How to Cook A Prime Rib?

[Marlene]

Ok, Robyn. We all want to know how it went!

[robyn]

Ok, Robyn. We all want to know how it went!

It's actually in the oven now. I'm afraid it wasn't totally defrosted when I put it in - but that may work out ok - because I'm trying to get the middle rare - and the ends well done. I will let you know tomorrow. Robyn

[robyn]

What i have been trying to point out in some of my posts is that understanding why things are done is more important than specifics because then you can make judgements or alterations for differences like ovens. Our Viking convection oven will crisp on the lower levels above 400F faster than you can think. your oven may behave complelety different.

As for temps. Pepin from the 'Art of Cooking' vol 1, page 217

'Rib roast Claire and Yorkshire Pudding'

The recipe starts with the picture of a rib roast primal cut an shows how to cut off the outer fat and chine bone along with sectioing the roast for smaller gatherings, all in clear color pictures.

Note: Nowhere does he refer to a'Prime' Rib Roast but always 'Standing' Rib roast.

Place in a pre-heated 425F oven for 30 minutes.

Reduce the heat to 375F and cook for one hour longer.

At this point the internal temp won't be much more than 75F.

Turn the oven off and let the roast continue to cook for at least 45 minutes to one hour in the oven.

The roast is now cooked, baste with the fat, remove to a plate and keep warm in the oven.

I have found that I need my oven to make additional items and that the full rib roast takes up most of the space, so I cooked mine to 100F internally, removed from the oven and tented with foil. Knowing that the objective was that the roast rest at low temp, since i was not in the oven, I increased from 75 to 100F and it works for me.

I really enjoy this series of posts since for me cooking a 'Standing Rib' is serious business!

Additional note. My daughter is having XMAS dinner this year. I am purchasing the roast for her and will bring it over the night before. I will give her instrcutions for the process(she has BS and Ms degrees in Chemistry so i know she can follow them) and we will see how the process works in a different oven.

Good luck on Xmas everyone!(I sound like tiny Tim!)-Dick

It's good to understand - but when I'm going somewhere for the very first time - I find it nice to have a road map. I can make adjustments second - third - tenth time around if necessary. So thanks for the map.

For what it's worth - I have double 30" wall Kitchenaid electric ovens (top is convection - bottom isn't). Don't know what kind of oven your daughter has - but it suspect it's closer to mine than yours. I cook things that need different temperatures all the time. Sometimes I wish I had triple ovens! Also - I am old enough that not bending over a hot oven while I have things cooking on the stove (like I do now) is really a luxury. Anyway - I will let you know how it goes. Robyn

[robyn]

Ok, Robyn.  We all want to know how it went!

OK - my husband is doing the dishes (he's a sweetie ) - and I can tell you how it went. Great!

I did cook the roast at 300 in the convection oven until that nice little thermometer went to 120 (the external digital thermometer from Williams Sonoma was a good investment). Took about 1/2 hour more than directions called for - but that's because it was probably still a bit frozen inside (I know you're not supposed to put the roast in unless it's room temperature - but I didn't see any harm done in this case). All I put on top was some olive oil - garlic - salt and pepper.

There was some weird stuff that you can perhaps explain to me. First - the roast had been "prepped" (the end bone was cut off and then stuck back on the roast and tied with string). I nearly fainted when I took the thing apart - because all the meat around the bones was bloody almost raw. Figured I'd have to cook it more. But the meat in the roast was perfect. Nice and rare (not raw) in the middle - all the way through from one end to the other - and kind of medium around the outer edges - all the way through. Sliced into beautiful thin slices with an electric knife after resting for about 25 minutes. By the way - it also had a nice crust - too bad I was too busy to take a picture!

So what's the story with the bones? I cut them up - and put them in the refrigerator. They have a lot of meat on them - and they look like they should be good to braise - in a soup - something. Any ideas?

Anyway - the roast presented kind of a dilemma for us because my husband - like I've said - isn't a big fan of rare. Since we've been married for over 30 years - we solved the problem easily. I cut the medium edges off the pieces for him - and I ate the middle. He ate some middle too (I am gradually converting him into a rare meat fan! - also the medium edges were a lot smaller than the rare middles). But I don't think this would do as a solution for dinner guests.

