$.99 Ribs and No Barbeque Sauce in Sight

I found beef ribs for $.99 a pound! So a bought a couple of racks. We’ll cut one rack in half for two meals. The other rack will be put to other uses.

One of the things that I don’t like about modern meat counters is the lack of bone-in meats. The bone and marrow give a lot of flavor to meat. The Victorians enjoyed eating ‘marrow bones’ (the long leg bones of bovine) so much they had silver long handled ‘marrow spoons’ as part of their silver sets. (The spoons look similar to ‘ice tea; spoons.)
I find I miss the boney flavor in a roast beef or in swiss steak. Thus the reason I bought the ribs. They give off the boney/marrowy flavor to roasts, stewed or braised meats. I feel that the best beef stock comes from using bones along with the meat.
I cut the ribs into individual ribs and freeze them on a cookie sheet. When they are frozen, about four hours, I drop them into gallon zip bags so I can pull them out as needed.

Pot Roast Beef
Preheat oven to 400F

1 quality beef roast of sufficient size to feed your family and/or guests, I usually cook a two pound roast for us (we get dinner, hash, and sandwiches from that)
2 rib bones
1 onion chopped
1½ potato per person, peeled and halved*
2 carrots per person, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks*
Pepper to taste

Place the ribs in the bottom of a dutch oven
Put the roast directly on the bones, like you were using them for a rack
Sprinkle the onion around the roast
Pepper to taste
Cover and bake until the roast is done to your taste. We like ours well, well done. So for me that’s 2 – 2½ hours.
One hour before the roast is done add the potatoes and carrots
When the roast is done, remove the dutch oven to a burner.
Put the roast on a plate or platter, cover with foil and let rest at least 10 minutes
Carefully remove the bones, cool, freeze and use the next time you make stock

Remove the vegetables to a bowl.

Pot Roast Gravy
Pour juices from the dutch oven into a Oxo Good Grips Fat Separator, 4-CupTake note of the amount of drippings before pouring back into the dutch oven, minus the fat.


Add homemade beef broth to total ½ per person (or if you really like gravy, make it 1 cup per person) bring to a boil

In a separate bowl, mix 1 TBSP cornstarch per # of cups of broth/drippings with a TBSP water and pour into boiling drippings mix.

Stir with a whisk until clear and thickened.

Pour gravy into a gravy boat or deep bowl.

*If you want hash the next day, cook 3 potatoes and carrots per person.


Roast Beef Hash

Chop leftover roast beef into ½ x 1 inch pieces
Grate leftover potatoes and carrots
Leftover gravy

Preheat a non-stick skillet on medium heat
Add 2 tsp vegetable oil until it shimmers
Add the roast beef and vegetables
Cook on one side until the food is browned
Turn the food over and brown on the other side.
Stir up the food and again brown.

Now add the gravy to moisten and cook until the gravy is hot

Serve with Heinz Chili Sauce