ethnic ass braised neckbones x saffron rice

This meal was a result of an impromptu trip to Jungle Jim’s. I knew I wanted to make a dish with an Afro, Spanish, or Caribbean vibe & honestly I just decided to pick up a few items that struck my fancy. As much as I love planning dishes out and going to the mart with an organized list in hand, there’s just something really attractive about wandering without intention, just picking up items that seem like they would pair well together, discovering new items you may not have ever used before or even knew existed… my best meals come from adventures like that. This one is no different. These neck bones turned out AMAZING. I truly felt like I’d outdone myself with this one. Neck bones were something I grew up eating. My granny made them all the time & we’d eat them with rice or bread to sop up the finger licking juices these yielded.

prep work:

Before hand I also decided to prep a few other ingredients to make this cooking process just a little quicker. You need to grind your dried mushrooms into a powder. I used a spice grinder purchased from Amazon. With this we’re aiming to deepen our flavor profile even more.

Dicing all your onions, peppers, celery & mincing your garlic, chili’s & turmeric will also save you a lot a stress when it’s time to add those to the dish.

*Side note: There is one or two ingredients I left off of the foodnote. Pickled coriander is one of those ingredients. I found this at my local Jungle Jims— you only need about 1 & 1/2 tbsp for this recipe. The second is chicken stock, you’ll need enough to just cover the neck bones before they go into the oven— about 2 cups.

tips:

After the neck bones were done I felt like I wanted more of a gravy with the rice for the finished product. I achieved this gravy just by using the delicious braising liquid and cooking it with a little flour.

1) Take a hot pan, add a pat of butter, & a table spoon or two of flour. Cook down about 3 minutes stirring pretty constantly. After you’ve reached desired brownness add in a ladle of braising liquid at a time till you’ve reached the desired thickness.

Directions:

1) So you want to start off with your meat. You’ll want to pat it dry, oil it a bit & season with salt & pepper —“BUT WAIT, KEYOSHA.. WHAT ABOUT WASHING IT?” No, we’re not going to wash our meat (hehehe). One, it aids in spreading the exact bacteria you’re trying to avoid & two, we don’t need any added moisture to the meat before we brown it.

2) In an oven safe pot (the one I used was a stainless steel 4 qt pot with a lid) over medium-medium high heat brown all sides of the meat (even the side that might be all bone) this will prevent your end product from looking dull, gray & unappetizing, but more importantly it’s going to seal in a lot of flavor & juices. ALWAYS BROWN HUNKS OF MEAT.

3) Remove meat from the pot & set aside

4) To the same pot you just browned the meat in, add half of your diced onion, celery, all of your peppers, chili’s, turmeric & a sprinkling of salt (not too much, a few of our other ingredients will serve as our salt source. Taste as you go). You’ll want to sweat this down a bit— about 3-4 mins over medium/medium high heat, then add your minced garlic. Cook 5 minutes more. Then add your thyme & bay leaves.

5) At this point you can add in your anchovy & tomato paste and the pickled coriander. Go ahead and add in your powdered mushrooms too. We want to really cook out the tomato paste so that we aren’t left with any metallic tastes. Cook about 5-7 mins

6) Next comes the beer. I had a couple Keystone’s I really just needed out of my fridge so I decided to deglaze with it. About half the can will do. Cook about 5 minutes

7) Place the bones back into the pot & add your chicken stock till it just about covers the neck bones. Salt. Place lid on pot & put into a 350 degree oven for about two-ish hours or until fork tender.

8) Take a 1/4c of water add a pinch of saffron threads— let dissolve.

9) As your meat braises in the oven, you’ll want to take this time to get the rice ready (follow the directions on the packaging for rice/water measurements factoring in the 1/4c of water we’re using to infuse the rice with saffron). Rinse your rice well & prep a sauce pot with melted butter. Add the rest of the onion & garlic and cook for about 3 minutes. Add your rice & cook for an additional 3 minutes & add your saffron infused water, the remaining water or stock & a sprinkling of salt to the pot. Cook about 15-18 mins or until rice is tender & all water has evaporated. Fluff with a fork & serve with your neck bones.

10) Reap the benefits of our hard work. Lets eat.