Roast Beef With a Delicious Pulled Meat Gravy
Forerib is such an exciting and beautiful cut of meat to cook. The subtle seasoning of ground ginger is absolutely sublime, and with tender pulled meat and Barolo gravy on the side, this meal is a real celebration of brilliant beef.
Serves 12
Cooking time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- One 9-pound forerib of beef, French trimmed, chine bone removed, cap removed and reserved, fat tied back on
- Olive oil
- 4 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 onions
- 2 carrots
- 2 stalks of celery
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- Worcestershire sauce
- 1 glass of red wine, ideally Barolo
- 1 heaping tablespoon all-purpose flour
Buy your beef from the butcher, and ask for local, grass-fed, well-marbled meat. Put in your order a month in advance so they can hang the meat for you, for better flavor and tenderness. Ask for a French-trimmed forerib with the chine bone removed and the fat tied back on, and ask them to reserve the removed cap meat for you, too. Get your forerib and cap out of the fridge 2 hours before you want to cook them, to let them come up to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Drizzle both pieces of meat with oil. Mix the ground ginger with 2 teaspoons each of sea salt and black pepper, then rub all over both pieces of meat. Place the cap meat in a large roasting pan. Peel the onions, wash the carrots, then roughly chop with the celery and scatter into the pan with the bay leaves, rosemary sprigs, a good few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, the red wine, and the flour. Mix everything up, then place the pan on the bottom shelf of the oven. Sit the forerib directly on the bars above, so the cap pan catches all the flavorsome fat that drips out.
Roast the forerib for around 2 hours to 2 hours 15 minutes for medium, or give it up to an extra 30 minutes if you prefer it more well done (if using a meat thermometer, you want to reach an internal temperature of 140 F or 160 F). Roast the cap meat for the same time.
Remove the forerib to a platter, cover with aluminum foil, and leave to rest for 1 hour 30 minutes before serving. Skim away most of the fat from the cap pan into a jar, cool, and place in the fridge for tasty cooking another day. Pick out and discard the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs, add 3 cups of boiling kettle water, cover with aluminum foil, and return to the oven for around 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the meat is pullable—the time can vary depending on the animal, so use your instincts.
Use two forks to pull and shred the meat in the pan, discarding any sinew and wobbly bits, then either mix the pulled meat back through the flavorsome veggies and gravy, or sieve and serve the gravy in a pitcher on the side, loosening if needed. Carve the forerib, and serve both meats with all the usual trimmings, particularly Yorkshire puds and Horseradish sauce.
Winter Bombe (Chocolate, Cherries Vin Santo, Panettone, and Pistachios
Get-ahead desserts are great. I make this frozen classic every year without fail. It looks amazing, is crazy delicious, and is a clever assembly job. It’s a sort of cross between a summer pud and an Arctic roll, and it’s sure to wow.
Serves 12
Total time: 20 minutes plus freezing
