BBQ69/17 – 70 day aged Rib of Beef:
Rib of Beef: I last cooked a rib of beef on Boxing day – Beef is one of my favourite meats for a roast dinner and I quite fancied a nice roast beef dinner so I ordered a 3kg Longhorn Rib of Beef from Martin’s Meat’s when I ordered the rib eye steaks. I had spotted Martin mention on Twitter that he had some 70 day aged ribs of beef available so asked if I could have one.
When the meat arrived it was a glorious bit of beef. It looked and smelt fantastic but just sitting it on the counter it had the wow factor! It’s not cheap at £66.95 for 3kg but you aren’t going to eat it every week and you will feed a good number of people with it so the price per person per meal isn’t too bad. It’s a cracking bit of meat for a treat!
My notes on the last cook weren’t very detailed so I had a google around for a recipe/method and found one by Kenji – I have used Kenji’s reverse sear notes before and had good success so decided to try and use this method but adapt it to the bbq.
I got a measuring cup and half filled it with fine sea salt then topped it up with cracked black pepper (coffee grinder). I mixed it up then applied it all over the beef using my spice shaker. I patted the rub in as I went. I left it to sit for an hour whilst I got the bbq ready. I was aiming for a 225f cook temperature which is quite easy in the smoker but I didn’t want to fire that up today so I used half a chimney of lit charcoal and shut the bottom vents 1/2 way and the top vents 2/3 closed. It was sitting around 225f so I added some oak and cherry chunks then put the meat in. I placed the meat on the cold side away from the coals, bones down with the fat cap facing the heat to shield the meat a bit.
After an hour it was smelling great and it was taking on a good colour. The fat cap was rendering down and running over the meat. I had put a metal tray under the meat which was catching the juice.
I did notice the fuel was running low and probably wasn’t going to last until the end so I topped it up at 90 minutes in.
At 2 hours in it was even darker, the salt and pepper were forming a nice crust on the outside of the meat. The smell was unreal, I was really looking forward to eating it!
After 2 hours the meat was around 44c internal temperature, I moved the probe to the other side to double check and gave it an extra 20 minutes to hit 49c.
At 49c I took the meat off, added a full lit chimney to the charcoal baskets then put the meat on to sear.
Before I could even get the lid back on the charcoal was flaring up with some pretty ferocious flames as the fat dropped onto the lit coals. I try to dampen it by putting the lid on but could hear things were a bit lairy inside so I took the meat off and put the grill grates on to try and calm down the flare ups.
This worked a lot better and I started to sear the meat. It would have been better to put the grill grates on earlier to get them up to temperature, one to remember for next time!
I made sure to sear each side and gave the fat side a good sear also. As it hit 60c I took it off and wrapped it in foil to rest for 30 minutes. I took the foil off and moved the meat to a carving board. I could see the outside was pretty black so I was worried I had overdone it but the darkest parts actually had a nice wobble to them so I was hopeful all was ok!
I sliced this open and was hoping to see a bit of pink. I had cooked it to medium as Kenji recommends in his recipe as you take it to the point where the fat starts to soften and render. I usually aim for medium rare which is how I cooked the last one but as Kenji and Richard Turner both suggest medium I thought I would try it.
It was spot on, just how I had wanted it to be cooked. The amount of juice coming out of the meat was unreal. I had a taste of the meat and it was absolutely fantastic. It had a stronger, deeper beef taste than usual probably from the extended ageing but it wasn’t over aged, it was honestly fantastic! I had a nibble of some of the black bits off the outside which were really soft but so flavoursome. These were probably my favourite bits! The salt and pepper rub had worked well to create a nice crust.
I had also cooked some Yorkshires using the Kenji recipe again, they came out really well:
I also cooked up the Kenji Roast Potatoes again so the whole meal was basically Kenji recipes! I overdid the potatoes, too much oil this time I think. I will use less next time.
Spin the plate round to see those charred bits:
I really enjoyed this meal, it was a fantastic bit of beef which seems well suited to a reverse sear. The beef tasted great, was very soft and the fat was just at the right texture where it was soft to eat.
I had some trouble keeping the BBQ down at 225f so would probably use the smoker next time and get the BBQ red hot ready to sear the meat. I would also remember to use the grill grates and get them warmed up in plenty of time! Due to the longer, lower sear this time it’s cooked more of the meat from the outside which you can see as the pink is more focused in the centre. A quicker, hotter sear would keep it a more even colour.
If you fancy a roast beef dinner I would recommend buying a rib of beef from Martin’s Meats, it was cracking!
To try and keep track of my cooks a bit better I am going to start recording some vital info!
Cook Equipment: | Weber Kettle |
Cook Method: | Reverse Sear |
Charcoal: | EBC |
Smoking Wood: | Smokewood Shack Oak and Cherry |
Cook temperature: | 250f (ish!) reverse then as hot as possible to sear! |
Cook time: | 2h20m plus 30m rest |
Internal temperature: | 49c reverse / 60c seared |
Notes: | 1: Smoke it at 225f then sear in the BBQ
2: Use Grill Grates in the BBQ to protect from flames |