Prime Rib Roast Brain Dump
There’s really more than enough prime rib recipes online by professional and experts so this really isn’t to compete with them. However, there are a little too many articles, recipes, science experiments, and how to’s/don’t do that articles that I thought I’d do a brain dump of what I’ve gathered and condensed for myself. A prime rib roast is no small deal. Actually, I would say a high quality bone in ribeye prime rib roast is quite a big deal, a small fortune actually; definitely something not to mess up.
So how goes it, Nhung? Well, here are my key takeaways presented to you in simple bulleted fashion and no annoying ads to get in the way.
- Bone in is delicious, and it can help with maintaining heat distribution since the bones, not the meat/fat is more likely to be consistent in density.
- You don’t really need to detach your bones and tie it back on the meat. And you don’t really need to tie your meat in general. Doing so makes the meat more compact. If you cut the ribs off you can season it with more surface area available. The pay out for the effort felt unnecessary, but I get the reasonings.
- Wipe your prime rib dry, trim off whatever fat you don’t want, weigh it, and then salt it reasonably. Place this on a rack in the fridge overnight uncovered. This is essential. You want to dry the outside of the prime rib to make sure you don’t have excess moisture sitting on the top layer preventing a nice sear from developing.
- It is absolutely necessary to bring your roast to room temp before introducing it to your preheated oven. If you weighed it, you can Google it. Mine took 2.5 hours to bring to room temp, and I actually gave it another 30 mins since my house is a little frigid these days.
- Pat any excess moisture after removing your roast from the fridge. Add a fat layer on the outside of your roast before putting it in the oven, seasoned butter/ghee, or even an oil works. If your rib was dried before you put it in the fridge, you salted it, and patted it again— it should be dry enough for your fat to stick nicely on the roast. This will help sear and lock in moisture as well as give it a delicious flavor.
- If you do a roast less than 5-6 lbs, you can go high and quick. High heat at 500 degrees F, 5 minutes per lb. Shut off the oven and keep oven closed for 2 hours. For this, I like to add a little liquid to the pan for easy clean up before I roast. This is the tried and true method you’ll see on socials and online recipes. If you’re using nice cookware, RIP. The residual heat should cook it to a nice medium pink doneness. For medium rare I like to aim for 120 degrees internal temp. This method only works with modern day ovens. Not the old school your house pipes were put in before your grandparents were born type of ovens. Those followed different and possibly no standards for insulation and temperature calibration. lol, I wish I was an engineer during those times! This is definitely a trust the process method esp if you don’t have a high heat meat thermometer that can be monitored the whole time.
- If you prefer a less quick and smaller margin of error type of method (a few minutes over at 500 is much less forgiving than at lower temps), or if your roast is a hefty one, do the low and slow method. This is actually my preferred method. At 200 degrees the meat can undergo a chemical process where there is a breakdown of the meat to allow it to be super tender. You can look this up from more science savvy people. At 200 degrees you also don’t need to preheat at all or very long. You also have a wider room for forgiveness if you’re forgetful like me and have a bunch of things you’re trying to keep track of already. At 200 degrees, you can do 15-20 minutes a pound for medium rare. But since the temp is low enough, I insist you check an hour before it is ‘done’. My roasts finish at variable error time margins even though I consistently use this method. Fat, muscle, cow.. I don’t know, but there are many uncontrolled variables and checking temperature is a control you can easily do to ensure you cook it to your liking. With this method, before serving I broil the top of my roast until it’s golden.
- Remove the roast about 5-7 degrees prior to the roast reaching your preferred doneness. When you remove it, decant the drippings and foil tent it immediately for 30 mins to an hour. Yes, hotbox your roast so that it continues to climb to the correct temperature and then it maintains its juiciness. If you skip this step, the juiciness of the meat will be on your cutting board and not in the meat.
- If you have people who like more well done meat, then you can cut and divide your large roast into two. If everyone’s on the same page with medium rare, keep it in one piece. Simplify the cooking process this ways. People split roasts all the time but I feel it introduces more variables into the cooking process since the distribution of heat in the oven may change with 2 roasts. The 2 roasts are also impossible to make absolutely identical so they won’t be cooked absolutely identical.
- Prime rib speaks for itself, do yourself a favor and simplify everything else. All it needs is an au jus or beef broth gravy with lots of black-pepper and some horseradish sauce.
- au jus: you need a beef broth of any type, and a roux made with beef fat and flour. Saute equal parts fat with flour until it’s brown. Slowly mix in your broth, season, and add your black pepper.
- horseradish sauce: you need chopped chives, horseradish cream, sour cream, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Taste everything and measure to your liking!
- Last but not least, cook this for only the people you love and deserve your love. It’s expensive and takes all frigkin day plus another to prep. 🙂
My little foodie turned 3, and she had some very specific requests on what she wanted to eat on her birthday week. Steamed truffle rice rolls, meat, and mama’s focaccia with lots of butter.. It was an epic meal for an epic little girl. My heart was full seeing my family love on my special little girl, and watching everyone fill their bellies with her favorite foods. She’s a hard one to please, but I’m always happy to nurture her large and pretty darn sophisticated/expensive appetite. Like any toddler, she wanted to play and snuggle, but was patiently letting mom cook and prepare for 2 days sufficing herself with little drive by hugs here and there and ‘taste tests’. She kept asking me, why are we celebrating today, why is everyone coming over today, why do I have so many people love me— needless to say, she felt very loved and cherished by everyone and that made me so filled with love!
Cooking satisfies all our physical needs to survive, but it also can bring everyone you love to a common table to share a meal that expresses love and gratitude. I appreciate and am grateful for any and all who cherish my children and help create a safe loving space for their development, and this honestly is the best way I know how to say thank you. I love you fam! Thank you for loving my minis!