United States Cattlemen's Association and Congress

The American Cattle industry is facing some hurdles, trade agreements are still in the works with countries that will buy our beef, one major player is South Korea, this is worth tons of money, and jobs for cattle ranchers here on our soil.


Also deals with Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico, as well as Canada is all important. Promoting beef, as a good source of food can be a difficult task with past illnesses caused from Mad Cow disease, and other sicknesses. The beef industry faces many bumps in the road like many industries in these economic times.


Learning where our beef is sold, and what we import is important if you cook beef, beef is a major product for U.S. consumers, both for home for families, and the restaurant business. We do import less quality beef for processing, such as for frozen burgers etc. and the cattle is mostly grass fed beef, while our exports are grain fed beef.


To keep up on what's happening in the beef industry, go to www.uscattlemen.org

CHILI Recipe Customized

CHILI CUSTOMIZED


Here's a chili I just came up with off the top of my head for brother James.


4 tbsp. olive oil
1 large round sweet Maui onion or the like
6 cloves of garlic smashed
4 Hawaiin red chili peppers, with seeds chopped
4 Roma tomatoes diced


1 lb. of low sodium bacon, fried to a crisp, and chopped up good (save on the side)
2 lbs. of belly pork, sliced thin
1 lb. of cubed chuck steak
2 lbs. of ground chuck
10 oz. of Hot Portuguese sausage minced


1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained.
2 cans of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 green bell pepper seeded and cut into strips
1 red bell pepper seeded and cut into strips
20 fl. oz. of tomato sauce
1/2 can of warm beer


6 tbsp. of chili powder
3 tbsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. of ground cumin
2 tbsp. of ground coriander


Add these to taste
Hot sauce
Brown sugar
Salt
Pepper


1. Heat up oil in pot, saute the onions, garlic, chili peppers and the Roma tomatoes.
2. Add in the pork belly, cubed Chuck.. cook these for a few minutes, then add in the ground chuck, continue to cook for several minutes, then add in the Portuguese sausage and continue to cook until everything melts down, and the juices come out, leave it all in do not drain it. Cook this over medium high heat.
3. Then add in the beans, the garbanzo, and kidneys, cook for about 15 minutes at this point over low heat and covered with a lid.
4. Add in the sliced bell peppers, this adds some flavor to it, then add in the tomato sauce, and beer, and cook this for about 30 minutes over low heat again with lid on.
5. Then add in the spices, the chili powder, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, and ground coriander, continue to stir, and cook, let this settle in, cook for about 1 hour, over low heat, let the flavors all sink in.
6. Right about the time to end this thing, add in the hot sauce, brown sugar, and salt, and pepper to your liking.


copyright 2011
chefsambrano

TEST KITCHEN Shoyu Chicken Part 1

Test kitchen moves forward, for SHOYU CHICKEN. Simple, lots of peeps make it here in Hawaii, so the test kitchen carries forth.


Okay, why? Well, I got a recipe for it for my up and coming book on food, yet to be titled. So we tested here on part one, and here is what I did with my human test rats A.K.A. HTRs


I used a five pound box of frozen chicken parts, mostly legs, so I got a few different sizes of thighs, and drums. Ha ha, it was on sale at a local market, was it filled with GMOs? I'm not certain, but it didn't say Organic on the box.


Shoyu Chicken is just that, chicken with shoyu or soy sauce. But what's in it that makes it rock?
First off, my HTRs are Shoyu Chicken aficionados, it can't be teriyaki chicken which is similar, it can't be Korean style, it has to be shoyu chicken at its best.


Okay, I'll do test number one, and this is going to be put in a large stock pot and simmered, which I did.


I made sure the chicken parts were thawed, and patted dry, and left at room temperature for about an hour. Then I used a stainless steel stock pot about a 12 qt size with lid. I used Kikkoman Shoyu, white C&H sugar, some green onions minced up, a few garlic cloves smashed, about 2 inches of ginger smashed, some filtered water. I used less sugar, again I did not want a teriyaki chicken, but a shoyu chicken.


I made sure that the chicken was marinating for about 3 hours in the fridge in the stock pot, this makes it easy to cook, just use it for marinating. Then I turned on the stove, in this case it was an induction stove top, cranked it on high! Brought this to a boil, then turned it down to simmering for about 50 minutes. When it was done, my HTRs gave it a tasting. Oh yeah, I had only two willing people, this time.


I served it with hot sticky white rice, and a simple mac salad.


Well, for a simple recipe that anyone can concoct, both HTRs, gave it a thumbs up, so this was the moist heat method of SHOYU CHICKEN, next, I'll try the baked kind.


