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At our house, we celebrate Christmas Eve as the main event. And being in Australia, that makes us a fair way before most of your timetables! To make it spectacular, I decided on my first prime rib roast. 3 points. Salt and pepper only. Just under 3hrs at 250F, pulled at rare. Rested 40min. Reverse sear 2min x 5 sides of the roast. Served with horseradish sauce, roast potatoes, salad with candied walnuts and cranberries for the festive spirit. The other main dish was baked salmon with tahini and pomegranate. Aussie oysters and prawns to start. Heaven. Merry Christmas !! Remi

So far so good. Got my tools laid out. I started with the prime cut - the sirloin on the bone. Simple job there to saw it in half so it would fit comfortably in the dry ager. The little trim at the bottom of the pic was for me to fry and taste the meat. It was delicious. Next came the rump. It was still on the bone and I was tempted to keep it to roast on the bone. It would have made an impressive centrepiece for our New Year's Eve party but I decided it would be a show offy waste when we could eat it over a few meals as steaks. So I embarked on the job of getting the bone out. It's one thing to watch folk online but it is quite another to get your knife in there and try to figure out where the bone ends. At times I felt like I was literally butchering the cut, and not in a good way! Whole rump on the right ready to go in the dry ager. I was disappointed that it did not look as impressive as the ones I normally buy but remembered that this is from a veal calf and not a full grown cow. The Husband will use the bone to make stock and that eye piece at the front will make a nice, tender roast. And now for my favourite bit. The flank/skirt. We don't tend to get these pieces in the UK - they get minced into things like Cornish pasties. I love them and approached this one like an old friend. It did help that I had re-watched this video before I started: Mine looked like this to start with I had fun seaming out the muscles and managed to get out, from left to right, the matambre, two bits of bavette/vacio and the flank. Up top were the miscellaneous bits of skirt left over that I will use for something like fajitas. Working my way round the muscles and silverskin was useful practice for the job of seaming out the leg tomorrow. My last job for today was the hardest. I had to cut through the shin for osso bucco. It was hard work and I eventually called for reinforcements in the shape of a new blade and a husband who is better at sawing than me. I was grumpy and would have loved that bandsaw that you talked about @David Chang! I will age the sirloin and rump for a week or so and will enlist The Husband's help to break them down to steaks and Italian cotoletta.

made some spanish casina (similar to old breed rubia gallega) rib eye yakitori's tonight. after handling and skewering the beef, my hands still smell like raw beef. it's pungent but sweet and has some beautiful streaky marbling.. this is unlike any farmed beef you can buy in the shop. it tastes like a wild cow. almost feral..

I'm not setting my self up as the punch line

Might sound a little weird, but how about a reciprocating saw (sawz-all) with a metal blade? Cheaper than a bandsaw and portable.

@Poochie👍

I hate to say it but that is actually a funny joke @Poochie

ive never burned wood in this , but heres what it looks like with different size pieces

Self indulgent cook for one. My husband is not so keen on heavily aged meat and I like my meat rarer than him so him being away for work was a great opportunity. Dry brining in the fridge Cooked indirect on the 23, with some parsnip poutine and whole beetroot in foil in the foreground. Anticipation Happiness. I finished the poutine under the grill in the house with pecorino and soft gorgonzola. All my favourite things. And the meat cooked just right for me.