Help with rib roast!
 

I have a couple rib roasts that I will be preparing for Christmas dinner. I have never cooked one before. There seem to be 3 different methods. One involves turning off the over after a specified time and leaving the thing in there to cook slooooowly. Another is an initial high temp and remaining hour at low temp. The third is steady low or medium roasting heat (the lower the temp, the longer the time). I consulted BV Jr#1 who has cooked a couple and he semi-failed at the first method since his oven vents through a back burner and he didn't know that beforehand. There was a last minute scramble to cook and heat the roast after everything else was ready.

I'm ready to try 30 minutes at 500, followed by 325 to finish, taking it out when the internal temp hits 120 degrees. But, never have I read so much conflicting information on a simple cut of meat. Baste or no baste, foil cover or no cover, steady heat or drop after 30-45 minutes. No one can even agree on how many servings. Can I hear anyone elses success stories? I hate the idea of ruining $60 worth of meat.

I tend to favour the middle method: High initial heat to sear and seal in the juices, then low heat for the rest of the cooking period, which you can also do by browning the meat on the stovetop. I'd cut the initial high heat period/temp down to either 500F for 10-15 minutes or 425F for 15-20 minutes, or put the joint in the oven at 450F and immediately turn down to 300F. Just be sure not to use non-stick pans and make sure your thermostat, if using one, can handle that temp. Put some water at the bottom of the pan so the juices don't burn (and make sure the liquids never dry out). No foil or cover. Basting always helps (and then you can check to see if the juices are drying out or not). If you can get a layer of fbeef at, put that over the top.

Slow cooking is said to favour tougher joints where you`re looking for the cartilage and tendons to melt with cooking at low heat (which is why pot roasting favours those).

well, i prefer making rib roast in the preheated oven to a temperature of 450°F and the roast should be placed on the rack in a roasting pan. whatever way you chose just check that it is properly cooked and dont forget to add two cups of wine is later added to the bottom of the pan for the purpose of forming a good quality of beef stock.

..and here's a vote for method #3!! :D

Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen turned me on to this method. It works great.

Your roast needs to be room temperature to start with; first sear it on the stovetop til well browned on all sides. Roast @ 250 degrees until it's at the right temp for your preference (122 for rare, 130+/- medium).

Here is a great tutorial from Lobels
http://www.lobels.com/recipe/tutoria...t_ribroast.htm

Agreed! Just don't forget carryover cooking or you'll be sorry! ;) :D

Dave

Rib Roast
 

Hi!

For the past few Christmas Eve dinners, I've done the "Sunday Rib Roast' recipe from the Barefoot Contessa's show on the Food Network.

Let's see if this link works:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/i...ipe/index.html

Good luck (with the dinner---the roast itself is pretty easy thanks to Ina Garten).

I'm not a meat eater but let me tell you, the smell of this turns me on.

Happy Holidays!

I make these a couple of times each year.

To prep you will need a spray bottle, garlic powder, black pepper and rosemary.

Spray roast with water and liberally cover with garlic powder. The idea here is to get a good crust on the roast. Spray again with water and cover with black pepper. Spray again with water and cover with rosemary. Put on much more than you think you would seem to need. It will seem like alot but the flavor throughout the roast is amazing.

Put in roasting pan on rack. 450 for 15 minutes. Be careful the top can easily burn at this temp so keep an eye on it. Drop down to 325 until internal temp is 120-125 depending on how you like it. Timing just depends on how big your roast is. The one I made on Sunday was 10 lbs and took about 1 1/2 hours.

Remove from oven and let set.

Don't forget the most important step: DRY AGE THE ROAST. It's easy as long as your refrigerator is cold enough (below 38F or so).

Instead of high initial heat, you can start low and finish high (see Alton Brown's recipe). Of course that's more annoying to do.

The best I've ever had was done the Alton Brown way. He goes through the different methods and explains why, scientifically, one has better results than the others, along with dry aging. It's one of his better episodes (note you don't need the flower pot).

If you want a great rib roast, it's worth 22 minutes of your life to watch this episode.

http://video.google.es/videosearch?q...um=4&ct=title#

Speaking of Alton, didn't he show on one episode that searing actually did nothing to seal in the juice? I seam to remember his searing one steak and not the other then baking the steaks and weighing them and there was pretty much no difference.

Anyway, I am on my way now to the store to pick up my roast. Small Christmas this year so probably only going with a 5-6 bone. I do the slow method and it comes out perfect every year. I give the roast 3-4 out of the fridge then cook 250 degrees and give it about 25-30 mins of rest time. I don't put a time on it, I cook to temp and tell the family it will be done when it's done. Also doing some baked asparagus with cheese and mashed potatoes. I'm taking it easy this year. :)

And no one's mentioned my favorite way to get the consistency I desire - a salt-crust roast. The only significant key is not too much water; the salt will leach into the roast that way. The kids would enjoy seeing dinner being made that involves a hammer at times ...