Again this is for my up and coming food book out soon, yet to be titled.
I used Kikkoman Soy Sauce. (I'll experiment with Aloha laterz)

Chicken parts marinating (wikipedia)

WOK STAR Another Dig That Got Burried

Through social networking I found out that WOK STAR in Kihei was closing its doors for good, so before they did close its doors, I had to go check them out before it was R.I.P. What led me to get down the south end of Maui on Thursday night, the twenty-seventh of October 2011? Well, I tell you what, it's all about lives, you see, a restaurant is all about lives, all about feeding people for a profit of course. But when the economy, or bad management or whatever takes it down, it is sad for the community that it serves, and the employees that it employs. Wok Star was a small business, and was in service for three years.


Anyone driving towards Wailea or heading north on lower Kihei road, would have noticed that WOK STAR sign right off the road, in the Kalama Village, next to Foodland. It was a real local kind of place with a beach town feel. You walked inside and ordered your food, and waited outside until it was cooked, on wooden tables and benches. Well, WOK STAR is now gone.


So far in this past year, we've witnessed several restaurants go down into the pits of hell, Tiajuana in Kaanapali, dead! The Village Cafe and Sweet Shoppe, dead! And many other small restaurants went down, pretty good ones that had good employees. 

It is the sign of the times, if you want to open up a restaurant, you better be damned good, in fact excellent in managing quality of your food, managing your people, and keeping all the numbers in check. But sometimes even if you do all these things to perfection, the Devil lurks and kills it.


Photo:Ron Sambrano

TEST KITCHEN Tangy Beef w/ Onions is Done.

For those who were interested in the recipe for TANGY BEEF w/ ONIONS, we did several different variations for this dish. It falls under an umami and quite possibly savory. The influence is from the Philippines, the brands of soy sauce and vinegar, can be up to the cook themselves.


The beef cuts should be sliced thin, in fact I delved in flank, which works best, cut thin across the grain, that worked well, and the flavors were good. Round steak was a bit dry and tougher, Chuck was not bad, slightly chewy no matter how thin I sliced it.


So then what really happened with my human test rats? Most of them ate it all, and it did not matter what recipe I used in the test kitchen which leads me to this conclusion, one can make this dish very tangy, or more on the salty side using more soy sauce.


As far as the soy sauce or shoyu was concerned, Kikkoman's regular brew was the tops. So when my book comes out, if you want a more pronounced soy sauce, use Kikkoman. For those with gluten allergies, there's gluten free tamari soy sauce on the market as well.


Next up we'll test out SHOYU CHICKEN for the Test Kitchen.


Thanks
Ron 

TEST KITCHEN Tangy Beef with Onions Part 4 Version #2

Results for version #2 of TANGY BEEF with ONIONS that will be in my cook/food book.


I used some round steak again, but marinated it in straight up white wine vinegar for a few minutes, heat up a wok with ginger and garlic over high heat, then put the slices of round in it and seared it well, and then sauteed onions afterwards, and then added in the meat again and tossed it around in the hot wok, and put some soy sauce in it, I used Aloha brand shoyu for the soy sauce. 


My human rats said it was too sour, too much tart, but the white wine vinegar tasted a little fruity, seemed good to me, and the human rats ate it all. So I guess this one works.
Used the bottle right. Can't figure this shit out, but it works. 
Still not what I envision, can't get the hook I want on this freeking dish!

So WTF am I looking for in this dish? I'm looking for an aroma that will make you melt when you're not even hungry. I'm looking for the flavors to just kick ass in your mouth, I want the meat to be soft but not so, so you have to chew a little, but soft nuff if you all got dentures you know? And I envision the onions to be with garlic, and give you that feel, that warm home cooking feel. Mom used lots of garlic and onions, that shit runs in our blood.

Passion for Life, Passion for People, Aaron Placourakis Has Just That

So a week ago, my friend Barbara Cobey mixologist at Sarento's on the beach in Wailea emailed me to come down  to have breakfast at the south Maui restaurant right on the beach at Keawakapu at 830 am, be there or don't be there. I chose to be there because Sarento's was just embarking on their breakfast menu, Executive Chef Geno Sarmiento was supposed to be there but was tied up with another function, oh well no problem eh?


So me and my sidekick Sascha Bauml left the Lahaina side at 745 in the morning, and whipped it to the south side really quickly, as a matter of fact when we pulled into the gravel parking area next to Sarento's we noticed that Barbara was pulling in also.


