From My Mind to....

My SIL is a Genius

A little over a week ago, one of my day's accomplishments was purchasing a Prime Rib roast in honor of my daughter's family's visit. Our tradition is that whether we visit them or they us, I pay for a Prime Rib and my son-in-law graciously and expertly cooks it. My wife took pictures of the before and the during (the actual cooking of said item). But I got the important pic:

John is a true artist when cooking a Prime Rib. He maintains a spreadsheet with data on all the roasts he's cooked over the past ten years or so, and that's three or four a year. It is an all day experience to watch him work. The roast sits for at least three hours after coming out of the refrigerator where it's been aging in cheesecloth for the past five days. Before cooking, he tracks the temperature of the roast just under the surface and again in the interior as it approaches room temperature. He uses two digital thermometers to track these temps, as well as the meat temperatures every 15 minutes during cooking. There's much more to his technique, but you get the gist. 

When John discovered my wife grows her own rosemary in her herb garden, he decided to add her fresh rosemary, roasted in the oven ahead of time and finely chopped, to his own dry-rub spices mix. An excellent addition I have to say.

The proof of his diligence is in the tasting. Much, much better than any restaurant effort I've even tasted.

Also, a tradition--of sorts--is we've never paid full price for a Prime Rib roast. The last three times we visited my daughter, she ordered the roast, and the butcher or store messed up the order each time. Once we paid half price for their mistake; another time she received a 33% discount. The third time, John tried to pay for the roast at the self-checkout, which was rejected. Turns out there is a $100 limit per item according to the guy monitoring the counter. Before John could head for the full check-out, the guy over-rode the cost, setting it at $99, a savings of almost $80.

In our case, the butcher gave us a Choice prime rib, which we didn't notice until we got home. It had taken two days for this to come in at the butchers, which was a 40-minute drive one-way from home. So we had to wait another two days for a true prime Prime Rib to come in and drive back up to get it. For our inconvenience, he charged the Choice cost, or $3.50/lb less, saving us almost $50. Every little bit helps.

It was a true feast celebrated with family.

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"The Bard's Hall Contest" 
Tagging: StephBee and Ẃeβ࿚Ẃỉtcĥ