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Source of idea from time-stamp 1:50:  YouTube

2023-04-23:  I got a one-inch thick ribeye from the butcher; the saleswoman at the counter was kind enough to request when she heard that I thought the others were too thick; the on-duty butcher was glad to oblige.   At home I patted it dry, dry-brined it (just salt and pepper) ten hours before cooking and put it in into the fridge on a wire rack.  An hour before cooking I put the rack on the countertop so the steak could come up to room temperature.

I intended to cook it at 250°F for four minutes per side, which was not hot enough according to my thermometer since rare is 120°F.  I ended up doing that sequence twice for a total of sixteen minutes.  In a small frying pan I added olive oil, heated it quite a bit (medium high?), and added a head of garlic cut in halves to flavor the oil.  Seared the steak.  Turned out well.

For next time:  I must remember to ask the butcher myself to make the 1" cut since they probably won't have one that skinny in the butcher case.  Next time I'll try 250°F for eight minutes on the first side and seven on the second.  I'll also use a larger frying pan and less oil--say, enough to cover a fourth of the pan--and a bit higher heat for searing.

Ingredients

• 1-2 teaspoons olive oil
• 6 ounces cooked bacon, diced.  That's six slices of my favority Hempler pepper bacon.
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef or ground turkey
• 1 medium red or yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup low-sodium beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup sour cream, light or regular
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 tablespoon dried

Method

1. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1-2 teaspoons olive oil and saute diced bacon over medium heat until crispy. Transfer bacon to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside, leaving any grease/oil in the pan. Add sliced mushrooms to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for about one minute (if the pan is too dry, add a teaspoon of oil as needed). Add salt. Continue cooking until the mushrooms are softened and have given up most of their juices. Transfer them to the same plate as the bacon.
2. In the same skillet, brown the ground beef or turkey with the onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is no longer pink. Drain the grease.
3. Stir in the flour and tomato paste to the meat mixture and mix to combine well. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 1 minute. Add the beef broth and bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking to combine all the ingredients. Simmer vigorously for 3-5 minutes until the mixture is slightly reduced and thickened. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and paprika. Cook until flavors blend, about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add sautéed mushrooms and bacon back to the skillet. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the sour cream, mixing well to avoid lumps. Stir in the parsley.
4. Serve over egg noodles, hot cooked rice, or potatoes.

2023-04-03:  This was really good, best version of poor man's stroganoff I've ever had.  Definitely a repeater.  I served it over a baked potato.

Haven't tried this yet.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups (1 lb / 453g) Rice
• 8 oz (227g) Stew Beef
• 1/2 Cup (3.5 oz / 100g) Lentils
• 4.5 oz (127g) Cabbage
• 1 Bunch (2 oz / 57g) Parsley
• 1 Bunch (2 oz / 57g) Cilantro
• 1 Bunch (1 oz / 28g) Leek
• 1 Small Onion
• Vegetable Oil
• Turmeric
• Salt

Pre-preparation

1. Soak the rice in water and 1/2 Tbsp Salt for 2 hours.
2. Dice the Onion and cabbage.
3. Mince the herbs (parsley, cilantro, leek).

Method

1. Place the lentils in a small pot.
2. Add salt (Approx. 1 Tsp) and enough water to cover the lentils in one inch deep.
3. Cover with a lid (leave a crack open), and simmer for 25 minutes over medium-low heat.
4. Meanwhile, fry the dice onion with vegetable oil until translucent.
5. Stir in turmeric.
6. Add stew beef and stir to mix. Continue the heat for 10 more minutes until the beef turns brown.
7. Add water and a pinch of salt.
8. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes.
9. Fry the diced cabbage in a separate bowl for 5 minutes.
10. Stir in the minced parsley, cilantro and leek to the pot and continue frying for 5 more minutes.
11. Simmer the rice for 10 minutes until tender.
12. Drain the rice and rinse with cold water.
13. Add the beefs and lentils to the cabbage and herb mixture and stir thoroughly.
14. Transfer 2/3 of the rice out of the pot to a container.
15. Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil.
16. Add a layer of the mixture and top with a layer of the rice (1/3) from the container.
17. Repeat step 16 until all the ingredients are added to the pot.
18. Pour another tbsp of vegetable oil on top.
19. Cover the pot with a napkin and a lid.
20. Cook the rice for 20 minutes (over medium-low heat).
21. Stir before serving.

Makes 20-30 meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 2 teaspoons dry minced onion
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated or (2 ounces)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Method

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl using your fingers. Mix until the meat no long feels slimy from the eggs. Shape in golf ball size meatballs and place on a large baking sheet with sides. Bake at 375º for 15-20 minutes until the meatballs are done all the way through. Rinse in a colander to remove any egg and cheese that has leaked out.

Departures

Instead of using minced onion, I used onion powder. I forgot the parmesan. No rinsing was needed. These turned out great. They tasted good all by themselves, but I served them with "Cream sauce for meatballs," which was quite good.

2014-12-14: Just made the recipe a second time. Remembered the parmesan this time. Have to say it didn't seem to make much difference in the taste. Perhaps because I used cheapo parmesan in a can? In any case, the recipe can clearly be made without the parmesan.

Again I paired it with cream sauce for meatballs. That's okay, but it is not an ideal pairing with the Italian spices of the sausage.

I think it would be more interesting taste-wise to use instead of Italian sausage, standard farmer's sausage, and then mix in a cup of rehydrated cranberries or a cup of lingonberries. That would work better with the cream sauce.

2016-01-10: I made this again for the 4th or 5th time. It's definitely a go-to recipe now.

