Need quick thoughts on my prime rib approach for Christmas.

Planning to use a Roasted garlic and horsradish crust for the Prime Rib. Will put into the oven for 15-30 minutes at 500 then will reduce to about 325 until internal temp hits 115 (is this right)? Then let it sit out of oven for 30 minutes before slicing.

I want to use the drippings and make some sort of sauce. Any suggestions here?

At an internal temp of 115, I think it'll be pretty rare. You might want to make that 125. Otherwise, sounds good!

Even at 125, it's going to come out RAW. According to the Joy of Cooking, beef temperatures vary from 140 for rare, to 170 for well done. Remember that the probe or thermometer is in the center of the beef, so that's how the very center will be done; towards the edges will be more done than that.

We're taking ours out when the center is 155.

nsxtasy wrote:According to the Joy of Cooking, beef temperatures vary from 140 for rare, to 170 for well done.

Much as I love Joy of Cooking these temps are outdated, incorrect or simply off base.

nsxtasy wrote:We're taking ours out when the center is 155.

Sorry to hear this, unless you like quite well done meat. With carry forward cooking (the internal temp continues to rise for a short time after the roast is out of the oven) you should be just shy of 165.

For a mixed crowd I take prime rib/standing rib roast out of the oven at 125, though friends and family who I know enjoy rare it would be 120.

Jpeac, you are on the right track, both cooking and resting wise. Lightly tenting the meat and letting it rest after it comes out of the oven is a very important step.

Happy holidays,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:For a mixed crowd I take prime rib/standing rib roast out of the oven at 125, though friends and family who I know enjoy rare it would be 120.

As a veteran of many a prime rib/rib roast cooks, I'd say this advice is pretty solid, except that on the rare end, I usually don't pull mine until it's just a hair over 120, maybe 122. Also, at least a 30 minute resting time can be very beneficial. Don't be in a hurry to carve just because the roast looks enticingly delicious and you are drooling. Enjoy!

I like the AB low and slow method. First into a 200˚ or 225˚ oven till internal temp hits 118˚ then a rest on the counter until it hits 130˚ and then popped into a 500˚ oven to build the crust. This tech. gives you a solid pink roast with little grey meat.

Pulling at 155 guarantees you're going to get well-done meat, especially after it rests. Enjoy that.

125 will get you medium/medium-rare after a rest. 118, which is where I like to take it to, will get you rare/medium-rare.

Thanks for all the input everyone!

We have a 15lb roast, any idea on how long I can expect to cook for?

Okay, I stand corrected. By posts here as well as other recommendations on the internet. Some other places say to take it out at 125 for medium-rare. This recipe says 135-140.

The roast does apparently rise in temperature by 5-10 degrees when it sits. And those recommended temperatures in the Joy of Cooking do indeed appear to be high.

Remember, it's also possible the temperatures in our probe are off. We've done this before.

Our roast is in the oven now. Maybe we'll take it out at 140-145 (and if the center is more towards medium than medium-rare that's okay). We'll let you know how it turns out.

Do I trim the fat from the roast?

i cooked an 10lb prime rib (with help from the LTH forum!) for thanksgiving this year.

Do NOT let it get above 125 in the oven. I had some people tell me it was too rare after i cut it, so theirs went back in the heated oven for a couple minutes - but think of the majority and think of that cut of meat coming out medium or medium well. Don't think about that, actually, it's really depressing.

I prepared it exactly like how you described in the original post, but someone in my thread told me to do it in reverse. Cook it at 325-350 until it's 123 center, then take it out and let it sit. then, about 8 minutes before you serve it, blast it at 500 and let it crust up on the outside. I haven't used this method, but i wished that i did because the meat towards the outside of the cut was too done. Supposedly, doing it in reverse makes it so that the vast majority of the cut is medium rare, and the outside is crusted well. (is this right??)

Either way, the way you described and the way i did it worked out wonderfully anyway, i'm just always looking to improve. Unfortunately, a prime rib cut isn't in my experimental budget, so i think it may be a once or twice a year thing.

be warned though, i had two temp probes in mine, both were around 125 when i took it out and it was too done for me. I like Gleam and mhill95149's idea of 118 and i shall follow that next time. If you wait until it's past 125 i'll bet dollars to dimes that you'll be unhappy with it.

