The Meatwave

Reflecting back on this inaugural competition year for The Meatwave, I've been piecing together all of the highs and lows and examining scores to figure what worked and what didn't to pave a path of work I need to do over the off-season. In doing so, I realized one of those first highs had yet to make it to the blog, and thought sharing this recipe would be a good way to start my reflection. So here it is, these beef pinwheels are what sent us home with a first place trophy in the Chef's Choice category at Grillin' on the Bay, and rightfully so.

In competition, I often take measures I wouldn't at home. For example, I originally made these pinwheels for a friend's barbecue with flank steak—it's economical, meaty, and tender if you slice just right against the grain. For the comp though, I swapped out the flank for tenderloin to ensure the meat would be as supple as possible, but give me a choice, and I'll take the more flavorful flank any day.

While the choice of meat is important, it's really the killer stuffing that defines these pinwheels. I got the original recipe from Mario Batali's Italian Grill, where the stuffing is a genius mixture of garlic, scallions, breadcrumbs, parsley, salami, Fontina, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and olive oil. It's amazing the amount of flavor packed into here, spanning the gamut from fresh to salty to creamy to meaty.

Whether using flank or tenderloin, the beef must be butterflied open to around a half-inch thickness. Then the meat is heavily seasoned and the stuffing is spread across the entire flat surface of the beef, leaving about an half inch border around the edges.

The beef is then rolled and tied closed. A couple hours in the fridge firms up the roll, making sure it maintains its shape when sliced into one-inch pinwheels.

In the competition, I actually cooked the roll whole to medium rare, then sliced it into pinwheels to up our presentation, but I actually liked the original way I made them better—sliced, then grilled. This way, there is more surface area to develop a deep crust, which means more great flavor.

As far as stuffed meats go, this is up there as a top favorite, and the judges agreed. The two cheeses, salami, and scallions in the stuffing create a roll packed with a ton of flavor, which is only made better with the seared, beefy flank steak. It's exactly the type of complex, yet incredibly pleasing dish that judges are looking for. Looking back, I can see why this was such a hit, while some more simplistic offerings—like corn with chile-lime butter—fell a flat. So next year I can look to these winning pinwheels as a model of greatness to aspire to as I start to develop and test new recipes for another summer of competition.

Published on Tue Aug 28, 2012 by Joshua Bousel

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