Food Experiment #4: Roast Beef With Cider Marinade

When salt and peppa ain’t enough, add alcohol. After all beer goggles make viewees hot and helps population growth nightly (at least our government hopes for that!).

On a foodie note, alcohol also goes with food. I thought: “Why not a wet marinade for a beef roast”?

So armed with meat and little else, I went out on Google and found this Cider Marinated Beef Roast (src: Cooks.com) that piqued my interest.

Did it work?

You’ll Need These Ingredients:

• 1 beef roast, 2 lbs. (I used Sirloin), tied

Marinade Ingredients

• 2 cups of Apple Cider
• 2/3 cups of Salad Oil
• 1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice
• 1/2 cup of chopped Onion (1 med.)
• 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled, smashed, but not completely crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon of salt, thyme (I picked up sage, silly me!), whole allspice (no allspice, so I used clove & cinnamon in equal parts), dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon of pepper

Instructions and “Did it Work?”

1. Make the Cider Marinade

Chop up the herbs and throw everything into a plastic bag. How difficult can it get?

2. Marinade the Beef Roast!

Chuck the roast into the bag and leave in the fridge for more than 4 hours. Turn the roast every 2 hours.

It’s a freaking mess even with a ziplock bag. These two tips will get the most out of your wet marinade in a bag:

1. Gash the beef. Stick inch-deep holes or slashes all over the beef roast so that the marinade will seep into the beef
2. Place the bag on a deep dish to catch slippage from the marinade

I noticed that the cider marinade cooks the outside of the beef. If so, how in the world is the marinade of any use? Meathead Goldwyn’s most excellent post “The Secrets And Myths Of Marinades And How Gashing Can Make Them Work Better” is a fairly scientific approach to marinating meats that bring joy to meat geeks.

The end result of the marinating process:

3. Roast it! 

My reference recipe calls for 20 min in the oven at 220C before roasting again for 36min at 180C. After roasting, take it out and give it 20min of sitting time under an aluminium tent.

Roasting Rule of Thumb: 15min per 450g + 20min @ 180C

The Cider Marinated Beef Roast is on the right side (browned roast).

Once 20min has gone by, start carving the roast into thin slices.

Verdict

I thought that the roast was too rare. And I prefer my beef bloody. Perhaps another 15min in the oven would have sealed the deal. Otherwise, it was full of beefy goodness.

Almost success!

Travel: The Best Part of Penang (Part 2)

Check out The Best Part of Penang (Part 1) for more cast iron cartoons.

Travel: Best Part of Penang (Part 1)

Isn’t the street food.

It’s finding gems like the graffiti and cast iron cartoons below that make the trip to Georgetown worth while. These tongue-in-cheek cartoons tell Penang’s story in an interesting and appreciable manner that doesn’t seem like a stiff roll of parchment paper.

Of course, their kick ass black as sin coffee helps too.

Food Experiment #3: Pumpkin Nog with Cinnamon Rum

Since it’s Christmas, let’s do something noggy for these bleak rainy days. It’s pissing cats and dogs and old gods on us for the entire month.

What to make a nog from?

In the words from the immortal, blankey-wielding Linus, “The great Pumpkin!”

Hence, food experiment #3 (i think!): Pumpkin Nog.

You’ll need:

• 250g small Pumpkin
• 250g milk boiled with some Cinnamon
• 250g Cinnamon-infused rum

 

Pumpkin Nog with Cinnamon Rum Instructions

1. Make the Cinnamon-infused Rum

Add 4 sticks of cinnamon (or whatever amounts that you prefer) to 250g of dark rum. Seal it in a mason jar and leave it in a cool, dark place for 3 days. I chuck my jar in the freezer.

2. Make Pumpkin Puree

Slice the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the insides (pretend they’re your enemy’s intestines and guts). Chop up the pumpkin into inch-long cubes.

Roast the pumpkin for 15 min. Roast again for 15 min with generous heaps of brown sugar on top of them.

Scoop it out and mush them up.

3. Mix it all together!

Like the title says. Add all the ingredients together and stir until combined. Chill and serve. Keep a bottle of run nearby to pow-wow up the drink.

