Marlene

It does work great. I try to replenish all my stocks in late winter before the cold snaps and it starts to get warmer. I can have two or three different pots of stock out on the back deck, chilling.

I rarely use my convection oven for baking, mostly because I usually forget, and would still have to do pan rotation, no matter what the manufacturer says. I do however, use it for roasting all the time, and for doing baked or roasted potatoes as well.

It is -14C with a windchill of -24 here. Only we would be out grilling flank steak for fajitas in this. On the other hand, my veal stock cooled on the deck in about 5 minutes today.

I looked up fat trappers, and I think I want one. How similar are the bags to airplane barf bags? The replacement bags are about $1 each, but if I were to store up barf bags, I could just use those in the container! ← Sort of similar. The fat trapper bags are foil lined and they are very heavy duty. They don't leak, and I can put a ton of oil/fat in there before I throw them out. I started using them when we got the RV and then took that one to the cottage and got one for home after hubby's incident. Frankly, you could probably line the container with a heavy duty ziplock bag or some such. I like this thing, because it lives under my sink, out of the way,and holds a lot of fat.

I have a thing called a fat trapper container. I pour my grease into that the throw the bag out when it's full. Deep frying oil generally goes back into the now empty container from whence it came, and then gets thrown out. I don't ever pour grease down the sink. My husband did that once. The plumbing bill was $500.

I will be soon - like tonight! And it'll be called Marlene's Cream Roasted Potatoes! Truly a magic recipe - you douse them in cream and they absorb it and become crisp. I need Alton B to explain that one to me, I think! ← Maybe Alton could do better, but I think it goes like this: Butter= cream - water. Roasting dehydrates the water from the potatoes and the cream, leaving a more butterlike liquid and a thirsty potato. Potato drinks up the "almost butter" which clings to the surface of the potato pieces and lubes them to crispy perfection. "Know what I mean, Norm?" ← yes, pretty much. The other "secret" ingredient is to add some mustard powder to the heavy cream before pouring over the potatoes.

Question Randi. Do you post the menus in advance? I wonder about posting a month's worth of menus in advance and letting the seniors comment on them. At least that way too, they know what's on the menu and can choose to come or not to come.

Has anyone been recently? We have reservations there for dinner soon. I've never been.

The smoked prime rib turned out quite well. Yes, I know, I need practice tying. I had trouble getting a picture before the vultures picked off a great deal of the crispy fat One of the ends of the roast Some very rare pieces The roast was not an even thickeness. The thinner end got a little more well done, which was perfect for a couple of the guests, the other end, rare and the middle pretty much blue. There was something for everyone. It was on the smoker for 4 hours at 200. We were battling -20C temps at the time, so that could account for how long it took, and it could have gone a bit longer, although we had a few guests who loved the blue pieces. It was however, extremely juicy and tender.

Marlene, I've been doing roasts (both bone-in and boneless) on the Weber kettle with indirect heat (similar to what I would do for smoking a butt) with soaked wood on the fire but don't worry so much about maintaining a low temp. I pull it at 120° and let it rest a bit, then eat! I've never seared it before or after but it seems to get a tasty crust in the kettle. Takes about 2 hours and I've done from 5-10 lb roasts. Hope that's helpful... ← That's very helpful, thanks! David, that is exactly how I cook my prime ribs in the oven, except I use 18 minutes per pound as my guide. I pull it out between 118 and 120 usually.

It looks fabulous Paul. I have trouble getting past the smell on really aged beef. Ours will get smoked New Years Eve. I may not have any choice since we've been without power here all day so far! I still want to know if I should sear that huge hunk first before putting it on the smoker. I can't imagine trying to sear a 24 lb roast afterwards and no, I don't have my torch up here with me.

We put out homemade cookies, some carrots for the reindeer, and many years ago we convinced our son that Santa preferred single malt scotch.

It came from a restaurant. I'll ask the chef again, but he told me it would be dry aged. By the way, I just took a smaller roast out of the freezer for dinner tonight. I know it was dry aged and it looks almost as clean. As for cooking times, I have always roasted my beef at 18 minutes per pound more or less, and pull it at 120. So I don't know. I'll stick a thermometer in this beast while it's on the smoker and see how it goes I guess!

Was is really dry aged? Was is trimmed before being vac-packed? As for smoking, correct me if I'm wrong but since the thickness of the meat does not change whether you cut it in two or not, shouldn't this roast take about the same time? ← Yes, yes and sort of. A 9 lb prime rib takes longer than a 4 lb if you are cooking minutes per pound. Which is what I usually do.

I put 1 egg in my stuffing, but I don't put the stuffing in the bird.

Here it is. It is actually 24 lbs. We have decided to smoke the whole thing rather than cut it up. So here is the question of the day. Should I sear it before smoking? Somehow, i think a beast of this size would be easier to sear before cooking rather than after. I have no idea how long this beast is going to take on the smoker.

This is what it looked like after we took it off the smoker and seared it briefly on the grill.

Could you explain how you intend to smoke this roast? ← Sure. I haven't done one this size, but have done a 9lber on the smoker. We use apple wood, sparingly, and smoke it at 200. When we did the 9 lb, it took a little over 3 hours, then we seared it on the grill afterwards. I'm thinking maybe 4 1/2 hours for this one, but who knows. It will be very very cold up there, so it could take a little longer. No rush, as long as we eat before midnight! We do use a thermometer, so I'll be able to monitor in terms of timing for other dishes. ← I know very little about smoking and BBQ, does this mean your roast will be far from rare but closer to, say, BBQ ribs? ← \ Oh no. It will be rare. We take it off the smoker when it hits 120 usually. I have a pic somewhere of the one I smoked a couple of months ago. I'll see if I can find it.

Could you explain how you intend to smoke this roast? ← Sure. I haven't done one this size, but have done a 9lber on the smoker. We use apple wood, sparingly, and smoke it at 200. When we did the 9 lb, it took a little over 3 hours, then we seared it on the grill afterwards. I'm thinking maybe 4 1/2 hours for this one, but who knows. It will be very very cold up there, so it could take a little longer. No rush, as long as we eat before midnight! We do use a thermometer, so I'll be able to monitor in terms of timing for other dishes.

When I get it, I'll post a pic.

I'll be picking up a 22 lb prime rib USDA prime, dry aged 26 days, tomorrow. We'll cut it into two roasts. One 17lb for New Year's eve and the other for our Christmas dinner. We'll be putting the 17 lb one on the smoker.

We are heading to the cottage right after Christmas and will be hosting a New Year's Eve party up there. Everyone will stay with us and we expect to have about 12 people in total, inlcuding three teenagers. We'll be smoking a large prime rib on the smoker, and doing yorkies and roast potatoes etc. We'll also do a secret santa exchange after dinner. Our canal should be frozen and turned into a skating rink, (apparently there is a LOT of snow up there!). There will be board games, and champagne etc.

I don't know about roasting such a tough cut. I suppose you could roast it dry for a long time, similar to smoking it. Molly Stevens Caribbean Pork is the best I've ever done, even though it's a braise, it's still slicable at the end and because you put the whole thing in a 475 oven at the end on a cookie sheet, that fat crisps up very nicely and makes a great presentation.

I can't put my china in the microwave as it has a gold rim. Sparks are lovely though.

Thanks so much! If I buy this thing you should get a commission. ← I do have to say I love it, and I have two regular ovens. This Sunday, the turkey will be in one oven, the stuffing and veg in the other, so the roasted potatoes are going into the toaster oven. My Le Crueset tart tatin pan fits perfectly in there, and that's what I'll use to roast the potatoes.