COOKING IN: Meat needs to be hung long enough to develop its full potential, writes Hugo Arnold.
I had bought the meat 10 days previously and it lanquished in the bottom of the fridge, growing more dull and distinctly whiffy over that time. We are not talking rosy pink here, but dark and forbidding with a yellow marbling of fat. I cooked the two rib roasts (bone in) for eight minutes each side on the barbecue, with a final five minutes in a hot oven and left it resting while we polished off a Caesar salad. It was as tender as butter, full-flavoured and as richly satisfying as only good beef can be.
This was glorious meat, but it hadn't been easy getting hold of it. Sure, there are a few butchers around the country who age beef for a decent period - three weeks, four for preference - but they are few and far between. It has taken me several years to find my supplier, but he is worth every month of waiting. He hangs my meat till the colour turns dark and the outside forms crusty bits, which is just how I like it.
I recently spotted a restaurant menu where the steak came in two ages, 21-day-aged and 41-day-aged. No prizes for guessing what this writer ordered. So too did the rest of the table, and boy was it good. We asked to see the raw product, and sure enough it lanquished darkly in the fridge, a steak worth its weight - and wait - in hard-earned cash.
Fillet is often trumpeted as the prime steak, but even a good fillet seems thin on taste for me. Striploin, skirt or rib win out every time, and a sirloin is hard to beat, particularly when grilled and roasted like the rib roast described above. Thinly sliced and served with a rocket salad - Italian style - it is about the best main course there is on a hot summer's day.
Grilling steak is unlikely to be the best route to a tender eat. Most chefs finish the cooking in a hot oven, not for very long, just enough to ensure even cooking. You need to get your oven and your pan hot. Anything cold, or delays with oven doors open, and the result is a stew. A brief searing and then into the oven is what's required.
And then there is the resting, just as important for a steak as a roast. It is a chance for the meat to relax and let the juices start to roll.
BEEF UP ON MEAT
The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, published by Hodder & Stoughton, (£25 in UK) is a delightful, well-researched and well-written book. Mr F-W is not afraid to tell it like it is, and is particularly focused on the duty we have to make use of all the meat an animal has to offer, not just the steaky bits.