Tag Archives: ground black pepper

An easy Bulgogi Beef Skillet recipe from Paleohacks

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If you’re craving takeout, try this easy, one skillet beef bulgogi recipe from our friends at Paleohacks for sweet and spicy flavor with zero soy, MSG, or preservatives!

Bulgogi is a popular Korean recipe that translates literally to “fire meat.” Super thin slices of strip steaks, sirloin steak, or ribeye are marinated in spices until tender, then grilled or pan-fried. The result is a sticky, crispy, and slightly spicy recipe that can be turned into a complete meal with a side of cauliflower rice or stir-fried veggie noodles.

The unique marinade includes ripe, grated Asian pear for sweetness, texture, and tang. The acidity in the pear also helps to tenderize the meat. If you can’t find Asian pears, a traditional pear will work just fine. To add a subtle spice to the marinade, use gochugaru, the bright red Korean red pepper. This powder is less spicy than cayenne and creates a balanced heat that lets the other flavors shine through.

bulgogi-beef

Coconut sugar stands in for brown sugar, adding sweetness and helping to crisp the steak for delicious texture. Finally, toasted sesame oil adds nutty aroma while ginger, garlic, and coconut aminos add even more flavor and dimension.

To make the bulgogi, mix all the ingredients for the marinade together, add to the sliced beef, and refrigerate for at least two hours. Then, grease a medium skillet with avocado oil—not olive oil. Avocado oil has a high smoke heat point that can withstand high cooking temperatures without burning. Cook the steak about two minutes per side, in two batches.

bulgogi-beef

To serve, top the hot steak slices with sesame seeds and scallions, and enjoy!

If you’re craving more takeout recipes but don’t feel like cooking, check out one of these 13 totally Paleo meal delivery options!

Paleohacks’ Korean-style BBQ Bulgogi Beef Skillet

bulgogi-beef

 

Prep time- 10 minutes

Cook time- 10 minutes

Chill time- 4 hours

Total time- 4 hours, 20 minutes

Serves- 4

Tools

Mixing bowl

Skillet

Tongs

Ingredients

bulgogi-beef

For the Marinade

1/3 cup grated Asian pear, peeled

1 T Korean red pepper (or chili powder)

1 T coconut sugar

1 T lime juice

2 T toasted sesame oil

2 T coconut aminos

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 t ground ginger

1/4 t sea salt

For the Steak:

2 10-oz strip steaks, thinly sliced

1 t avocado oil

1/2 t sesame seeds, for serving

1/4 cup chopped green onion, for serving

Directions

1. Combine ingredients for marinade in a mixing bowl and stir well.

2. Add steak slices and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours.

3. Grease a skillet with avocado oil and heat over medium-high heat for a few minutes. When hot, use tongs to add half of the marinated steak strips and cook for 2 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 2 minutes.

4. Transfer steak to a bowl and repeat with remaining strips.

5. Serve the beef bulgogi hot garnished with sesame seeds and green onion.

A taco-stuffed sweet potato? Another great recipe from Paleohacks

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The great recipe team at Paleohacks has shared another tasty dish with Roam. This Mexican-inspired recipe features sweet potatoes stuffed with taco meat and topped with homemade guacamole for a single serving meal everyone will love!

Ditch the tortilla and stuff your favorite taco fixings inside tender roasted sweet potatoes for a filling and guilt-free meal.

Tacos are a dinner staple that everyone can agree on. However, when following a Paleo lifestyle, tortillas can be difficult to replace. Traditional tortillas and other grain-filled foods can cause bloating, which is why sweet potatoes are such a great alternative. Plus, they’re big enough to stuff with drool-worthy toppings for a fun twist on taco night.

Grass-fed ground beef carries the smoky taco spices, like cumin, onion powder, and chili powder. A little tomato paste adds to the tangy zip. And as we all know, no taco is complete without a scoop of creamy guacamole. This one is kept simple with chopped onion, cilantro, and jalapeños so you can mash it together while the meat sizzles on the stove.

stuffed sweet potatoes

Get started by greasing the sweet potatoes with avocado oil, which helps to lightly crisp up the skins. Bake for one hour, then let the sweet potatoes cool at room temperature while preparing the other ingredients.

Meanwhile, heat ground beef in a skillet until browned, then stir in dry seasonings, tomato paste, and a little water. Cook about five minutes more.

While the taco meat cooks, make the guacamole by mashing an avocado until just slightly chunky. Add red onion, cilantro, sea salt, and jalapeños.

