DOS HERMANOS: BANK HOLIDAY BEEF

So I found myself at the counter of the Jack O’Shea concession in Selfridges on Saturday, gabbing with the man himself about meat in general and Beef in particular, when he asked me what I fancied. I scanned the display cabinet.

There were Veal Kidneys encased in a thick coat of creamy fat, to be roasted whole; a Popeseye, a cylindrical cut seamed out of the Rump, deep coloured and etched with a fine lines of fat; or my favourite the Ribeye on the bone – what the French call a Cote de Boeuf – beautifully marbled and crying out to be slapped onto a searingly-hot ridged grill, rested and served with a pile of matchstick frites and a tangy béarnaise. Decisions, decisions. In the end I went for the cut right in front of me.

Short Ribs (aka Jacob’s Ladder) are a mainstay of menus throughout the US. Sort of an equivalent to the British Lamb Shank. They’re also very common on Korean menus. It’s difficult to find them in the UK because, sad to say, British butchers are becoming rather thin on the ground. Finding a decent one is even harder. Finding one who knows what short ribs are , well, now you’re talking about something on the level of the P v NP problem.

Short Ribs can be braised or barbecued but after talking to Jack decided to slow roast them. The Ribs were brought to room temperature and sprinkled with some rock salt. They were put into an oven at 100C and left to cook untouched for several hours.

While the ribs were in the oven I cooked up some Razor Clams I’d also bought. Preparation is as for other shellfish like clams or mussels i.e. discard those that don’t close when handled and those that are still closed after cooking. There is a dark intestinal sac that can be removed beforehand.

Cook some chopped garlic in Olive Oil then throw in the clams and cook them until they open. Chucked on some chopped parsley and give them a squeeze of lemon juice. Done. Some bread to mop up the juices would be handy too.

After about four and half hours I lost patience and got the ribs out. All the fat had been rendered but the ribs were still moist. They had a little bit of a chew to them but were good and beefy. They needed little more than some peppery Watercress, Horseradish sauce and a bottle of red from the Monsant region in Spain that belied its six quid price.

STEAK I: HELLO 2009

To celebrate my survival into my mumble..mumble..ieth New Year I bought myself a new camera. To be honest it’s probably too good for me and I still haven’t worked out how to use it properly. Nevertheless I needed something to take a picture of.

Wandering around Selfridges I noticed the Jack O’Shea concession in the food hall was being manned by the, er, man himself. So after a quick confab we decided a kilo of grass-fed, aged beef on the bone would do the trick. It’s worth buying beef from Mr O’Shea just to see his butchery skills and soon my steak was ready.

Regular readers will know the steps towards preparing the perfect steak at home but they’re worth repeating. Here then are the DH commandments of steak:

· First and foremost get a decent piece of meat and if possible get it cut to order, preferably thickly.

· Lightly sprinkle rock salt over the steak at least an hour beforehand. This time I experimentally upped the salt quotient and the texture fell apart a little at the surface, so don’t overdo it.

· The meat must be at room temperature before cooking.

· The salt will draw some moisture to the surface of the steak which must be ruthlessly expunged.

· Get your grill pan very hot.

· You don’t need to oil either the pan or the steak.

· Cook to your liking. I like it rare, baby.

· Put it into a low oven. I put mine in for about ten minutes. I also put a little butter on top which mixes with the meat juices to form a rudimentary sauce. The time spent in the oven allows the steak to warm through completely and ensures an even colour.

· Use a good steak knife – I use some rather nice ones from David Mellor (no, not that one).

· Lose the mustard and horseradish. When the product is this good most condiments are an unnecessary diversions from the taste of the meat. Having said that a little homemade béarnaise always goes down well and gives you something to dip your chips in.

Oh and lest you worry that I was tackling rather a lot of meat there was a small bowl of dressed microgreens on the side to counteract all that flesh. My diet is nothing if not balanced.