The Viral Costco Meat Breakdown

Mr. Devilish Dish is pretty handy in the kitchen.  His knife skills are way better than mine.  Whenever you see perfectly diced things in pictures, you can be sure he did most of the work.  In fact he does a majority of the cooking around here.  For years we have bought meat in bulk, portioning it and vacuum sealing it for the freezer.  It is not only cheaper, but it is so convenient to have frozen beef, chicken, or pork ready to thaw for whatever we want to prepare.  Especially in the summer when our garden is abundant, we just choose a protein to grill and serve whatever we have harvested that morning.  Now that we are empty nesters, it is even easier to decide what is for dinner.  He grills one big steak and we split it, and while he grills I throw together a salad or simple side dish.  He's been breaking down his own cuts of meat for years, and lately I've started to see more and more people doing the same thing.  It is not only economical, but you control the portion size and the cuts.  On our last Costco beef restock, I decided to document his preparation technique, AND do the math on how much this costs.  Well he did the math.  I went to art school for a reason lol.

This is the result of New York Strip Loin
Break down.

11 (16-20 ounce) steaks
2.25 pounds stew meat
fat that will become tallow

Mr. Devilish Dish does all of the 
cutting and trimming.
My job is to vacuum seal and 
date and label everything for the freezer.

He does large steaks.  We typically
grill one steak and split it between
the two of us, so a 16 ounce steak
is 2 perfect 8-ounce portions.

You need a very sharp knife for this.
He has a "breaking knife" specifically
for this job, but a good heavy-duty
Chef's knife will do.

He portions out the large pieces with
his big knife, and then goes back in 
with a filet knife and removes most
of the fat.

As you can see we paid $168.83 for this beef.

This is the weight and pricing.

Not counting the stew meat and tallow,
that comes out to roughly $15 per steak.

As I said before, he grills one bigger steak for the two of us.  So now we're talking around $8.00 per portion.  I know that is for the meat only, not counting the sides.  But typically we have a baked potato, or something from the garden like salad, fresh tomatoes or shishito peppers.  I looked at the pricing for area steakhouses and a steak dinner of the same size at a chain restaurant is $33.99 for steak, potato and salad.  For the nicer steak house in our town a 14 ounce steak is $55.00 with ala carte sides.  Even if we split that steak we're still talking almost $28 per portion for each of us.  Versus $7.50 per portion.

We also love to have the stew meat for his famous Green Chile Stew 

so those couple of pounds of trimmings are well used, especially when the weather starts to cool off.

He renders all of the fat down and makes his own tallow.  Not only does he use the tallow for a lot of his preparations, last Christmas I made my own tallow soap.  I grew my own loofah plants and my friends got all natural loofahs and soap for Christmas.  Feeling very Laura Ingalls after that.  Do you need to save the fat and go to the trouble of making tallow?  No, but it's something he likes to do, and really makes this process have almost no waste.

Does this technique work for everyone? No.  We are fortunate enough to have deep freeze, so we have the space to store the meat.  We also have a vacuum sealer that helps keep everything fresh.  I did not factor the cost of the freezer bags nor our time and effort into this.  

It does take some time and effort to do this.  We are empty nesters, and we both enjoy doing activities like this.  Mr. Devilish Dish breaks down all of his own chickens and makes his own stocks and broths.  There was a time when I bought a can of Swanson's Chicken Broth can called it a day, because we both worked full time and had Little Devil and the Devilish Nephew to care for.  Now it is only the two of us. 

There are tons of YouTube videos that delve more in depth on how to select your meat, how to cut and weigh everything out.  Mr. Devilish Dish has been doing this so long, I really don't have a tutorial, but if you're interested in doing this, the info is out there.

Let me know if you decide to do this and how it goes for you!

