Good eats, maybe
Oh, I should have mentioned. You want to use a 9"x9" dish. Some cookbooks (eg than damn Joy Of Cooking) call for a 9x13. This is far too big for such a small recipe, and the batter barely cover the bottom. Which means it will cook way too fast and turn into a leather shoe sole. Fuck. Damnation!
The good news is that I got just over 1/2 cup of drippings, so it was no big deal to whip up a second batch. And watch that preheat-the-dish stuff. You do that so that the stuff skins up, just like when you’re making corn bread. But if it’s too hot the outside will burn. So I’d say give a glass baking dish about 2 minutes to preheat. That’s enough. And you can mix the drippings right into the batter if you feel like it. And if you don’t turn down the oven then 25 minutes is enough. Fanny Farmer says so, I checked.
Ok, try #2 came out better, but still not up to Mom Standards. I dug up my copy of her recipe, which is on the back of a 1999 receipt from Macy’s (ya use what you have when snagging recipes!) and hers calls for 1/4-1/2 cup of drippings taken from the pan half an hour before the roast is done. And she specifies an 8"x8" pan, and not a word about preheating it. Pour the drippings in the pan, gently pour the batter on top, cook for half an hour, maybe a little longer, in a 400 F oven.
Hmmm I’m not even certain her idea of a roast beef uses a chunk of prime rib. Is there some other cut used for roasts? What bit of meat becomes the roast beef that you get slices of from the deli? That’s the one you really want, all 20 pounds of it, and it has no bones in. And I can guarantee hers is seasoned with only salt and pepper. No olive oil. Hella no. And since we rent, our place has a cheap POS electric oven that hasn’t had a service call since it was installed. In 1982. Or was that 1972? So it’s temperature may be way off. Even my oven thermometer is a decade old. All of these factors could contribute to ... my second try did rise, but came out tan, not brown. And it was a bit floury tasting, but still good. Maybe I should have given it another 10 minutes? I ate the whole thing anyway, Mr. Piggy that I am.
Yup, a juicier cut of meat, a smaller pan so the batter goes in in a thicker layer, and an accurate temperature. Hey, maybe I’m not such a sucky chef after all! (PS the roast came out great.)
Cooked Ribs have been a favorite in my town for some time now. Fire Dept serves it up the way folks like it at least once a year. Best served with a side order of home grown fried potatoes, or should I say Freedom Fries!
Damn. You would pick my favorite meal.
Soooo...it’s off to the grocer tomorrow.
Posted by ooGcM taobmaetS
12/17/2008 at 08:08 PM
I loves me some ribs too, Late. Spiced up, and slow smoked for about 12 hours. But that’s pork. Beef Prime Rib is more like a big fatty chunk of meat with a couple tiny little rib bones in there somewhere. It’s a different thingy altogether. Very tender, very juicy. And properly browned and cooked beef fat is the tastiest stuff in the world.
Drew!
Way OT, but you need to know: Brian Ledbetter =true]here noticed that a terrorist website instituted open blogging! So he put up his own section to their web site and is filling it with pig photos and vulgar and insulting comments. (Well, I helped with the comments a bit. It’s a gift I have..)
So go over and help him trash a terrorist web site!
Posted by ooGcM taobmaetS
12/17/2008 at 10:24 PM
No offense, and not gonna say it isn’t yummy (I’ve seen baking do this before, and did not hesitate to eat up), but in that picture that stuff looks like it’s trying to climb out of the pan!
That’s the way Mom’s always came out, GOF, and the way I’ve always seen it elsewhere. I think its supposed to come out that way - all lumpy and retarded-looking. That’s why itsa cooked the way it it is.
Posted by ooGcM taobmaetS
12/18/2008 at 11:10 AM
Oh my, roast beef & yorkshire pudding - gotta love it!! I learned how to make YP from my former husband’s grandmother, who was born in England. It took awhile to get it right as she never measured ingredients. Would make it whenever we had a roast & I still do, esp. with prime rib at Christmas. I always make mine in a round pie plate & we just love it smothered in gravy. She also taught me to make steak & kidney pie and also kippered herring. Hubby loved these dishes but no one else would eat them...........
Posted by Pixie
12/18/2008 at 11:21 AM
Drew you should try and use goose fat and King Edward potatoes if you can find them. This comment made me laugh out loud.
I’ve gone to English restaurants (this is not an oxymoron!
Sad but true. You might also like “Toad in the hole” (Yorkshire pudding with pork sausage meat) Oh and if you want some English Christmas cooking with double entendres try and catch Nigella Lawson. The woman makes my knees wobbly!
I use a 9x13 dish with a bigger quantity of ingredients. I also drop 3/4 stick of butter in the dish along with any drippings, wait for it to melt, then pour in the batter. When it’s done, there are still some pools of butter...yum!
Posted by TheOldMan
12/18/2008 at 02:19 PM
The doctors put me on a low sodium diet, which pretty much bans prepared foods and restaurants, so I’m having to learn some cooking after all these years.
I found a recipe at allrecipes.com for roast beef au jus, which I’m pretty happy with.
1 tbl black pepper
1 tbl paprika
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp mustard powder.Mix together and rub on a 3.5 lb roast of your choosing.
put in a crock pot, add 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.Save the drippings, cool and skim off the fat.
I’ve modded the recipe by adding potatoes, peeled & sliced into chunks, baby carrots, some chopped onion, and tomatoes… All of which go into the pot under the meat.
It makes about 8 servings, which I divide up and freeze individually. I add a little of the saved gravy and nuke on 50% for about 4:30 to prepare. The beef just shreds with a fork, so you can put it on a roll with lettuce and tomato for a nice sandwich too.
12/18/2008 at 01:18 PM
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