My pal Andrew brought back a Black Angus 8 rib rib-eye roast from Queensland, Australia a few weeks back. I’d been waiting for the right time to do something with it and that day came yesterday. I had researched how to make a stuffed rib-eye roast and I adapted the recipe do include smoked duck as a substitute for bacon. If you’re up for a bit of work, this roast is incredible and I’d highly recommend you give it a try.
As always, the first step is preparing your roast and in this case that means a bit of dry brining overnight. Simply salt the roast with Kosher salt ensuring a decent amount gets rubbed in throughout the joint. Cover it and put it in the fridge over night.
You can do the next bit (the stuffing) the day before and it goes a little like this.
You’ll need:
1 smoked duck breast (cut into cubes then pulsed in a food processor)
1/2 cup of finely chopped celery
1/2 cup of finely chopped shallots
7 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1x 10oz pack of frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, finely chopped
1/4 cup creme fraiche
2 cups homemade breadcrumbs (I used a multigrain bread)
1/2 cup of chopped scallions
1 tsp freshly chopped sage
1 tsp freshly chopped thyme
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 small pack of baby portobello mushrooms, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
2 large eggs (but you won’t add them until 1 hour before you stuff the roast!)
Pulse up the duck breast and fry it up over medium heat in a pan with a bit of beef tallow (if you have some on hand.) Don’t let it get crispy, just cooked through. Add the celery, shallots, and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables start to go soft. Now add in the spinach and creme fraiche and cook for another 3 minutes. Season as required with a bit of Kosher salt and fresh pepper. Scrape it all into a deep bowl and let it cool down. Cover it with some cling film and pop it in the fridge. You’ll add the eggs an hour before you stuff the roast. Once added, mix it all up with your hands, ensuring an even mixture of stuffing and egg. Then spoon it out onto a baking sheet and smooth it out. Cover it with some cling film and let it set for about an hour to firm it up.
The meat has dry brined over night and now you’re ready to create the pocket for the stuffing. Stand the roast up with the bones facing upwards. Take a sharp knife and cut a pocket about 1/2 way through the roast about an inch away from the bones. Make one long continuous incision. Now get your stuffing and put a healthy amount into the cavity you created. Take some butcher’s twine and truss the roast between the rib bones. Try to ensure you make the roast look even to ensure even cooking. Once done it’s time to get it on the Kamado, for a low and slow experience.
Set up your Kamado for indirect heat and stabilise the temperature at 225 degrees F (107C). I added some whisky soaked oak chips for smoke and a drip pan with hot water to create a really humid environment. Place the roast on a v-rack above the drip pan, insert your trusty probe thermometer and close the lid. As with any big piece of meat, you need to cook to temperature, not time. This roast should take about 2 and a quarter hours to 3 in total.
Once you reach an internal temperature of 125F (52C) remove the roast and fire up the grill to “nuclear hot.” You’ll want to sear the outside of the roast over a very hot grid. Keep the lid open as you really don’t want to continue cooking the inside of the roast, just the outside. Once you’ve got a beautiful crisp evenly distributed over the roast surface, carefully remove it and let it rest for 5 minutes or so. Don’t bother tenting it as you really want the crust to stay crunchy!
We served this roast with a halloumi and roast tomato salad and a sweet potato dauphinoise.
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