Hibachi Steak House in NH

I just wanted to share about this restaurant.

Here in Maine there is a dearth of Japanese restaurants.

One time my husband and I spent 5 days in NH to celebrate our anniversary, and although he was not particularly fond of Asian cuisine, he agreed (in order to please me) to eat dinner at the Hibachi Steak House (it was just opposite Walmart in that part of NH).

We did not expect the show that chefs here perform to amuse their clients. We were seated around a stainless steel grill stovetop, along with other diners, and were entertained by the skills of the chef. My favorite part was the volcano part as shown at around 2:30 mins into the video. I videotaped it then using my cellphone and showed it to my sons. Since then, my sons have been wanting to go there as well to see it live. This particular video was taken using my iPod touch's videocam.

Apparently, Hibachi is now taken to mean a Japanese style of cooking.







My husband was delightfully surprised at how good the teppanyaki (using filet mignon cut) was, and especially liked the ginger sauce that was served on the side. I have tried the chicken, as well as the shrimp.

If memory serves me right, the first chef we had was a Filipino, and I asked him what he was using
in cooking. They might be prohibited from sharing the ingredients. But I got the info as to the wine, and a ponzu sauce. I am guessing the other ingredient was Tamari soy sauce, and I guessed that the wine was probably mirin (a Japanese rice wine). In hopes of at least recreating the dishes at home (not the volcano show), I immediately ordered mirin and ponzu sauce from amazon.com, and got a bottle of Tamari. Then for ginger sauce, I first tried making my own, but it was nowhere near what we had in the restaurant. Then, I discovered recently the Mikee Ginger Teriyaki Sauce in Hannaford store, and it was as good, if not better, than the one we had in the restaurant.


I tried several times already to cook using the above ingredients. One thing I learned: the rice wine gives the meat a glaze, which can also make it appear burnt if cooked too long, just like how the soy sauce or ponzu sauce affects the cooking. So, cook the meat first, and add these toward the end of cooking.

My husband was satisfied with my attempts at copying these dishes at home.

But we will still go to this restaurant at least yearly after getting our fireworks, especially that they will be officially legal in our state by January of next year.

How to Cook the Perfect Steak: Sous Vide Cooking

I don't remember how I stumbled upon a blog post by an American guy who shared what he did to produce a perfectly (and fully!) cooked steak that is medium rare (in appearance), tender and juicy. I can't even remember the blog, but it got me reading more into sous vide cooking.

As I read and learned more about the technique, and the very few affordable choices of home cooks, I set out to get the equipment I needed to add to my existing kitchen gadgets to take the plunge and see for myself. I chose the least expensive one: a PID thermostat coupled with my 6-qt slow cooker.

I was determined to learn this method because my husband is a steak eater (as much as I am a fried fish eater).

I have often wondered how restaurants always would come up with tender and juicy steaks even when very well done (as how my hubby always likes his steaks). At home we have our homegrown, grass-fed beef. While it sounds ideal and romantic, grass-fed beef are not exactly as great as those in the restaurants. Flavor is superb and the meat is really lean, and whatever bit of fat left is the good stuff, having had grass instead of grain providing the building material for the fatty acids. But consistency sucks -- tough and stringy -- what with all the freedom our beef had in their life span, and the lack of hormones. Not wanting to waste a lot of steaks this year as I did last year (I gave away a lot of unused steaks because I was getting discouraged), my readings on sous vide cooking gave me hope. Now I can see this household running out of steaks before the next year's supply comes. It seems like this was the way to cook steaks "very well done" without drying it up.

For this post, I used T-bone steaks, which already partly has tenderloin. Although I used 140 deg F (which gave the appearance of medium rare), I was explaining to hubby and kids about the technique (hubby was particularly intrigued with my PID temp controller and the seemingly elaborate and unusual setup), discussing about killing of pathogens at such temp for several hours of cooking, so that psychologically he was primed to see reddish middle of this fully cooked steak. I did brown the steaks in butter for a period long enough to make it as brown as possible without drying. However, I noticed that the longer the cut meat was exposed to air (and oxygen), the redder it got at the middle (a result of oxidation). Good thing I assured everyone already that that was fully cooked. With their concerns answered, they were reassured and pacified, and we all ate the steaks and savored the goodness...they were indeed excellent!

The next batch of steaks I cooked at 170 deg F. This time they were really brown...and tender and juicy.

So if you are interested, there is a sous vide cooker meant for home cooks at a whopping price of $449. Or, if you already have a good sized slow cooker, and are willing to invest on a PID temperature controller available in ebay for $156, here's how I prepared my first sous vide cooked steaks.

1. Thaw the steaks.

2. Season with salt and pepper (or spices...avoid fresh garlic as this can be over powering. If you want garlic flavor, use powder.)

