I won’t lie, I am a little snooty about my beef. My whole life I have primarily known the source of my beef. When given the choice from the butcher, I would cut up the rib roast or prime rib into ribeye steaks. I am generally not a fan of prime rib because I don’t find it to be cooked particularly well. That being said, when you have a $165 piece of beef, you want to honor the results, regardless of the source.
This was our Christmas prime rib. I calculated 12 people and so I figured that a six plus pound roast was adequate. However, when I looked at it at the store, it didn’t seem nearly large enough, especially considering shrinkage from cooking. We ended up eat about 2/3 of this nearly 13 pound roast so I would gauge one pound per person rather than half a pound. Ideally, I would have sliced it much thinner than I did with a knife. That more than likely would have made it go farther but I was in a time crunch so slices ranged from a quarter to half inch.
This particular roast was bone in. This means that some of that weight was also the bones. I actually didn’t realize that until I was cutting for serving. It came out fine but it was a surprise when I started getting ready for serving. Actually, it came out more than fine. The day after Christmas, I trimmed the bones and made beef stock for Au Jus for our French dip sandwiches. From the rib trimmings, I chopped those up with some potatoes and made a breakfast hash. We gave our newly moved out son a pile of meat to eat on and I still have some leftover meat for dinner.
The hardest thing about prime rib is cooking it properly. You certainly don’t want it over cooked and you definitely want it done by dinner time. No matter what recipe you choose, it is essential to have a probe thermometer. I use the same technique that I use with a turkey. Take it out early and cover first with foil and then with towels. This allows the meat to continue to cook and rest.
In my roast, I turned the oven on at 500 degrees. I put the roast in for twenty minutes and then the temp went down to 325 until the center measured 125. A rough estimate for the timing is about 15 minutes per pound. That made my overall oven time about three hours. I took it out about an hour and a half before dinner and covered it. About an hour later, the thermometer read 145 degrees. I wasn’t paying total attention at that point as I was busy with other things.
If you ask me, it was probably a little over cooked. Portions around the bones and in the middle were still pink. All things considered, it was about perfect given the variables although maybe I would take it out at 120 next time. One of the key steps that almost every recipe gets wrong is the initial rest. Most of them give very silly instructions such as let the roast sit on the counter for thirty minutes to come up to room temperature. I have news, a 12 pound roast will not come up to temperature in thirty minutes after being in the refrigerator. My picture is after sitting on the counter for four hours and it is still 39. If I really loved my family, I would have gotten the roast out about 3AM instead of 6AM to give more time to come up to temperature.
This step is critical to having a good outcome. A nearly freezing hunk of meat is going to cook more unevenly considering how much mass there is to cook. I will also make your cook time shorter, the longer it warms on the counter. If I could let it get up to 50-55 degrees, I would.
Cooking a prime rib is not hard, it just requires planning and attention. Back calculate eating time plus an hour rest, divide the weight by four and add that to your start time. The rest time also acts as a little buffer time if more cooking is required, but I would err on the side of starting earlier and giving more rest time if you are unsure. Just like it wont come up to room temperature in thirty minutes, it won’t come out of the oven to room temperature in thirty minutes.
End Your Programming Routine: Some people like horseradish or mustard or au jus. To me, the meat was the star here and plus I forgot get horseradish and all the stores were closed by the time we realized it. That is Ok because the results were fantastic anyway. Other than the price, you shouldn’t be intimidated to make prime rib. Paying attention will yield better results than any restaurant can achieve.
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