BALDWIN BEEF

At the same time I was on Facebook complaining about how hard it is to find a decent cut of beef in Rockingham County, Debbie was in the kitchen cooking up a batch of beef short ribs from BALDWIN BEEF OUTLET.  She discovered BALDWIN on Highway 86 in Yanceyville (in Casewell County) on a recent trip to Danville from Mebane.

She purchased three large meaty ribs and a skirt steak for a taste testing.  At this point, I don't know how they taste, but it's damn near impossible to find beef ribs with a sufficiently large amount of meat on the bones.  Most beef ribs are pretty scrawny.  Beef ribs are usually suitable for a doggie treat, but little else.  BALDWIN'S ribs were the exception.  Not only were they meaty, they were long for a short rib.

The skirt steak is on hold for a day or two.

BALWIN advertises itself as offering only grass fed, antibiotic-free, hormone free, non-GMO CHAROLAIS (Char-lay) beef.   BALDWIN sells much of its beef to WHOLE FOODS, although you can stop by the small shop in Yanceyville or subscribe for home delivery.

I hope all that hype translates to good taste.

Here are the ribs from BALDWIN.  Debbie has floured and browned them and they are waiting to be dipped and braised.  I'm really surprised she did not cook them on the barbecue grill.  She said she was using a recipe she saw on the TODAY show.

The braising consists of cooked onions, celery, carrots, tomato paste and Italian seasoning.

Debbie adds Robert Mondavi Cabernet wine to the braise and then some water to get the right consistency for the ribs.

The ribs are dropped into the pot and the braise is brought up to a boil and then the pot and ribs are put in the oven at 350 degrees for 2-1/2 hours.

Here's the finished product - a BALDWIN beef rib served on polenta (cornmeal mush) with an arugula topping.

The rib was so tender a knife was not needed.  The meat fell away from the bone with practically no effort required from the fork.  It was moist and juicy and the flavor was spot on.   It went well with the polenta.

I can recommend BALDWIN beef ribs, but unfortunately, I still don't know about BALDWIN steak.  There's a BALDWIN skirt steak waiting in the fridge, but I think it's going to take another trip to Caswell County.  I must have a ribeye and a T-bone to be sure about BALDWIN. 

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