When Tammy Vaassen, executive director of the Wisconsin Beef Council (WBC), sent me an invitation to participate in a virtual cooking class dubbed Roast & Toast on Dec. 3, I admit I was a bit on the fence.
While I had roasted, braised, grilled and baked my share of beefs cuts over the years, I had never rose to the occasion to test my skills on such a prime piece of meat known as the Cadillac of beef cuts. I was hesitant to sacrifice such an expensive roast.
But thanks to a partnership between the WBC and the Milwaukee chapter of the American Culinary Federation, they would not only walk us through the steps of preparing the roast, but they sweetened the deal by providing a gift certificate to cover the cost of the ingredients along with a bottle of cabernet sauvignon to make the holiday wine sauce. That convinced me enough to send back the invitation with a big yes.