My first week back in an old city has been good. Crashing on a couch of a friend who loves food as much as I do. The first weekend in town, we had a hankering for chili. I've made chili many times before but not always the right way. Thanks to culinary school and meat fabrication training, I know more about how the ingredients will behave when cooked and how to make them taste better.

John and I perused the meat counter with the idea of sirloin so that we could make the chili in less than 2 hours. Sirloin is a relatively lean piece of meat that is more tender than round. However, we had to change our minds and our timing when we saw this absolutely gorgeous piece of chuck. Chuck has some great marbling and fat content. It also has a lot of connective tissue which requires a longer cooking time. When given the opportunity and care, chuck can be some of the best tasting meat there is.

To get it started, cubed about 4 oz of slab bacon and rendered out the fat on med-low heat in a cast iron dutch oven. I cut the 2 lb piece of chuck roast into 6 smaller cubes. These I dusted with flour and seared in rendered bacon fat. After browning on all sides, I removed them from the pan to rest. To the pan of rendered bacon and beef fat, I added diced onion, celery and carrot to the pan. When the onion turned translucent and the carrot and celery began to soften, I added a few oz of tomato paste and all of the spices (salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper). When the pan dried, we added several cups of beef stock and added back in the chuck pieces. Because I am not from Texas, I can put whatever I want in my chili, so we also added some kidney and pinto beans to the party.

This is when chili making gets easy. Bring the stock to a simmer, cover and find something else to do for a few hours. Other than skimming, the only thing you must do, is be patient. Although chuck takes several hours to cook, you must appreciate its ease of cooking. It tells you when it's done! Earlier, I spoke of the connective tissue that makes Chuck a tougher cut. However, with enough time and care, this connective tissue breaks down and the meat itself begins to fall apart. At this point, chuck can be shredded. I removed the chunks of chuck from the pot, shredded the pieces, added back to the pot and re-seasoned. The chili looked a bit thin so I mashed several of the beans releasing their starch to help thicken the chili.

With a pan of jalapeno cornbread and green onion garnish, the chili is worth the 4 hr wait.

--Rees

It's been awhile....

....but I'm back. 2009 was a very busy year for me. I got a job in a retail meat market for a 64 year old Scotsman who has been cutting meat for 50 years. His knowledge of meat and of small business ownership has been an opportunity for me to absorb information. He is familiar with my plan to open a restaurant and over the last year, he has helped me define what I want to do and how to do it best. This meat market is
amazing; as a part of my responsibilities in the meat market I handle the weekly deliveries. That is, I am responsible for getting the meat off the truckand onto the shelves while maintaining a FIFO inventory control. The amazing thing is that each week we get 10 to 15 thousand lb of meat delivered.

On top of school and work at the meat market, I also started my own catering company and cooking school. From interactions at the meat counter with customers, my co-workers and our customers came to learn that I am passionate and knowledgeable about cooking. These conversations have led to lengthy discussions about the appropriate cooking methods for certain cuts of meat or the appropriate meat for a certain recipe. These discussions and the desire to learn by my customers and co-workers led me to offer private cooking classes.

My mission statement is “To make everyone feel more comfortable in their own kitchen”. Using the equipment in their kitchen, I would offer several services, the most popular being a demonstration. I would come into a person’s home where they would invite guests (a whole family, a couple, girls night out, etc.) and I would prepare a full meal for everyone and talk about what I was doing and why. Because it’s a small group setting, we can be casual and I can answer questions as they come up.

I can also set up classes where we cook together and practice individual techniques or, if what makes you feel comfortable in your own kitchen is to not be in it, I can do full catering for parties. Usually my events are some hybrid of the 3 offerings.

The most recent news is that I am officially taking a step closer to owning my own place by getting out of foodservice. Yes, that is correct; I am getting out so that I can get back in bigger. While, I am learning a great deal in the meat market, retail grocery is not the greatest financial option. I need a chance to straighten personal credit and save money for a down payment or deposit. I have a fully written business plan but need the financial commitment to be able to seriously ask for a sizeable loan.

To do that, I am headed back to San Francisco and back to the world of market research. I got a job with an old boss that is doing well and hiring. This was an opportunity that I could not pass up. Because I will be out of foodservice professionally for awhile, I will be posting blogs much more often again so that I can keep in touch with the food world.

--Rees