Cut up beef recipes

[Familia]

Hello, I think I should know this, but ... 

my DS wants to make beef recipes like my 'Chicken, Potato Basil' dish, or like something we call poor man's supper.  The chicken dish is simply cut up raw chicken with diced onion & potatoes baked in oven at 350 for an hour...seasoned with basil, garlic and butter, it is a easy family staple.  The poor man's supper is about the same with raw ground sausage (sometimes kielbasa).  

Ds tried diced raw pork tenderloin in place of these meats, did not cover & well...of course it all ended up dry w/meat overcooked & pots still not done well (uncovered made it need to come out sooner, so...it did not go well).  He is a good cook of what little he makes, and he did fine cooking for me at home.  But, his desire to cut up raw beef and cook it with potatoes has me unsure.  I think of stew meat, but that takes more than one hour to become tender.  Ditto my pot roast (three hours).  He wants a one hour or less dish with beef (not ground beef).  Anyone have this?

Thanks...not sure why this took so long to explain LOL 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Familia
clarifying

[fairfarmhand]

1 minute ago, Familia said:

Hello, I think I should know this, but ... 

my DS wants to make beef recipes like my 'Chicken, Potato Basil' dish, or like something we call poor man's supper.  The chicken dish is simply cut up raw chicken with diced onion & potatoes baked in oven at 350 for an hour...seasoned with basil, garlic and butter, it is a easy family staple.  The poor man's supper is about the same with raw ground sausage (sometimes kielbasa).  

Ds tried diced raw pork tenderloin in place of these meats, did not cover & well...of course it all ended up dry w/meat overcooked & pots still not done well (uncovered made it need to come out sooner, so...it did not go well).  He is a good cook of what little he makes, and he did fine cooking for me at home.  But, his desire to cut up raw beef and cook it with potatoes has me unsure.  I think of stew meat, but that takes more than one hour to become tender.  Ditto my pot roast (three hours).  He wants a one hour or less dish with beef.  Anyone have this?

Thanks...not sure why this took so long to explain LOL 

A sirloin chopped up should work, He may want to marinate it overnight with an acidic marinade to help it stay tender and of course, cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

[Familia]

4 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

A sirloin chopped up should work, He may want to marinate it overnight with an acidic marinade to help it stay tender and of course, cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

Thanks, and * YES to cover...not sure what he was thinking.  First tenderloin is too lean IMO to cook this way, and he always knew to cover at home, but it is different when you do things on your own.  Not to mention, he hasn't cooked for me in 6 years or so...that is a long time when you are that young.

[fairfarmhand]

Just now, Familia said:

Thanks, and * YES to cover...not sure what he was thinking.  First tenderloin is too lean IMO to cook this way, and he always knew to cover at home, but it is different when you do things on your own.  Not to mention, he hasn't cooked for me in 6 years or so...that is a long time when you are that young.

THe nice thing about beef steak is that if the middles of the meat chunks are still a bit pink it's no big deal. Pork and chicken undercooked are a big no no.

[Familia]

Just now, fairfarmhand said:

THe nice thing about beef steak is that if the middles of the meat chunks are still a bit pink it's no big deal. Pork and chicken undercooked are a big no no.

Thanks!  Yes, I am crazy about food safety (former RD), but you know, they changed the pork recommendation to 145!  I think this was because there has been no triconosis (sp) for many, many years in the country.  Still uncomfortable for me=)

I recommended he just put on baked potatoes & throw a steak on the grill, but he really wants a 'fix it & throw in oven' kinda dish.

[Clarita]

So you have to pick the right cut of meat. Chinese stir fry usually uses a cut of beef call flap meat, although I think skirt steak can be used too flap meat works noticeably better. Flap meat has a courser grain to it so fully cooked (no pink) still renders it a not chewy meat. However the cooking method for this is high heat on the stove but really since you've sliced the meat thin the meal takes probably < 10mins on the stove. But you have to cook the meat and the potatoes separately then combine them in the end (because it's really difficult to manage the different cook times of the potato vs the meat).  Still can be just a one pan meal unless you really want good results which means you would par-boil the potatoes before stir frying.

That would be my suggestion if he asked me. I think the issue with doing a good cut of steak cut up and baking with the potatoes would be that it's a waste of good steak. The potato would be far from being done while the steak is ready to eat. 

As for the pork he needs a fattier cut and then it would be delicious think pork belly (aka bacon) then cut the potato smaller. If he wants larger chunks par-boil and dry the potatoes first then lay the  pork belly on top so the fat would be rendered down to the potatoes but the pork will be high heat cooked instead of steamed.