[na][nr][ncs]Prime rib revisited

How do you like to make your prime rib?

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Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

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For years I have made prime rib using the oven at 350 for whatever duration it takes to get the internal temperature to get to wherever I want. I wanted to try something different. The subject was broached in a previous prime rib thread, but that was a long time ago. Searing then slow cooking.

The first step was to procure this bad boy, and prep it with some salt and ground pepper:
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As you can see, the thermometer looks a little wonky but I have it set so that the needle is pointing straight up when the target temperature of 140 is hit. I know, 140 is high. Why not 130? Simple. a) The other person likes well done and this is an adequate compromise. b) Using a reduced temperature to cook causes less of a temperature rise after you take it out of the oven. As you can see, the bones have been splayed off and tied back on. I hatred that carp but it is what it is. It's how it came.

Secondly, preheat to 450, put the prime rib in, and immediately throttle back to 250. This was about four pounds. Cook time was about 2 1/2 hours.
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As you can see there is a nice sear. What's different? For starters, there isn't nearly as much expelled liquid and deformation as there would have been at a straight 350. That means more tenderer, and more juicier. And the ends aren't burnt to the specifications of the NHL.

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So the end result was about a perfect medium. Some might classify this as medium rare. I like it more rare than this but it came out better than I expected. Even the haters that have to hatred did not be hatin' no hatred on this prime rib. Basically, this is a prime rib Ceasar salad. Salad with prime rib on top. I know, the prime rib to salad ratio is admittedly low, but I can always pile more prime rib on top if I want.

I forgot to take a gratuitous photo of the rib bones, but I'm usually the one that goes hound dog on them and finishes them off.

I know. I know. I'll answer right now because someone is going to ask anyway. Mr. Arrow, why didn't you do a reverse sear? You know that's the popular craze these days? I know, right. Well, in my mind, the whole point of searing is to lock in the moisture, which is kind of pointless if you do that at the very end. People rant and rave about it but I'm perfectly happy with the forward sear.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Well, in my mind, the whole point of searing is to lock in the moisture
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Actually, the reverse sear does the opposite: it evaporates the surface moisture. This allows better sear since the exterior isn't steaming instead of browning during the sear phase.
Sac Arrow said:
People rant and rave about it but I'm perfectly happy with the forward sear.
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I'm with you on this one. Perhaps it's better but it isn't *that* much better. It's not worth the additional effort. Plus, all else has to be equal in order for it to be better. All else is seldom equal.

Just make sure the exterior is as dry as you can get it prior to searing.

P.S. That's a mighty fine roast. I'm getting hungry just ogling the pics.
 
I honestly can't remember right now. I'm pretty sure I do a reverse sear - cook it slow, then blast it at the end to form a nice crust. But I may blast it first, them turn it way down. I'll check my recipe when I get home, I only do this once a year.
 
I do the forward sear because it is easier and a prime rib is almost impossible to make taste bad unless you over cook it, which is what I did the first and last time I tried a reverse sear. I guess I started the sear too late and it took the roast from med-rare to med-well in just a few minutes.
 
What is nr, ncs?
(not contributing to this thread as I prefer my meat to more resemble jerky than a large animal surgery patient)
 
Garlic butter blasted!

If you're doing a bone-in standing rib roast, go bones down for natural roasting rack. For a trimmed Prime Rib, use a proper roasting rack in a pan that can transfer from oven to stove top (so you can de-glaze for your Au Jus).

Let roast come to room temp (about 3-4 hours from fridge).

Slather with your favorite garlic butter recipe.

Preheat oven to 460 Deg

Roast for 30-45 minutes at 460, then reduce to 250 and continue, basting every 10 minutes and checking internal temp till its about 6 to 8 degrees below internal temp for your desired doneness.

Take roast out and let rest. As it rests, internal temp will rise to desired doneness. (wireless oven-safe meat thermometer works great!)

Use pan drippings to make Au Jus. I like red wine to deglaze, then just a little corn starch disolved in cold (refrigerated) beef stock. I also like to through in a few crimini mushrooms while its roasting.

Serve with mashed taters and some creamed horseradish or sweet&spicy honey mustard.
 
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Matthew said:
I honestly can't remember right now. I'm pretty sure I do a reverse sear - cook it slow, then blast it at the end to form a nice crust. But I may blast it first, them turn it way down. I'll check my recipe when I get home, I only do this once a year.
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I checked my go to recipe.

