At $5/quart out here, you might need a Cooking Oil loan too.

Amazing. I'd have scoffed at the very thought of deep-frying a rib roast, but now I'll put it on my list of Things to Try Someday When I Have the Necessary Pot.

I (or, more accurately, my younger son) strained and saved the oil from the Thanksgiving Turkey, so this was also (apart from the beef) a recycled recipe.

For safetys sake can you tell us what kind of fire extinguisher you had? And how did you heat your oil?

I heated the oil with the standard propane heater that comes as part of the Bayou Classic turkey fryer.

As for fire extinguishers, I had two, actually: A Kidde Mariner 110 A-B-C three pound dry chemical extinguisher, and an Amerex industrial A-B-C twenty pound dry chemical extinguisher.

Oh, and I kept the extinguishers fifteen feet away, uphill and upwind from the cooker.

That sounds lovely. Ours is always done in an oven, since apartment living means deep fryers are Most Unwise. Shallow fried chicken is about the most hot oil that is reasonable and practical for us.

On the bright side, potatoes roasted under a beef roast always taste very good.

who'da thunk it? btw, oh wise Jim -- how does one go about getting a fire extinguisher checked -- I've never used mine, and think it's about 3 years old.

To get a fire extinguisher checked: Take it down to your local fire station. Those guys have the tools and the talent (and will usually do it for free).

Your fire extinguisher should have a gage on it with a little needle in the green zone if it's good. Also, any time you use an extinguisher, even for a second, you'll need to get it recharged/refilled. (Again, your local firefighters can advise you.)

For dry chemical extinguishers, you need to turn them over a couple of times once a month to keep the powder flowing freely. That's pretty much the only home maintenance you need.

I can now report that the Deviled Beef Bones recipe is a keeper. (Not that we're going to have the raw materials all that often.)

Thanks!

Aye, I reckoned you'd have powder, best for this sort of thing. No fire blanket? If you get a chip pan fire (admittedly on a smaller scale) then the reccomendation is put a fire blanket over it to cut off the air.
But the extinguishers will also cover you if the entire pan falls over.

Propane fired outdoor deep-fry... I pray this tool will never find its way into my hands... there are certain types of POWER man was never meant to wield.

Honestly, I'd never not fry stuff.

There's something awesome (or awful) about walking up to the butcher's counter and requesting a couple hundred dollars worth of beef in a single chunk. Two years ago when I was feeding a dozen relatives dinner on Boxing Day (not that we celebrate Boxing Day in any meaningful way, but it's shorter than saying "the day after Christmas" ... except that after adding all this explanation it isn't shorter at all) ... anyway, I decided to take the plunge and prepare a full-scale, bone-in, slow-roasted prime rib roast. It was an act of faith as much as a major financial commitment, since I'd never used that particular roasting technique before. Fortunately it came out perfectly.

Unfortunately I was unable to do anything creative with the bones because my brothers polished them off for lunch the next day before I could say anything.

I may never prepare a similar chunk of prime rib again in my life, but it was fun to do once.

I thought deviled beef bones surely must involve removing the marrow, blending it with seasoning, stuffing it back into the bones, and serving it to hungry carnivorous guests with a spoon or small fork. That would be decadent, but the actual recipe sounds tasty too.

Heather @13: The kids thought "boxing day" meant they'd get to play Wii boxing all day. It almost happened. Three cheers for redirection! Hip hip, "hey, what's that over there..."

We had deviled beef bones this past evening. They were incredible.

For Yule, we slow roasted an 8½ pound top round (after letting it spend the night smothered in Montreal steak seasoning); it came out medium rare all the way through and very tasty.

Now we know what the Aesir eat standing watch on the Bridge of the Gods. What? Bifrost? Oh ... never mind.

For those of us less traveled, Mr. Kaehn @ #16, is this approximately the Montreal steak seasoning you used?

* 2 tablespoons paprika
* 2 tablespoons crushed black pepper
* 2 tablespoons kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
* 1 tablespoon granulated onion
* 1 tablespoon crushed coriander
* 1 tablespoon dill
* 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

It sounds wonderful and easy to boot.

Thanks for the suggestion of Deviled Beef Bones, but I'll probably pass on the obvious cheap (hey, I'm stingy) verson of that one, delicious though it sounds.

Racks of beef ribs seem to be well above 59 cents per pound, nowadays, but are usually under a dollar, so that (if not the roast) is affordable. But being on a low-fat diet means that I'll continue to toss the ribs into a large pot, add onions, a few herbs, and water to cover, simmering this overnight, then draining & chilling the stock/both to de-fat, and using it for soup or whatever.

(If I'm feeling energetic, I'll remove the meat and mince it for the neighborhood cats, then use the post-hole digger to bury the bones under the olive tree in the back yard. Well... okay (but don't tell my Cardiologist -- she Glares ferociously), sometimes I'll freeze the meat and toss it into the next batch of chili, or simmer it with some barbecue sauce for burritos.)

Traveled? I buy that stuff off the shelf at the Safeway on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, CA. :-) That recipe looks about right; in addition to selling it coarsely pre-ground in a big container (about a pint), which is very handy when you need to coat a huge slab o’ meat with the stuff, they also sell it in a small cylinder with a grinder on top so you can get the spices freshly and finely ground if you just want to season a sandwich.

I was recently in an outdoor-equipment store, and noted something billing itself as an "infra-red deep-fryer" (that is, no oil). Would this likely be worthwhile?

There are customer reviews of the oil-less fryer here.

Sheesh, Max (#20), then my Safeway out here ought to have it. One of the things that frustrates the local managers of the stores is that they don't control the buying; it's all done out of Oakland. That means local tastes are often not taken into account. I'll look.

Re: infra-red "fryer"

Hmm, you cook a large chunk of meat by placing it on a rack in a semi-sealed chamber that is heated indirectly via gas combustion ... I think they've reinvented the oven!

At our house we love deep fried foods fried in rice oil. Our favorite is deep fried lobster-fantastic.

At our house we love deep fried foods fried in rice oil. Our favorite is deep fried lobster-fantastic.

Hm, I quite liked the ham I turned out for christmas and it'd probably have been worse for deep-frying.

Take a large chunk of boneless ham. Plonk it into a big pot of water and simmer for a couple of hours. Extract from the water and stick it in a slow-to-medium oven, leave in there for about 45 minutes. Extract ham. Carve the fat off (note how it did not say "trim" earlier), glaze with a mix of mustard(s) and an egg, shove back into the oven for 10-15 minutes, to let the glaze darken.

If you think your rib roast is expensive, check this out. Authentic Kobe beef. I'll bet this is what Bernie Madoff used to eat.

I am thinking about doing a top round roast this way... About 18 pounds worth. I am versed in turkey frying, yet have never tried beef. Was the texture of the outer portion that of the deep fried turkey? Nice and crisp and flavorful? Additionally, Is the 3.5 minutes per pound recommended for a boneless roast? Thanks in advance

The texture of the outer portion was indeed nice and crisp and flavorful. As to timing for a boneless? I don't know. I expect that Google could tell us... but if not, experiment then come back and tell us how it went.

Isn't Bifrost the bridge to Asgard?