallized ginger into the red bowl and thyme leaves into the green bowl. Mix in eggs and amaretto liqueur. Knead each ball of dough until uniform.

Put each ball into a separate plastic sandwich bag. Add in respective food colorings. Knead dye into each ball of dough for about 5 minutes each. The dough will not be a uniform color after this point, it should just be marbelized most of the way through.

Watch the video below for help with using an electric pasta machine:



Feed a palm-sized chunk of red dough through the pasta machine, folding it over several times. By setting four, the dough should be completely red. If not, fold it over and feed it through in setting seven a few more times, until it is completely red. This pasta recipe can be used for any type of pasta, but for this particular recipe, I use fettuccine and so I only roll the dough out to setting four.

Feed the pasta sheet through the fettuccine cutter, then hang the strands on a Roma by Weston Pasta Drying Rack. Repeat these steps for the remaining red pasta dough.

Inspect the machine for any leftover red dough. If there is any red dough left on the rollers, the green pasta will end up with red spots. Repeat the above steps for the green dough.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg nog and whipping cream over medium heat until sauce is thick.

Drop the red pasta into one pot of boiling water and the green into the other. Boiling them separately ensures that the dyes do not mix - you don't want brown pasta. Cook for two minutes, strain, and then toss with a little olive oil (to keep from sticking together; do not use the old cold water trick, it steals some of your starches from the noodles).

Toss the pasta with the cream sauce and serve.

Recipes: Turkey Pot Pie

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Cook Time 30 min   Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 pie crust
15 Athens Mini Fillo Shells
1 lb. turkey, ground
1 cup green beans
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup hominy
1 cup pigeon peas
2 sprigs fresh parsley
1 cup flour
1 can turkey broth
1/2 cup gravy
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Tools
Weston Meat Grinder
Weston Baking Mat
Weston Multi Chopper

Grind turkey leftovers with a Weston Meat Grinder.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake pie crust for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Fill the bottom of the mini fillo shells with gravy, about a quarter of the way full. Form mashed potatoes into balls and place into fillo shells. Sprinkle tops with parmesan cheese and place in the oven on a Weston Baking Mat for 10 minutes or until cheese is browned and potatoes are hot.

Chop carrots with a Weston Multi Chopper. Bring to a boil turkey broth, turkey, and vegetables. Reduce to a simmer and stir in flour until mixture is thick. Add in 1 sprig chopped parsley. Pour mixture into pie crust and top with mini fillo shells. Garnish with remaining parsley.

Smokey Chipotle Turkey Burgers

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Prep Time 10 min Grill Time 10-15 min Serves 2

Ingredients
1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 cup smoked cheddar, shredded
2 oz. chipotle sauce
2 tablespoons mayo
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 cup hot water
1 cube chicken bouillion
1 cup flour

2 whole wheat burger buns
2 slices tomato
2 leaves lettuce
2 red onion rings

Chipotle Mayo
1 oz chipotle sauce
2 tablespoons mayo

Tools
Food processor
Weston Meat Grinder
Weston Burger Press
Weston Patty Paper

Grind turkey leftovers with a Weston Meat Grinder.

Dissolve bouillion cube in water and stir in flour. Stir mayonnaise into flour mixture. Mix together all ingredients. 

Form two balls with the meat mixture and use a Weston Burger Press to form two half pound patties. Grill 10 to 15 minutes, or until firm. Serve on a whole wheat bun with chipotle mayo, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. 

Recipes: Chipotle Sauce

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Ingredients
1 16 oz can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon chicken base
1/4 cup grilled onion
1 1/2 cups water
1 can tomatillos
1/2 cup honey
dash cayenne pepper

Blend together ingredients in a food processor. Serve warm.