Preheat to 450

Doctor the roast and into the oven for 10 min

Reduce heat to 250 until desired pull temperature. 125-130 med-rare, about 20 min/lb give or take. I also highly recommend a good timer/thermometer. Mine has a remote. I am a big fan of Thermoworks.

https://www.thermoworks.com/ChefAlarm

https://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke
 
I have done reverse sear with good results. But germane to this discussion, I think it is worth pointing out that cooking to "the other person's" taste (particularly if that person will be there for future holiday feasts) is a good idea even if not your own liking. I made that mistake a few years back with a particularly spendy rib roast that I felt was almost perfectly cooked......not rare, but entirely pink med-rare with no dimming around the exterior until you hit the crust. From a home cook perspective, it may have been one of my crowning achievements. I loved it, in laws loved it, even the kids dabbled in it. The Mrs wasn't pleased though. She is in the 130F+ crowd for sure with beef. And she hasn't let me cook another rib roast since. I might be able to twist her arm someday, but I will definitely not be making that mistake again if and when that happens. Well played sir
 
A tad fussier but you can modify this to have a nice sear in or out of the oven with some careful watching and turning, by utilizing the heat holding power of cast iron cookware.

Slightly more fussy for the first 20 min or so and then the low and slow of Sac’s method kicks in.

The cast iron started in the oven at 500F will sit at 400F when moved from the oven to the hottest burner on your cooktop, I’ve measured this.

Can dump meat in the cast iron straight back into oven and leave oven up for a bit and turn as needed, or sear on cooktop and drop oven immediately — relying on cast iron coasting down to the oven temperature with a couple of checks to make sure another turn or two isn’t needed. Opening the door for the checks rapidly brings the oven down, the cast iron is a bit slower.

Also get to choose your cast iron — open skillet or something like a Le Creuset Dutch Oven.

But with a tad more fuss you can make a gorgeous sear for flavor and combine that with the low roast of Sac’s and have a very nice result.

It’s essentially Alton Brown’s method for cooking a ribeye modified for a much thicker and leaner cut of beef. With a ribeye, smashing it back in the oven and never coming down from 500F cooks them perfectly in just minutes. A tad smoky if they’re fatty.

And that one is done better in the open skillet because you’re turning every 3-4 minutes and you’re done super quick.

And sadly the Mrs here also prefers a barely pink medium to my medium rare just starting to turn medium, so the thermometer is my friend.

On the ribeyes I just pull mine out a minute to two earlier.

On a roast I agree, make everyone happy. Unless they want medium well or well. Show those people the door or where the stove is and let them destroy their beef themselves. LOL.

Anyway ... a nice opportunity to get your cast iron addiction to go even deeper. Ha.

Probably even get a nice deglaze and gravy opportunity out of the Dutch Oven while the roast rests too. I usually go with the open skillet and hate to screw up my skillet seasoning too much but it can handle it, as long as you cook other stuff like bacon in between these sorts of things.

(The open skillet means less hot heavy stuff to fuss with, with the one somewhat badly behaved hand. Adding messing with a lid slows me down too much but would probably be worth it on a large roast. Not worth it in the ribeye technique. Open door, long tongs, done, close door quick. Ha. My oven doesn’t recover well from door openings at 500F. Also measured. And nobody nor dogs are allowed inside the kitchen triangle between cooktop, center island, and in wall oven, when hot cast iron at 500F is in the taxiway movement area. Haha.)
 
My mom's assisted living place has turkey which she doesn't like for tomorrow. She said she would have a sandwich. Fortunately I was able to send her some Ruth's Chris for dinner tomorrow. I'm sure they know how to cook a steak.
 
I have put a prime rib roast on the Webber gas grill and have had fantastic results. Why isn't that one of the survey options?

I have a nice remote thermometer that measures the grill temperature and the internal temperature so I can set it and go watch something else while I keep an eye on the temperatures.
 
PPC1052 said:
I have a nice remote thermometer that measures the grill temperature and the internal temperature
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Which make/model? Maybe a thread derail, but I'd like something like that!

@Matthew can also help me here.

Thanks!
 
PPC1052 said:
I have put a prime rib roast on the Webber gas grill and have had fantastic results. Why isn't that one of the survey options?

I have a nice remote thermometer that measures the grill temperature and the internal temperature so I can set it and go watch something else while I keep an eye on the temperatures.
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I view a gas grill (assuming you are cooking the roast indirect) as basically the same as an oven. I've tried cooking a prime rib once on a charcoal Weber grill once, and it really didn't work out well. The fat created a tarry smoke that just smelled and tasted burnt.
 

