ULTIMATE DRUNK FOOD: LOADED BAKED POTATO

Description: Here's a late night meal for those times when you've decided to make a bad choice. Oh, it was Lauren's idea to make some kind of beef in gravy in a baked potato situation, she said. So I did! And I'm going to blame her. I've been so cold all day. This is so good. The meat texture that I'm going for here is like old fashioned chipped beef. Those have the grain structure that breaks into little chips like that when you slice them thin. And that's what I'm going for here. I've got a pound and a half top sirloin steak. Outside the US, you might call it a rump steak. But it's massively underrated, strong flavor and still pretty tender, even without marbling. I'm throwing it in the freezer for a half hour so I can slice it super thin. Next thing to do is to get the potatoes baking. These are Russets. Stab them once or twice to release steam. May not be necessary. I've never had one explode on me, but I suspect releasing the steam helps the skin get a little crispier. And I like eating the skin, which is why I coated it in olive oil and salt. And then put these directly on the rack so they get crispy all over. They'll take an hour. This step is very optional, but I'm going to put some of my beef broth into a Pyrex, and then drop in half an ounce of dried mushrooms. These are porcini. And I'll just bring this to a boil in the microwave and then let it sit and steep while I do other stuff. Dried mushrooms bring a ton of meaty flavor to gravy, even if you don't like mushrooms. Time for vegetables. Celery chunks will also really flavor the gravy, and I'll cut them big enough so that Lauren can eat them around if she wants them. Same aesthetically pleasing angle on these carrots. I'll cut them a little thinner 'cause they take a little longer to cook. These green onions, I'll slice them thin, taking care to keep the whites separate from the greens because the greens will just be a fresh green garnish at the end. Classic baked potato garnish. And that's it. After 30 to 50 minutes, the sirloin is firm but not frozen solid. That's how we want it. This is the texture that makes this easy to shave with a knife. Literally the thinnest slices I can reasonably do. And they don't have to be uniform. Just try to avoid any super thin slices that might be tough. And I'm doing this at a shallow angle so I can cut each meat fiber in half as I slice. That'll make this even more tender and help me get that chipped texture that I want. That's it. And before we start frying, we need to be ready with our beef broth. Kettle and Fire, sponsored this video. Yes, I'm using Kettle and Fire bone broth. 19 grams protein per container. Because when you're making gravy from thin air, when you don't have the juices from some giant roast to work with, the quality of your broth really, really matters. And this stuff is tops. It's made with 100% grass fed, grass finished beef bones. They slow simmer the bones with veggies and herbs for 12 plus hours to extract tons of gelatin and other proteins. So you can just drink it. It's a low-cal meal, which is quite nice to do when the weather turns. I add a pinch of salt to it because Kettle and Fire is much lower sodium than some other big brands, which is good. It preserves your options when you're cooking. I'm going to reduce like three cartons of this stuff into our sauce. And if I were using saltier broth, the final dish would be way too salty. That glossy finish is from the gelatin reducing down, like a demi-glace. I'm going to put the celery in, maybe give them like a five minute head start before I put in the carrots. I like the celery to be a little crisp at the end. Don't be surprised if the sauce seems to thin out at this stage. That's just the water coming out of the vegetables. I actually need three cartons of broth to keep this from getting too thick. Use water if you run out. It'll be fine. Just simmer this until the vegetables are tender. About 15 minutes. Fork tender carrots. Have a taste. Need a lot more pepper and a little more salt, which I will take from a splash of soy sauce. I want that intense umami that I associate with frozen or powdered brown gravy. Which is actually the retro vibe that I'm going for. And then we put in the other half of our beef. And, you know, simmer for another 10 or 15 minutes, or until it's hot. I think I'm going to take the potatoes, and actually dig out a little, like a bagel to make room for the stew in there. Laden in some of that goodness. And then lay the potato chunks back on top. More gravy on top. And everything is nicely integrated. For me, a cold dill pickle spear on top, just feels right. Hell's yeah, heterogeneity. And raw green onions on top, and that is a fantastic bad choice. Hot gravy on a cold pickle. Hell's yeah.