A: When buying a standing rib, ask your meatcutter to remove the bone, but tie the ribs back onto the meat. This allows you to keep the flavor of the bone, but serve with ease.
To cook, dice 2 cloves of garlic; cut into the meat and place the garlic into the small cuts. Rub the outside of the roast lightly with olive oil and coarse-ground black pepper.
Very lightly flour; this will form a crust when cooking. Place in oven heated to 450-475 degrees. Cook for 14 minutes to sear the outside, then turn down to 250 degrees and cook to desired doneness.
Q:There are so many types of ribs to buy; spareribs, hotel, St. Louis, etc. Which type do you think is the best?
A: The best ribs to buy are baby back ribs. They are always very tender. You pay a little extra money for these; they come from the pork loin, but it is worth it!
Q: What is a Virginia Ham? My one sister-in-law swears it's the best thing out there, but in all my many years I've never seen one in a store. Thank you.
A: A Virginia ham is a dry-cured ham, unlike the smoked variety we are used to buying. A dried-cured ham is hung in a sack for several months.
The flavor is much different than a smoked ham which appeals to some people. These hams are more popular down south, but some specialty shops may carry them.
Q: Pork shoulder seems to be about the cheapest pork meat out there. Right? What can I do with it other than just fry it like a regular chop?
A: Pork shoulder is divided into two pieces; a fresh picnic and a shoulder butt. Fresh picnics can be smoked for hams or cooked as a heavily spiced roast. It has much waste because it has a lot of skin and bone.
Pork shoulder butts have a larger variety of use such as pork steaks, boneless pork roast, cottage hams or even city chicken.
Q: What's the deal with free-range chickens? Just what does it mean and does it make a difference?
Q: What is the difference between curing and smoking meat?
A: Curing is both a preservative and a flavoring. The main ingredient in curing is salt which also helps prevent bacteria from growing.
In addition to salt, cured meats also have sugar, spices like onion, garlic and pepper, some type of preservative and often a flavoring in addition to the spices. Often wine is used for flavoring cured meats.
The meat is put in this brine solution and the flavors are allowed to set in. Meats are cured in relatively low temperatures (about 35 degrees) again to discourage the growth of bacteria. This is basically all there is to curing.
The next step is smoking. You can smoke meat using any number of woods including hickory, oak, maple, cherry or mesquite.
A smoker machine is used to smoke the meat and add the flavor and smell of the wood that is used.
Q: What is the best type of beef to serve rare?
A: Undoubtedly the best cut of beef is the Prime Rib which is also known as a Standing Rib Roast.
Tell your butcher how many people you are cooking for and he will cut you a standing rib roast. It is almost always cooked and served rare.
Q: I can't believe how much more expensive deli roast beef is compared to buying a whole roast. But I don't know how to make my own to come out like that. Do you?
A: Try using a top round. Marinate it overnight with oil, salt, pepper and garlic - nothing real heavy or overpowering.
When you cook the roast it should be medium rare, since that is the way they have it in the Deli. The roast should be cooked very slowly - a few hours at only about 175 degrees. The internal temperature should be 140 degrees.
Just like anytime you carve meat it should rest awhile after coming out of the oven so it doesn't loose all of its juices.
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