Frozen Hugo Spritz Cocktail in the Ninja Slushi Professional Drink Maker

 Our summer obsession has been creating cocktails in our Ninja Slushi Professional Drink Maker.  We're like Mad Scientists over here creating frozen drinks with varying levels of success.  (Nothing is a true failure because they're still drinkable even if they are not perfection.) We've had great triumph with our Frozen Oklahoma Club Specials and Frozen Chi Chis (for National Pina Colada Day.) Sometimes we need a break from our libation laboratory and we just check out the Ninja Test Kitchen for interesting recipes they post.  That way we know the recipe has been previously tested for frozen perfection.  I'm a huge fan of St. Germain - it's a tasty elderflower flavored liqueur that pairs really well with citrus flavors like grapefruit and also compliments white wines like Prosecco and Sauvignon Blanc (Check out my Hilltop Crisp Martinis for the great combination of St. Germain & Sauv Blanc!) Similar to the Hilltop Crisp Martini, the Hugo Spritz is a refreshing floral Italian aperitif cocktail made with Prosecco, elderflower liqueur, soda water and mint.  If you think that sounds refreshing on a hot summer day, then imagine that mixture in Slushi Form!  It's not only a sophisticated-sounding cocktail, but the traditional lime wheel and mint leaf garnish are stunning on the eyes.  This is one we will be making again for an afternoon on the patio!

The Hugo Spritz Cocktail - made even
more delicious in the Ninja Slushi 
Professional Frozen Drink Machine.

FROZEN HUGO SPRITZ COCKTAIL (adapted for the Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker)

(makes 6-8 servings)

3 Cups Prosecco
2 Cups Water
2 Cups St.Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1/4 Cup Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

Fresh Mint Leaves for Garnish
Lime Wheels for Garnish

Add the Prosecco, water, St. Germain Liqueur and lime juice to the Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker.  Follow the manufacturer's instructions to freeze.  Garnish with fresh mint leaves and a lime wheel and enjoy.

By the way, I have enough fresh
mint leaves to garnish these cocktails
for an eternity. 

National Pina Colada Day - The Chi Chi in the Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker

It's National Pina Colada Day!  If you haven't tried a Chi Chi, then you are in for a treat.  It is Pina Colada's little sister.  Where a Pina Colada is made with rum, a Chi Chi features vodka.  We were in Palm Beach, Florida a couple of weeks ago and it is safe to say we enjoyed our fair share of Pina Coladas and Miami Vices.  Now that we're back to the Oklahoma heat (minus the beach view) I wanted to re-create the flavors of our vacation using our Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker.  Last week I shared a Frozen version of one of our favorite cocktails: The Oklahoma Club Special. We have had so much fun with our Slushi Maker, I have been determined to adapt some of our most revered cocktail recipes for the Ninja.  After several trial runs over the July 4th weekend, we finally achieved success with the Chi Chi!  And I think I might even like it better than a traditional Pina Colada because I may or may not have had too many Rum & Cokes back in my college days.  Run, don't walk and get yourself a Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker so you can cool off with a Chi Chi.

The Chi Chi - Pina Colada's delicious
little sister.

Garnish with whipped cream and a cherry
if desired.  Delicious but not necessary.

Apparently in Florida the correct garnish
is a fresh flower!

A beach, a book and a Miami Vice...

THE CHI CHI (Adapted for the Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker)

9 ounces Pineapple Juice
6 ounces Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut

2 ounces Vodka (Rum if you want a traditional Pina Colada)
6 ounces water

In a measuring cup whisk together pineapple juice, cream of coconut and vodka.  Pour into your Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker.  Add 6 ounces of water to the measuring cup and kind of rinse it out, adding to the drink maker.  Select the Spiked Slush setting and the highest setting (10 bars)

Enjoy once it is frozen! (Garnish with whipped cream and a cherry if desired - or if you're in Florida, apparently a fresh flower!)

Frozen Club Specials in the Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker

 Mr. Devilish Dish and I have been working quite a bit in our backyard this year.  We added some really cool cafe lights around our deck and a couple of fun flower beds (even one that is fishing themed!) Since we both enjoy fishing so much, we try to stay acclimated to the heat.  We spend a lot of time sitting on our patio.  We've created quite the little oasis, and sit out there in the evenings and watch TV or listen to music.  All of this made more enjoyable with a cold beverage.  For my birthday this year, I treated myself to the Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker.  It features 5 unique presets that use a RapidChill Technology to determine the perfect temperature for the ideal frozen drink.  Translation: It is not a blender, no ice is involved.  The results are the perfect textured frozen drinks that are not watered down.  They don't have to be adult beverages either, with settings for milkshakes and non-alcoholic slushes.  I've shared with you before that Oklahoma has a famous drink called the Club Special  It was invented at a golf course, and has grown in popularity, so much that you can pretty much order one anywhere around the state.  A few places even feature a Frozen Club Special, which is the more attractive older brother of a Club Special on the rocks.  The day we took our Ninja Slushi out of the box, we were determined to create our favorite cocktail in frozen form.  Success!  The Frozen Club Special is our favorite summer beverage on our patio. It is sweet and tart, from Sprite and citrus juices and so refreshing on a hot day.  

