Bison with egg

Bison burger

Proper pot roast and I guess I just do not trust it. It will be either chunks seasoned and fried or it will be ground to hamburger.

Guess who won.

 I also had two other cuts of beef in the freezer so I ground those too. That doubled the amount of ground meat.

Two bread rolls were run through the grinder, at first to clear it and then an additional roll to add to the meat mixture. All three cuts are exceedingly lean so 1/2 cup olive oil was added, along with meatloaf type ingredients in moderation; 2 eggs, 1/4 cup sake, 1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon mixed chile flakes, S/P.

Each ball is 5 oz each, weighed. Except for the last one.

Mango salsa, bison steak

Bison steak, refritos, Spanish rice

*  Bison on sale. Hurray! Thank-you for that, Manager. 

*  Kaffir leaves. I'm not positive I understand the point of these, but I do detect the faint trace of citrus. And come to think of it, citrus is a nice rounder outer for the saffron which on its own is sort of wet-socks thud.

*  Saffron. I think saffron might be an acquired taste. People have said to me flatly that they do not care for it, and that's a shame because it is quite good in the right instances. I've had it in bouillabaisse and considered it essential, and I've had it in paella which would be something less, mere mélange, without it. As for my own usage, when I first started including it I thought, "This is not so good by itself. It needs something to counterbalance." Citrus seems to work fine although I imagine it needn't be kaffir. I've also countered the thud of saffron variously with honey, cumin, cinnamon, and clove. 

This is not proper Spanish rice. It lacks tomato or tomato paste or tomato sauce. I intended to serve fresh tomato so I omitted that. Plus, I sought to avoid coloring up the rice so much as I tend to do. I wanted saffron color and that's all.  The rice was toasted with oil in the pot before adding liquid, water this time instead of broth. This ensured the rice would be fluffy instead of sticky which is my usual preference. One large shallot was included once the rice began to brown. A single bay leaf was included with the two kaffir leaves. It was an experiment, and it turned out very well. 

The beans are the overly fiercely seasoned beans from yesterday that were then overly tamed by rinsing. A whole white onion was diced and cooked in olive oil, two crushed garlic cloves, a teaspoon of habanero sauce, yes habanero, refusing to be cowered by the accident yesterday. I noticed the brand new jar of habanero sauce, one of my favorites, and thought insouciantly, "What could possibly go wrong?" A pint of beef broth was included and yesterday's beans were smashed into the pot. The beans contained a single small potato finely diced. These refritos (refried frijoles) are probably the best I've ever had. The beans are black-eye peas and small red beans, not the customary traditional pinto beans. Pinto beans are good, they're sold in great quantity out here in the West, but they're not the best. 

The bison was cooked perfectly. Salted and peppered on both sides rather heavily,  started at room temperature, cooked on high heat, I swear they took no longer than one minute each side. They turned out charred on the outside and red throughout. Mmmmm, meats.

The yellow pepper was fried in the pan that was used to sear the bison while the bison rested. It picked up the fond in the pan as it blackened. The pepper was removed before it became fully cooked. 

My timing tonight was impeccable.  This all came together at the precise moment the rice finished. 

Bison steamed buns

Stuffed dumplings, steamed buns filled with meat. I do not know what to call this. I invented it! Of course it was invented already at least 1,000 times in 1,000 variations: bao, nunu, pau, Goubuli (brand), dabaozi, xiabaozi, manti, vareniki (boiled), xingal, xlaklo, khinkali, ravioli, poteball, kløbb, Pitepalt, pierogi, pelmeni, kluski, koldūnai, pozi

SHUT UP !!!¡¡11!!11

Dough: this was changed midstream on impulse. Originally, I started with 1/2 Cup hot water, 1 level teaspoon dry active yeast, drizzle honey to kickstart the yeast and to sweeten the dough, 1 level cup white A/P flour, pinch of salt. Then for some reason right there I was overtaken with the urge to include masa harina (alkali-treated husked corn meal, makes niacin available) for that particular earthy flavor. It is a very un-dumpling-like ingredient. So, another 1/2 cup hot water and sufficient masa harina to form a stiff dough along with another pinch of salt to compensate for the increased mass. Left to rest and to rise. The masa, nearly 1/2 the volume of dry ingredient, is dead weight for the yeast and contains no gluten to form a molecular net that could trap bubbles produced by yeast. So all that would burden the A/P flour.  It would not contribute to the rise, and no chemical leaven is included, but I am not concerned with that because I am making dumplings, not bread. Nevertheless, the dough did rise, and fast too. This gave me the idea that masa-infused dough would make great tasting dinner rolls. I'll have to put that to the test some time.

Stuffing: two bison burgers, 1/2 diced white onion fried to soften, 1 garlic clove, 1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice, olive oil, sake, soy sauce, water to halt the burning of the garlic, boy, caught that just in time, honey (in place of mirin), 2 diced mushrooms. 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs.

Flattened the dough balls, stretched the dough around a ball of meat mixture. Steamed.

OMG! These are delicious.

Ya know what is cool? I imagined I was making too much dough for the amount of filling intended but I didn't care about wasting it. I made the dough, then made the filling, then cut four strips of parchment paper, then cut those strips into thirds for 12 small rectangles. Maths! I divided the dough into half, then halved those, third-ed those segments, which then seemed to be the right size. Turned out to be 12 just like the parchment. Maths! Then as I went along scooping and pinching the stuffing from the bulk to form each little ball, I paid no attention to matching the amount of stuffing to the amount of dough. Still, the stuffing turned out to be exactly twelve dumplings worth. I did not plan that, even so, it turned out to match perfectly. It's maths! I tell you what, the maths of intuition.

But how to know when they're done? By inserting a thermometer, that's how. Science! But even there, the thermometer is inserted when one expects the dumplings are done. So once again, it is the science of intuition. Turned out, the timing was spot-on. Darn, I'm good.

I ate three of these. Know what that means? It means they're 1/4 gone, it means 75% remains. Maths! It is everywhere.

Say, howz 'bout some photos?