A Slab Of Roast Beef

The man eagerly pre-ordered a slab of roast beef for a late night dinner at the villa. On the night itself, we overdid it and ordered salad and pasta too. The salad was refreshing after a hot day out. The spaghetti aglio e olio was horrible- oily and tasteless. I had expected that and still stupidly asked for it.

The mash and mushrooms which came along were pretty okay. Importantly, the beef was very nicely roasted to the man's specifications- medium rare in the centre and crusty at the sides. Obviously, I wasn't in a mood for meat, so the bulk of the beef was left to the man. It was a huge slab with a rib-bone sticking out. He couldn't finish it. But he didn't want to leave it for the kitchen to clear and discard. He liked it too much to let it go just like that.

I was so tickled that the man came up with the idea of saving the leftovers for a snack the next day. I had plenty of clean ziplock bags. There was one to fit the 2 thick slices of beef. So he filled it with a scoop of brown gravy and put it into the fridge, grinning widely like a little boy who discovered a treasure.

Mid-morning, he put the stopper in the sink, filled it with boiling water from the kettle and slid in the cold pieces of beef in thickened gravy. Voilà, sous vide- done in a primitive way. Haha. It worked. Of course the slices of medium-rare beef became almost well done. He swore they were still seriously tasty.