The Famous Oklahoma Club Special-
made even better in frozen form with the 
Ninja Slushi Professional Frozen Drink Maker.

The ideal patio beverage on a hot summer day!

FROZEN CLUB SPECIAL IN THE NINJA SLUSHI (MODEL FS301)

40oz Limeade (made from frozen concentrate)
7.5-8oz Sprite

4 oz vodka

4 oz club soda

1 oz fresh lime juice

1 oz fresh lemon juice

Combine ingredients and pour into the Ninja Slushi vessel.  We like to choose Setting 8 as anything higher tends to come out like a dry snow.  We also like to make the concentrate ahead of time and store in the refrigerator so we can have a frozen club special at a moments notice.  

Everything is so easy to assemble, operate and clean.  The folks at Ninja Slushi have so many videos and additional recipes at the Ninja Test Kitchen.

The BEST Cold Brew Coffee Featuring the Toddy Cold Brew System

Back in December, my pal Ginger and I had our Annual Holiday Pop-Up Shop where Mr. Devilish Dish was kind enough to teach a workshop on how to put together a charcuterie board for the holidays.  He also demonstrated the Toddy Cold Brew System for making cold brew coffee.  We purchased this system earlier this year and he has been hooked on this coffee ever since! Iced coffee is brewed hot and served cold. ... Cold-brew coffee, however, is made by steeping coarsely ground coffee beans in room-temperature water for six to 24 hours. This creates a coffee concentrate you mix with hot water, cold water or milk.  The biggest benefit to cold brew is its acidity level. As one study points out, cold brew is almost 67 percent less acidic than hot coffee, which means it's better for your teeth as well as your stomach. There's a taste benefit to this type of coffee as well.  I'm not even a huge coffee drinker and I love this coffee.  It is so smooth and tasty, it really doesn't even require a lot of cream or sugar (bonus if you are watching your calories) BUT, I especially enjoy it as an after dinner Carajillo Cocktail when it's mixed with Tuaca or Licor 43.  One of the biggest things we enjoy about brewing our coffee at home this way is the savings.  The coffee concentrate lasts us about ten days or two weeks using only 3/4 pound of coffee, which is a big money saver compared to buying expensive coffee drinks.  I should let you know at this point, that I have not been compensated in any way by the Toddy folks, we just really like the coffee made this way and I thought I would share it with you! 

The BEST Cold Brew Coffee.
There is the finished concentrate.
Ready for hot or cold water.

We use about 3/4 pound of coffee (coarsely ground)
per batch.  Mr. Devilish Dish
likes to weigh it out.

Place the coffee in the filter.

Add water.
We use filtered or bottled water here.
Brewed coffee is only as good as the
quality of coffee beans and water
you start with! 

Now sit it aside and let it steep anywhere
from 6-24 hours.

Mr. DD prefers 24 hours.

Now you've got several days worth of
concentrate.  At this point you can introduce
hot water if you want a cup of hot coffee, we
love it with cold water as a Cold Brew Coffee Drink.
There are endless amounts of recipes on the Toddy Website,
using the concentrate.  We also like the sparkling version below!

Christmas Charcuterie Board

As you may know, my other hobby besides cooking is sewing.  I make scarves from repurposed threads.  A lot of team shirts, but if I can put a needle through it I'll try to make just about anything.   As I've probably told you before Mr. Devilish Dish is quite the cook and he has even taught cooking classes at the international pantry many times.  I've even roped him into helping me with some pop-ups and demonstrations when I've held craft shows there.  He always features some kind of delicious food item or kitchen tool available at the international pantry.  This year we decided to do something different.  As our gift to our loyal shoppers who come to our holiday show every year, we decided to have him teach a little workshop and our theme was Charcuterie Boards & Cold Brew Coffee.  The cold brew coffee was amazing and I will feature it soon in another blog post, but I wanted to share the charcuterie boards just in time for Christmas.

