Eat Me Daily starts a new column called Top Of The Food Chain with a nicely detailed piece about Prime Rib… How to buy it, the bovine anatomy behind this royal cut of beef roast, and suggestions for preparation. It’s a little bit technical, and less practical and informative than I’d like. But it’s definitely spurred me to shop for prime rib, and take a crack at preparing one.
I have one main handicap though, with regard to prime rib: I’ve never had good prime rib. Or perhaps I should say, I’ve never had prime rib I liked. It’s always been tough and bland, and most times, cold (ie served at a wedding buffet, what a waste!!).
I ordered it one time at a homely small-town restaurant, on their special “Prime Rib Nite” which was much talked about in town. What I received was both gray, and bloody, sitting in a pool of yellow oil. It had the mouth-feel of mutton. Creamed horseradish was the only good thing about it. I still do not understand the happy faces of the other diners in that room.
The basic cut from which prime rib is drawn is the same as for the titan rib-eye steak, which has most of the surrounding bone and tissue trimmed away. So, we know it’s a tasty part of the cow… Still, unless there’s something I’m missing in what I expect of roasted prime rib, I doubt I’ll order any at a restaurant any time soon.
If I make some, I’ll probably try the Peppercorn Crusted Prime Rib from bigoven.com, because it says “this WILL set off your smoke alarm!”
There’s an Engineer in the Kitchen blogs the good blog about his recent romantically inspired experiment with “meat glue” to create what looks like a very tasty “Bacon Wrapped Tenderloin with Bacon Decorated Salmon.”
Let’s listen in!
As an Engineer, I had purchased over the web some “meat glue” (or transglutaminase) to experiment with, and the transglutaminase seemed to be just the ticket to creating this dish! [let's not think too hard about an engineer experimenting with "meat glue"] ….
Use latex (or similar) gloves while working with the stuff. You can wear a mask, though I don’t.
All of this sounds scary, but the fact is I pretty much do the same thing anytime I am using adhesives in my workshop. Gluing yourself or parts of your body together is kind of annoying. [this IS, remember a steak recipe!]
Now to set a glue, it helps to put it in a vise. With food, the best vise around is a vacuum sealer. I happen to have a Food Saver vaccuum sealer, so into a couple of bags they go… [again, It's. A Steak. Recipe. Okay?]
Notice the bacon just sticks to the sides!! No toothpicks or stings! Just delicious bacon and tenderloin!
Now if you think it is only by chance that the cat snuck into a picture of a table covered in food, you do not know that cat!
Pretty cool. I’m not sure how much effort with the gluing and vaccum-vice sealing process would actually be worth the results here, specially since the engineer dude doesn’t give a review at all.
I’m getting ready to buy a giant grill at the end of this summer, so at my new house I can do stuff like this! There’s no room for a smoke box inside of my tiny WeberQ.
Cooking the Perfect Smoked Steak | Create a Smoked Steak Flavor - Heartland Steaks | Certified Angus Beef Steak
Peeking at the food allows heat and smoke to escape so try to limit any peeking. Every time you peek you add 10 minutes to your cooking time, and even more in cold weather! Smoking causes boneless meats to shrink significantly unless they have a heavy layer of fat.
Os Coxae
Bovine Myology seems like a very good resource for someone who wants to learn about the various cuts of beef that go into a great steak. There are actually scientists at large Kansas and other Universities in Beef Growing regions of the US that “invent” new cuts which eventually make it into our restaurants and markets. Like the flat-iron. It was invented out of some lesser utilized parts of beef, to be a flavorful, easy to cook steak. Wonderful!
