Ingredients:- Beef

Beef

Well this should give you a good indication I eat meat and I'm not a complete vegetarian. Now whilst I can assess a good piece of beef in eating qualities and shopping qualities unless I missed it there isn't a quality scheme in the UK. There is quality assured but unlike the American equivalent it doesn't actually grade the meat. Where the Americans would use prime in the UK this would be used for the prime cuts i.e. Sirloin, Fillet, Rump and Ribeye.

Then we get to breeds now I have to admit to being a little naive in regards to these, for years I've just accepted Aberdeen Angus as the de facto best. Now having come across some of the other rare breeds I'm very intrigued I do know I had one recently at 5 weeks old and water bathed my comment was it's flavour profile reminded me of hanger steak.I suspect in the next few months I'll research more. My initial thoughts are that in the hunt for leaner, larger animals with larger gains has led to a dictation of breeds used. Having seen some fantastic pics on @frostybutcher tweets all I can say is I wish they had been on my plate.

Another interesting fact is different countries butchers, butcher meat differently even in regards to chef cuts sometimes differences are found.

Choosing-

As the pics on @frostybutcher time line what you notice is mature beef has lost the bright red of supermarket beef and is approaching a burgundy. Next you notice some fantastic marbling for some reason we keep getting lean meat forced upon us. The fat is an important factor in choosing good beef as it aids tenderness and moisture whilst it's cooking. Some of the pics are actually approaching kobe beef standard, I honestly wish I'd actually had a taste of those pics to determine it for myself. 

As alluded to earlier in regards to the burgundy colour and maturity good beef is always hung, now I certainly look for a minimum of 21-28 days hanging. Now once again I know the reasons we hang, to aid tenderness of the meat as to how long once again in my naivety I'd presume this will also develop the flavour and gaminess. As to which is best I suspect this will be determined by breed and person specific. In regards to breeds my initial thought would imply in how the breed is kept and raised probably has as much significance as the breed. I see a culinary adventure over the next few months as I hunt down a few breeds and see if I can get different hanging times too.

Preparing-

Preparation really for the consumer should be little if you have a good butcher. As a chef you get removing the chain and silver skin(Fascia), maybe boning out a whole striploin, looking through the stewing steak for the worst bits etc..

Cooking-

As for cooking the basic is if you start with good beef you can't really go wrong badly cooked good beef is still good beef. Now bad beef has to be well cooked. To a certain extent the cheaper cuts are harder to screw up with just cook till tender. The prime cuts now personally for me I'm quite happy with rare meat but though I am for ribeye just needs that little more taking it to medium rare  just to start working on that fat and breaking down the collagen. With all steaks best results will be a good cast iron pan smoking hot extractor hood going in till good colour turn over and colour again looking for a good maillard reaction for me this makes a steak. As for seasoning blahh! now a days they say after to stop the salt drawing moisture I say it'll make minimal difference, just season well.

As for the tougher bits I have to admit this is where I really want to play with a waterbath. As long and slow is the best way, the idea is to break the collagen but not draw the moisture out from the protein. The faster you cook these type dishes you'll notice the meat is drier. Just cook till what we call spoon tender.

The biggest secret is get a good butcher...!

Ingredients:- Asparagus

So it's that time of year again, the summer trying to fight back the spring frosts. Fruit blossom in bloom setting autumns fruit. Through the enriched mounds asparagus forces it's spears skyward.

For me I love asparagus it's one of the first vegetables spring brings. The thing with asparagus is it doesn't travel well for sure it stands up to travelling but it's delicate flavour soon turns grassy.

Choosing-
I'm sure we could debate thick or thin I actually prefer the inbetween, the thickness of a little finger. I find the thin one whilst lovely and tender it's flavour also tends to be more subtle. Ideally you need to be picking asparagus from the field with its dew glistening heads. I suspect few will be able to. So look for the freshest bright green and brittle spears they should bend very little.

Preparing-
In choosing whether to peel or not to the scratch test seems the easiest to determine the answer. Scratch the skin if tender you'll scratch through. You tend to find early season doesn't need peeling as don't the thinner spears. When peeling start below the head leave a little. At the bottom it tends to be woody before peeling dispose of this bit(Keep for sauces or soup just needs passing). Asparagus will naturally snap at the top of the woody bit, dispense with the knife grab each spear gently and bend till it snaps at the right spot. I've seen so many chefs that can't get this right snapping them in half.

Cooking-
You'll read plenty of things honestly in the trade it's a big pan of boiling salted water and refreshed in ice cold water. Recipes will infer you need to keep their tender heads out of the water this really isn't necessary. Steaming is a nice but is best straight to plate. Sadly in commercial kitchens this is rare due to time and staffing restrictions.