Mediterranean Spiced Pit Beef & Beef Tendon Crisps

There was a lowly dry aged round roast hanging out in my freezer which was purchased from Porter Road this past fall.  A number of ideas came to mind for this beef cut, but I settled on some pit beef.  After getting slathered with worcestershire sauce and seasoned with Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning, garlic, onion, sumac and herbs de provence; the roast was cooked sous vide at 133F for 30 hours.  It was then cooled and left in the fridge.
















Two pounds of beef tendons were soaked, thoroughly washed, then cooked sous vide at 190F for 13 hours. 















The meaty portions were removed and set aside while the gelatinous bits were packed into a cup, weighted down and chilled until solid. 

















The log o' beef tendon was thinly sliced.  I didn't think this would be a messy step but that stuff flew everywhere.  Perhaps my deli slicer blade is overdue for a good sharpening.  Nevertheless, I managed to cut enough to proceed.













After 24 hours of air drying in the fridge, they were ready for frying.  They're sort of like wafer thin collagen jerky.














The pit beef was reheated via sous vide, reseasoned with Cavender's and tossed on the Egg directly on the coals, caveman style, along with a chunk of cherry and hickory.
















All nice and charred.














The meaty bits of the beef tendons, beef broth, along with the sous vide juices from the beef roast, were further rendered down and used to make an aus jus.














The beef tendon slices were fried in dry aged Wagyu beef tallow until they were puffy and crispy.














With everything cooked, dinner was served.














The roast was juicy and very tender.  The only drawback was the tick band of connective tissue that was located dead center in the meat.  It's a pain to eat around that stuff when trying to enjoy a sandwich.  The au jus had a velvety rich texture due to the tendons' collagen, along with a deeply beefy flavor that was reminiscent of braised oxtail drippings.  The herbs de provence cut into the richness of the au jus by providing a light herbal flair.  The beef tendon crisps were utterly delightful.  The first (and last) time I ever tried pork rinds was as a kid.  These crisps had that same light and airy texture and even dissolved in the same manner.  However, they had a distinct beefy essence, no doubt aided by being fried in beef tallow.


For dessert, I decided to cave on my craving for ice cream.  I found some leftover smoked strawberry-peach purée in the freezer, along with phyllo dough.  Now, baklava ice cream isn't anything new, but I've never made it.  It was then the idea to create a tropical fruit based baklava ice cream was born.


The strawberry-peach purée was heated with a small amount of water and then thickened with cornstarch.













A baklava crisp was crafted using layers of phyllo dough which were heavily basted with butter and interspersed with a blend of crumbled butter shortbread cookies, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and sugar.  The baklava was baked at 375F for 45 minutes while being pressed between two baking stones to prevent rising and ensure that each layer of dough was super crunchy.














The baklava was baked at 375F for 45 minutes while being pressed between two baking stones to prevent rising and ensure that each layer of dough was super crunchy.  Thin slices were cut for use in making a baklava crumble.















While the baklava was baking, a lemon honey syrup was cooked to pour over the shredded baklava shards to make sticky nuggets of baklava.













A standard crème anglaise was made using evaporated milk, heavy cream, egg yolks and sugar.  Guava nectar and pineapple juice were reduced and added to the crème anglaise, which was chilled overnight before being churned.















Time for some sweet goodness.














One word.  Heaven.