I am not sure that a perfectly and evenly done rare roast qualifies as a problem in anyone's book. But if you want to serve a roast in the traditional way (i.e., whole slice to each person) - what I did will not work if some people want rare - and some people want well done. I will note that by the time we got around to carving up what was left after eating - the interior had cooked a bit more - to the point of medium rare. So perhaps if you're having guests - you can feed the "rare" people first - and the "medium rare" people an hour later .

I made a simple horseradish sauce to go with the roast. That was good. I also made "jus". Got rid of most of the fat in the bottom of the pan - deglazed it with some red wine - added a jar of Williams Sonoma beef stock - some water - some thyme - reduced it a bit - and it was excellent. Almost as good as my brisket "jus" - and a nice foil for the meat and the kugel.

Anyway - I want to thank all of you for your input. And I especially want to thank Marlene for the idea about the convection cooking (think I went with that because although I've had the convection oven for a while - like 8 years! - I haven't gotten that much use out of it except for occasional baking - and I wanted to see what else it could be used for).

By the way Marlene - just want to let you know that my roasting pans are non-stick Circulon. The roasting rack is non-stick (think it's Calphalon - not sure). No problem with anything else I've cooked in them - and no problem here (and my husband does a much better job washing the non-stick stuff than he'd probably do with traditional "sticky" stuff). Robyn

[budrichard]

Two problems. First, your butcher should have just cut through at each rib location so when you sliced, you obtained a complete rib bone with meat attached. I have seen a few butchers who really have no idea of how do prep a roast seperate not only between the rib bones but also seperate the meat fully. I had one do this to almb rib roast. I just cooked the meat without the bone and used the bone for soup. Better to cook just the meat as a boneless rib roast.. they think it helps, it does not. Secondly by having a frozen roast, I suspect that during the freezing a layer of ice may have built up where the meat was seperated from the bones. The meat around the bone is always the rarest in a full rib roast and now an additional factor of ice is introduced. If there was an air gap between the bone and the meat, that would also have an effect as air is an insulater and would have effected the heat transfer.

As you noticed, the meat became more uniform the longer it rested. you should have rested for an hour. I know this is very difficult to do when everyone is standing around and hungry with the smell of rib roast in the air but is needed and works.

I pick up my roast tommorow from Zier's in Wilmette. Prime, aged 2.5 weeks in the butcher shop. prepped. I will put the seasoning mix on as per Pepin and deliver to my daughter Wed. XMAS we will see how it goes with her oven.

Oh yes, do not, do not, put the bones in a soup. Roast over high heat and enjoy! The best part of the roast. Takes you back 10,000 years. -Dick

Edited December 22, 2003 by budrichard (log)

[Suzanne F]

Oh yes, do not, do not, put the bones in a soup. Roast over high heat and enjoy! The best part of the roast. Takes you back 10,000 years.

I second. Devilled beef bones -- spread with mustard/horseradish/garlic, coat with crumbs, bake until browned. The only way for a carni-rare-vore to eat well done!

Me want MEAT!

[Marlene]

Sounds like it went well. Cograts! I'm really not a fan of the non stick roasting pans, but hey, it worked for you. I've never had a problem cleaning my stainless steel ones. It's going to be really hard to cook the ends well done if you want a rare roast. Best thing is to convert your hubby The other thing you could do for anyone who wanted well done is to cut the ends off the roast, wrap them in foil and warm them in the oven for a few minutes. After you have let the roast stand as long as you're going to. While the ends are cooking up in the oven, slice the rest of the beef, get all the stuff on the table, and by then, the slices in the oven should be well done,without drying out too much.

I love that thermometer too

Edited December 22, 2003 by Marlene (log)

[robyn]

Two problems. First, your butcher should have just cut through at each rib location so when you sliced, you obtained a complete rib bone with meat attached. I have seen a few butchers who really have no idea of how do prep a roast seperate not only between the rib bones but also seperate the meat fully. I had one do this to almb rib roast. I just cooked the meat without the bone and used the bone for soup. Better to cook just the meat as a boneless rib roast.. they think it helps, it does not. Secondly by having a frozen roast, I suspect that during the freezing a layer of ice may have built up where the meat was seperated from the bones. The meat around the bone is always the rarest in a full rib roast and now an additional factor of ice is introduced. If there was an air gap between the bone and the meat, that would also have an effect as air is an insulater and would have effected the heat transfer.

As you noticed, the meat became more uniform the longer it rested. you should have rested for an hour. I know this is very difficult to do when everyone is standing around and hungry with the smell of rib roast in the air but is needed and works.

