Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Leftover Prime Beef Ribs

We had "Roast Prime Rib" for Christmas Dinner.  Hopefully we all know that  a "Prime Rib Roast" is rarely prime grade beef.   I ordered a beautiful roast from Fresh Market. They had three grades of beef, I got the middle one, so it should more properly be called a "standing rib roast." It was a lovely big piece of meat. I'm only sorry I don't have a picture of it to show you. The butcher at Fresh Market cut the roast away from the ribs, then tied it all back together so we got the advantage of the flavor of cooking on the bone without Tom having to figure out how to carve it in between bones and all.

Actually I had never cooked one before. But I went online looking for the best way to do it.  There were several ways described but I decided on the fast sear, then low finish. I started it at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, then turned it down to 325 until the instant read thermometer read 125. I took it out and let it rest while I made a nice pan sauce with a port wine reduction. I can say with a total lack of modesty that it was delicious and tender and absolutely wonderful.

When it was all over I had a goodly chunk of beef left, and put that away for later. And then there was the rack of ribs... I'd once, long ago in France, had dinner at a friend's house whose mom had served beef ribs. Of course, coming from the South, I'd only known pork ribs. Later she told me they had been left over from a Sunday rib roast. So I took the rib rack and cut between the ribs.
 
I put them on a baking sheet and brushed them with olive oil.
 
I mixed up worcestershire sauce, pressed garlic, and some whole grain mustard and brushed that on. I couldn't help but add a touch of brown sugar. Most of the online recipes called for fine dry bread crumbs, but what I'd had in France appeared to be fresh crumbs. I had an end of a Tuscan loaf and I used that. Its course texture wouldn't blend into fine crumbs, so I used the coarse ones I came up with. I sprinkled them on top.
 
After about 15 minutes in a very hot oven, they were crispy and just heated through.  The meat around the bones was still medium rare, but the outside was nicely browned and very tasty.  Such a great and easy way to use what might have been discarded.

There is still some good meat left on the ribs, so they'll go into the crock pot tomorrow with onion, celery, carrots and bay leaf, and I'm pretty sure I'll get a good beef stock for some soup later this week!
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