We were honoured to have our great friends Fiona and Stu join us for the first ever beef roast done on the Big Green “Asian” Egg last night. Despite all other attempts at cooking beef, this one was by far…not exaggerating, the BEST piece of beef we’ve ever managed! As always, to get the best choice of beef cuts, we visited our friends at Hubers on Dempsey Road. After a bit of humming and hawing, we decided that we’ll got with the Ribeye cut as opposed to the tenderloin cut – two reasons really: more marbling on the ribeye and the cost of the tenderloin was a bit on the crazy side. We ordered just under 1.5 kg of ribeye to feed 5 very hungry people.
The recipe I used was straight from the BGE Cookbook, page 60 to be precise. The instructions were simple enough but aha….there was a challenge too…Béarnaise Sauce! Now, I’ve never tried Béarnaise before and thankfully, on the first attempt, it came out as a perfect compliment to an incredible piece of beef. So do try this sauce and try the roast the way we’ve listed it below – I guarantee you won’t go back to buying individual steaks!
Ingredients for the roast:
1 x 1.5 kg cut of ribeye beef
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbs ground black pepper
Ingredients for the Béarnaise Sauce:
1.5 oz of fresh tarragon sprigs
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 shallot, sliced thinly
5 black peppercorns
1 cup unsalted butter (melted)
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of cayenne pepper
kosher salt (to taste)
ground black pepper (to taste)
Set your grill up for direct cooking and stabilize the temperature at 400 degrees F. I used two fist sized pieces of mesquite wood added into the firebox along with the hardwood charcoal. Let the fire settle down for a good while, to the point where no smoke is coming out – I learned recently that smoking fires don’t add any more flavour to grilled meat, get it all nice and hot and not smoking for best results!
I started with the Béarnaise sauce first (just in case I made a mess of things) and luckily I nailed it on the first attempt. If you follow these directions, you’ll do just fine:
pick off the tarragon leaves from the sprigs and reserve the stems – don’t throw them away
chop the tarragon nice and fine and set it aside
beat an egg yolk in a metal bowl (I did two small ones as the recipe called for one big egg yolk – we have small chickens in Singapore!) ensure the bowl can fit onto a saucepan for later heating
set aside the egg yolk
add the white wine vinegar, shallot, peppercorn, and tarragon stems into s small saucepan and simmer over medium heat until the liquid reduces to about two tablespoons – be patient!
once reduced, strain the liquid into the bowl that contains your beaten egg yolk – whisking as you pour
now transfer that bowl onto a pot or saucepan of boiling water – get your whisk out and start adding the melted butter….SLOWLY….and whisking constantly until the mixture thickens! This will take some time so be patient and make sure you DON”T STOP WHISKING!
once all the butter has been whisked in, add the chopped tarragon leaves and stir well
remove the bowl from the heat and finally season with the lemon juice, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.
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I left the sauce in the metal bowl and covered it with cling film. A few minutes before we served the meat, I placed the bowl back on top of the boiling saucepan and whisked the sauce into a warm, creamy perfect sauce!
Now, to the beef and secretly stowed vegetables!
get your beef to room temperature first – keep it wrapped and under a tea towel
trim the excess fat from the outside of the roast and set aside the trimmings for your drip pan. In the drip pan also add your potatoes, garlic, rosemary and thyme all drenched in olive oil, salt and pepper. Essentially your potatoes will baste in the beef fat and herbs (which, for those who like a bit of fat, tasted like heaven!)
smear the trimmed roast with some extra virgin olive oil and season every side of the roast with some kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and that’s it – you’re ready to rock.
As we’re using the direct cook method, sear each of the sides of the roast until they become browned and a bit crisp. Once you’ve seared the meat (which patiently will take a few minutes on each side) transfer the roast onto your v-rack and drip pan and put it all back onto the grid. Close the dome of the Big Green Egg and let it do the magic for about 30 minutes – if you’re using an internal thermometer, pull off the roast when the temperature hits 130 degrees F for medium rare.
As always, let the meat rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing – this redistributes all the juices and lets the roast cook for just a bit longer without drying out whatsoever!
Thanks so much to Fi, Stu, Heather and Alex for enjoying this modest meal! We finished up at 2:00 am this morning and more fun on the way…tonight I’m making ribs…and a NEW RECIPE! Stay tuned! Roman
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