3. Vacuum pack the steaks (I used food saver. Their plastic bags are food grade and are ok for low temp simmering.)

4. Place a spacer on each steaks (I used the lids for canning).

5. Stack the steaks inside the slow cooker and fill with water (spacer ensures the warm water bathes each steak all around).

6. Submerge the temperature sensor.

7. Cover the slow cooker, plug it to the PID temp controller, turn it on low setting, plug the PID into power supply, and set the PID thermostat to desired temp (see Table 2.3).

7. Allow at least two hours for the water in the slow cooker to reach the desired temperature according to Table 2.2 here. Then add the cooking time per recommendation in Table 2.3 if cooking thawed meat, or Table 2.4 if cooking frozen. Take note that this is the minimum time to ensure safety.I cooked mine for a total of 6 hours from turning on the unit.

8. Remove from pouches and wipe with paper towels.

9. Briefly pan-fry in butter (longer if you want it more brown).

10. Serve immediately.

More readings avaialable here in a downloadable pdf format.

HOW TO USE THE PID THERMOSTAT:

Make sure you are using a slow cooker or rice cooker that has manual controls instead of electronic.

Plug the cooker into the PID unit. Plug the PID into the power supply.

Turn on the slow cooker on low setting, place the sensor in the water in the slow cooker. Plug the PID into power supply.

Set the temperature and time (including the two hours to get the water up to the desired temp).

PID thermostat will beep when time is up.

So if you are interested in sous vide cooking, the equipment you need (if you are not getting the above mentioned sous vide cooker) are:

- a large capacity rice cooker or slow cooker with manual controls

- PID temperature controller

- vacuum sealer (I have Food Saver) and bags

Porterhouse Steaks

I gotta admit, steaks are probably my waterloo in cooking. Though we have plenty

From porterhouse steaks

stored in our freezer, I seldom cook them, or like I am almost always prepared to get disappointing results. The thing that makes it worse is that, to my husband, steaks+potatoes+boiled veggies is the equivalent to us Filipinos eating fried fish, sinangag, and ensaladang kamatis with camote tops. My husband just misses this type of meal if I get into the "more fancier" (as he sees it when I prepare something else) cooking. It seems no matter how I cook steaks, they always end up tough and chewy, except for the tenderloins. Until I started to try Adolph's tenderizer, the main meat tenderizing ingredient of which is papain...yeah, that enzyme you get from papaya (I remember having papain as a subject of our Science Project in High School).

Ingredients are so simple:

olive oil
porterhouse steaks
freshly milled (or ground) pepper to taste
Adolph's tenderizer
[ADD salt only after cooking!]

Equipment:

Iron cast pan
Iron cast griddle

Instructions:


After thawing steaks, wipe surface with paper towels and sprinkle pepper.

Heat the pan on high. Start the broiler on high, with the griddle on rack placed on the upper most level. The ridges of the griddle should be facing up.

Once pan is hot, spray (or wipe) with olive oil.

Sprinkle the tenderizer on the surface to be cooked and place on pan. Cook for 2 mins.

Sprinkle the raw surface with tenderizer and flip and cook for another 2 mins.

Place on the griddle and broil for additional 4-6 mins.

Serve with A1 steak sauce (hubby's fave; an acquired taste for me and my boys), potatoes and steamed veggies. Dont' forget the butter, salt and pepper!

My hubby ends up enjoying his "typical" meal.

Braised Tip Steak with Capers

This is tip steak. It is not so tender and not so lean, so I cook it usually by braising. Tap it with paper towel first to remove excess water before browning.




After browning tip steaks, remove and set aside. Heat 1 tbsp of oil on med-high. Sautee 1 medium sliced onion and 1 tbsp capers. This is a jar of capers. I just saw a recipe in one magazine using this. I had no idea before what it was. Luckily, my husband, who did not know about it either, found it. It has a different spicy, not hot, taste.





Add 1/4 cup A-1 Regular steak Sauce mixed with 1/4 cup beef broth or water. Lower the heat (about 3), cover and simmer for 20 minutes or so until tender, checking from time to time and adding 1/8 cup water as necessary to avoid scorching.





When tender (test with fork), see that there is enough sauce left to pour over the steaks. Season with salt and pepper as necessary.

Hubby liked it, so now it is among my list of recipes.

