Cooking a Roast Without an Oven

[oneidaone]

The Sears man came between his appointed "window" of time yesterday and the conclusion was my 2 year and 3 week old GE Profile has died from a death of a burned (literally melted) element fuse.

The reasons were many and included possible over spill from cooking liquids on the stove top which is a flat top and was here before we moved here in 2001, the oven that we had when we moved here that was already here died the FRIDAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING so we are at even par with appliance mayhem for the holidays.

Here's the thing, we have a great gas grill and were/are going to do a 4 1/2 pound (approx.) Wasabi crusted bone-in prime rib roast. Does anybody have any tips for grilling such a roast? We read the grill manual and have a good idea but is there anything 'special' that you folks can add?

Because of the "high end" (whatever) nature of the part it is not carried on the repair trucks nor in the Sears parts warehouse on the island - we should have it by 1/4/08 the next scheduled appointment. I had so many things planned for that damned oven. The 'good' news is that the situation could have been much worse, electrocution or fire was certain to ensue.....So anyway my dear eGullet Ohana if you have any advice/tips please share! Until then Melekalikimaka & A hui hou to each and every one of you and your families!

[heidih]

Oh my! Totally sympathize. My GE XL44 decided to stop working as an oven a few months ago. It broils, but the oven setting does not seem to let it go over about 300 degrees. I have managed to "roast veggies" using a shelf down low and lots of other stuff, but I do need to get the dreaded repair man out. The Q with the heat off to the side works well, you just need to turn the meat about half way thru. I kind of like the improvisation I am forced into, but I could not bake this holiday season (gggrrr!)

[eldereno]

I'm afraid that I have no tips for you regarding the grilling of your roast. Just wanted to express my sympathy and understanding of "all of a sudden" having to be without an item that normally you would feel would always be there. I would not want to be in that situation. Looks like you are well prepared, though. Good Luck. And Happy Holidays!

[rooftop1000]

Marlene...calling Marlene

My turkey fryer came with directions for cooking a rib roast

tracey

[pax]

We had quite a few electrical outages last weekend and I was not surprised when my oven panel went blank.

I bewailed and moaned when I couldn't get my kid's class holiday party's gingerbread men done, and after that I just gave up and went to the bakery.

Following the Great Gingerbread Man Debacle, for which I am sure I wll be banned from the Crunchy Organic Mommy's Club, I just totally gave up the idea of cooking dinner for my family, announced we were having spaghetti, and was feeling really warm and cozy about a day in my jammies and NO shindig. I have been mini-martha for years about Christmas and I'm tired. A day of good movies and better junk food, hey, whatever I can fry in the deep fryer.

I was all about it.

And then my husband took the thing out of the wall and discovered it needed a 59 cent fuse, not a $400 special order board. So he went and got the fuse, (and in the process negating our almost $399

supposed net gain by getting not one but two tickets) came back and fixed my oven. So here it is, two days till Christmas, and now I have to go out and do the whole roast beast thing.

[daves]

Go for the bbq.

Same sort of thing happen to us a few years ago, except it was a Kitchenaid oven and my wife was 8.5 months pregnant with our first, so her stress level was rather high. I volunteered me and the bbq for dinner duties.

Prime rib was on the menu, and I was able to complete the whole thing on the grill. The rib was prepped the same as for the oven, and went into a low'n'slow bbq with 225* indirect heat. I used a bit of mesquite for a slight smoke flavor. After it reached 115*, I pulled it off and rested it while I brought the bbq up to 700*+. On it went for browning/charring the outside -- about 3 minutes per side. And then immediately carved.

I think the time was about 20 minutes per pound for the initial 225* stage, 20 minutes for resting/stoking the fire, and then about 15 minutes more for the crust. So the roast I cooked (4 ribs, approx 8#) took just over 3 hours from the time it went on.

The result was fabulous -- so much so that this has become the prep of choice for prime rib. Outside was very crusty; inside was med-rare and extremely uniform from the edge to the center. Best part: no thick gray layer of overdone meat near the outside. The only downside is that there is a minimum of pan juices to make a nice jus or gravy. I'm going to put a second pan under the roast with some veggies to catch more of the droppings this year to see if that'll work better.

Spuds were also cooked on the bbq, and veggies on the stove. I can't remember what we had for dessert, but it was something she didn't need an oven for...

[oneidaone]

I'm afraid that I have no tips for you regarding the grilling of your roast.  Just wanted to express my sympathy and understanding of "all of a sudden" having to be without an item that normally you would feel would always be there.  I would not want to be in that situation.  Looks like you are well prepared, though.  Good Luck.  And Happy Holidays!

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Well thanks to everyone who's replied! We'll be fine without the oven although it is an inconvenience. When we had the earthquake last year and no power for 16 hours (less than some of the islands) we were able to make coffee by using the side burner which was a godsend.

We're ready to roll with the roast tomorrow and looking forward to the 4th!

[Soupcon]

Probably too late but - use the bbq. I was without an oven for 4 months - its a long story - and used the bbq from Sept to mid Jan until my new one was installed. I used it like an oven and it worked wonderfully well. I also use it in the summer when it is too damned hot to heat up the kitchen.