A Butchery Beginner- 3/26/09

I am realizing I am a real novice when it comes to figuring out if a cut of meat is the correct one. I need to take a class on basic butchery. I rely on the label and that is obviously not enough information. The recipe for Black-Pepper Ribs on page 17 of this month's Gourmet called for beef back ribs. The label on the meat I bought said just that but I think what you see to your left are actually beef back short ribs. It wasn't a huge deal as far as flavor but as far as cook time and amount of meat, I think it was not what the test cooks had in mind. The ribs were done but not tender. The meat was very dry and difficult to get off the bone. Some of this may have been the way the ribs were cut but I also think that a sauce of some kind would have helped. The dry rub was good but more salty than I like. The pepper overpowered the sweet.

A heavy meaty main like the ribs was a great compliment to the Cocktail of the Month. The recipe for The Old Fashioned used the bourbon that I'd made dessert with last week. I've mentioned I am not a sophisticated drinker. I haven't drank bourbon more than a few times but I liked this drink. The sugar and fruits added a sweetness that cut the bite of the bitters and complimented the heat of the bourbon. It did pack a punch, though. You can see from my picture that this drink was less than half a glass but I noticed about 10 minutes after drinking it, I felt very light headed. Bit of a lightweight in my old age!

For dessert, I made the final Key Lime dessert. I must admit I'm a bit over Key Limes, particularly juicing fresh ones. Key Limes are really tiny and I get like 3 drops of juice from each one. That's a lot of Key Limes to make a 1/2 cup of juice! I made the Key Lime Mousse on page 110. It was easy to make but there were some glitches in the recipe. The whipped cream did not fold into the pudding easily and after chilling, the mousse was almost grainy. I pushed the pudding through a sieve as recommended but there was still a strange grit to the final mousse. It tasted good but the texture was off-putting. I guess I could use some help in mousse making too, not just figuring out cuts of meat. Almost 2 months in and still much to learn!

Black-Pepper Beef Ribs-C

Cost- $44.95 (My ribs were not even close to this much. Hmmmm!)

Calories per serving-770

The Old-Fashioned-B

Cost- How much do you want to spend on bourbon?

Calories per serving-70

Key Lime Mousse-C

Cost-6.16

Calories per serving-350