Packers v. Ravens – Pit Beef and Berger Cookies

I declare the second meal of football season to be a success!!!

We (by “we,” I mean that I cooked and Ryan offered his unsolicited advice) made Pit Beef, served on Kaiser Rolls with my version of “Tiger Sauce,” Berger Cookies, and Homemade Dutch Oven Bread.  Pit Beef, Tiger Sauce, and Berger Cookies are apparently Maryland staples.  The Dutch Oven Bread has nothing to do with Maryland, but I was in the mood to make bread, and the recipe promised a wonderful crusty bread.  The recipe definitely delivered!!!! I promise to post later.

This meal presented a few challenges.  First, Maryland appears to be well known for seafood, and we are not seafood eaters.  (This has been a trend in the teams that the Packers have been playing.  I think the NFL is trying to tell Ryan and I we need to branch out in our food selection.  We shall see about that.)  It took a little digging to find a non-seafood recipe.  Second, I decided to cook the beef inside instead of on a grill, so I was winging it most of the way.  Third, between two separate meat thermometers we could not get a consistent read on the temperature of the meat.   I decided to just wing it, hoping that the meat was cooked closer to medium than rare, and somehow lucked out.   Last, cutting the meat sandwich-thin seemed impossible given my lack of electric knife and meat slicer.   The slices were closer to pork chop slices than sandwich meat, but Ryan didn’t seem to mind.  I suppose we should have registered for that institutional grade meat slicer for the wedding.  Although if someone actually got that for us, I would  have some serious questions about them.

Here are some pictures from the meal:

The bread of all breads!!! Wonderful crust on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside!

 

Who wants some beef!!!

 

Yummy Berger Cookies – Vanilla Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate Ganache.

We are using the same rating scale as last year (more on that later), so here is Ryan’s overall rating:

 

Baltimore Ravens – Pit Beef and Berger Cookies
Category	Max	Rating
Deliciousness	20	17.25
Authenticity	10	7.5
Complementary Items	10	7
Presentation	5	4.25
Quantity	5	5
Total	50	41
Bonus – Packers	3	3
Bonus – Murphy	1	1
Total	54	45
Average	10.8	9

I am pretty happy with this rating, although I do have a few comments on my rater.  Apparently vegetables out of the bag are an insufficient side item.  Also, despite the fact that I made probably the best homemade bread that I ever made, this garnered me no points at all.  Boooo rater.

So here are the items I learned this weekend:

1. Marriages can be tested by simple things – such as different definitions of the phrase “complementary items.”
2. A married man’s memory is just as bad as an engaged man’s memory – Wonderful bread forgotten in a moment’s notice because I would dare make frozen vegetables on Football Sunday.
3. I need an electric knife.