Thursday, December 25, 2008

Vegetarians, Avert Your Glance

This is carnal, pure and simple.
A three-rib roast, too much food for a couple of "flexitarians." Roasted perfectly.
Here's the trick; we've done it two years in a row and it works. Roast the beast with the ribs on top. You'll want to fiddle with oven temp and stab your thermometer into the meat now and then. But you will most likely get pink, cooked meat. (Gah, I hate rare.)
My other favorite trick, and this is the first time I've ever attempted it, was to carve off the rib cap before cooking the roast, trim it of excess fat and silverskin, and roll it into a petite roulade tied with butcher's twine. It's in the freezer, awaiting some semblance of a return of meat appetite in me. Huge thanks to the talented, generous, skeevy Peter (just kidding, Peter!) for sending me a link to a video showing how to break down the roast. It embravened me (perfectly cromulent), and I enjoyed my success.
Very blurry picture. Hell, man, I was shaking!

30 comments:

Chilebrown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chilebrown said...

I think that your Roast is the Bomb!
Flexitarians, Yeah I used to be Goofballatarian too.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Oh my oh my, what a wonderful roast beast indeed - I'm drooling despite the seasonal protein overload. Merry merry.

Anonymous said...

Ohgah, that's what we had Xmas Eve. The thing was so big it scared the hell out of me. 450* for 20 mins, flip, 350* 'til done. It was amazing. Still scary though! Glad you got a video to assuage your angst.

Roast beast sandwiches for days now? I should send you some of our mustards, like the cranberry one, or the pear/apple. Merry merry!

Kevin said...

Jeez, I love roast meat. But I fixed tourtierre this year which was also mighty damned good.

michael, claudia and sierra said...

we had chinese and i rented 8 dvd's.
yep, we bought pf changs the day before and saved it for christmas. the only edible chinese option in this town.

plus my cat died first thing that morning - a really fucked death. broke my heart. he was the best.

but i am glad you had a magnificent roast, my friend. well done.

sorry to be a bummer
but it was a drag...

onwards and upwards...

Kalyn Denny said...

Your rib roast is gorgeous. I cooked a boneless prime rib for my dad and stepmother. First time I ever cooked it, but it turned out just perfect. They are a challenge to cook for because my stepmother isn't supposed to have even a pinch of salt, so I'm always racking my brain to think of things that will still be edible even if they aren't salted at all until they're on the plate. Also made horseradish sauce with Elise's recipe which I loved, but neither of the parents even tasted as far as I could tell. Hope you had a lovely Christmas day; sounds like it was a good one.

peter said...

I'm glad I was able to embiggen your Christmas.

That rolled cap calls out for gentle cooking in a water bath...

Ed Bruske said...

looks like there are more of us beef eaters than you might think. Apparently we like our rarer than you. We also cook it meat-side-up to develop some nice browning. I I've found it's no trick at all from separating the whole roast from the bones after it's cooked--even a really big roast.

meathenge said...

Cheers!

While we did yet another turkey yesterday, got pork products for the smoker today!

Biggles

Zoomie said...

That looks simply lovely and I enjoyed the video, too. Maybe for a New Year's Eve celebration...

Greg said...

Roast beast! Fabu and marvey.We did the ham and potatoes gratin thing.Happy holidays.

Greg said...
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cookiecrumb said...

Chilebrown: Cranky thinks we should call it Pyramidtarian, because basically we eat the Mediterranean diet. Then again, why does it even need a name?

Morgan: Merry merry. I wish I had an appetite as good as yours. I did manage to nibble a few strips of very rich meat, and about half a Yorkie pud.

El: I never know whether to eat the big feast on the Eve or the Day.
Yeah, sandwiches! Nothing finer. Though it is almost impossible to find fresh bread in stores the day after Christmas.
Merry merry.

Kevin: Tourtierre. I'm stumped. I'll go in search of an explanation.
Did you do the aged nog again this year? (Of course.)
Happy days.

Claudia: Deepest condolences on your beloved cat. Nothing could be sadder.
I'm glad to hear you (slightly) rescued the day with PF Chang's.

Kalyn: Sounds like you had a good day too! Don't tell your stepmom, but we salted the beef the day before, and the exterior, very brown trimmings were *spectacular* with flavor.
Congratulations on getting your roast to come out perfect.

