AlwaysCooking: Free Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner

Arthur Bovino — June 11, 2009

One of the free samples we received recently was Main Street Meats’ premium chopped meat sent by Lee Selig, grandson of the company’s founder, Julius Selig. Their 1946 Blend combines Kobe Brisket, Angus Rib Cap and Boneless Short Ribs with an Angus Chuck base. Main Street says their blend is made daily to order, using a coarse blade so as not to make it too delicate. The number, 1946, refers to the year the company was founded. Three members of AlwaysHungryNY.com took samples to their test kitchens to try the blend in a few of their favorite dishes.

 

Jeff Zalaznick: “Main Street’s luscious 1946 blend is a pleasure. There’s no question that Lee Selig and his team know what they’re doing when it comes to beef. When I came home, I happened to find mashed potatoes and some mozzarella cheese in my fridge so the logical result was a pseudo Shepherd’s Pie.”

 

The Hungry Goat: “I used the blend in my Mom’s recipe for Meatloaf. We mix the classic ingredients in with the beef: Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs, and egg, along with cream, garlic, Dijon mustard, herbes de Provence, cilantro, and minced carrots and onions. What’s special about the recipe is that we also mix in a little Italian sausage, and then cover the entire thing with slices of bacon, salty and greasy and fatty and really awesome. Then we cover it with slices of tomato. It’s the high-brow/low-brow combination. I liked the 1946 blend. You could tell it was high quality meat because it was juicy, delicious and not crumbly.”

 

Arthur Bovino: “I used the blend as an opportunity to experiment with Rancho Gordo beans, using their ‘Red Chili Con Carne’ recipe as a starting point (it didn’t call for tomatoes, so there’s nothing ‘red’ about it). I tasted the beef raw and seasoned and was very satisfied with it, but I’m a flavor junkie and hot pepper addict, and I got a little distracted from my taste-test by adding a bunch of spices and chili peppers. The T-shirt Lee sent us is one of the best schwag T’s I’ve ever seen.”