Sauce Espagnol and Beef Roast Worthy of It. Or Maybe the Other Way 'Round

the completed roast, looking burnished and smelling like juicy secrets

I made two mother sauces: brown sauce, and tomate.  Put together, they make Espagnol, the famous classic beef gravy.  It's a pain in the ass and totally worth it.

I found some in the back of the fridge, sealed tightly and preserved for a new moment of glory.  I heated it up before tasting ... and it was glorious.  I have a quart of the stuff.

Which requires the purchase of a $100 beef rib roast, which is dry aging in what in New Zealand used to be called a "safe" and what Gringa told me was referred to a "California Cooler" -- an aerated perforated cupboard in a non-insulated-to-the-outside-but-protected side of the house.  Food was put in there before the advent of refrigerators, and though many older bungalow owners don't use them, they do work nicely.  Especially for dry-aging expensive beef roasts.

I have towels just for wrapping the meat that are woven, so they don't stick to the meat and allow for aeration.  The meat gets put on a rack in a roasting pan and then is covered by another non-woven tea towel.  The whole is left out in the shady food safe (i.e. a mesh-enclosed balcony) where the air can circulate around it and take away moisture.  It doesn't rot if the temperature is cold enough and the humidity is lower; it desiccates, concentrating the minerally flavor of beef through loss of water, etc.  The roast is checked several times a day, moved, rewrapped, etc.  After about five days of this, the dried bits that look "freezer burned" are trimmed off, then the roast is baked simply.

And if ever the temperature drops or rises unkindly, or the humidity makes us nervous, the whole thing gets put in the bottom of the refrigerator to rest there quietly.  It's less effective than the food safe location, but better than not dry-aging the beef.

After the stint in the oven, the beef is finally worthy of its sauce!

one must to the honors ... even though one wishes to simply do
the flintstones move with beast on the bone

sliced thinly, it falls away and is tender, despite the fiberous appearance.
why a sauce?  partially to keep the meat slices warm.
this beef doesn't really need a sauce, but the blue
granitewear bowl full of espagnol is there, just in case.

the espagnol in the making.  off-set the burner so the foam accumulates
on one side, for easier removal, in process

bif doing the pre-roast trimming on the shell of beef -- if you cut
this into steaks, it's a rump steak (ny strip).  if the filet had remained
intact on this, then the steaks would be porterhouse