Cooking with Chef Chamberlain and the Texas Beef Council

Last week Holly from June Cleaver Nirvana and BurbMom invited me and several other bloggers to attend a cooking demonstration at the Viking Cooking School and sponsored by the Texas Beef Council. Since I love Texas and cooking so much, all Holly needed to say was Texas and food and I was in!

There we got to listen to Angela Lemond, a registered and licensed dietitian, give us healthy cooking and eating tips for our families, as well as tell us how lean beef is greater in protein ounce for ounce than other high protein meatless options such as black beans and tofu. Which is totally why I wore my new “I Heart Lean Beef” apron all the way back home and showed it off to my two vegetarian brothers-in-law. I also offered to give them my new “I Heart Beef” tote bag, but neither one of them took me up on my offer.

Next up was the highly esteemed Chef Richard Chamberlain of Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House in Dallas, as well as Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill also in Dallas, Texas, who gave us an informative and fun cooking demonstration. We got to try two dishes he prepared, my favorite being the Beef Roast with Maple Sweet Potatoes, Oprah style. Well sort of Oprah style, because if she’d been there we’d be getting new cars too. Hey, but I got a meat thermometer!

Later we tried out some of Chef Chamberlain’s beef recipes from his cookbook, The Healthy Beef Cookbook. My favorites were the Tenderloin, Cranberry, and Pear Salad as well as the Farmer’s Market Vegetable, Beef, and Brown Rice Salad. Another delicious recipe from Chef Chamberlain’s cookbook is the Mojo Beef Kabobs. Now a little education here: “Mojo” is pronounced Mo-Hoe. Trust me. I was corrected by Chef Chamberlain who told me it wasn’t pronounced like something Austin Powers would say.

Tips for Cooking Beef from Chef Chamberlain:

1. Start with cold meat and a hot pan (oiled pan should be slightly smoking).
2. Always preheat the oven or grill.
3. Use a meat thermometer to gauge for doneness. Remember, meat continues to rise in temperature once removed from the heat source, so if you want medium rare (about 140-5 F), then stop cooking at 130ish F.
4. It’s totally okay to flip the cutting board (okay, so this is what he did, and not what he said).
5. There are three grades of meat: Premium which accounts for 1-3% of all meat and is the most expensive but best quality and also highest in monounsaturated fat; Choice which is the middle grade but still good quality and leaner than premium; Select which is the lowest grade but leanest.
6. It is hard to go wrong with tenderloin. Tenderloin is always tender almost anywhere you buy it. Even Wally World.
7. Trim outer fat from meat–it is highest in saturated fat.
8. You can peek, but only turn ONCE!
9. You can peek, but only turn ONCE!
10. You can peek, but only turn ONCE! (Men, quick checking the meat!) (That means on the grill too.)

I had a great time at the Viking Cooking School and with friends and fellow bloggers such as Amy from Living Locurto and I Heart Faces, Holly from June Cleaver Nirvana, Business 2 Blogger, and Burbmom, Shauna from Burbmom and Business 2 Blogger, Arena from The Nerd’s Wife, and Jamie from Totally the Bomb, as well as many others.

Here’s some more food shots from our fun day together:

Stayed tuned next week for a fabulous give away including a signed copy of Chef Chamberlain’s The Healthy Beef Cookbook and a few other goodies from the Texas Beef Council right here on Screwed Up Texan. That means if you haven’t updated the new feed in your reader, then do so now so you don’t miss out on anything! I know all y’all (men and women) are going to love it!

In the meantime, go make your vegetarian friends and family all jealous and cook beef tonight. In fact, the Beef Pot Roast with Maple Sweet Potatoes and Cider Gravy was so good that I caught my husband’s vegetarian brother sneaking bites from the pan last night.