Charcuterie is the craft of preparing smoked and cured meats for preservation and flavor. Typical charcuterie meats are salami, ham, bacon, sausages, and pates. A selection of meats and cheeses are often accompanied by other yummy bites such as crackers, olives, pickles, jams, spreads, fruits and vegetables.  Think of it as the modern relish tray!

Banana Colada Plus A Big THANK YOU to Yummly & KitchenAid

One of the awesome perks of being a food blogger (besides eating, playing in the kitchen and meeting so many nice people like all of you) is networking with folks to share recipes.  This includes sites that share recipe content and companies with awesome kitchen products both big and small.  Recently the Yummly platform partnered with KitchenAid to reward some of their content creators with the wonderful gift of a blender! I'm so delighted they chose little old me here at The Devilish Dish.  All of this just in time to share a new cocktail with you: The Banana Colada.  If you aren't familiar with Yummly, it is the smartest and most helpful food platform in existence, and I'm proud they share several of my recipes.  You can choose recipes based on your personal preferences, tastes, allergies and more.  As part of the Yummly Pro community you can learn to cook with some of the world's best chefs.  There is even assistance in scheduling meal calendars and creating grocery shopping lists, all from the ease of their website or app available for IOS, Ipad and Android.  It's a very helpful foodie community to be a part of, so you can see how overjoyed I was to receive a new blender.  I'm sure you are familiar with the quality of Kitchen Aid products (I have been in love with their stand mixer for years!) so I so excited about the new K4000 Blender.  Designed to deliver the perfect taste, this variable speed blender easily blends even the toughest ingredients from kale to almonds and more!  The Ice Crush, Icy Drinks and Smoothie setting are absolutely perfect for the Banana Colada!  Do you like Pina Coladas? (Yes now that will be stuck in your head too.  Sorry!) You'll love them even more with the creamy addition of a fresh banana.  This is of course a terrific Summer drink, but it's delicious anytime, especially since Fall and Winter weather are upon us and we're all dreaming of somewhere warm and tropical for the holidays. A great way to entertain AND knock out those holiday fruit baskets at the same time. so enjoy: 

An old favorite gets an update from
a fresh banana!

Thank you again to Yummly and KitchenAid
for this awesome blender.
I'm so grateful for their support.

Antipasto Skewers and Foodie Photography

A while back I was given the idea of a food photography post from a company called Light.  I was very flattered, but also a little embarrassed to tell them that I'm really not much of a photographer. I explained the challenges of taking photographs in my own kitchen, i.e. it's too dark, my space is limited, and there's even a dog underfoot.  They went on to explain that photography and cooking are very similar in that there are so many factors that contribute to creating a good final product, and they were interested in hearing how food bloggers like myself adapt their individual situations to produce good photographs.  Light is working on a food photography project, and I was invited to participate!  Thanks to their encouragement, I created these Antipasto Skewers with some straightforward photography tips in mind.  Like photography, they are simple to create, but the final product has a serious wow factor. 

A wonderful snack and appetizer.
Look at the brilliant color!
The perfect go-to snack.
Even better for the upcoming
Summer BBQs.

My kitchen walls
are black.  Lighting is a big challenge
in my kitchen.  I usually try to open curtains and
let in as much natural light as possible.

Sometimes natural light isn't enough.
I've been known to sneak the lamp from my
sewing table onto the kitchen counter, sans shade
for an additional light source.

I try to focus on the food as much as possible.
So you don't see the clutter in the background.
I may be a food photographer and blogger, but first
and foremost I'm a wife, mom and woman with
a messy kitchen just like everyone else.
So when I take a picture of my antipasto skewers...

What you don't see is the mess in the background.There's
always a Diet Coke, a dish rag and usually ingredients for
a million other things when I'm cooking.

The biggest space on my counter happens to be in front of
my display of favorite cookbooks.  I think they make a
nice colorful background for my photos so that's usually where
I place my dish and take my pictures.

I try to zoom in so you don't see that is also my catch-all
spot for recipes, my grocery list, and to-do list.

As I said, my counter space is limited.  Why? Well we have
our food sealer, food processor, toaster, three utensil holders
and two mixers out on the counter.  I guess you could say
we are true foodies around here.  Two mixers is a bit of an
extravagance, but one is for very large tasks, and the baby mixer
is my favorite for everyday cooking.