2020-04-01: I made these again. This time only used beef because Food City had no ground pork. Still very tasty.

2024-03-24: Made them in the Speedi on bake/roast at 350°F for 11 minutes. Didn't have parmesan, so I used feta instead. Had to cook them in two batches.

I picked up a tri-tip roast from Costco. It weighed 3.13 pounds. The directions said to cook it at 425° until it gets to 145° in the thickest part. Alas, it didn't give a time reference. I took a look at my meat cookbook. It recommended 450° for 20 minutes and then some other behavior I ignored.

So I guesstimated 30 minutes. Checked. Not close. 40 minutes? Closer. I took about 45 minutes before it got to about 135°, which is when I removed it. Then I let it rest for 15 minutes to let it finish cooking and redistribute the juices.

I'll have to reconsider the time. I haven't eaten enough of the roast yet to figure out whether the middle was too raw, but I think next time 40 minutes for a similar size roast would be good enough.

2014-11-21: I've been eating the roast for several days now. It actually turned out really, really good. The middle has a bit of pink left. Very tasty. It rocks. I bet 40 minutes without interruption would work great for this weight.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small cabbage, chopped
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar or wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Method

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, vinegar, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8. (Source)

Notes

• If your beef isn't lean, leave out the olive oil.
• Most of the heads of cabbage in my store are pretty big. I used only 1/2 a head both times, and it worked great.

2013-05-22: This turned out pretty good. Definitely a repeater.

2013-05-27: Made it again today. Really pleased. This will now be a regular dish because it is so easy. Next time around I might use half ground pork.

Somehow, though, I'd like to make it a bit more hearty and savory. Not quite sure what is missing. Could probably thinking the sauce with some corn starch. Some carrots and celery would probably make it more savory, but I'm not sure how that would work with the cinnamon, but it would probably be okay.

2013-07-13: still in Russia. Made another variation on this. This time I didn't use cabbage, but rather a pound of sweet yellow peppers. (Would have preferred spicy ones.) Half ground pork, half ground beef. Skipped the cinammon and nutmeg. Instead used a tablespoon of ground chipotles.

2014-05-14: spices this time

• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground red pepper
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Good. For guests I would take it down to 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of red pepper.

2014-11-29: spices this time

• 1/4 cup sweet hungarian paprika
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground red pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced

This was a good spice combo. I had added 1/2 cup of hot water to the recipe. Next time to make it thicker, avoid that. If it doesn't get thick enough, use tomato paste instead of tomato sauce. And if that doesn't work, maybe some corn starch to thicken it.

2015-12-04: this time I used:

• 1 tbsp of ground chipotle
• 1 tsp of ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 1 tsp of salt

Good stuff.

2016-10-02: This time I thought I would replace the tomatoes and tomato sauce with a can of green enchilada sauce, add four sliced raw jalapeños (seeded), added some cumin and I deleted the vinegar, salt, cinammon and nutmeg. In other words, I Mexicanized the dish. I like it. May repeat.

I decided I wanted steak for breakfast. Grabbed a 1 lb top sirloin at Fry's for $8. Turned on the broiler in the oven. Broiler doesn't work. Damn. I'll have to stove-top it. Pulled out the dutch oven, put it on the back burner so the smoke would most effectively be removed by the fan, turned the stove to 7, which is way hotter than I normally cook.

I covered the steak with a bit of olive oil, some garlic powder and ground red pepper. Cut it in two so I could cook just half at a time. Gave it maybe three minutes a side so it was still red and bloody inside. So good! Next time I'll be a touch more generous with the garlic and red pepper.

May 19, 2003, second time around. This time around I tried the temperature higher, at 7.5. This does not work as well. The surface burns too fast and the center doesn't get cooked. The level 7 worked okay for a pretty rare steak, but if I want the cooking to get more toward the center, I'm probably going to have to do a 5 or 6, especially if I'm cooking for someone who likes his steaks well done.

October 14, 2013, another round. I may have waited too long to record this, but here is my memory. I took 1 tbsp of red pepper (spicy, not wimpy), 1 tbsp of garlic powder (cheap generic) and 1 tbsp of sea salt. Mixed them together, rubbed them on both sides of the steak. Fried them on the stove top at temperature 5 until it seemed right. Freakin’ awesome.

Power 5 is confirmed for good steaks on my current stove.

I was wanting to make a variation on picadillo without the potato to have a lower carb count. Here's what I used:

• 2 lbs. hamburger
• 1 small head of cauliflower, chopped
• 1 tbsp; ground chipotle
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 huge cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 4.25 oz. can of chopped black olives

Fry the burger and onions together with the ground chipotle. Add the garlic. Throw in the cauliflower and barely enough broth to cover the mess. Once it was all done, I added the olives.

Next time I think I'll try a tablespooon of ground chipotle and a teaspon of ground cumin.

Pretty tasty. Next time I'll try green olives.

I wanted to try making a tri-tip roast. This is what I picked up at Fry's:

Here are the instructions from the back:

For the dry rub I took about half a teaspoon of black peppercorns and ground them in a mortar. Then I mixed about the same amount of salt in. Added some garlic powder and sprinkled in some ground chipotle. I rubbed it all over the roast. Popped it into the oven at 425° for 10 minutes, then 300° for 35 minutes since I didn't have a digital thermometer to check the temp.

This three pounder needed more like 50 minutes at 300°. The onions really didn't cook enough to become sweet at the low temperature.

The raw flavor of the peppercorns was a bit too much. Next time use a smaller amount of preground pepper.

The meat itself turned out quite decently.