Trimmed beef

The beef noticed yesterday at reference 1 was started the day after purchase. With what I take to be the open end while it hung snapped above. With the worst of the cracked gray stuff having been trimmed off before I got to it.

Inside end, where the other two ribs were cut off. Good looking blanket of fat.

Side view. Possibly the most expensive joint I have ever bought. Possibly in real money, certainly in cash. With a bit of ownership in the form of an additional, horizontal tie.

3.07kg is 6lbs 12oz. After consulting the various precedents at references 2, 3 and 4, decided on 2 hours at 190°C, including resting. No disturbance with roasting roots. Aiming for forks down at 13:30.

Started the stock on Friday evening, boiling up the bones with cabbage and onion. Maybe the odd left-over. Another couple of hours on Saturday morning, some work with the potato masher.

There was a fair amount of meat on the bones which I set aside with a portion of the stock.

When the balance of the stock had cooled a bit, I spooned off what fat I could and, in due course, used that for the roux for the gravy.

Meat inspected at 13:00, drained and plated at 13:25. Oven off ten minutes later. So a bit longer than i had at first planned.

Washed the roasting tin out with the stock while the roux was frothing up. Tested the resultant gravy with a slice or two of rustique white and very good it was too. Best gravy for a while. Maybe small bones is the answer. Or was it the extra cabbage?

On the table.

Opened. Spot on, though I say it myself. Juices added to the gravy. A white amuse bouche, some lemon squash and my lunch time potions visible top right. 

On the plate. A curiously foreshortened spoon visible top right.

Carrots spot on, just slightly crisp. Lightly scraped rather than peeled. Greens spot on. Rice a little overcooked at near 30 minutes, but quite eatable.

Recto, towards the end of the proceedings. Curious bit of white gristle in the middle.

Verso.

Dessert. Melon from Sainsbury's at Kiln Lane, Fleurie from Costcutter at Manor Green Road, as previously noticed.

Day 2. Passed the retained portion of boiled meat and stock through the fairly new food mixer. Warmed it up with the left over rice, potatoes and greens and served with a spot of rustique, previously noticed. A few bits of chopped bone which I had missed, two of them visible lower left. A little greasy, but good.

Day 3. New potatoes. Green salad. Cold meat. Salad after in my case.

Day 4. Half the gravy heated up in the microwave and served on brown bread. Cabbage. Cold meat. first two of the three bones now done.

Day 5. White potatoes, greens, gravy, cold meat. Both gravy and meat excellent.

Day 6. Took what was left of the gravy as soup for breakfast.

Day 6. New potatoes. Frozen peas. Green salad. The last of the serious beef.

Some bits and bobs left for grazing. So the meat might have been trimmed, but it did us very well both hot and cold. And given the number of meals we got out of it, not as expensive as might at first appear.

Furthermore, while trimmed beef does not look as good on the table, at least not to my mind, I have to allow that it is easier to carve. One does not need quite such a sharp knife and one is more likely to get nice slices for the ladies. And it did taste pretty good. Notwithstanding which, I am not yet converted. Bones still rule!

I am reminded that I must look out for some fresh peas and broad beans. Maybe a quick trip to Borough is indicated - where they will probably be available, if a spot pricey. From where I associate to my childhood days when we used, from time to time, to make a fresh pea based salad, of my father's own growing. From which time I do not recall the little green larvae which plagued my own attempts to grow peas.

Broad beans with some lamb chops and new potatoes? There was a time that we used to make a white sauce, flavoured with fennel or some such, to go with broad beans, so maybe we will bring that one out of the cupboard too.

References 

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/06/class-1-protein.html. Ginger Pig, Borough.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/02/beef.html. Ben the Butcher, Epsom.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/as-you-like-it.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/09/festal-beef.html. Waitrose, Epsom.