Myth Busting Marinade!

This is the myth-busters episode of eat.drink.think since I just read a very enlightening article...this one (click here)... By Andreas Viestad on the Washington Post website. You know all those recipes that tell you to marinate your steak or other piece of beef for an hour or so, sometimes all night? Well, forget it! Apparently it has been proven that you get the same effect marinating beef for four seconds as for four hours. Look at all the time you just saved by reading today's post!! You can spend those bonus hours reading more food blogs, more cookbooks, or if you're really desperate, spending time with your family! I won't explain all the details, because Andreas does it better in his article. It makes for very interesting reading, though, so take a look!

Here's Andreas' recipe for a red wine marinade with herbed olive oil. There's also a great recipe for marinated grilled steak. Check it out, and enjoy all that free time!
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Red Wine Marinade and Herbed Oil
from Gastronomer columnist Andreas Viestad

This is a fat-free, full-flavored marinade. Instead of adding oil, Gastronomer columnist Andreas Viestad makes a separate herb-infused oil (using the same spices found in the marinade) that he combines with a bit of the marinade for a post-grilling application to the meat.

For a more intense red wine flavor, boil 1 cup of wine over high heat until it has reduced to about 1/4 cup, then combine it with 1/4 cup (uncooked) red wine to make the 1/2 cup of red wine used in the marinade.

By combining a little herbed oil with a bit of the marinade and applying the mixture to the steak after it has been grilled (see related recipe in Recipe Finder), you will get fresh herb flavors and aromas, the fragile compounds that normally get lost with cooking.

It's best to make the red wine marinade and herbed oil the same day they are to be used.

Makes about 2/3 cup marinade and 4 tablespoons herbed oil

ingredients:
For the marinade
1/2 cup red wine, preferably 1/4 cup red wine reduction and 1/4 cup red wine; see headnote)
1 to 3 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion or shallot
2 teaspoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 to 2 teaspoon bruised or chopped thyme leaves
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1 tablespoon brandy (optional)
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard (optional)

For the herbed oil
Handful various herbs, such as parsley, thyme and (a little) sage
1 medium clove garlic (optional)
1/4 cup olive or sunflower oil
2 to 3 tablespoons Red Wine Marinade (optional; see headnote)

method:
For the marinade: Combine the red wine, garlic to taste, onion or shallot, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, soy sauce and black pepper, and the sugar, brandy or mustard, if desired, in a large resealable plastic food storage bag. Taste and adjust seasoning. (If making the herbed oil, reserve 2 to 3 tablespoons of the marinade in a separate bowl before the marinade is used for the meat.)

For the herbed oil: Use a mortar and pestle to gently crush the herbs and garlic (if using) together. Add the oil and crush together for a few seconds to release flavor. Add the reserved red wine marinade, if using.

Second chances

I am all about second chances, and luckily so are our friends Monique and The Handsome One, who agreed to another dinner with us after I led them inadvertently astray at Tuesday nights fiasco at Juan et Juanita. We made plans to meet last night at what is a classic Paris boite, Bistro Paul Bert. The idea to come here was actually put into my head after checking out a story in the NYT a bout 10 days ago regarding Mark Bittman's experiences searching out the best examples of that most standard of bistro dishes, steak frites. Bistro Paul Bert was among his five favorites, and was also mentioned in the quirky, sassy, and quite useful eat/shop guides published in PDX. So reservations were made, the scars of Tuesday scrubbed away, and off we went.

We decided to rendezvous with our dining companions at BPB, so w and I left a bit early to check out what is supposed to be one of Paris' best cocktail bars, China Club, where according to one description we read, "they take their martinis very seriously." If you read my post about the martini article in the NYT a couple of days ago, you know for me that kind of commentary is like telling Bush and Cheney there's another dictator with boatloads of oil needing his ass kicked...we are both so there! And so we were (w and I, not W and C), grabbing seats at the long wooden bar and tucking into a couple of delicious libations. Okay, I had a Negroni, not a martini, because after seeing the national drink of the Republic of Bruce on the menu, I had to see how those Frenchies treated it. And you know, they treated it, and by extension me, with all the respect it deserved. So much so that I had two! We paid our tab and feeling much better about myself, dinner prospects, hell, even W and C, we walked the short distance to BPB.


The menu at Bistro Paul Bert



This place is so cool. Small, tucked inside an old, old building. A cozy dining room, tables snug together. Ancient ads and pictures adorning the walls, comfy chairs and that kind of yellowy light that makes you feel all warm and gooey inside. Le menu is presented tableside, written on a blackboard. We all chose the nights 32 euro entrée/plat/dessert selection. We made our decisions, ordered a very substandard bottle of Anjou blanc, which after a couple of sips was replaced by a MUCH more acceptable bottle of '99 Champagne, and enjoyed what for me was one of the most enjoyable meals of the trip.

Fizzy fun!


Our entrees (first courses) were superb, white asparagus for w and Monique, thick stalks of tender, delicious spring garden produce. The Handsome One had the chopped raw duck, which was exceptional, and I had macou carpaccio, macou being some kind of fish none of us had ever heard of, but it tasted like something I'd like to get to know better!

White apsargus, in all it's springy glory!






The Handsome One and I, very much in the moment!






The conversation was flowing in that way it does when you're around people who are on the same wave length, in this case meaning food obsessed omnivores, and we were more than ready for the main courses to arrive. A bottle of Burgundy was rustled up, and plates were hitting the table. Monique and I both ordered that steak frites, and it was everything Bittman had said it was. An expertly cooked, chewy but not too, very juicy and flavorful piece of cow with a pile of perfectly done, salty good hand cut fries. We were both loving it. The Handsome One had the pigeon, again delightful, and maybe something the guys at Portland's Le Pigeon could take a lesson from. The only marginally weak moment was w's monkfish, which was somewhat bland and oddly seasoned. Not bad, but we all were kind of indifferent about it.

Not to worry though, because there's always dessert to look forward to (I love these prix fixe dinners!). Monique had the fresh fraises with cream, The Handsome One ordered the cheese platter which was incredible. There were perhaps seven or eight different selections, and the server left the whole board of cheese on the table and you could take however much your stomach could handle. Which at this point wasn't much, but the ones chosen were delicious. w had the meringue with fresh strawberries, and it was outstanding. I ordered the Paris-Brest, which as Monique explained to me is a classic French dessert, two pieces of buttery pastry with, in this case, a nutty, thick, stupidly sexy custard slathered between them. This is among the most decadent things I've ever put in my mouth, and while I've never had sex with a piece of food from a restaurant, I was almost blushing at the thoughts going through my head...whew!

w's strawberry meringue... very yummy!






My indecently delicious Paris-Brest







We wandered out into the night, sated, stuffed, sleepy, thankful for the Paris metro system that whisked us all quickly home and to bed!