Thanks fellas.

TS I substituted the Marsala instead of white wine in a recipe I've been using for years. I don't think I'll go back!

Mark it was a 1/4 cup butter, and a TBSP each of Thyme and Majoram. Pinch of garlic powder and used a mixer to whip it up. It really made the filets pop.

Agree, I wanted to control the sodium levels so it seemed logical to combine a bunch of spices instead of buying the packaged stuff.

I use it on chicken as well. Matter of fact I threw a bunch of leftovers together: quinoa, poached chicken, black beans, some pico de gallo, shredded lettuce...seasoned with the taco seasoning and then added some salsa and a dollop of Greek yogurt.

Your marinade for the Carne Asada sounds great!

Thanks, Gypsy. Here is a rack of ribs with achiote in the dry rub that I will smoke tomorrow. The lightness on the right end of the ribs is where the meat juices haven't soaked through. I will post the final product then....

mark46th hope that turned out finger licking good!

That looks delicious!

Gypsy- I missed your post about taco seasoning. I will definitely try it. Thank you!

I look forward to seeing mark46th's ribs. They look really good!

I found this one online, so far it's my favorite blend. I will play with the measurements depending if I want more heat.

Here is the finished product. These were spare ribs that I cut the tips off, kind of like a St Louis cut. I saved the tips for burnt rib tips for another day. The achiote in the rub gives that nice dark red hue...

Great Color! Those are some really fine ribs!

Looks delicious! I need to grab a few racks at Costco now :p

Am I late for dinner? :D Those look delicious!

Beef Stew
 

Melt a couple tbsp butter in a pot, throw a whole diced onion in it. Cook until soft. Throw a couple handfuls of carrots in it, and a couple stalks of diced celery. Cook until soft. Add 4 diced potatoes, and 6 tbsp flour. Add 8 cups beef broth, 4lbs beef chuck, and a can of tomatoes. Bring to a boil, put the heat on low for as long as you can stand it, but at least an hour. While it simmers I add these ingredients:

2 tbsp sea salt, tbsp cumin, tsp cayenne, tsp chile powder, tbsp Montreal steak seasoning, pepper, red pepper flakes, tbsp Costco no salt seasoning, tbsp Worcestershire, tbsp brown sugar, some oregano, tbsp garlic powder, and tbsp taco seasoning.

I made the batch pictured a few nights back. I didn't have beef bullion so I added some onion soup mix and red wine to act as a possible substitute (something I read online). It came out really good without the bullion to my surprise. No celery in this batch either. I used to sear the meat before adding it to the stew, but the meat falls apart using this method. In the interest of time I skip that step.

Is my process flawed? Any advice is appreciated.

TS is going to slap your hand for not searing the meat first...

I think you just did.......;)

Lan first thing you should have done was cube the beef, season it and sear it.

Remove it and then start your onions etc.......

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-sear-meat-47333

The only thing she's dead wrong about is caramelizing. Meat does not caramelize it "browns" due to the Maillard-Reaction

Thank you warriors. I am making a rump roast today using the maillard reaction method, I'll post how it turns out. I thought the purpose of searing was to hold the juices in.

On another note, I made chicken last night using chipotle peppers in adobo sauce with a side of Mexican rice. I copied Chiptole's chicken recipe to satiate my burrito bowl addiction.