This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
12/13/2021 11:00 PMGrowing up, my winter holiday didn’t include a Christmas tree with gaily wrapped present circled around the trunk, Christmas carols, or even chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Instead it was a menorah with an extra candle for each of the eight nights of Hanukkah. My mother, who wasn’t much a cook, did make latkes, sautéed grated potato and onion pancakes served with a side of sour cream or apple sauce.
I did, however, spend Christmas day with the Brunelles, who lived a block away. Carol was my very first friend and her mother (and my own) forgave me when I cut off two inches of her blonde hair. I don’t remember why we did that but they still allowed me to have Christmas Day with them. I also remember that, while I didn’t go to church with her family on Christmas or Easter, I created my own look for Easter Day (gray coat, little pill-box hat, Mary Jane patent leather shoes, ankle socks and gloves) and I still have the photo.
So, Sunday dinners happened rarely, but when they did my mother made a stupendous rib roast. She poked holes into the beef with a meat nail, poured salt, pepper, and paprika on top, put it into a rack at 500 degrees for five minutes for each pound the roast weighed, then turned the oven off for a couple of hours. I tried that method years later and, unless you had an old, tight Chambers oven, the roast would be way too rare.
Today I make my standing rib roast like Jacques Pépin does his own. The luckiest at his house are those who get to gnaw the ribs. And if you want to serve it with Yorkshire pudding, email me and I will send you the recipe for this yummy side that can be made in a muffin tin or Pyrex pan.
Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.
Standing Rib Roast of Beef
Adapted from Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home (Knopf, New York, 1999)
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients:
3-rib roast of beef, trimmed, at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
(or thyme, marjoram, oregano, and savory)
3 medium-sized carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 medium-sized onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 head of garlic, unpeeled cloves separated
2 crumbled bay leaves
2 or 3 springs of thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup red wine
2 cups low-sodium beef stock
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Set roast, rib side down, in a large roasting pan and rub salt, several grindings of pepper, and the herbs de Provence into meat. Place pan in oven.
After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325 degrees.
After another 15 minutes, remove pan and rapidly strew vegetables and herbs over and around roast and return to oven.
The roast will need a total of 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hours roasting time, but begin checking with an instant read thermometer about 15 minutes before. When temperature reaches 105 degrees, check every 10 minutes or so until desired temperature is reached: rare 120 degrees, medium-rare 125 degrees.
Remove from oven, transfer to platter, and keep warm.
To make the jus, skim fat off roasting pan and set pan over heat. Add red wine and beef stock and stir, scraping up all the browned bits. Strain into a bowl. Taste and add salt and pepper, as needed. After you’ve carved the roast, pour in the rest of the accumulated juices.
Slice the roast in nice thick pieces and arrange on warmed platter. Cut bones through and arrange them on the perimeter of the platter for those lucky few to gnaw.