A tale of two ribs

Sunday just past was the day of the beef, as previously advertised at reference 1.

The beef was ordered on Tuesday for Friday, one large fore rib or two small. Come Friday, I was offered the choice of a piece of mature wing rib or a piece of immature fore rib. The first of these was around the right size for the two of us, the second about twice that, giving us the choice of the thin end or the thick end. Instant decision needed, and I decided that we liked fresh better than mature - as we do, as it happens, for both Emmentaler and Comté cheese. And I thought thin end looked more attractive than thick end. So two ribs from the thin end it was. Bones, in particular the chine, left in - which might make carving a little more challenging but certainly looks a lot better when served. One might also argue for the flavours from in and around the bones.

Fresh out of the bag on Sunday morning

Trussed and guyed

Despite the butcher's claim that trussing was not necessary with the bones in, there was a certain amount of trussing. Also two guy ropes. This because I like to stand the beef as shown in the oven - but which means there is a tendency to fall over during the cooking. Luckily there were two convenient holes in what passes for the trivet.

Almost as vintage as this one

The joint started at 6lbs 9oz and following perusal of the trusty Radiation cookery book, I decided on starting proceedings at 1130 at 190°C, aiming for 105 minutes cooking and 15 minutes resting, a total of two hours. Breakfast had been a little late, I forget why.

Ran clear with the skewer

Done by 1320, when the meat ran clear when skewered. Guy ropes visible at the back. Joint transferred to serving plate, returned to oven to rest and roasting dish rinsed with some hot water to help the gravy along.

This last having been started by simmering some finely chopped onions and celery in a little butter until soft rather than brown. Fortified with maybe a teaspoon of flour.

A drop of red

Then served with boiled brown rice, boiled chou pointu, bashed swede and the gravy. A late season swede so it did need bashing and there was some fibre - which I could have removed but didn't. A minor error. Plus, given that I was celebrating the warfarin being more or less on target, a drop of red from Waitrose. Originally from the people at reference 3. The first time we have had wine with a cork in for a while, so an opportunity to use our splendid corkscrew - not the sort of thing that waiters keep in their pockets at all. It turned out to be rather good.

The home of the drop

Unusually, I was able to find the very wine we had bought from a supermarket on the web site of the manufacturer. Something which I often fail to do; either because it is a distribution brand rather than a production brand or because it is an export special, destined for the English market, rather in the way that you used to be able to buy bizarre bottled beer from England on cross channel ferries, designed to impress ignorant foreigners.

Lunch is served

Carving under way

The end of the first day

The beef had turned out rather well, and we decided that we did indeed prefer the delicate taste of fresh to the more gamey taste of mature beef.

Note the heavy kitchen knife which does good service as a carving knife. I like both having a pointed, stiff blade, good for getting into corners, and having a blue steel blade which is much easier to sharpen than a stainless steel blade. Sharpening steel from Japan, via a car boot sale at Hook Road Arena. Rather big, so probably from a commercial rather than a domestic kitchen.

For dessert, orange jelly with mandarin oranges. Another rare treat given that tinned oranges keep vanishing from the supermarket shelves, even before the present emergency. And tinned better than fresh for these purposes, like pineapple or custard. A jelly such as one might have had in a restaurant in the days of dessert trolleys - whereas now one mostly has to make do with small but elaborate confections often involving too much sugar and too much cream.

The flat flower

In an interval, flush with food and wine, I noticed how very flat the Senetti flower was, something I had not noticed before, despite it being the second pot of same this year. Both having done well.

A pair of strutting crows were down on the scraps on the back lawn in what seemed like seconds. As if they had been waiting in the tops of trees roundabout, waiting for them. Joey, the Siamese cat from next door, was attracted by the smells, but turned up far too late for either scraps or crows. Would a small but aggressive cat take on a pair of crows?

The end of the second day

Taken cold on the second day with a version of bubble and squeak made with the left over vegetables. Fortified with a spot of beef dripping. Only one crow on this occasion and rather slower off the mark. Two trips with a very full beak on both of them.

The end of the third day

The end of the fourth day

The crows did not put in an appearance on the fourth day, at least not while we were looking. Perhaps they had indigestion. The scraps will serve for the fifth day, that is to say today. Chewing bones has its points. Fortified with vegetable soup to start, there being some elderly leeks in our warehouse which could do with using up.

So while the joint might have been a bit dear to start with, getting five meals out of it gets the unit costs right down. And BH was not unhappy in the reduction of the cooking load. Perhaps we will get back to this sort of thing; a throw back to the olden days.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/05/series-2-episode-iv.html.

Reference 2: https://www.masterbutchersepsom.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://www.bodegasmuga.com/en/.