Slow-cooked and charcoal-grilled beef rib with horseradish sauce

If I’m going to have beef for Sunday lunch, then it’s got to be rib, on the bone. It’s got everything going for it: plenty of fat and beautiful meat, with more chew to it than tender cuts like fillet. What’s more, the meat between the rib bones cooks to sticky-crispiness and is perfect for nibbling on. It’s got to be the most impressive-looking thing too. I like to season the beef generously and then cook it really, really slowly in the oven, keeping the meat beautifully pink, before finishing it over a fierce heat on the barbecue to crisp-up and char the fat, caramelize the meat and add a barrage of smoke! This takes around 7 hours in total, so plan your day around it…

Serves 6–8

You’ll also need a temperature probe and some oak or chestnut wood chips

1 x 3.5–4kg (7¾–9lb) beef fore-rib with 4 bones, trimmed, rolled and tied

5 sprigs rosemary, leaves picked and chopped, stalks reserved

1 garlic bulb, cloves separated and crushed

olive oil, for cooking

sea salt and black pepper

For the horseradish sauce

1 Tbsp finely grated fresh horseradish, or more to taste

1 Tbsp Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar or other red wine vinegar

250ml (generous 1 cup) crème fraiche

Preheat the oven to 90°C (195°F/gas mark ¼).

Remove the beef from the fridge an hour before cooking and place in a roasting tin. Rub with olive oil and season well, then sprinkle with the chopped rosemary and rub over the garlic cloves, allowing some of them to drop into the tin.

Cook the beef in the oven for about 4½ hours. Use the temperature probe to check the internal temperature: it should be around 55°C (130°F) for medium-rare, 60°C (140°F) for medium. Remove the beef from the oven and leave to rest for 40 minutes.

Light the barbecue and set for direct cooking.

Rub the beef with more olive oil and seasoning, then place on the grill, fat-side down, and let it caramelize for 5 minutes before turning and repeating on the other side. Now throw the reserved rosemary stalks and a handful of wood chips onto the coals, close the lid of the barbecue and hot-smoke the beef for 7 minutes. Open the lid and, using long-handled tongs, turn the beef onto its ends to caramelize for 2 minutes each before turning it back onto the fat side. Close the lid and cook for a further 7 minutes. When it’s ready, the meat and fat should have a beautifully caramelized crust. Remove the beef from the barbecue and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

For the horseradish sauce, place the horseradish in a small bowl with the vinegar and allow to steep for 5 minutes before whisking in the crème fraiche and seasoning well.

Serve the beef on a wooden board at the table with the horseradish sauce on the side. Wood-roasted potatoes with thyme and garlic are a great side for this, as is Cavolo nero gratin with cream and gorgonzola.