Here are some significant events that occurred on October 17th (Source: Wikipedia):
- 1558 – Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded.
- 1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
- 1948 – Margot Kidder, Canadian actress was born.
- 1965 – The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair closes after a two year run. More than 51 million people had attended the two-year event.
- 1979 – Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 2009 – The food blog kimchi MOM was born!
FOUR YEARS, folks, FOUR YEARS. Thank you, thank you, thank you to my readers and followers, new and old!
Bos Creek Artisan Meat
My husband and I had an early blogiversary celebration this past weekend with a couple of grassfed steaks, a ribeye and a New York strip, thanks to my friends at Bos Creek. You may be groaning and turning your nose up at grassfed meat, but ever since I had my first grassfed ribeye steak 4 years ago at Chez Panisse and learned more about grassfed meat, I make the effort to seek it out whenever I can. We don’t have beef that often, especially steaks, so when we do, I like to splurge a little. There is the general myth that grassfed meat is tough and gamey which is far from the truth in my opinion. Grassfed meat tastes cleaner and is so much more flavorful. It’s also better for us – leaner, packed with beneficial vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and “healthy” fats. The grass diet is also healthier for the animals – their digestive systems were meant for digesting grass. Grassfed meat is also better for our planet by restoring the ecosystem and reducing greenhouse gases. (Source: American Grassfed)
What is Bos Creek? Simply put, they provide a subscription service for artisan meats delivered to your door. What’s so special about that? First of all, you get to choose the cuts of clean, quality meat delivered monthly. And second of all, if you cook a lot of Korean dishes using special cuts of meat like L.A. galbi or thinly sliced unseasoned and uncured pork belly for samgyupsal, Bos Creek carries these cuts. I was very, very, VERY excited when I learned that they offered these special cuts of quality meat! I honestly didn’t think there was going to be much difference in flavor compared with “standard” galbi meat, but the flavor of the meat (and fat!) sang harmoniously with my marinade, and the pork belly was astounding with just a sprinkle of sea salt. The pork tasted like….PORK!
Here’s a little video of Bos Creek’s mission…I’d love to visit the ranch someday!
Now back to my celebratory steaks. I wanted to make these steaks a little more special so I accompanied it with a simple compound butter. I’ve been reading about miso butter this and miso butter that so I figured I would substitute the miso with its Korean cousin, dwaenjang (fermented soybean paste). The nutty flavor of the dwaenjang worked beautifully with the butter. I like to call this Umami Butter.
Umami Butter
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 tablespoons dwaenjang Korean soybean paste
- 1 teaspoon kochugaru Korean red pepper powder
- 1 clove garlic minced
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mash all the ingredients together with a rubber spatula. Make sure the mixture is well combined.
- Lay a sheet of plastic wrap (about 8"x12") on your work surface. Scoop the butter into an oblong mound in the center of the sheet. Roll the plastic wrap around the butter lengthwise and shape it into a 6-inch long cylinder. Twirl the ends tight and tuck it to the undersides of the cylinder.
- Refrigerate for a few hours or until firm.
- When ready to serve, cut a half inch slice and place atop of your juicy steak or even eggs!
But wait there’s more…
And also as part of my 4 year blogiversary, I’m giving away a $40 Amazon gift card as a “thank you” to you! Get that cookbook you always wanted off the wish list and into the cart. This giveaway is only open to residents of the United States and Canada and will be open until Wednesday, October 23rd. I will contact the winner on October 24th. To enter, follow the directions below. Thanks again and good luck!
Disclaimer: I was given complimentary meat from Bos Creek, but all opinions are my own. And every last penny of the giveaway of the Amazon gift card was paid for by me.
