Holy Cow!
Have you ever woken up early in the morning hours and said,
“I want to cook an entire heifer?”
Well…. My friend Mike did for his wedding reception, and he allowed me the privilege to help him along in this journey.
This is a journey from eating grass in the field… to the bellies of hungry guests.
Mike has a great friend that hooked him up with a 15-month old black angus heifer.
Now, we could discuss breeds and the best type of marbling but I will save that for another article. Let’s just jump right in to the whole process.
We put the heifer into a pen for a few days to make sure it was 100% and fed.
“D” day came for this delicious beef and with every humane and respectful way, we put the heifer down. I won’t discuss this part any further because I want to respect what that heifer did for us.
After cleaning, it was time to age the beef in the walk in cooler.
It hung for 30 days at 35-38 degrees, slowly aging.
Aged beef is a great way to lock in the natural flavors but my favorite part is the natural tenderizing of the beef.
How to Roast a Cow
Cooking day had finally arrived!
Make sure to head to my Instagram and check out my highlight folder (Beef Roastin’” to see more of the behind-the-scenes process!)
Mike and I set up tripods made out of steel fence post. (Welded horse shoes onto the post and his friend Carl made a rotisserie skewer.)
After placing all the posts together and using steel wire the beef was ready to load on the spit.
We took charcoal, and doug fir wood and started a separate fire and slowly started to feed the embers under the beef. This process started at 7:00 am
Beef Roasting Brine
Using a frying pot, hooked up to propane, we mixed salt and lemons and created a brine.
Brining was the key to making this the perfect beef. It adds so much flavor and brings the beefs natural flavors out.
Once the brine comes to a boil, let it simmer and once the salt dissolves, turn off the burner.
What fancy baster did you use?
Oh well, it’s really fancy. Ready? It was a new cotton T-shirt wrapped around a willow branch! A real authentic feel.
We also set up the firetruck close by in case the wind came or something got out of control.
While We Wait
The fun begins. We cracked open a couple of Kettle House Cold Smoke brews and begin monitoring the beef.
Shooting our recurve bows at targets we begin to feel the manliness at epic proportions!
Making sure to pay close attention to the beef and to make sure we brine every 15-20 minutes of course.
The Cooking Process
Turning the beef sides every few hours is critical.
We started the embers off hot to lock in the flavor and give it a good looking sear… taking the beef off of the spit at 135 degrees, to get it wrapped in aluminum foil and let it rest before cutting.
Cooking ended at 6:00 PM the same day.
11 hours of slow cooking and it was perfect.
Side note: I do want to mention that we only cooked one side of beef and that fed a party of 100 with plenty left over.
The reception was a hit people loved the beef!
I cant thank Mike enough for the experience! And congrats to him and his wonderful wife on their special day!
He is a fishing and hunting guide in Montana and a real outdoorsman! check him out at Discover Montana Outfitting!
Next time you do this, invite me.