G Wiv wrote:

nsxtasy wrote:According to the Joy of Cooking, beef temperatures vary from 140 for rare, to 170 for well done.

Much as I love Joy of Cooking these temps are outdated, incorrect or simply off base.

nsxtasy wrote:We're taking ours out when the center is 155.

Sorry to hear this, unless you like quite well done meat. With carry forward cooking (the internal temp continues to rise for a short time after the roast is out of the oven) you should be just shy of 165.

For a mixed crowd I take prime rib/standing rib roast out of the oven at 125, though friends and family who I know enjoy rare it would be 120.

Jpeac, you are on the right track, both cooking and resting wise. Lightly tenting the meat and letting it rest after it comes out of the oven is a very important step.

Happy holidays,
Gary

I'm in the 120 degrees crowd -- always -- and when I take it out and tent it, the temperature continues to rise several degrees.

I would also like to note that there are many sources which advocate cooking not only beef, but also turkey, and especially pork and duck, way past the stage of edible. For instance, a restaurant will cook a duck medium rare, but good luck finding recipes that take this approach.

The 500 degree thing might burn your garlic which would potentially make your jus/gravy kind of acrid. Keep an eye on it or put on the garlic after the high heat? Just some thoughts...We just had a standing rib roast from Jewel(s)... (!) It was pretty good. Took it out of the oven at 120. Was perfectly cooked.

The correct internal temperature and time of resting is determined by the size of the rib roast. A full rib roast of 22 #'s would be 110F and at least one hour foil tented at room temp. Smaller roasts simply have less heat stored in the periphery and need less resting time. A simple meat thermometer and monitoring of the internal temperature is helpful.-Dick

Well, we didn't get an exact temperature, but here's what happened to ours.

First of all, I should mention that we had taken the roast out of the refrigerator for an hour or two before cooking, having read that this makes the cooked meat more uniformly done.

We cooked it and at one point the probe read 130 degrees. At that point we were doing something with the other oven, and the probe was no longer displayed on the panel. About five minutes later, we hit the display and it said 155 degrees. This was probably a falsely high reading (due to switching the display between ovens), and it was probably around 135 at that point. So we took it out and let it sit for 20 minutes. We cut into it and most of it was somewhere between medium rare (warm red center) and rare (cool red center). That's a little bit less done than we generally shoot for with company, where we try to get it pretty much right at medium rare (maybe a bit towards medium) through most of it.

The conclusion we came to is that, with our oven's probe, it needs to read about 145 for us to have a roast with most of it on the medium side of medium rare (warm pinkish-red). Maybe our probe is off, and maybe it isn't. I suggest anyone who does this make notes about when they took it out and how it came out, and use those notes in the future to find out what works with your probe/thermometer as well as how you like your roast.

nsxtasy wrote:The conclusion we came to is that, with our oven's probe, it needs to read about 145 for us to have a roast with most of it on the medium side of medium rare (warm pinkish-red). Maybe our probe is off, and maybe it isn't. I suggest anyone who does this make notes about when they took it out and how it came out, and use those notes in the future to find out what works with your probe/thermometer as well as how you like your roast.

You should clean your oven and/or get it calibrated. Cooking a roast to 145 is normally a recipe for dry, overcooked meat.

mhill95149 wrote:I like the AB low and slow method. First into a 200˚ or 225˚ oven till internal temp hits 118˚ then a rest on the counter until it hits 130˚ and then popped into a 500˚ oven to build the crust. This tech. gives you a solid pink roast with little grey meat.

Yes, I love this method because the roast ends up with the desired doneness from edge to edge, without any "bullseye" effect. However, I find there's very little carry-over when you cook at 200 F and I can't remember ever having a roast cooked this way carry over more than 5 additional degrees or so.

Keep in mind also that the relatively short blast of high heat the roast receives at the end of the cooking process does very little to change its internal temperature -- especially if the roast has been allowed to sit for a while before being returned to the oven.

So, all that said, I really think you should cook the roast to within 5 degrees of the desired temperature during the initial cooking period when using the AB method. A roast cooked at 200 F and removed from the oven at 118 F may never make it to 130 F on carry over. Of course, you're better off safe than sorry. You can always cook a roast a bit longer if it's not done enough but you can never uncook it (although, I hear chefs Achatz and Cantu are both working on that )

=R=

nsxtasy wrote:Maybe our probe is off, and maybe it isn't.