Image source: Cocktail Times

Verdict

My first try failed. Too much rum, too little blending of pumpkin… it was far too thick and too full of stuff for a cocktail drink.

Back to the drawing board. Although I must say that Pumpkin roasted with brown sugar rocks as a possible dessert.

My Facebook Friends Like Ang Moh Food

This picture racked up five likes in the span of five minutes.

Mushroom Risotto with Truffle Egg, taken at Spruce.

Salty, chewy, with an egg dan dan (蛋蛋). Pretty good except that it costs $22 and an OK 250 cal. 

Wunderlust: Cycling Again

I’ve been cycling to and from my workplace nowadays. It takes me 30min because of traffic by family-happy cars.
It’s not easy doing it again – especially with the long layoff working in an ad agency – and the fact that my legs are gimpier than before.

But I really want to go on a cycling trip again. Quite likely a return to Desaru (like this One man’s Ride from Singapore to Desaru).
Desaru is nothing much. A beach, a couple of resorts and that’s about it. But the point isn’t  sight-seeing or shopping. It’s to exert, ride and unwind. Just what I need.
I think I’ll stay at Penggarang this time round.

View cycling to desaru in a larger map

Maybe during late December when I have time off?
But first, get strong, overhaul the bike and ride.
Preferably into the sunset

Exercise: Lots of Running and Some Hanging

I lift stuff. But every now and then, I take my bike out for a spin, or whack my punching bag, or run around on the basketball court – despite a gimpy knee.

One of my least favourite exercises, but oh-so-useful, is the Suicide Drill. This is how I feel after 1 set of those drills.

Source: Coloradoan

The Routine:

• 50 X Hang Cleans
• 50 X Pull Ups
• 200 X Push Ups
• 2 X Suicide Drills (Yup, I’m a wussy)
• Basketball shooting drills
• 15 min of bag kicking

Exercise of the day: Suicide Drills

Essentially, it’s a sprint drill where we run/sprint up and down the basketball court: to the foul line and back; to the half court and back; to other foul line and back; and to the other end and back.

It builds cardiovascular strength, agility, blah blah… it does what interval training routines do -- makes you stronger!!! Woot!

A How-To do Suicide Drills – brought to you by a bunch of basketball kids. .

Running Suicide Drills

Exercise: Hangs into Rest

Woke up ambitious and lifted flat.

I was stoked to do my Hang Cleans but I ran out of gas midway into the first set. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the morning’s exercises. Flat in the middle.

Source: cfnorcalstrengthclub.blogspot.com

Instead of going head to head by lifting and possibly injuring myself, I took a break for the day to recover.

The Routine

• 30 X Hang Cleans
• 10 X Shoulder Presses
• 10 X Bent Over Rows
• 50 X Deadlifts
• 15 min Cycling

 

Exercise of the day: Active Rest

Explosive exercises take a lot out of me. I’m pooped, flat and ready to kneel over once I’m done with my sets. That’s why I need rest. But I’m not crazy about sleeping it off like a piglet (although it’s great!).

Hence Active Rest. It seems like an oxymoronic term, but it works. Active Rest is essentially low intensity exercises to “flush out latic acid and send oxygenated blood to the muscles“.

What to do: Do your usual exercises at 30% of weight or intensity. I usually do a bicycle ride on flat ground at a fairly leisurely pace (20km/h) if I’ve sore legs. For sore upper body muscles, I’d do planks and a throw in a few bodyweight push-ups or rows for good measure.

Because I Like Funny Drawings

And they make me happy. Wahahaha.

More in the link at the bottom.

Source: http://imgur.com/a/3Kog5

Exercise: Upper Body + Pylometrics

Been working out for the last few weeks. Today’s workout is easy-peasy after Saturday’s helter-skelter run, hang cleans and an achy-breaky back.

 

The Routine

• 200 X Decline Push Ups
• 60 X Pull Ups
• 5 X Suicide Drills (700m in all)
• 38min Biking
• 15min Bagwork (Roundhouse, Hooks, Jabs & Crosses)

 

Exercise of the day: Push Ups

Push Ups rock. It works the core, chest, shoulders and triceps. The more you do it, the leaner you get. There are so many mind-boggling variations and best of all, you just need a bit of floor space to get going.