I pick up my roast tommorow from Zier's in Wilmette. Prime, aged 2.5 weeks in the butcher shop. prepped. I will put the seasoning mix on as per Pepin and deliver to my daughter Wed. XMAS we will see how it goes with her oven.

Oh yes, do not, do not, put the bones in a soup. Roast over high heat and enjoy! The best part of the roast. Takes you back 10,000 years. -Dick

I am sure the butchers in my local supermarket fall into the clueless category (I've spoken to a few of the guys before - the younger ones know nothing and the older ones know next to nothing). Anyway - I bought the thing already all tied up - and didn't know before it was cooked. Had I known (and now I will know) - I'll simply cook the roast as a boneless roast and do the ribs separately. On the other hand - I thought the beef was really good for choice beef on sale at $5.99/pound. Nice fat cover and marbling. Just one small piece of gristle on one slice. And I could have easily fed 6 people and had leftovers.

Actually the roast was very uniform when I sliced it. By the time we had finished eating - it was more or less medium rare - not rare. So I think I like the shorter resting period (25-30 minutes) which got the meat to me when it was still rare. If you want to wait an hour - I think you'd have to take the roast out at a lower temperature to get it rare.

Bring your daughter a digital thermometer when you bring the roast (nice stocking stuffer ). I think it basically saved the day for me (a great thermometer trumped an incompetent butcher). Thanks for the advice about the bones. Robyn

[robyn]

Sounds like it went well. Cograts! I'm really not a fan of the non stick roasting pans, but hey, it worked for you. I've never had a problem cleaning my stainless steel ones. It's going to be really hard to cook the ends well done if you want a rare roast. Best thing is to convert your hubby The other thing you could do for anyone who wanted well done is to cut the ends off the roast, wrap them in foil and warm them in the oven for a few minutes. After you have let the roast stand as long as you're going to. While the ends are cooking up in the oven, slice the rest of the beef, get all the stuff on the table, and by then, the slices in the oven should be well done,without drying out too much.

I love that thermometer too

I have an easier solution to the rare/well done problem. Just don't make a rib roast if you know the people you're having over want well done meat. Instead - throw some steaks on the BBQ and incinerate them. I mostly cook for myself and my husband - and I hate to waste time putting the proverbial "pearls before swine" on the dinner table for guests.

The thermometer will get another workout Thursday (I'm making a pork tenderloin - and yes - I know how to cook it - so no lessons will be necessary). Thanks again. Robyn

[Marlene]

I have an easier solution to the rare/well done problem. Just don't make a rib roast if you know the people you're having over want well done meat. Instead - throw some steaks on the BBQ and incinerate them.

Well I would have said that, but you asked!

[gperls]

Rib roast has been my traditional holiday meal for many years now, and I've tried many ways to cook it, as this thread shows. Irrespective of the recipe you choose, here are a few tips I've learned through my experimentation:

* The lower the cooking temp you use, the more consistent the degree of doneness will be. If you want the roast to go from medium well to medium rare, pick one of the 350º+ methods.

* The higher the cooking temp, the more it cooks after taking it off the heat and tented. A roast cooked at 375º will rise 18º if allowed to rest for 20-30 min. So if you want a med rare roast, take it off at 117º. Be sure to use an accurate meat thermometer for this.

* The last two roasts I've had were cooked on a Ronco Rotisserie. They turned out great.

Greg

[jschyun]

For those of you that used Alton Brown's recipe, did you actually put it in a terra cotta planter, or did a clean oven suffice?

[budrichard]

UPDATE: Delivered Prime Rib Roast to daughter with seasoning mixture and copy of Pepin's book, 'The Art of Cooking Vol1'. She has thermometer with outside temp continuous reading. She followed the required time and temps with the roast staying in the oven for over an hour after the heat was turned off. Roast was browned nicely, the first three slices on each end yielded the needed well done, medium and rare to satisfy the 10 diners initially( I cut two ribs off the roast because we only had 10 people). The remainder was just a little too rare so I put it back into the oven at 425 for about 10 minutes which yielded some very nice slices.

As I had previously stated, it's not the specific paramters that are important but the why. My daughter's range is a Kenmore and I suspect that after it was turned off it does not hold as much heat as my Viking. In this case for daughters range, I would increase the cutoff temp from 75F to say 85F. In any event the Prime Prime Rib was outstanding and the rare people got thier fill plus 'doggie bags'. One has to experience a roast of this type to see the large fat cap and the fat that literally permeates the meat with each bite. The 2.5 weeks of dry aging gave it a nice flavor.

