Month 2 day 19: Pancakes and Beef Rendang

Today I made:
Whole-wheat buttermilk pancakes, Cooking Light 2010
Beef Rendang, Cooking Light 2010

Unlike the last batch of pancakes, I followed the recipe for these correctly and they came out quite nice. They were featured as coming from the "recipe hall of fame"-- they had originally been published in 2003 issue of Cooking Light but were good enough to merit a reprint. Unfortunately I tried to use butter in the pan instead of the cooking spray that Cooking Light always suggests, but it all burned and turned 3/4 of the batches black :-P But other than cooking mishaps, they were very good. The buttermilk flavor is not very strong, though. Neither is the whole-wheat-ness... I think G didn't even realize! Normally he hates whole wheat. (Correction: he says he only hates whole-wheat pasta)

The beef rendang recipe was in Cooking Light's feature on the top 25 common mistakes cooks make. It highlighted number four: "You boil when you should simmer." Where "simmer" means one bubble every second or two. The recipe called for 1.5 hours of this kind of simmering, which was difficult to even get our stove down that low. This was supposed to turn a tough cut, like chuck roast, into tender meat.
I think that Cooking Light make one of the top 25 common mistakes food magazines make: clearly never making the recipe for themselves, because it doesn't make sense. And the picture shows things that are in the recipe. Did I miss the part where it said to garnish with freshly chopped lemongrass, cilantro, and lime wedges? Because I thought it said to simmer crushed lemongrass and then discard it :-P The picture looks little like the dish, and the recipe expects 28 ounces of liquid to evaporate in 10 minutes of gentle simmering (the 1.5 hours is covered). This doesn't really happen, and 20 reviewers agree! So it does make you wonder if the magazine has some sort of review process. Anyway, we just scooped just the amount of liquid we wanted. It was very flavorful, but also quite spicy-- it had one serrano chili and 1/2 jalapeno. At some point I thought I had burned my thumb on the stove and put it in my mouth, but then my tongue started burning and I realized it was capsaicin. My lip is burning too, because apparently I rest my chin on my hand. It's hard to wash off.
We will keep this recipe. I think it would be better to put less liquid in, and less spice. This sauce could be used with other types of meats for a much quicker meal. What's the point in simmering tough cuts of meat for a long time to make them tender, instead of just buying more tender cuts of meat?