canyonwalker: Cheers! (wine tasting)
[personal profile] canyonwalker
I've written a few times recently about how cooking delicious meals requires time + planning. Sometimes the planning people do is very focused on one meal. Like, "To make X and Y with a side of Z, I'm going to need these 23 ingredients" — and many of those ingredients are in small quantities. Think of all the ways tasty cooking involves adding a pinch of this, a teaspoon of that, and sprinkling the other thing to taste.

Frankly it's not practical to plan shopping around getting everything for a specific meals. I know, because I've seen people try it, and they almost invariably get overwhelmed by the sheer number of things needed if starting from nil. Instead it helps to build up a well stocked kitchen over time. Once you do that you can extemporaneously create great meals— or at least class up otherwise simplistic ones.

Prime rib sandwich (Nov 2022)

I did that recently when my plan for dinner was "roast beef sandwich". Don't get me wrong; I enjoy roast beef sandwiches. The ones at delis taste great. But the ones at home are usually poor cousins. Instead of making just-another sandwich of cold cuts and cheese and mustard I decided to make a hot prime rib sandwich.

I started with the cold, sliced roast beef. "How does one make this hot again?" I asked. I made 2oz. of savory broth in a dish (I used water plus a "Better than Bouillon" paste we have a small jar of in the 'fridge), soaked the roast beef slices in it, and microwaved them for 45 seconds or so. Meanwhile I sliced open a sandwich-sized roll and spread some tasty sauce on both sides (a yuzu sauce we have a bottle of in the 'fridge). I layered on the hot, moist roast beef slices— now very much like hot, sliced prime rib, because, well, they are prime rib— covered it with a mixture of two kids of cheese (we have 4-5 different kinds in the 'fridge), and broiled it to melt the cheese.

How good was the result? Well, it wasn't quite as good as a prime rib sandwich I pay $20 for at a restaurant... but it wasn't far off, either! And it cost a lot less than $20 and didn't require going out to eat. And I could pull it together in 5 minutes on the spur of the moment thanks to having any number of things ready to go in my kitchen.


Hot prime rib sandwich - yum!

Date: 2022-11-17 05:48 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] readingblogs
Woohoo! A stocked pantry and a little prep work for the win! This sounds delicious. Excellent idea to reheat the sliced prime rib in a bit of "Better than Bouillon" broth. I have a jar of the vegetarian chicken flavor in my fridge. It's less insanely salty than the genuine chicken version. Did you use the beef flavor?

I think making the exact sandwich you describe here and cutting them into bite-size pieces with a toothpick through each would make a great party food. Maybe pour a little of the broth over each piece, as an au jus.

I've been wavering on whether to try yuzu sauce. I generally avoid added sweeteners. I may try it as a mixer for cocktails. Once I've made the decision to make a drink, healthy eating is over for the day.

Re: Hot prime rib sandwich - yum!

Date: 2022-11-18 07:25 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] readingblogs
Thanks for the yuzu description. Interesting idea to balance its sweetness with Worcestershire sauce. I'm trying to remember the last time I used Worcestershire sauce as an ingredient. I can't recall how umami it is. Perhaps if I added yuzu to my chicken flavor Better Than Bouillon, that would have a similarly happy effect on one of my blander meat dishes...or maybe an egg sandwich.

I've never tried BTB's roasted garlic flavor. How would you rate its umami impact on a scale of 1 to 5? I'm not even halfway through my BTB vegetarian chicken jar, which uses famously umami mushrooms, but I am trying to consume more garlic for health reasons.

Boy, I envy those lucky folks you guys cook for!

Date: 2022-11-17 01:38 pm (UTC)
ilyena_sylph: picture of Labyrinth!faerie with 'careful, i bite' as text (Default)
From: [personal profile] ilyena_sylph
That looks amazing and delicious.

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