BTW, the two rib section I cut off is in my freezer! -Dick

Edited December 26, 2003 by budrichard (log)

[Suzanne F]

As I mentioned on the Dinner thread, this one inspired me to try to cook a rib roast. What I bought was not encouraging: way below Prime (even way below Choice, I should think); boneless; and most of the exterior fat already removed. Taking all those strikes into consideration, it turned out pretty well. Or, I should say, rare. Coated it first with cracked black pepper as it warmed up to room temp. Then just before sticking in the oven at 325 degrees F, coated it with a mixture of rendered beef fat and white miso (to replace the outside fat, and to salt it in a way that HWOE wouldn't shrink from).

My oven sucks. 325 can be anywhere from 310 to 350. But the 350 setting is slightly more accurate, so that's where it ended up, for about an hour and 15 minutes. Took it out when it registered about 115 on two instant-reads. Had a lovely crust. Let it sit about 1/2 hour. Very nicely rare throughout (except of course at the ends and outside rim).

Now I feel ready to tackle a GOOD roast. Thanks to all for this discussion.

[sabg]

throw it in the deep fryer !!!

[Marlene]

Yay Suzanne! I knew you could do it

[Stone]

Rub it up with oil and bung it in the oven.

[cbarre02]

Full rib

350... 1hr 40 min... rest... perfect MR

[cbarre02]

one too many at the country club... don't even want to think about that

[balmagowry]

Stumbling on this thread in late-ish hindsight, I was fascinated to note that it covers damn near every possible method of roasting beef... except the foolproof one I've been using ever since I learned it three years ago. Foolproof as in, so good that it led me to discard 30 years' accumulated wisdom on the subject without a second thought and throw myself in headfirst. It's the logical extreme of the high-low-high approach, and it works equally well for any grade of meat, with or without ribs, up to - well, I was originally told the range was 4-8 pounds, but I've occasionally pushed the envelope at either end and had no reason to regret it.

Off the top of my head, of course I can't remember exact times and temperatures - can look 'em up if anyone wants - but the gist is this. In the morning, rub fully-defrosted roast with salt & pepper (or whatever you fancy - S&P does it for me). Put on rack in roasting pan, bung into very hot oven for an hour. Critical: from this moment until you take it out, the oven door must NEVER be opened. At the end of the hour, turn oven off. 45 minutes before you plan to serve (or a little earlier if you plan to make Yorkshire pud), turn the oven on, not as high as before - 325 I think but don't quote me, I have it written down somewhere. At the end of (I think) 1/2 hour take it out, tent it lightly, and let rest for as long as needed to put together pudding and/or gravy. I have never NOT seen this method produce a perfect, crusted, beautifully and consistently rare roast, with just enough medium/well at the ends and edges to satisfy the few who dare to insist on such at my table.

Another advantage of this method is that, though the temperatures are specified at both ends, there seems to be some natural margin for error; I've done it successfully in an oven with a somewhat unreliable thermostat. And oh how good it is.

And speaking of understanding why - I couldn't explain it scientifically, I'll admit, but it makes tremendous sense instinctively. Same as the "falling oven" effect in the days before ranges with thermostats.

BTW, yes of course, deviled beef bones! And Yorkshire is permissible at Hanukkah unless, of course, you keep kosher.

[zennenn]

Balmagowry, please give the temp details! I am seduced by the idea that I don't have to choose from many successful prime ribs, I just need yours!

Thank you--

[budrichard]

See Jacques Pepin 'The Art of Cooking, Vol 1". -Dick

[jackal10]

A full - 20 page- explanation is on its way in the first of the eGCI Molecular Gastronomy units.

The object is to get the meat to 55C/140F or maybe 70C if you like it less rare.

To do this by putting it in a 400F oven makes no sense - you just overcook the outside.

Brown all round initially, either on a stovetop,or with a blowtorch or in a hot oven for 15 mins, then put in a 65C oven for four to five hours. Perfect juicy meat.

Theoretical model temperature inside a 2 inch thick piece of beef at various temperature ovens.

The result

[mnebergall]

Yeah, but if you only have one oven, how do you get your potatoes to come out looking like that if your oven is only at 65C?

[balmagowry]

Balmagowry, please give the temp details! I am seduced by the idea that I don't have to choose from many successful prime ribs, I just need yours!

Wise choice - I'll find it for you... it's somewhere here, I swear.... No really, it is. I'll find it.