Newfangled Dirty Rice
Ingredients
For the Meat:
- 1-pound lean ground sirloin
- 2 tbsp. kosher salt
- 1 tbsp. grapeseed oil or other natural oil
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne
- 1/3 cup amber beer
For the Gravy:
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil or other natural oil
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup green or red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup celery, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/3 cup amber beer
- 1 cup chicken broth, plus more if needed
For the Rice:
- 1 1/2 cups jasmine or medium-grain white rice
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 bay leaf
For Serving:
- 1/2 bunch scallions (green tops only), chopped
Instructions
To prepare the meat:
- Season the sirloin, just use it how it comes out of the tray from the grocery store, with 1 tsp. salt on the top side.
- In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it starts to smoke.
- Place the sirloin in the skillet in one piece and let it sear until it browns and caramelizes; 3 to 5 minutes.
- Then flip it, sprinkle with the remaining 1 tsp. of salt and repeat, 3 to 5 minutes longer.
- Once the block of sirloin is well browned, chop it up in the pan with a metal spatula so that the inside bits can be seared.
- Add the black pepper, cumin and cayenne and stir well; cook for a minute.
- Add the beer to deglaze the pan, and cook 1 minute longer, scraping up any browned bits.
- Remove from the heat and set aside.
- At this point, you could freeze the meat.
To prepare the gravy:
- Start by making a dark roux.
- Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over high heat until it just starts to smoke.
- Add the flour and immediately start stirring with a long-handled spoon.
- Stir constantly, scraping the bottom and edges well to keep the flour from burning.
- Once it’s the color of milk chocolate, anywhere from 4 to 15 minutes (the most important thing to watch is the color of the roux and ignore the time), add the onion, bell pepper, and celery and stir together; cook for a minute.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer.
- Add the beer and mix well.
- In 1/3-cup increments, add the chicken stock, stirring well between each addition.
- Reduce heat to low and stir frequently, but not continuously, until you have a well-emulsified gravy, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 4 minutes.
To complete the preparation of the dirty rice:
- Once the gravy is done, add the cooked beef.
- Bring the meat and gravy mixture back to a bare simmer.
- Cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours or until the sauce has no chalky flour flavor.
To prepare the rice:
- While the gravy is cooking, put rice, 2 1/2 cups water, salt and bay leaf in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and bring to a bare simmer.
- Stir, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let steam in the covered pan for another 10 minutes, until all water is absorbed.
- Fluff with fork, spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to serve.
To serve the newfangled dirty rice:
- Add the cooked rice and scallions to the meat gravy in in the pot.
- Stir all together over low heat, just to warm it all through.
- Add salt, to taste, and serve.
Notes
Traditionally, dirty rice ingredients include chicken gizzards, chicken livers, andouille sausage, etc. Since I am not a lover of any of those ingredients, I buy a good grade sirloin which I have ground by the store’s butcher. Thus, it is all newfangled but makes a delicious dirty rice.
I’m going to try the dirty rice!