Inside My Mid-life Crisis

Use a very sharp knife and trim just the very hard, dark, driest edges off the roast.

Using a sharp paring knife cut "X" holes in the top to stud with garlic cloves

Now to the salt crust! Use coarse Kosher salt, I prefer Morton.

Add water a little at a time to a dry snowball consistency

Lay down a one inch thick base layer on your baking pan and place the roast bones down on the salt bed

Starting on the top, pat a one inch thick layer over the fat cap of the roast. You will pull salt up the sides and don't worry if some falls off the ends or sides. As long as it is mostly covered, its all good. 

Insert you meat thermometer carefully to get it to the center of the roast.

Bake at 325-ish for about 20 minutes per pound. This Roast started out at 12.6 ponds. Loss of moisture in aging and then the trimming probably came down almost a pound so I'm planning about 3 hours give or take 20-30 minutes. This is when the thermometer is really important. Don't forget that your roast will need to rest for about 20-30 minutes before you cut it and it will "cook more" so plan for this when you pull it. I will probably pull at about 130 degrees and it will rest up to about 140 in the center. The ends will be more well done. My people fight for the end cuts (butt cuts).

Out of the oven, the salt from the sides shrunk away, discard the salt.

Rest for 20 or so minutes to let the juices settle

You can see how the bones separated from the roast when the strings were removed. this is why you ask the butcher to "cut and tie" your roast.

These bones have the sweetest meat on them and are sent to the freezer just the way they are to become my famous beef barley soup on another day.

**One final note, my meat thermometer was "off" about 20 degrees so our roast came out a bit more done then I would have preferred but most we have many "medium" eaters so it was all good. I will be buying a new thermometer! It was still delicious!