Might I suggest an analog Taylor Instant read thermometer, five or six dollars at most grocery, hardware, cooks shops.

30 minutes a lb?

jpeac2 wrote:30 minutes a lb?

That seems like a bit long to me, but the only way to tell if the roast is done is by using a thermometer. There are too many variables to take into account to ever say XX minutes/lb.

That is what I was planning to do, just have no idea how long to even expect or to try and plan for.

So, that being said - I have an approximately 5-lb roast - using the Alton Brown method, when do I start it to have dinner ready by 4:30 or 5? Is 30 minutes per pound a good ballpark?

So, that being said - I have an approximately 5-lb roast - using the Alton Brown method, when do I start it to have dinner ready by 4:30 or 5? Is 30 minutes per pound a good ballpark?

the 15lb just hit 109 after about an hour and a half. UGH!

Time to slow it way down as we weren't supposed to eat for another 5 hours.

Using a brand new digital thermometer. Where should it be placed in the meat? I am guessing do not push all the way through to the pan, but more such that the end of the probe is right in the middle?

Oven door open and it is turned down as low as it will go (170).

Too late. The beef is done. About 4 hours ahead of schedule.

Took it out and set outside to try to stop any of the cooking we have now and then we will reheat later.

Any other thoughts?

jpeac2 wrote:the 15lb just hit 109 after about an hour and a half. UGH!

Time to slow it way down as we weren't supposed to eat for another 5 hours.

Using a brand new digital thermometer. Where should it be placed in the meat? I am guessing do not push all the way through to the pan, but more such that the end of the probe is right in the middle?

Oven door open and it is turned down as low as it will go (170).

That seems awfully fast for a roast that size. Make sure the probe isn't near bone. You can check the accuracy of the thermometer by placing the end of the probe in boiling water (do not immerse it completely or it might short out). It should read 212 degrees. My digital is off by 6 degrees. If it gets up to 120 too fast, you can take the roast out and wrap it in foil and let it sit. I have done this when I needed to bring a roast to a party. I took it out at 120, then wrapped it in foil and transported it in a cooler (with no ice). It stayed pretty warm. Just before serving it, I placed it under a broiler for a few minutes to crisp up the fat. It came out medium rare, and very tender.

I will check the thermometer with the water. For now, pulled it out and put into the fridge to try to stop the cooking. Also raised it off the bottom of the pan. Cut off an end piece which was about well done. Stuck the probe in the end straight into the meat (avoiding any fat or bone) and it was around 140.

Ugh.

jpeac2 wrote:I will check the thermometer with the water. For now, pulled it out and put into the fridge to try to stop the cooking. Also raised it off the bottom of the pan. Cut off an end piece which was about well done. Stuck the probe in the end straight into the meat (avoiding any fat or bone) and it was around 140.

Ugh.

I agree with d4v3 that it does seem way too fast for a roast that size. Was the roast cold when you started it or had you let it sit out for a while before putting it in the oven?

In either case, my guess is that the probe is not accurate. Is it a Polder? My experience with them is that 1 out of every 4 actually works and even then, they are usually off by some amount.

I suppose that even if you put a room-temperature roast in a 500 degree oven and then turned it down to 325, it could be 140 F 90 minutes but it just doesn't seem possible. And if the roast was right out of the fridge when it went into the oven, it's even more unlikely.

=R=

Roast was in the garage overnight (~30 degrees). Brought it in for about an hour before going into the oven. Only thing I can think of is when I lowered the oven heat from 500 to 325 the oven may not have dropped in temp. Should i have opened the door to allow the heat out during the switch?

Checked the thermometer in boiling water and it was dead on target.

Couldn't have been in the oven for more than an hour and 45 total.

At this point I put it back in the fridge and I think to reheat I might slice maybe 3/4" slices and toss onto a grill real quick over a hot fire. What do you think?

Your oven must not have cooled off after the initial searing phase, because even at 15 mins per lb, it should have taken 3.75 hours at 325. Do you have a convection oven?

Still, 140 is not even close to disastrous. The beef will still have a touch of pink in the middle. Serve it au jus, and you will be fine. As pointed out upthread, Joy of Cooking actually calls 140 rare (not in my universe). In Chicago we tend to lean towards the bloody side of the range.