Beef

Crispy Pho-spiced Beef Fat Potatoes

by:
November 16, 2013
4.3
3 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

I ended up with a boatload of beef fat after making stock for beef pho and couldn't let it go to waste. I chose the Serious Eats method for new potatoes, using the beef fat redolent of black cardamom, cinnamon and serrano instead of canola oil. It worked beautifully, though to get a more burnished crust I left the potatoes in the oven for an extra ten minutes. The potatoes turned out crispy, as promised, surprisingly fragrant with a slow, creeping heat.



EmiBee

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Ingredients
  • Lazy pho
  • Bunch Beef bones, roasted
  • 1 Black cardamom pod, crushed
  • 1 serrono chile, seeds removed
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 star anise
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 1 hand ginger, split in half
  • 2 onions, halved
  • 1 bunch cilantro
  • 5 pinches whole black peppercorns
  • salt to taste
  • Crispy Pho-Spiced Beef Fat Potatoes
  • 1 pound new potatoes
  • 1/3 cup pho-spiced beef fat
  • 1/2 tablespoon white or rice wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • salt and pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Lazy pho
  2. Put all the ingredients into a large stock pot and cover with water.
  3. Simmer for 4 hours, skimming the scum occasionally
  4. Pour stock through a fine mesh strainer into tupperware
  5. Allow to cool in refrigerator overnight
  6. Skim and save solidified fat on top
  1. Crispy Pho-Spiced Beef Fat Potatoes
  2. Preheat oven to 500°F. Line a rimmed baking sheets with foil and place in oven.
  3. Wash and halve potatoes
  4. Put potatoes in a pot with 1/2 tablespoon each salt and vinegar
  5. Cover potatoes with cold water by 1 inch, bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes
  6. Drain potatoes
  7. Pour potatoes into a bowl with 1 tablespoon of the melted fat
  8. Toss the potatoes and maybe bang on them a bit with a spoon to get a good layer of potato/fat paste. Really show them them who's boss.
  9. Remove baking sheet from oven and pour the remaining beef fat into it. Then arrange the potatoes cut size down on the sheet.
  10. Roast in oven until the bottoms look golden brown, about 30 - 40 minutes.
  11. Take the baking sheet out, toss the potatoes around and cook for another 10 minutes.
  12. Add salt and fresh-cracked pepper to taste.

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2 Reviews

vvvanessa November 19, 2013
Hot dang!
aargersi November 18, 2013
These sound great and I love the pho broth "bonus" !!!