When everything’s ready, slice the sweet potatoes lengthwise and fill it up with taco meat. Top with a scoop of guacamole and finish with freshly diced tomatoes. Enjoy it while it’s hot!

stuffed sweet potatoes

Other great toppings to include:

  • Pickled jalapeño
  • Diced mango
  • Sliced radishes
  • Chopped bell pepper 

Tip: Try baking up a few additional sweet potatoes so you can have these decadent sweet potato brownies for dessert!

Taco-Stuffed Sweet Potato 

Prep time- 10 minutes

Cook time- 1 hour, 15 minutes

Total time- 1 hour, 25 minutes

Serves- 4 

Tools

Parchment paper

Baking sheet

Skillet

Spatula

Small bowl 

Ingredients

stuffed sweet potatoes

4 sweet potatoes

1 T avocado oil

1 lb ground beef

1 T ground cumin

2 t chili powder

1/2 t garlic powder

1/4 t onion powder

1/4 t cayenne pepper

2 T tomato paste

1/4 cup water

1 medium ripe avocado

2 T red onion, chopped

1 T cilantro

1 T minced jalapeños

1/4 t sea salt

1/2 cup tomatoes, diced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Grease the outsides of the sweet potatoes with avocado oil and set on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, then let cool.

3. Meanwhile, heat ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, using a spatula to break up the meat. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Stir in dry seasonings, tomato paste, and water until thoroughly combined. Continue to cook for 5 minutes.

5. While the taco meat cooks, prepare the topping: Mash an avocado in a small bowl. Add the chopped red onion, cilantro, jalapeños, and sea salt. Stir well.

6. When the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice them down the center lengthwise. Stuff with the taco meat, then add a scoop of the guacamole and diced tomatoes and serve.

If you liked this recipe, then you’ll love this sweet potato cheeseburger casserole recipe that you can make with just one pan.

 

ribeye-steak

The ribeye steak – There is no better grilling steak

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Ribeye steak is one of the most delicious of all the cuts of beef that we — as steak lovers — want to grill and eat every time we spark up the grill.

The reason for our ribeye obsession is that it is so tender and tasty; and, it is mouthwatering-good when grilled with just kosher salt or sea salt and fresh ground black pepper for seasoning. The reason ribeye steak is a true beef flavor bomb is that it has more marbling — the fatty connective tissue within the muscle — than most other cuts.

Even grass-fed and grass-finished ribeye steaks — which are usually less fatty than corn-fed and grain-fed factory farm beef — has just enough of that good fat marbling to make the steaks savory and full of that great grass-fed beef flavor we love.

And while ribeyes are perfect steaks to cook with an oven — they are great when lightly seasoned and seared on a hot skillet with a bit of olive oil or unsalted butter — we prefer the simple pleasure of a perfectly cooked ribeye from the grill.

“ribeye-steak”

Head ButcherBox Chef Yankel Polak is a huge fan of the ribeye steak. Chef Yankel says, “Cast iron or open fire. Finish it with butter and tons of salt. Even the best ribeye will taste underwhelming if not seasoned properly.”

What gives ribeye steaks such great marbling? They come from the rib primal of a cow, specifically, the longissimus dorsi, which gets very little use, hence the excess fat dispersed throughout the muscle. But in a grass-fed ribeye steak, that fat is a bit healthier than in a grain-fed or corn-fed ribeye.

The fattiness burns up when being cooked adding a juicy moisture to the meat, making it incredibly tender. Once you eat a grilled ribeye, you will definitely notice its smooth, rich texture and delicious beefy flavor. When cooked on an open flame, charred lightly and medium-rare in the middle 

According to Chef Yankel, “Ribeyes have a ton of fat so super high heat is the best way to get the most flavor.” When cooking on an open flame, char a ribeye lightly on each side — a few minutes on each side — and then let it sit for eight to ten minutes before cutting into.  Follow these instructions and you will get a perfect medium-rare steak every time. 

Here, for a little more detail, is Chef Yankel’s recipe for Garlic Crusted Ribeye Steak:

Garlic-Crusted Ribeye Steak

  1. Dry ribeye steaks and bring to room temperature.  

  2. Season steaks generously on both sides with salt and pepper.

  3. Preheat grill. If using an open flame, wait for flames to die down. Right before grilling, make sure grill surface is extremely hot, then rub it down with an oil-soaked rag – we advise using tongs to hold the rolled-up rag.

