New beef

The fore rib of beef purchased from Upper High Street as noticed at reference 2 was cooked about ten days ago. I remember now that possibly the last time I used this butcher, then under different management, was at the time of the mad cow business and he was selling beef on the bone for one's dog. As I recall, the rules about selling beef were very fierce, perhaps unnecessarily fierce, for a while. Although that said, a vegetarian cook with whom I was acquainted with died of it. I never got to know how she had acquired it.

This rib is snapped above, tied and guyed and ready for the oven. The lightweight string being that put on by the butcher, the heavyweight string being my own. Just like the sirloin, a preparatory cut had been made across the ribs. Not sure whether that was in preparation for taking out all the bone below or to make subsequent carving easier.

The old side, well oiled, to be compared with the face on the previous snap which had only just been cut. The slab of fat was not the original. According to the butcher, the original fat tends to come away as the meat is aged, so it is usual to tie on a fresh piece.

The beef weighed in at 6lbs 12.5oz and went into the oven pre-heated to 165°C at 10:25. At which point I set off the find the day's trolleys, as recorded at reference 1.

Back at 12:35 to take a look. That is to say to poke a skewer in and do some basting. Turned the oven off at 12:50. Took some spiced up olives while the meat was finishing, discarding most of the chillies. Not the same at all as the giant olives we had been given at Battersea, despite their being from the same stable.

The finished joint.

Cutting from the old side. We thought the beef spot on. 

Served with greens, carrots and brownish rice, all boiled. Plus a spot of Fleurie from Waitrose.

Towards the end of the first shift.

Apple pie for dessert. I forget from which neighbour these particular apples came. A shallow pie, made on a white enamel plate, rather than the deep pie in a white enamel pie dish which my father used to make occasionally. He used eating apples rather than the cooking apples we used, his not growing these last, apart, I suppose from the Blenheim Oranges which some people regard as a cooking apple. Eating apples differing from cooking apples in that they cook whole, they do not tend to reduce to a mush.

The end of the second day.

The end of the third day. On this occasion taken with a green salad and a potato salad.

The end of the fourth day. Not enough left for a fifth day, so BH did it when I was out and about somewhere or other.

Getting nine meals out of it made it seem rather more economical than it really was! On the upside, BH thought the beef was great, the best we have had for a while. She also liked not having to think very hard about cooking for a few days.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/trolley-532.html. The trolley of the day.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/st-lukes.html. Beef purchase.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/cheese.html. Olives purchase.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/08/sirloin.html. The last beef.