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Ravioli said:
Which make/model? Maybe a thread derail, but I'd like something like that!

@Matthew can also help me here.

Thanks!
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The brand I really like is Thermoworks. I linked to a couple products above. They are very much not cheap, though, but many of their products are repairable. They are rock solid.

I have a cheaper single probe with remote that I use pretty hard and it’s held up over many bbq contests where I usually find ways to break something.

This is one I bought for each of my kids for Christmas last year. It has hi/lo temp set points and records hi/lo temps:
https://www.thermoworks.com/ChefAlarm

This is their most popular 2 channel. I see used a lot at contests. It will probably be my next purchase. It can be used to monitor meat and air temperatures. Or you can swap out the air probe with another meat probe and measure two different meats or different parts of the same roast or turkey:
https://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

They make another with 4 channels so you can monitor several things at once.

They do have sales that are 25-30% off that roll around on a regular basis.

The one I use almost every day is this one. I got it for Christmas 3-4 years ago. Get a bright color so it’s easier to find in the kitchen drawer or the BBQ tool bag:
https://www.thermoworks.com/ThermoPop
 
Matthew said:
This is their most popular 2 channel. I see used a lot at contests. It will probably be my next purchase. It can be used to monitor meat and air temperatures. Or you can swap out the air probe with another meat probe and measure two different meats or different parts of the same roast or turkey:
https://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke
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That looks excellent.

We have one of their Thermapens. For instant read thermometers, accept no substitute.
 
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BTW if not going for wireless this thing has been great.

Dual physical probe and IR laser touchless in one unit. Open the probe it’s in probe mode. Take a little silicone cap off the back, push a button, visible red laser pointer plus IR sensor activated.

Nice having the choice of tool in a single unit. Nice bright and big display too.

Found cheap on Amazon when my cabled probe died.

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Ravioli said:
Which make/model? Maybe a thread derail, but I'd like something like that!

@Matthew can also help me here.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I have had a "Flame Boss 200" for about 3 years now. (The 200 is probably obsolete now but they have newer ones). This is the one that used to be sold under the Big Green Egg brand, but for some reason, they now only sell under their own name. Not sure why. I think BGE was charging too much.

I have had several, including the Maverick. This is the only one that has not failed on me. Others didn't last more than 6 months.

But the main reason I like this one over the others I had is because it is WIFI. At least for my situation, BlueTooth just doesn't cut it. Even though they say 300 ft range, that is ONLY if it is line of sight. And that really means "sight". Even a few hedges stops the signal if you get over about 30 feet and forget about going around the corner of the house.

With mine, I can monitor the grill and meat temp even if I am away from home. It also controls airflow to keep the temperature where you set it (on the BGE or Kamodo), but you can change that setting remotely too.

I personally would never buy another bluetooth remote thermometer.
 
JOhnH said:
. Even though they say 300 ft range, that is ONLY if it is line of sight. And that really means "sight". Even a few hedges stops the signal if you get over about 30 feet and forget about going around the corner of the house.
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I don't know if my Maverick is bluetooth or not, but I can go inside my home and hang in the basement, which is on the far side away from my grill. My house is brick with plaster walls. I have no issues getting the signal.
 
I bought the GrillEye Pro when Costco had a few on the shelf. It works well. I still want to get a Thermopen ... are you listening, Santa?
Grilleye - https://grilleye.com/
 
PPC1052 said:
I don't know if my Maverick is bluetooth or not, but I can go inside my home and hang in the basement, which is on the far side away from my grill. My house is brick with plaster walls. I have no issues getting the signal.
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If you didn’t have to “pair” it probably not. Just using one of the UHF Part 15 bands. Goes through crap better than 2.4 GHz.
 
I just had this discussion with a restaurant chef at the pub this afternoon. The reverse sear creates a big, thick crust. Some people like that. I don't. I like minimal crust, with minimal burnt treatment to the ends. It's all a matter of personal preference.
 
Anyone take a fresh ham from start to finish? Saw one screaming my name at the store the other day, and then thought about how angry my wife would be with me preoccupied for the whole next couple days. But seems like a cool project
 
35 AoA said:
Anyone take a fresh ham from start to finish? Saw one screaming my name at the store the other day, and then thought about how angry my wife would be with me preoccupied for the whole next couple days. But seems like a cool project
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Used to work on a pig farm. Don’t think we ever did a pig from true start to finish, but we had fresh Rocky Mountain oysters for lunch one day... :)
 
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