  4. Rub heads of garlic with olive oil, 1 tsp kosher salt, and 1 tsp fresh black pepper and wrap in aluminum foil.

  5. Bake garlic for about 30 minutes on the cooler side of grill – indirect heat.

  6. Once baked, peel the skin off garlic and place in food processor with ghee. Pulse to make a paste.

  7. For medium-rare, place ribeye steaks at 45° angle across hottest part of grill grates, then grill for 2 – 3 min per side, while rotating 90° every 1 ½ min.

  8. Place steaks on a baking sheet and smear 1 large Tbsp of garlic paste on top of each steak.

  9. Move steak to the cooler part of the grill, then grill for 4 min per side. Keep your meat moving to ensure that it cooks evenly. Remove from grill when a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part reads 120°F.

  10. Let the steaks rest for 8 min before slicing.

“hog-farmer”

bacon candy

Bacon candy – A sweet meat treat for brunch, snack, or cocktail hour

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Like most everyone who enjoys a treat now and then, we here at ButcherBox have a bit of a sweet tooth.

It might be a bit odd to hand out candied bacon — or pig candy as it’s known in different parts of the country — to the kiddos who come to your door on Halloween. And some people might think it strange to keep some sweet candied bacon strips in the refrigerator. But here, you are among bacon lovers.

We don’t judge. We also know our taste buds don’t care if they are treated to thick-cut bacon with eggs for breakfast or at a sugar-laced version at a cocktail party in the evening.

Which is what makes bacon candy so fantastic.

“bacon-candy

The rise of candied bacon

So let’s dig into the sweet and savory dish that is bacon candy.

These days, the traditional breakfast meat has developed a bit of a cultish following. Bacon is everywhere from the Bacon and Beer festival in Boston — which sells out very quickly each year and has expanded nationally — to bacon-themed food trucks to a featured role at almost any Bloody Mary-heavy brunch.

More and more, bacon is breaking out on its own as a singular dish, most often as bacon candy. Stop into any hip (or hipster, if you see it that way) restaurant, and you might find a glass filled with candied bacon adorning the bar.

The flavor of bacon candy combines the already savory taste of bacon and adds brown sugar or pure maple syrup and maybe a touch of chili powder. The fact that it can sit out at room temperature for hours or be kept chilled for weeks makes bacon candy the perfect snack food.

This phenomenon isn’t just occurring at trend-setting locales either; you are as likely to find candied bacon replacing the usual bowl of mixed nuts everywhere from your local steakhouse to a high-end hotel bar.

Bacon candy springs from the cocktail party circuit

So how did this trend start?

According to author Fred Thomspon, who chronicles all sorts of bacon-themed culinary delights in his cookbook “Bacon,” the history of this delicious snack is a bit of a mystery.

Bacon candy is believed to have first gained popularity in Washington, D.C.’s party circuit. But Thompson speculates that pig candy was most likely an import to the nation’s capital brought from the kitchen of an unknown Southern hostess.

The rise in the treat’s current popularity as bar food is linked, by a number of different people, to a small wine bar in California. According to lore, Lou’s on Vine in Hollywood began offering their take on pig candy to patrons as an alternative snack, and the buzz — and bacon — spread from there.

How to cook bacon candy

After all this talk of sweet bacon, you might be wondering how you can make it on your own. Worry not, the recipe is quite simple. Many candied bacon recipes call for baking the pork with a garnish of light brown sugar and/or maple syrup.

Twists on the dish include adding some spices, like ground black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes or chili powder to create the ultimate cocktail party snack, brunch side, or anytime food.

Check out the video below of ButcherBox Head Chef Yankel Polak making some bacon candy with maple syrup, sriracha, brown sugar, ground black pepper, and coconut aminos:

Here is another great bacon candy recipe that is one of the more popular recipes found at AllRecipes. It is made even better using ButcherBox bacon that comes from heritage-breed pigs.

Bacon Candy Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Ground black pepper to taste

1 pound ButcherBox bacon

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Mix brown sugar, rice vinegar, maple syrup and ground black pepper in a small bowl.

3. Place bacon slices on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet.

4. Cook in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, turn slices and bake another 5 minutes.

5. Remove bacon and brush both sides with brown sugar mixture. Return bacon to the oven and bake another 5 minutes. Repeat basting every 5 minutes until bacon is browned and crisp, a total cooking time of about 35 minutes.

6. Let sit on a cooling or wire rack at room temperature.

After letting it rest, eat and enjoy the sweet, bacon goodness!