SEE OUR LATEST POSTS BY CLICKING HERE OR ON THE HANDSOME HERMANOS...

DOS HERMANOS: GO EVERYWHERE, EAT EVERYTHING

"It's not much but it's ours"

Sunday, March 08, 2009

SUNDAY LUNCH: A SLAB OF WELSH BEEF
























Although we have posted many Sunday lunches on DOS HERMANOS and a good chunk of them have been in honour of the cow, my return from Wales with a 1.5kg slab of 45 day aged Welsh longhorn rib from N.R. James, purveyors of fine faggots to the cognoscenti, gave particular cause for celebration.

I am pretty certain I saw a tear in HP’s eye and we took it in turns to stroke the glistening and slightly yellow fat and murmur words of lust normally reserved for the honeymoon suite. There may even have been a little dance involved.

I placed its preparation in the hands of HP whose skills with such things should never be doubted and he spent a good chunk of Saturday night preparing stock for the gravy, with roasted beef bones from a previous meal, and the batter for the obligatory mound of Yorkshire puddings.

This morning, before a brisk post gym walk to work up an appetite, he removed the royal rib from the fridge and allowed it to come up to room temperature and, while we waited for it to cook, a half bottle of Mazanilla, some olives and a mound of excellent pork scratchings kept me from clawing at the oven door.

As the beef was removed (fat stripped to be returned to the oven alongside the puddings for extra crispness, of course) I was pretty sure it would be worth the wait while it rested.

Well of course it was worth the wait, with a bowl of fiery, fresh horseradish and some perfunctory greens the beef was allowed to shine through in all its aged glory. The primary taste was clean with none of the whiff of stale fat you get from lesser meat and HP’s expert cooking left enough bite to the perfectly rare flesh to put up some toothsome resistance and to combat an equally meaty bottle of Bierzo from Castilla Y Leon.

HP was disappointed with the Yorkshire puddings, but I was not, preferring mine slightly doughy to soak up the juices, particularly when said gravy has been made, as it was, with a good, generous splosh of Madeira.

To keep the booze quotient suitably high, HP finished his afternoon’s entertainment with a large glass of Patxaran while I cracked the stopper from a bottle of Penderyn, Wales’ only single malt whisky, in this case the version aged in Oloroso barrels and really not bad at all.

With me back out on the road on Tuesday, it is going to be a while until we get chance to do this Sunday lunch thing again, but I shall take with me a happy memory of a classic HP meat fest.

Labels: , , , ,

Stumble Upon Toolbar

14 Comments:

Blogger Mark Dredge said...

Wow, that's a very fine looking piece of beef!

Sunday, March 08, 2009 10:08:00 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

Cooked to perfection as always big brother. Your famous Yorkshire puds are enjoyed by all the family.
Don't forget some food for your baby brother (jez) and Baba.
We just had lobster with fresh spaghetti and sea food rissorto with Vina Sol.
See you soon bruv.

Sunday, March 08, 2009 10:32:00 pm  
Blogger William Leigh said...

Looks fantastic.

Someone needs to make 'classic hp meat feast' flavour crisps. Awesome.

Sunday, March 08, 2009 10:42:00 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

Not as good as my roast pork when you came to Rotherham.(Simon), but you did enyoy my pork crackling though.
Don't forget brothers there are always lamb ribs and roast belly pork when you come back
to Rotherham- Yum, Yum.

Sunday, March 08, 2009 11:49:00 pm  
Blogger Hermano 1 said...

Jez, have you been drinking ?

HP

Monday, March 09, 2009 8:24:00 am  
Blogger Gavin said...

Now that looks good.

Where do you guys source (sorry, cheffy bollocks) buy your horseradish? I remember that the last time I grated some the effect was roughly like setting off a CS gas round. Powerful stuff.

Monday, March 09, 2009 11:14:00 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was in mid Wales at half term and discovered, Penderyn. I was mighty surprised by the quality too.

Monday, March 09, 2009 12:16:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry to inform you mr. hermanos but the wine is FROM Bierzo, which is an area on the border of Galicia and not from Castilla y Leon as you mention...

Monday, March 09, 2009 12:38:00 pm  
Blogger Hermano 2 said...

you are absolutely right. My mistake. IN any case a delicious wine and available from Iberico on Great Portland St

Monday, March 09, 2009 12:54:00 pm  
Blogger Alex Watts said...

Fantastic meal! That beef looks absolutely delicious! God I'm hungry. What a brilliant way to spend a Sunday.

Keep up the good eating

Lennie

Monday, March 09, 2009 2:19:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

and i do agree...it is delicious!

Monday, March 09, 2009 2:28:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"What a brilliant way to spend a Sunday."

Amen.

Monday, March 09, 2009 9:26:00 pm  
Blogger Anne said...

That beef looks perfectly cooked and droolworthy!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 1:33:00 pm  
Blogger Hermano 1 said...

Gavin,

Horseradish was from Turnips. Always worth making (the Meat book recipe is good) although I'm never sure what to do with the rest of the root as it doesn't freeze that well.

Hi Anne,

Thanks. Actually I like my Beef a bit more bloody but I suspect the oven is running hotter than indicated. The thing is to always have the courage to undercook a bit as you can always flash it under the grill if it's too rare.

HP

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 10:16:00 pm  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Newer›  ‹Older