Aged Beef Ribs Barbecued with Anchovy Butter
December 3rd, 2008. Posted by luane
At Rockpool Bar & Grill in Melbourne, we have our own meat ageing room. We choose only the finest cattle that have been grass fed and only finished on grain if drought conditions make it necessary. Grass fed beef differs from lot fed beef in that it has a more natural beef flavour and has a much better Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio. This makes it better for you, and the cow enjoys a much healthier life. The beef then goes through a dry ageing process on the bone for between 28 and 40 days. This method allows the enzymes in the meat to do their handywork. The beef hangs in a special cool room at close to 0 degrees with very low humidity. In this state, the beef ages perfectly and becomes incredibly tender and much more flavoursome. It is, in reality, the only way to age beef to improve the flavour and it gives an incredibly juicy result. This was once the time honoured way to look after meat. The quick fixes of today, wet ageing in cryovac, have all but seen this superior but more expensive method disappear. In reality, wet ageing is about giving the beef more shelf life, not about improving the flavour or texture of the meat.
AGED BEEF RIBS BARBECUED WITH ANCHOVY BUTTER
Serves 4
I love slow-roasted beef ribs, but they are equally good when charred on the outside on a hot barbecue and melting in the middle. The rib has quite a large amount of connective tissue and fat, which is why it has so much flavour, and is also why I like to eat it more medium rare than rare — all the tough bits will have turned to jelly. The anchovy butter is a classic with any kind of barbecued meat or poultry, so try it on lamb or chicken as well. It is really delicious. You can make the butter the night before cooking and roll it in foil into a log shape. The next day cut neat circles to put on the beef. That is how it would be done in a restaurant, but I like to make it in a mortar and pestle just before cooking the steak and have it at room temperature. I just put a spoonful on top when the steak is served.
4 x 260 g aged beef ribs
Sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
4 slices or spoonfuls of anchovy butter
Freshly ground pepper
For the butter:
8 large anchovy fillets
Sea salt
1 lemon, juiced
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
Freshly ground pepper
To make the anchovy butter, Prepare the anchovy butter. Place the anchovies and a little salt in a mortar and pound with a pestle until they start to break up. Add the lemon juice and butter then plenty of ground pepper. Mix completely. Put to the side until ready to plate the steaks.
Remove the steaks from the refrigerator 2 hours before cooking and season with sea salt. Preheat the barbecue to hot and make sure the grill bars are clean. Drizzle the steaks with a little extra virgin olive oil and shake off any excess. Put the steaks on the grill at a 45 degree angle to the grill bars. When halfway through cooking that side, turn the steaks 45 degrees in the opposite direction. When done, turn them over and cook the other side. Put the steaks on a plate, cover with foil and keep them near the barbecue in a warm spot to rest. You can use a meat thermometer to test for doneness if you like but the residual heat does have quite an impact when cooking small cuts of meat at a high heat, so the other theory and one used by chefs is the touch test. A rare steak will be soft to the touch and will spring back when pressed. As it cooks, the steak will become firmer and firmer to touch. If you see the juices come to the surface as red droplets, your steak will be medium rare, probably heading to medium after resting, and if the juices are pink to clear you have a well done steak.
To serve, place one steak on each of four plates. Pour the juices that collected on the resting plate over the steaks and add a spoonful of the anchovy butter. Add a grind of fresh pepper and serve immediately.
Tags: mains, recipe, Rockpool Sydney
This sounds yum.