Utility grade beef question

[pscot]

Renate bought a large, cheap beef rib roast at Fred Meyer. In the fine print on the label it says B-in, which I believe is the grade. It's very lean and looks kind of coarse. I don't want to use it for Christmas if it's going to be tough and tasteless. Is there as way to cook this so it eats well, or should I turn it into gulaschsuppe? I can hang it for a while if that would improve the quality.

[Tace]

1. I Think That Means "Bone-In."

Here's a Facebook ad for a Prime B-In roast.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=188063892776&story_fbid=10152994236802777

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. I had that problem.

I have been buying local grass fed beef, and last year the seller changed butcher shops.
The new butcher shop removed almost all of the fat from the cuts of meat.
Fat = flavor!
I ended up with 3 large rib roasts with hardly any fat.

the solution is to cook it in the oven "low and slow" after first using toothpicks to pin strips of bacon on the roll of meat side, covering the meat entirely.
That way there is some fat to add to the juices. The meat does not take on the taste of bacon, btw.
I cooked mine at 325 for a couple of hours or so.
Often prime rib recipes will say to start off at a very high temp to brown the meat, but if you have no fat on the meat, that will not work.

2nd secret, to all oven meats.....use a meat thermometer.
Depending on size of the roast, check it every 30 minutes after the first hour
with the thermometer ( or just leave the thermometer in the meat, if you can read it clearly) until it hits 150 degrees.
bring the roast out then, set it on the stove, the thermometer will continue to rise to 160 or 170.
Make sure, as with all roasted meat/poultry, to let the meat sit for at least 20 minutes to cool, so the juices will settle in the meat.
I wish I had known about the resting period years ago when I was cooking for a large family, but I did not.

Anyhow, a meat thermometer will tell you what temp produces rare, medium, or well done meat.

And of course there is always YouTube for great how to's and recipes.....

[pscot]

4. I ordered a larding needle this morning

Amazon had a dozen or so to choose from.
Merry Christmas..

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. btw....I have read about aging meat in the fridge for a few days.

Something to look up if you are interested.

[Major Nikon]

6. There's a couple of ways to do this at home

Commercially aged beef is done in a very controlled temperature and humidity environment that's hard to duplicate in the home kitchen. It's also usually done with an entire side of beef because at the end or during the process they will be cutting off exterior parts of the beef that are no longer good, but some top end steak houses do it with large primal cuts. This type of aging is done for weeks or even months.

The first way is to age a steak or a roast for a few days in the fridge. It's best to have the meat suspended in some way so that the liquid drains away from the meat and doesn't pool up on the bottom. For a steak, I like to use disposable plasticware, poke holes in it, and drive some bamboo skewers through to suspend the steak. Then you poke in a few more holes for ventilation, put the steak in and cover it. Alternatively you can wrap it in cloth or paper towels, but you'll have to change it once per day or so.

The next way is to take an entire primal cut or large roast and vacuum seal it in a special plastic bag like the ones made by UMAi. These bags allow moisture to escape in a controlled way, and you can age beef for weeks in your refrigerator.

[pscot]

7. I was thinking more in terms

of suspending it in a cooler on the back deck for two days. . I'm concerned about drying out on the exposed ends. I'm suspicious about the provenance of this particular roast because of the absence of any grading information and the price. Four bucks a pound seems absurdly low for rib roast.

[Major Nikon]

8. If it's not labeled and you bought it at a supermarket, it's probably Select

The beef market is highly volatile. Price depends greatly on supply and can fluctuate greatly. This is especially true this time of year because lots of beef is being brought to market in anticipation of a high demand. A couple of years ago around this time of year I bought Prime rib roast for $6 per pound. The sale was for Choice, but my butcher said when they received them they were labeled Prime. So I bought two and froze one. Prime normally goes for $20 per pound and up, so this was an incredible deal. I don't really do beef all that often, but when I do I'm looking for a sale. So $4 per pound is really not too surprising, even though beef prices have gone through the roof the past few years.

[Major Nikon]

5. Yep, means bone-in

There's only three grades of beef you're likely to ever see at the market, which are defined by the USDA and are Prime, Choice, and Select in order of quality. There are other grades, but they are typically used only in the wholesale commercial market and beef can be ungraded, but in none of these cases will it be B-in or anything like that.