The Legend: Beef Rib Cutlet

Appears in
Stéphane Reynaud's Barbecue

By Stéphane Reynaud

Published 2012

  • About
The beef rib cutlet (rib eye/côte de boeuf) or is synonymous with barbecue, the one is unimaginable without the other. Some have even wondered whether barbecue exists because of the beef rib cutlet, or if it’s the other way around. They go together, but we will never know which came first. The beef rib cutlet is a stand-out dish which deserves special attention both when you choose the meat and when you cook it. The first stage is choosing your rib eye. It is wise to go to a butcher who will cut it in front of you—you can then choose the thickness according to the number of carnivores in your party; it should, as a minimum, weigh more than a kilo (2 lb 4 oz). The bone must be whole, never buy a rib whose bone has been cut in the middle, it won’t have that extra bit of fat on the side, which provides that extra bit of gustatory pleasure so dear to our palate.