When I focus on the food you don't see all of
those appliances in the background.  All you see is the
food.  And sometimes a bit of color.  Whenever possible
I'll try to add a napkin or place mat to liven up the photo.
My counter tops are grey and when you use a white serving dish,
the photo seems washed out.

I also try to capture the food from an angle.  When I stand directly
over the dish for an "aerial view" I make a shadow and
the food just doesn't look as pretty.

Here are the skewers from the side.  You can even see
the char on the fire roasted red peppers.  See how those
cookbooks are barely in view?  It's okay because
they are out of focus.  The important part of the image
is the food.  You can even see the bits of peppercorn
in the salami.  When you see that, can't you almost
taste that salami?  Like my husband always says,
"We eat with our eyes first."

Food photography has come a long way.
Check out this 1950's meal.  They've got the whole
table in the image.  Plus that groovy plant and lots of
artwork in the background.  I'm not sure if we are supposed
to focus on the shrimp cocktail or that giant lettuce bowl.

These days the trend in food photography is to zoom in and
capture the food.  It's okay to show the crumbs on the plate
or a half-eaten cookie.  It looks so much more lifelike this way
doesn't it?

Light has the answer to every food photographer's struggle.
The Light L16 has 16 lenses that work together to produce
pictures that are worth a thousand words.

And yes, there really is a dog underfoot!
Here's Ghirardelli "Elli" for short, hoping a crumb gets dropped.
Check out the wagging tail action shot!

Antipasto Skewers

1 carton Ciliegine or Bocconcini (Mozzarella Balls), drained
1 package Italian salami
1 small jar Pepperoncini peppers, drained
1 small jar roasted red pepper pieces, drained
small skewers

Slice the salami into bite size chunks.  It the Pepperoncini peppers are large in size, cut those into bite sized pieces as well.  On each skewer place a Mozzarella ball, piece of salami, Pepperoncini pepper, and piece of roasted red pepper.  Place on platter and serve.

Other skewer ingredient possibilities:

pitted olives
pickled okra
artichoke hearts



Prep Time:  Approximately 10 minutes     Cook Time: 0

My Sous Vide Valentine

I may have mentioned that Mr. Devilish Dish ordered a Sous Vide machine as a gift for our wedding anniversary back in December.  As the model he ordered is part of a Kickstarter program, February is here and it hasn't arrived yet.  Now I thought I was the impatient one in this marriage, but it turns out he is.  He ordered ANOTHER machine for my Valentine.  Now some women might not think culinary gadgets are a suitable expression of love, but when you're a complete food geek like me, well that's better than diamonds and pearls.  If you aren't familiar with the technique, sous vide is a method of cooking in which food is sealed in air-tight bags and placed in a water bath.  The temperature is accurately controlled resulting in food that is cooked evenly,  ensuring that the inside is properly cooked without overcooking the outside, retaining moisture.  Being the food nerds we are, we decided preparing our entire Valentine meal via sous vide technique would be the ultimate Valentine dinner. 

Here's our gifts to each other...
Food nerds in love.
The Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker....

Nothing says, "I love my wife" more
than a big slab of heart-shaped meat.

In keeping with his Sous Vide gift theme,
I gave Mr. Devilish Dish boxes of the vacuum-sealingbags that are used in this preparation.  A roll of Copenhagen
(I know so gross and bad for him.  That's an entirely
different blog post...) and some Valentine Rolo candy.
We're On A Roll...
Get it?!?
I really love bad Valentine puns.

We made sous vide Smashed Fingerling Potatoes.
Here they are about to go into the water bath.
Fingerlings, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, olive oil,
salt and pepper.  Once the cooking is completed,
the potatoes were placed on a baking sheet, "smashed",
and crisped under the broiler.

Here's the steak ready to go in.  Simply seasoned with
salt and pepper and a pat of butter. 

Once the steak finishes cooking in the water bath,
it gets a quick sear in a very hot skillet.

Look how juice and evenly cooked it is.
It was so tender.  It was literally melt in your mouth.

Who knew you could sous vide a cheesecake?
We we did.  Actually you sous vide cook the cream cheese
filling and then assemble and chill as you would a normal
cheesecake.

This was so much fun.
I look forward to many more culinary adventures
with my Valentine!