Peter: I'm grateful, sincerely.
I think I'll do the roast of the rolled cap again, simply because we had such success the first time. And I don't have a circulator (and you probably do)... wah.

Ed: Funny, isn't it? I feel pretty good about the meat I eat; the sourcing and slaughtering. And I don't make a habit of it. But. Seven pounds of USDA Prime for two people? Come on over; I'll make you a sammie.

Biggles: And you got gravy! It's all about the gravy.
Happy smoking today. We're just trying to recover from lighting a fire with the chimney flue shut; pew.

Zoomie: I'm glad you watched the video. She makes it look simple; I came away thinking at least it's not impossible.

Greg: Ham! Happy ham to you. This winter feast stuff, it's all rather meaty, yes?

Kailyn said...

Looks lovely but after a meal of crab and cannoli, my stomach is saying clear liquids for today. And thank you for adding a new word to my vocabulary.

kudzu said...

I am inordinately envious of your beautiful roast. We did Indian food (!) for Christmas Eve, just as a change and because of the veggers. Yesterday it was traditional cheese ravioli and lovely chard -- all of the eating mostly meatless, however lovely. Now I think I will get a beast to roast for New Year's Day. Bryan's did a great job, and so did you!!

cookiecrumb said...

Kailyn: I understand the digestive, dietary restrictions. And I'm jealous of your crab and cannoli.
But, believe it or not, we had stunning roast beef sandwiches for lunch today. Two days of meat; belch.

Kudzu: Listen to you! Indian, and then "traditional" ravioli? That's another world to me. Sounds divine.
Yes, hearty endorsement for Bryan, even if the beef is from the Midwest (and corn fed). Get an order in to the shop if you're serious about a roast.
I'll be simmering bones tomorrow. mmm

Chilebrown said...

I just want a sandwich

peter said...

OK, do you have a big pot? And a ziploc bag? And a thermometer? Because if you can hold that big pot of water at 130˚ and put a sealed bag of salted/peppered meat in there for about three hours, then sear the shit out of it in a screaming iron pan (in a little bacon fat, with some herbes de Provence) you will never go back.

cookiecrumb said...

ChileBrown: You haven't had a sandwich yet? Seven pounds of meat? Get slicin'.

Peter: Awesome. My only hesitation was about not getting a Maillard reaction (and isn't that the most grievous and show-offy way to talk about food?). So if I can sear the shit out of it, I can do those other things, easy. Thanks. Really. I owe you a Pleiades XVI, but that ain't gonna happen.

peter said...

Oh, it's gonna happen. Did you go see Sean?

Captch is "mingle." See?

cookiecrumb said...

Peter: Did not see Sean. Yet. Gonna happen. Stood real near him once. We mingled.
Sharon Stone and I used to be *thisclose*, but that's over.

Heather said...

Get a room, you two.

cookiecrumb said...

Heather: {{{complete loss for words}}}

Catherine said...

well, Happy xmas to you!

David said...

I cooked a 5 rib roast for 15 on x-mas eve. 2 easy hints: 1) season 24 hours ahead, 2) bring to room temperature "hours" ahead of cooking. It could not be easier. Oh and get a great piece of meat...not from safeway.

Nancy Ewart said...

I saw that photo and had to go and have a lie down. I was overcome with meat lust. Want! Want! Want! But a singletarian just can't justify buying such a huge, delicious piece of meat. I'll assuage my meat cravings by taking another look at your photo - as soon as I recover my strength.

cookiecrumb said...

Catherine: And Happy Christmas to you, too. Sorry about the jarring imagery. I bet your dinner was beautiful.

David: Five ribs! That's astonishing. I think I'd be scared, but you said it went fine.
We followed all your rules about presalting, unchilling and spending way-spendy money on good beef. Thanks.

Nancy: It's still absurd that our two-human household is dealing with all this meat. But, you know about that lovely chest freezer! We have meals planned well into spring.

ChrisB said...

Avert my eyes that picture is having quite the reverse affect-I'm drawn to it and drooling! It looks divine.

cookiecrumb said...

Chris: I don't think I ever told you this, but when you said my Yorkshire pudding looked "right," I was enriched.
So if you think this roast looks right, I am elated.
xxoo