After a few small chit chatting we walked into the outside dining area, the ocean was calm, beach goers were all over it, paddle boards, sunbathers, dog walkers, runners, swimmers, and some bikinis, man, what a place for breakfast.


We sat down, the waiter got us a table, all three of us sat down, had some coffee, and when we found out that Chef Geno couldn't make it, in comes the owner of Sarento's Aaron Placourakis, we are introduced as Barbara tells Aaron that me and Sascha were there to sample the food and hang out a bit, Aaron was cool, dressed in a t shirt and shorts, you would not think this man was owner of one of the world's picturesque restaurants, he actually could be some actor dude on vacation, you know those soap guys, but also, he could be an NBA coach, or... reality is, he paddles his boat in the ocean quite often, a water man, an athlete in his earlier days, and still is actually.


As we got to know Aaron, he's a lover of life, his family seems to be of the utmost importance to him, his family is definitely number one on the list, and then it is his restaurants, the one we were at Sarento's, and he has Nick's Fish Market in the Fairmont Kealani, and SONZ Swan Court at the Hyatt in Kaanapali, and the original Sarento's in Honolulu, all these fine dining establishments are under the Tri Star Restaurants.


Placourakis is a well spoken individual, he comes across as intelligent in his business, he knows what works, and that is offering his patrons a great experience from the time they are greeted at the front door, in is own words, "This restaurant is our home, we treat everyone like a special guest here." See him in action, he's pulling out chairs for his guests and getting them water, coffee, and conversing with them, personally I thought it was cool, how often do you see owners, well established owners of restaurants doing that? Some owners of restaurants I know are never around, playing golf, and not paying attention to the operations at all. And those my friends are the ones that don't have a business any longer. Take it from me, I know how a restaurant makes it, it's all about the people, customers and employees, you take care of them, you got a winner, Placourakis made his own mold, and tossed it somewhere.


But he does find time to travel back to Greece where he has family. "I go back and visit, the place is beautiful, the landscape, the people and the food," he says like a kid. "But, I tell you what, there's no place else to do business than right here," referring to Maui and Hawaii in general, and being an avid water man, Wailea is perfect, telling stories of paddling around Molokini on a good day. He seems to be a well balanced individual, always talking about his love for family and food, and when he talks about the restaurant biz, it's not work but more like fun. His cell phone rings, "Hey I'll be up there and we'll harvest the cabbage." He hangs up and starts talking about the good life. And the good life is just being happy, and the feeling I get from him is this, even if he didn't own this business, he'd still be happy, even if he didn't have much money, he'd be happy, as long as he had his health.


"I try to take my six year old son everywhere I can, he loves hanging out," he says. "That kid is my shadow." Placourakis has older kids, but he lights up when he talks about the little dude, and Barbara injects also that the little dude is cute. Hey, Placourakis is alright in my book, it's not easy running a business, it's hard work, got to make people happy, keep up on trends, but when it comes to numbers and the bottom line, being a business person can be overwhelming, but Placourakis balances his life out just right, after a lot of years, Tri Star is still kicking ass.


So after a few minutes of just shootin the breeze, I find out Placourakis has a great sense of humor, I told him, "Hey Aaron I'll race you on the water one day, you with your boat that you paddle, and I'll have a boat but with an Evinrude outboard motor, he slaps my gut and tells me, "Make that two Evinrudes." Hey I got a sense of humor, I can laugh at myself, sometimes. And then he pokes fun of me because I'm wearing my Dodgers cap.


"I hate the Dodgers, never did like them," he says. "Hey I went to UCLA, and when I was there, Pauley Pavilion was brand new, that's where the Bruins play hoops." So I asked him when he was there did the Bruins win anything? "No, they didn't, the Wooden era was done with." I also asked him if he went to any alumnae functions, maybe kicking back with Kareem Abdul Jabbar or something, maybe having a beer with Bill Walton. "Nah, why? I'd rather stay here." Okay, good answer, why would he want to go there? He's got it made in Wailea, who needs to go to L.A.?


All in all, Placourakis was just a fun conversationalist and happy guy at the breakfast table, then he had to go and mingle with the other guests, he said his alohaz and he went on his way. So we ate our food, Barbara had her Club Benedict, Sascha had his Huevos Rancheros and pancakes, buttermilk pancakes that is, and I had my Pacific Benedict, it had asparagus spears, and chunky crab meat, it was nuts man, nuts!
Placourakis uses humor in his conversations
as he looks out into the ocean, his second home.

Sarento's Huevos Rancheros

Sarento's Pacific Benedict

Sarento's Buttermilk Pancakes