Rib Roast and a Food Industry Rant

Robb Wolf shared an interested article on Facebook today. I tend to stay away from this topic as I can get a *bit* carried away. However I saw this post today and while simple and relatively nondescript, it hits the nail on the head. So please excuse me while I take center stage here as this is something I am probably more passionate about than anything else.

Most of us take food for granted. In fact, if you ask kids now a days where their food comes from you might get answers like "the store", "a can/box", or "the fridge". Some might be sharp enough to know that milk comes from the cow, but few know where Cheerios come from. How can you? There are too many ingredients. But that's besides the point. If I ask YOU where food comes from, you know it is grown by farmers in a field and processed/packed and we buy it at the store, farm market, etc. So that's it, right? Farm to table? Maybe with some processor in between?

Try this one on for size. 1 in 6 jobs in the US relates back to the food industry. Oh, you work for a trucking company? Guess what, you need a job and Corporate Food America needs to ship food across the country. So you work for a marketing company? Guess what, Corporate Food America needs to entice the public to buy their "health" food at the store.

Why does this matter? Because when we ACTUALLY succeed with a Farm to Table movement, that 1 in 6 jobs drops to 1 in 20 jobs. Maybe even 1 in 100. Farmers get (on average) about 15% of the food dollar. The rest of that money goes to the supply chain- manufacturing, logistics, marketing, research and development (we research and develop our food rather than just grow it, but that's another can of worms).

Moral of the story? If we truly push for a paleo lifestyle, we've destroyed our country economically. As if we aren't already fucked enough. Think about that. I don't have an answer, but if I had one Christmas wish it would be to fix our broken food industry.

ENOUGH OF THAT! Rib Roast. 

*TRUTH IN LIFE*- roasting anything in the oven should always be your go-to. It's stupid easy, delicious, and generally lends to gracious left overs. And the meats are usually way more affordable. SCORE.

Ian and I have made a conscious effort to move towards organic/grass fed/natural meats as often and whenever possible. It may be more expensive, however it is still cheaper than eating out. To keep the costs managable, however, we have been looking for good deals and larger cuts (until I can sneak a chest freezer into the garage and buy half a cow :). This past week I grabbed a 4lb grass-fed boneless rib roast for $20. We got a solid 3 meals a piece out of it. SCORE.

Boneless Rib Roast

The Food

- Boneless rib roast- mine was 4lbs, and I didn't actually measure out any spices. Eyeball it.

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 1 tsp thyme

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp pepper

- 1/2 tsp cloves

- 1/2 tsp coriander

- 1/4 tsp ginger

- dash of cayenne

- Olive oil

- 1 onion, sliced into 1/4" (or smaller) wedges

The Prep

Pull meat out of fridge, rinse off and/or pat dry with paper towels

Lay onions on bottom of casserole dish

Coat the roast in a light film of olive oil to help spices stick. Trust me, this thing has enough fat. Don't need to add much more!

Put roast on top of onions

LET SIT FOR AT LEAST ONE HOUR

Preheat oven to 450 degrees with about 10 minutes before the hour mark

The Method

"Sear" the meat in the uber hot oven for 15 minutes

Turn oven down to 350

Cook the meat for about 18-22 minutes per pound until internal temp is about 135-140 (depending on your liking of done-ness)

SCORE. EASY. Oh, and I took the onions slow cooked and sitting in fantastic tallow, put in a small container, and plan to make a Christmas morning sweet potato hash with it. Recipe to come?! Yes. 

Enjoy :)