Welcome to a new featured series on Mangia McCann: Top Chef Tuesdays! I’m a huge fan of the show and every Tuesday I’m going to come up with a challenge based upon the prior week’s episode. I will try and keep spoiler alerts to a minimum. Be sure to check out my Instagram TV page for associated video content and cooking tips.
Week 2’s Elimination Challenge forced the chefs to make a dish featuring either a local beer or coffee blend from a Portland-based business (where they are shooting this season’s episodes). The cheftestants developed their creation, had all of their desired ingredients, and we’re ready to hit the ground running. Then, Tom Collichio stepped in and delivered the twist: the chef’s had to partner-up and deliver a dish incorporating both coffee and beer. This forced some chefs to have to rethink what they were doing entirely. Luckily, they had three hours to complete the meal.
I have never cooked with coffee before, and the only time I’ve used beer is in something like a braised stew, where the beer enhances the flavor of the broth, but you’d probably not think to yourself: “I can really taste beer in this meal.” The coffee concept came pretty naturally - I’d use some fine-ground coffee and incorporate it into a rub. The beer gave me pause on how to make it successful. I ended up marinating the beef in the beer first and then used some more to make a reduction. I decided to use 2 regional favorites to stay as close to the original challenge as possible.
Would I be up for elimination, lauded, or fall into the safety of the middle ground? I think I would have ended up in the middle, maybe even challenging for a top-tier position. When eating the beef on its own, the rub needed a slight refinement (I’ve addressed this in the recipe below), but the cooking of the meat was damn-near perfection. The reduction was extremely delicious and the infusion of flavor for the overall meal was successful. The potatoes? Whoo-boy! They are a slightly less involved version of Paris Mash, with a bump of roasted garlic. I also used some mustard greens to mimic the heat and spice you’d get from horseradish in a steakhouse. I’d recommend mixing in some lighter greens as well to make it not so aggressive on the palate. Overall, I’m very pleased how it came out and enjoyed not being rushed to complete the meal under extreme time constraints.
Coffee-rubbed Beef Tenderloin with Oatmeal Stout Reduction
Coffee Rub and Marinade
~3 lb beef tenderloin
16 oz oatmeal stout (porter or other dark beer would work)
2.5 tbsp dark roast coffee (espresso ground)
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
⅛ tsp ground cardamom
pinch cayenne pepper
Stout Reduction
8 oz oatmeal stout
1 tbsp brown sugar
Place the tenderloin in a container with the beer and marinade for 8 hours. Remove and pat dry. Using butcher string, tie off the roast in ~2-inch intervals to get the tenderloin into a uniform shape. Mix all of the remaining rub ingredients and apply to the roast. Wrap in plastic cling-wrap and place in the refrigerator for 16 hours. During the last hour, remove from the fridge so the beef can rise closer to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and insert a cooling rack.
Prepare a skillet with 2 tbsp oil over high heat and brown the roast on all sides, about 6 minutes. Then place the roast on the prepared baking sheet and into the oven. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees and continue roasting until you reach your desired temperature (I pulled the roast when it hit 130 degrees for rare to medium-rare). Tent the roast with a piece of aluminum foil and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the mashed potatoes (see recipe below) and stout reduction. With about 20 minutes to go, combine your beer and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and gently simmer until reduced and thickened, like a syrupy texture.
When ready to serve, slice the beef about ½-inch thick, spooning some sauce over the meat. Add the garlic-roasted mashed potatoes. Serve with some lightly-dressed mixed greens.
Garlic-roasted Mashed Potatoes
1 head of garlic
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 russet potatoes, peeled and halved
1 cup of cream
1.5 sticks of butter
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove any loose papery skin from the garlic. Cut off the bottom third (pointy end) and discard. Place the root-end down on a small sheet of aluminum foil and coat with oil. Season with salt and black pepper and wrap up the foil.
Roast in the oven for 30 minutes and let cool. Reserve.
While you boil your potatoes, squeeze out the cooked garlic from the bulb into a small saucepan and cover with the cream. Gently warm over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
When the potatoes are cooked, drain and push them through a ricer and place the potatoes back into the empty pot and cook off the water from the potatoes over medium heat, stirring frequently, for a few minutes.
Pour the garlic cream over the potatoes along with a tsp of salt. Stir to incorporate. Add 1 stick of butter and stir until melted. Hold until the roast is ready to be served.
When ready to plate, add in the remaining butter and taste for seasoning.
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Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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