Standing Rib Roast

Hey everyone,

Last saturday Wil and I celebrated our anniversary...or better anniversaries! Three years ago Wil stepped into the bar where I used to work at this point. That's how we met... And last year around the same time Wil proposed to me in the most beautiful vineyard in France.

Le feast

We still had a bottle of wine of this particular vineyard, a 2007 "Chateau la Nerthe" from Chateau-Neuf Du Pape, as well as a bottle of the vineyard we went after the proposal "Domaine Le Pointu", a family business run in its third generation with really good wine and the nicest and most generous people.

Les wines

We decided that this would be the perfect day to empty these two very special bottles, and what better than to pair them with a giant standing Rib Roast/Cote Du Boeuf, seared on the barbecue and finished in the oven until medium rare?

Le meat

We went to our favorite market place butcher here in Berlin, Prenzlauer Berg, and asked him to dry-age around 2 kilos of rib eye for 4 weeks.

When we picked it up a couple of weeks later it turned out to  be "slightly" more than 2 kilos and we went home with a dinosauresque monster piece of 2.7 kg/ 6 lbs of beautifully aged meat for 32.50€ (!!!).

Here is the proof: it was HUGE!

Back home we unpacked the rib-roast and let it reach room temperature. We seasoned it with a spice rub of olive oil, smoked paprika powder, shanghai pepper, thyme and salt.

Smoked sweet paprika: my new favorite spice for all kinds of dishes and any kind of meat!

Before firing up the barbecue (with charcoal for more heat!)
we opened the wine bottles to allow the wine to breathe.

Once the barbecue was hot enough, we seared the rib-eye for 3-4 minutes each side.

We tied the roast with some strings to prevent it from bending while searing.

After that we placed the roast in a deep pan, bones facing down with the whole roast standing up, so that the heat could get everywhere evenly.  We surrounded it by some rosemary twigs, garlic cloves and butter cubes and cooked it for another 1 hour and 15 minutes at around 130°-150°C.

Wurst Cook Ever with our (now) standing rib roast!

Unfortunately that's the lowest our gas oven gets. If you can cook it at a lower temperature, go ahead. 

It'll take longer, probably two to three hours, depending on the temperature of course. 

But it will be even more tender.

A meat thermometer definitely is a good investment here.

meat thermometer...

For medium-rare the temperature in the center needs to be at 55-60°C. Therefore once the meat reaches 50-52° (rare), pull it out, wrap it in aluminium foil and let it rest for around 10 minutes. While resting more heat will get inside the beef which in the end will heat it up a few more degrees to turn it medium-rare.

Most of the weight comes from the giant bone...

Just like the fat, the bone adds some really nice flavors, especially when barbecued.

Look at how juicy, tender and pink it is! Nom nom...

The white stuff is connective tissue. 

Unfortunately Rib-roasts have a fair bit of that chewy stuff. Just cut it out. 

You don't want to eat that...

By adding a bit of wine to the drippings and reducing them over heat we made a nicely rich sauce to serve together with the sliced meat.

the meat served with some caprese salad

The roast had a nice beefy flavor and tasted delicious. It was really tender and juicy and the two wines (grenache, syrah) were a perfect fit, as well!

Dry-aging for four weeks instead of two or three definitely makes a difference. The longer the meat ages the more water it loses and the more the flavors can concentrate.

Some even swear by dry aging beef for six weeks to get the maximum flavor out of it.

We drank all the wine, but still have plenty of leftover roast for sandwiches...

Notes:

1. I don't fully agree with the common idea to not salt the meat before cooking. I think it really depends on the kind of meat. Thin steaks and lean filets, ok, don't salt them, or at least not that much. 

But if it is a thick piece and/or the meat has some fat, don't worry about that. 

The fat will prevent it from drying out.

2. I also prefer to rub the meat with spices and herbs before searing. That way the spices have the chance to soak a little bit into the meat. I also really really like the slightly burnt flavor, that this creates...

Pentecost weekend with Mum, turtle and Schiffchen!

Last weekend Wil and I visited my Mum in Mülheim an der Ruhr.
It was her birthday and also Pentecost.
Well Pentecost is actually not important to me at all.
But the main reason for visiting was that I still had to redeem a gift certificate my Mum gave me for my birthday back in December which was a dinner at "Im Schiffchen", a two Michelin star gourmet restaurant in Düsseldorf Kaiserswerth.

GOOD TIMES!

Chef Jean-Claude Bourgueil (pic found here)

Restaurant "Im Schiffchen", by Ernst-Wilhelm Sträter

I have never been to a restaurant like that.
It was raining but an umbrella holding page came and picked each one of us up from the car.
Inside the restaurant the waiters with a small knife would wipe off  the breadcrumbs from our table onto a small tray and would change our napkins by using a tong (!!!) each time one of us went to the bathroom.
A lot of unnecessary chichi, I know, but kind of impressive nevertheless I have to say.
Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures.
The best was definitely the menu.
Small portions but pretty filling.
Also they would bring us "extra treats from the kitchen" that were not even on the menu.
If I have the time I will try to translate and write down each course.
Until then German and French speakers are in advantage.
But main ingredients were foie gras, truffle, beef tartar, caviar, all kinds of fish and fruits, lobster, deer, chocolate and last but not least: gold (yep).

My aperitif was a glass of champagne with ginger liquor.
The white wine we drank with the fish smelled like cat pee, which, no kidding, is a common description for wine flavors.
The wine itself was really good but, of course, that was pretty funny.
Especially because my Mum's husband was kind of disgusted, when I told him...

The red wine was a Chateau Neuf du Pape from the vinyard La Nerthe, which, by the way, is the vinyard on which Wil proposed to me...

Ok, that should be enough bragging.
I cannot wait for my next ultra-fancy restaurant experience!

PS: Now I almost forgot to tell you about Sieglinde, the turtle that my Mum dicovered in her pond a few days ago. This doesn't have to do with food at all (no, we are not going to eat Sieglinde). But it is pretty cute.