One of the aspects we need to improve, as meat-eating Romanians (I generalized for the sake of keeping short phrases, if you don’t feel you belong to this category, you can pull yourselves out of this context and I will thank you for understanding), is a paradox. On one hand, we eat any piece piece of meat too well done (which also applies to eggs), from fish to beef, complaining about the lack of tenderness, even about the lack of flavor, and on the other hand, we panic every time we see a brown crust with black highlights on the surface of a fried/roasted chicken, on the surface of beef meat or on fish skin.
Of course, the difference between “Dude/Joe, you burned the meat!” and “dude/Joe, what a fine crust!” is subtle. Joe/the dude has to juggle with temperature, exposure time, the frequency of turning the meat from on side to the other, the speed of the rotisserie (it it’s the case), the way in which the oven circulates the hot air, hydrating methods (wine, water, meat stock, etc.), he has to be familiar with the Maillard reaction and the difference between caramelized and charred. Apparently, these things are pretty complicated, but I’m sure that Joe/the dude can cope if he studies a little and if he is present absolutely every time he fries/roasts/uses the rotisserie for a piece of meat. This would help all to have tastier meals and it would spare us the megawatts used trying to explain why a piece of meat that seems burned at first sight and beyond the computer screen is not actually so.
Now, a few words on the wonderful meat that I cooked for my colleagues from the Masterchef Romania jury at the beginning of last week. Aged Prussiana beef, maturated (as the name suggests), from Gurmand Apetit. Initially, I was planning on roasting the entire piece, as you see it in the photo. That is why I tied it, rubbed it with oil, coarse salt and aromatic herbs. I made a few incisions on the part with the exterior fat, making sure it melts better and faster.
Since the purpose of our meeting was a filming, not a cooking session, I was running rather late (it’s always like this, the combination between lights, angles and texts makes days seem longer) so I gave up on the initial idea (it would have taken too long to cook the piece of meat in the manner that I had planned when I was at home, but fortunately we can think things through and change our minds anytime) and I cut the meat into 4-5 centimeter thick pieces.
I removed the plants on them and I put them on the charcoal grill (Foa has at Stradale one hell of a grill!). The grill has to really hot and the distance to the embers has to be rather small. This means that I had to turn the pieces of meat really often. One of them left the grill after 12 minutes and was looking like this:
The other two pieces stayed on for 5-6 more minutes. I kept them longer and much closer to the embers because I wanted them to have this American industrial crust, crispy and very smoked.
I sense earthquakes and fainting on a few regions of the country, but I believe we’ll get over them :). And no, it wasn’t burned, it was just right. And flavored in a way you can’t obtain by using any other method.
Regarding the pinkish color in the middle, you should know that although I’m not a perfectionist, I can easily admit a bit of perfection never killed anyone.
That’s all for today. Stay healthy.
Special thanks to
Oana Bodnariuc, Authorized Translator
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facebook.com/oana.bodnariuc