Chuck roast with a little Bordeaux

[hotwine]

Rooting around in the old freezer this afternoon turned up a very nice chuck roast from our last Charolais steer, about 4 lb worth. Decided to cook it with an oak fire on the pit, rather than roast it in the oven. Brought the pit temperature up to 275 degrees, and dusted the roast on both sides with garlic powder, onion powder and coarse-ground black pepper, then wrapped ol' Chuck lightly in foil and cooked him indirectly for two hours. Served with boiled russets, steamed broccoli and a baby (1998) Ch. Les Fiefs de la Grange. The wine seems a bit closed at this point, but it still handled the falling-apart beef very well, helped I'm sure by the youth of the steer, a critter that consumed only its mother's milk and sweet range grasses in its short life. Both the wine and the beef would improve with aging, but unfortunately, patience ain't my long suit. (Like one buzzard said to another from his perch on a tree limb, "Patience, hell, I'm ready to kill something!")

[Innkeeper]

Not to worry (that's the devil's work anyway), we had grillpanned strips of cow with a '99 cab too.

[hotwine]

We're both guilty of infanticide, but BEEF deserves a decent wine, even if it's still young. What was the Cab?

[Innkeeper]

1999 TJ ready to go Legend Cab.