J is for Jaccart, Jicama, and Jus Lié

Ten days into this A-Z Blog Challenge I am so happy to be participating. Omigosh! The wonderful new blogs I have encountered! There are people doing some very interesting posts. The creativity I’ve come across beats last year by a long mile.

Go to the A-Z site and pick out some in areas of interest. There are 2165 of us blogging daily (except Sunday). There is something for any interest you have. (Okay, maybe no ANY interest, but there’s a darn good selection.)  http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

But you are here for today’s explication of cooking terms. And I am here to provide it. Oh, and as the title reveals, I couldn’t stick to two terms today, either. But they’re short.

Jaccart is the process of tenderizing cheaper cuts of meat (often beef) by inserting sharp needles into it to pierce the meat fibers. Sometimes people precede jaccarting with pounding the meat with a meat tenderizer that resembles a hammer. They claim the combo of pounding and piercing makes the meat exceptionally tender.

There are commercially-made jaccart tools with a handhold containing, sometimes, dozens of sharp needles. The jaccart tool absolutely does the job, but has been criticized for being hard to clean due to the sharpness of the needles and how close they are together, thus trapping food particles.

By the way, I never use those meat tenderizing additives in the grocery store. I don't like added chemicals in my food. If you don't believe me, read the label. Pound the heck out of it instead.

 

Jicama (HEEK-a-ma) is a favorite in our home as well as all over the desert Southwest. Jicama is a root veggie with a fibrous, smooth brown skin you peel before eating. The appearance and the flavor are reminiscent of potatoes, but slightly sweeter, juicier, and little more textured. Some have compared this sweet potato relative to apples or water chestnuts.

Use jicama in fruit or vegetable salads for extra crunch, as a stir fry additive, or include it on a fruit and veggie platter with dip. For dessert, add jicama, half and half, with apples for apple-jicama crisp. Or sauté jicama in butter, add brown sugar and cinnamon. When tender, serve over vanilla ice cream.

Jus Lié (zhoo-lee-YAY) is a transformation of jus (meat broth or the liquid that flows off cooking or resting meat). Jus Lié is that same liquid lightly thickened with cornstarch. That would make some gravies Jus Lié. But if the jus is thickened with flour, it is gravy, not Jus Lié.