I prefer Decline Push Ups (see image above) to work out my upper pectorals and abs. The method’s simple: grab a chair, put your feet on it, place your hands on the floor and push up from the ground.

Easy.

Just a couple of pointers when you’re doing it:

1. Keep your body stiff. Don’t use momentum or sag your middle
2. Don’t drop down. Lower yourself slowly

Rock on.

Cars Parking Baffle Me

I am horribly baffled by cars parking. Drivers endeavour to park as close as possible to the exits and entrances of the building.

I’m seeing this as whenever my girlfriend or father parks their car. To illustrate my point, I’ve taken two photographs from the same spot but shot in different directions.

Shot of cars lined up next to the lift entrance

Shot of cars away from the lift entrance

So many parking lots, so little space.

No wonder cars make us fat.

The Garden City is Pretty but Noisy

from www.treklens.com

I like living in Singapore. It works. It’s green and quite clean, despite the hiking prices, and surly and superficial population that’s increasingly more foreign.

In keeping with our government’s mantra: all the trees, shrubbery and grass need to be maintained and trimmed back lest they overwhelm our roads, pavements and viaducts.

It makes sense. After all, you would want your tires and paths tangled up by Lalang?

My only issue is the noise – an eminently first world problem – where leaf blowers, grass cutters and the occasional chainsaw slices and tames the quiet greenery.

Noise is jarring and annoying. I lose focus in earshot of buzz saws, bad karaoke, and back-firing cars (yes, we have those in Singapore too).

Ach. First world problems…a never-ending stream of gripes and trivialities.

Mechoui Lamb

 

Made slow roast Mechoui Lamb over the weekend. I was thinking and dreaming about it through the week. 3 hours of roasting the freaking leg!!!

Unlike my slow-roast beef, this one came out tops. The inside was pink, faintly bloody and oh-so-tender. Better yet, the spice marinade seeped and permeated the lamb leg. Definitely one of my better experiments.

Recipe

Prep time: 20 min

Roasting time: 3.5 hours

• 1 whole leg of lamb on the bone about 2kg. Chopped up in 3 parts (because I had a small oven)
• 5 tablespoons of oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, pressed and roughly chopped up
• 2 tablespoons salt, or to taste
• 1 tablespoons cracked pepper
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1 tablespoon turmeric

Simple, no?

Marinating the Leg of Lamb

• Clean, dry and remove excess fat from your lamb. My butchers are Muslim dudes who do an amazing of prepping the leg. In fact, they chopped up the leg nicely once I told them I wanted to roast it.
• Stab the lamb with a sharp pointy knife. Space the holes out at decent intervals.
• Whack all of the ingredients into a bowl. Stir until it’s a paste.
• Generously smother the lamb with the paste and dig the garlic into the knife holes.
• Leave in fridge for 6 hours (or better yet, overnight!). Try not to stare too longingly at it.

Roasting the Lamb

• Pre-heat the oven to 240C for 30 min.
• Add lamb to the oven. Add 1 cup of water to the roast pan. Roast uncovered at 240C for 20min to brown the lamb. Sizzle sizzle, baby.  The water keeps the lamb moist and prevents it from drying out.
• Turn down the heat to 160C. Continue roasting the lamb for 3hours (or 180min). Bast every 60min with the jus and coat the lamb pieces with a little oil. Check that there’s enough water in the pan.
• Wait patiently. I suggest a thick book like The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 22. 

Slice, Dice and Serve the Lamb

• Stab the lamb with a fork. If there’s a little blood, it’s OK. Remove and rest the leg of lamb on a plate for 20min. I left it uncovered.
• Make gravy from the jus in the roasting pan.
  • Add water. Scrape the drippings until it dissolves in the jus.
  • Separately fry onions and garlic and whatever you want.
  • Add the dissolved dripping and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce the fire to a simmer and thicken with cornstarch water.
• Start carving the lamb up. Steal the odd piece and feel good about your creation. A video tutorial on cutting up the lamb below:

Carving up a leg of lamb with bone in.

Serve to appreciative diners.

Recipe adapted from Moroccan food at About.com. Roasting done with a Convection Oven.