Second, third and fourth servings of this episode (and most Alton Brown stuff). Sometimes his prep methods are too OCD even for me, but I've had great success with every one of his recipes that I've tried.

Unlike pretty much every other cooking show host, Alton Brown generally explains why,not just how, he does things.

I always do it this way--5 lbs of salt. The real key is to LET IT REST for a half hour once it's done.

Correct.. Searing in no way seals in anything other than the misconceptions in one's head. Searing results in caramelization of the meat.

We do the high heat then low heat.

Wow, old thread. Love the topic so I have to comment...

In addition to the odd roast here and there, I've done a rib roast for Christmas for the last 15yrs or so for my friends. Step 1 is to find a nice roast that seems to be well marbled. It's more forgiving if you overcook it. Next trick is to get a meat thermometer (~$10) so you can get a better idea of what the internal doneness of the meat is instead of relying on time/weight which is only good for a rough estimate IMO.

I did the rock salt once years ago. It was a hit. People thought it was good and moist. I found it a bit of a PITA so I haven't done it again but I've been itching to try again.

I normally give the roast a bit rub with spices, Worcestershire Sauce, garlic, etc. Then I just do an initial sear in the oven and do the remaining time at a moderate temperature. The sear is just to brown up the meat on the outside to give it some flavour. I haven't done the searing on the stovetop but I suppose it accomplishes the same effect with some differences.

Other factors to be aware of are initial roast temperature and additional doneness after you take the roast out of the oven.
I defrosted a roast a little too last minute once and popped it into the oven. Core of the roast was a lot cooler than the outside which resulted in the ends being more done than the middle which isn't necessarily a bad thing if you diners that like different doneness.

You generally want to rest your roast after pulling it from the oven so the juices "settle". If you are finishing your roast at around 325-350 anticipate that the temperature (aka doneness) will rise about 5-10degrees more while resting. Obviously, if you are doing the slow and low heat method, the temperature won't rise as much.
The roast doesn't have to be ready minutes before dinner. I normally target for the roast to be done about 30-45mins before dinner and let it rest wrapped in tin foil so I can work on the other items.

BTW, I was in Chapters Bookstore a few years back and browsed an Alton Brown book about roasts. Some of his tips sounded a bit odd to me (tho, don't ask me to recall which ones). I might have to see if I can find that book again to see if my opinion has changed.

I've done the high heat to sear the roast, then turn down the temp method, but I find the slow roast, turning up the oven at the end to finish it method (like the Alton Brown method) yields the best standing rib roast for my preference, which is an even degree of rareness radiating from the center to the outside. This method along with the dry aging in the fridge yielded one of the best, buttery soft rib roasts I've ever tasted.

A friend of mine swears by the method of coating the roast in fresh-ground black pepper, high-temp searing for 15 minutes, then turning the oven down, which yielded a very tasty roast. Until I tried the Alton Brown-type method, this was my preferred method.

Another vote for Alton's method. The fridge dry aging has worked well on other cuts, too. And I have a flower pot in my basement that comes out only for rib roasts.

I guess I'm a sucker for the quick sear in a hot cast iron skillet (requiring careful work with heavy tongs, and not to seal in moisture, but to "pre-develop" the caramelization which leads to truly flavorful drippings and outside bits), then a low and slow approach in the oven, with a well-marbled standing rib, even below 300F. That approach does tend to begin to melt out some of the internal streaks of fat, "self-basting" the interior, while the high heat methods seem to hasten the process so much as to leave the fat almost intact. "Frenching" the rib ends is alwaysa neat trick, and I believe improves cooking (and sure makes it easier to hold for gnawing).

The rock salt method, IIRC, came from a foodie in Dallas, David Wade, once associated with Nieman's, who also gave us a much appreciated condiment, now rarely available, a "powdered" Worcestershire. Rock Salt is a lot of trouble, but does seem to prevent mositure loss.

One technique I forgot to mention that I haven't used for a while is putting a strip of fat on top of the roast with the theory being that it provides a bit of extra basting ooomph if your roast isn't marbled enough. Your butcher/supermarket will generally give you the fat strip for free. Anyone else do this?

Frenching the rib ends sounds like a bit of an effort but I think I have to try that at least once. I love the look of it on rack of lamb. Never thought to try it on a beef roast.

Maybe I've missed it from others, but must strongly advise allowing the roast to come to room temperature before cooking. Failing to do so can result in well done ends when the thermometer indicates the center is "just right" (actually on its way to just right").

For me, the step is useful for any cut, but mandatory with a standing rib.