Beef Tenderloin Steaks

I remember the time when I had a conversation with my mother-in-law. My hubby had told her on another occasion that I was a good cook, "but I miss the simple steak/boiled potatoes/boiled veggies." That conversation made me realize that indeed, what I have been trying to do with the meals I serve were too complicated (sauteeing, adding sauce). I likened that food preference to what we Filipinos would consider an everyday simple meal: pritong isda (fried fish), Kamatis (raw tomatoes) with patis or patis-mansi (patis combined with calamansi juice) with blanched kamote (sweet potato) tops (the young leaves with the tender stems), and plain rice. So whenever I feel too lazy to cook, I cook steaks. Or when I crave for something Pinoy like pancit or munggo guisado, I cook steaks only for my husband. And beef tenderloin steaks are the best cuts.



Using cast-iron skillet heated on high with 1 tbsp of oil, beef tenderloin takes only about 5 minutes per side to cook for well-done steaks. That's how my hubby likes it. For some who like it medium-rare it may take as short as 2 minutes.



Served while hot and juicy (overcooking will dry it up) with A-1 regular steak sauce, boiled veggies and boiled potatoes is how my husband prefers it. I can serve this to him anytime and expect a heartfelt thank-you kiss after the meal. This to him is the typical good American meal, which to most Filipinos would be considered good but expensive (beef is very expensive in the Philippines) and usually only available in high-class restaurants or hotels, not in wet markets where most Pinoys get their supplies of fresh meat.



Since my in-laws raise the cattle for our own yearly supply of beef, it is indeed the cheapest (and best considering that it is grass-fed and we know exactly how it was raised. This type of beef can command a high price if sold, and a lot of consumers concerned about the food they eat would grab at the opportunity to get a hold of this grass-fed cow even at a high price). We pay only $1 per pound to the butcher, no matter what cut (good steaks in the grocery stores can range from $4 to $8 per pound). The rest of the "cost" is into the labor we/my in-laws put into raising the cattle. Since we divide a whole cow into 1/4 (four families), we get to shell out only $250 per year for butchering. Not bad eh? However, for the whole year, from our share of the cow, we only get around 4 lbs of tenderloin steaks. So when we run out of tenderloins, I cook other steak cuts like porterhouse, t-bone, rib-eye, etc. I will post on how I prefer to cook these other cuts in the future. A related post about beef is found here. To know more about beef cuts, click here. (I noticed that I have rarely posted about these meals that are common in my kitchen now that I am where I am.)



I mentioned to my Filipino dr-friends here about our grass-fed cows and the benefits of eating grazing animals, as compared to grain-fed. They were very interested in buying if my in-laws would sell the beef. I talked recently with my in-laws. My brother-IL is taking over the herd, and they plan to sell, but the selling is by the half: 1/2 or 2 halves or 3 halves of the cow. Not 1/4 , not 20 pounds, etc. The cost would be, regardless of the cut, $1.75 per pound to my in-laws, $0.50/lb to the butcher (I think they might have had an arrangement with the butcher that by bringing him more butchering jobs, he lowered his labor costs), which will come to around $500 per half of the cow. Not bad, considering the quality of the meat and the price that is very competetive against those available in the grocery stores. But my brother-IL would be selling only 1 cow this year's fall (yes, there is that timing. Not this winter, spring nor summer.) . I hope more local farmers would go into that. Not only would it bring income to the local farmers and to the local community, it would also benefit the community in the fight against obesity and its complications (which we can now see as having its roots from the processed and refined foods that are so ubiquitous).



If you are also worried about the beef you buy from the grocery store, consider looking for a local farmer in your area who is also into the same kind of business. Not only are you using your money wisely, you are also doing your body a favor by giving it real good food. If you have no choice but to buy from the grocery stores, here's a good resource for guidelines.

Stir-Fried Top Round Steak with Bell Peppers

This is a recipe from Del Monte Kitchenomics. Instead of beef sirloin, I used top round steak, which I cut into thin strips using a very sharp knife.



For such stir-fried beef recipes, I have come to favor top round steak because I did not like it when cooked the usual way -- pan-seared. I found it too tough and dry. Cooking it as strips requires just a few minutes of cooking time, hence, I can thoroughly cook it (both me and hubby like any meat well-done) and still retain its juiciness.







Ingredients:



1 lb top round steak, cut into thin strips,



Marinated in :

1 1/2 tsp soy sauce,

2/3 tsp iodized salt

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 dash of crushed red (cayenne) pepper (optional)

1/4 tsp pepper for 20 minutes. Set aside.





6 cloves garlic, crushed (about 3 tbsp)

1 medium onion, cut into rings

1 tbsp ginger strips

1 can (140 g) Tomato Sauce (I used my canned tomato sauce, about 1 cup)

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 large red and green bell peppers, cut into strips

2 stalks green onions, chopped



Instructions:



Saute garlic, onion, ginger and marinated beef strips. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add tomato sauce, water and soy sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in bell pepper and let cook until wilted (or don't if you want it crispier) and add green onions. Serve over hot rice.



This recipe has been approved by my husband and kids.