Food of the Gods! Aged “Top Shelf” Cowboy Ribeyes

A great friend of ours Jamie Calvetti, owner of James Calvetti Meats, honored us with gift box of 8 – 18 to 20 ounce, beautiful Cowboy Ribeye Steaks.  These are the same steaks we all enjoy at the top Chop Houses in Chicago. By far, my favorite piece of meat!

James Calvetti Meats, is a Chicago based company located in the heart of the historic Union Stockyard district of Chicago, making us easily accessible to all major markets and customers worldwide. Purveyors of fine meats to Airlines, Hotels, Restaraunts and Institutions.

If you don’t know of them, let me fill you in… James Calvetti Meats’ stands out from others with a proven record of nearly 40 years of quality and success, due to their stringent attention to Quality. So much so that they guarantee complete product satisfaction with everything they do, from hand trimmed filet mignon and ribeyes to ground sirloin “steak burgers” to our Halal cuts. Their butchers are highly skilled with an average tenure of 15 years, and can cut meat, to the most demanding specifications. So whether you need portion control pieces, chateaubriand, French cut lamb chops, flat iron steaks, custom pork loin chops, fresh or frozen, I guarantee that you’ll be completely satisfied! JCMeats

For those who have not experienced the process of recieving a delivery of meat, let me show you what it’s all about. The door bell rings and I am met by a delivery service with a huge box. The box holds packing and a styrofoam cooler inside. It’s huge! Inside, is a box surronded by dry ice.  I can’t do justice to this packaging. It’s amazing!!!!!  Once you get inside, there is another smaller box (in my case – remember this was a gift). if you were to order a larger quantity there would be more boxes – duh! A box of beef is the gift that keeps on giving.

Inside of that box are the best looking AGED COWBOY RIBEYES I have ever seen.

Steak night, begins with slow thawing the steaks 24 hours in your refrigerator the night before. Then about 2 hours before I wanted to grill these beasts, I pulled them out to allow them to reach room temperature.

Seasoning was simple. I used kosher rock salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Using the gas grill with an insert below the grates to hold charcoal, I prepped the fire.  After the coals were ashed, I inserted a digital thermometer and melted some butter, brushed the steaks prior to throwing them on the grill over the hot coals.

Cross hatched the first side for about 3 minutes per quarter turn.  Then I flipped the steaks, rubbed some more butter on the steaks and cooked for an additional 6 minutes. Until the internal temperature was about 102 degrees.

Next I removed the steaks from the direct heat and cooked them for about 5-6 minutes per side switching the steaks positions from closest to the heat. That’s a total of about 20 or so minutes.  I had the temperature set for 160 degrees, however, pulled them off at 145 degrees. Letting them rest to a perfect medium rare.

I let them rest for about 15 minutes. The time it took me to finish off the sauted musrhooms.

Crazy good steaks! I can’t wait to make another batch.  I finished mine, Kathy could only handle half.  <– light weight! GO MEAT!

Mojo Marinated Lechón (Cuban Pork Roast)

Ingredients:

• 5 lb pork shoulder with skin

Mojo Marinade:

• 8 Cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp Adobo, (or salt)
• 2 Oranges
• 1 Lemon
• 1 lime
• 1 cup, chopped onion
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 cup (Goya) Spanish olive oil
• 1/2 cup Sherry

Preparation:

Put all ingredients of the Mojo Marinade into a blender and liquefy.  This needs to be very fine as we will inject the marinade into the pork shoulder.

Load a marinade syringe with some of the mojo marinade.  Using a narrow paring knife, stab through the skin and into the meat, to create a hole.  Inject the mojo marinade into the hole.  Repeat this process everywhere you can around the entire pork shoulder.

Place the pork shoulder and the balance of the mojo marinade into a zip-lock bag, rubbing the out side of the pork shoulder to distribute marinade over the meat.  Place into the refrigerator to marinade over night, turning it every now and then.

Preheat the oven to 450⁰ (F).  Remove the pork from the zip-lock, reserving the marinade for basting. Place the pork, fattest side up, in an open roasting rack/pan in the middle of the oven.  I originally was using a disposable baking pan, but I put a hole in it with the knife. Roast at this temperature for 1 hour.  Reduce the temperature to 200⁰-225⁰ (F).* Optional: Add 1 cup of water to a backing pan, for slow moist roasting.

Baste with reserved marinade over the roast occasionally as it cooks. Using a meat thermometer, roast should be removed from the oven when the internal temperature reaches 145⁰-150⁰ (F). This took me approximately 7-8 hours.  The last 15 minutes I lowered the pork to the bottom rack and turned on the broiler at a low setting, to crisp the skin.  Turn off the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes in the oven.  Remove from the oven and allow to rest, for at least 10 minutes more before slicing and serving.

Now that the roast has rested. move it to a cutting board. Preheat the oven to 300⁰. While the oven is heating up, cut off the bottom of the roast close to the bone. Then with a paring knife, cut around the knuckle and the bone will slide out. 

Remove the skin and scrape off excess fat.  Cut the skin into thin strips and return to the oven in the roasting pan to dry for about 10 minutes.

To servve, slice the pork or cut into cubes.  Take the skin out, drain on a paper towel, and plate pieces with your servings of pork.